LSD Addiction

One of the most powerful mood changing chemicals, LSD or “Acid” is manufactured from lysergic acid found in the ergot fungus that grows on rye and other grains. While it is produced in illegal laboratories in crystal form which is converted to a liquid for distribution on the streets in the form of small tablets or “microdots”, capsules or “window panes” and is also sometimes added to absorbent paper divided into small squares decorated with designs or cartoon characters known as “loony toons” while also being sold in liquid form which is colorless, odorless and has a slightly bitter taste.

The LSD experience is typically known as a “trip” which lasts for more than 12 hours or so and when the experience turns for the worse, it is known as a “bad trip” which is another name for the nether regions or the abyss because LSD use causes disconnection from reality as most users experience hallucinations in the form of hearing eerie sounds, seeing visual images and feeling sensations of “goose bumps”, and other delusions in the form of distorted sizes and shapes of objects which are often bizarre and strange, the experience of which is also termed as “crossing over” which can be easily mistaken for “enlightenment”.

LSD use alters the ability to make sensible decisions and also adversely impairs the ability to sense common dangers. For example, long after taking LSD, the user can experience flashbacks or a recurrence of the LSD trip while others may try and step out of the window in order to have a “closer look” or blissfully forget that one is standing dangerously in the middle of a busy intersection. Also, as LSD accumulates in the body, users may develop a high tolerance for the drug resulting in a sharp increase in higher consumption to achieve a “high”.

The effects of LSD use are immensely unpredictable and depends on the amount consumed, the mood and personality and the surroundings in which the drug is used, of which, the first effects are experienced after the first 30 to 90 minutes of consumption. The body temperature can become higher or lower while the blood pressure and heart rate can also increase or decrease. Many people are reported to have experienced terrifying thoughts and feelings, despair and fear of insanity or death along with dissociation from ordinary activities of life (psychoses or severe depression).

For example, in 1951, the Western Intelligence community and the military conducted a series of experiments whereby the US researchers found that LSD “is capable of rendering whole groups of people, including military forces, indifferent to the surrounding situations by interfering with proper planning and judgment, and even creating apprehension, uncontrollable confusion and terror.” In light of such change in personalities of intelligence targets and attempts to control whole populations, the US officially banned the drug in 1967.