LSD

WHAT IS LSD AND WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE?

LSD or lysergic acid diethylamide is derived from rye ergot, a parasitic fungus that grows on rye and other grains.

LSD is sold in the form of blotters (small slips of paper impregnated with a drop of LSD solution), tablets, microdots (which look like the tips of pencil leads), and, more rarely, in liquid form. A dose of LSD large enough for one acid trip contains about 50 to 400 micrograms of LSD.

EFFETS AND DANGERS OF LSD

LSD is a powerful hallucinogen. It causes intense changes in sensory perceptions, hallucinations, uncontrollable laughter and delirium. Its effects on the brain are very powerful. They vary with the individual and with the setting in which the drug is taken. A trip lasts five to 12 hours, and sometimes longer.

While under the influence of LSD, users sometimes panic. This experience is called a bad trip. If you are dealing with someone who is on a bad trip get him or her into a quiet, dimly lit environment, and try to calm and reassure him or her. Be careful, because people in this condition can be dangerous to themselves and to others. Alcohol can make the problem worse.

Use of LSD can cause serious and lasting psychiatric disorders. When the effects of LSD begin to wear off, it can be a very unpleasant experience. Users may be confused and may experience, extreme anxiety, panic attacks, paranoid symptoms, phobias, and delirium.

LSD AND DEPENDENCE

LSD does not cause physical dependence, and there are no withdrawal symptoms when someone stops taking it. It does not stimulate the brain’s reward system and does not have any direct reinforcing effects. In other words, it does not increase the stimulation of the pleasure centres located in several areas of the brain.

Psychological dependence on LSD varies with the user. A small number of very regular users may display anxiety or signs of panic when they are deprived of this drug. But the obsessive desire to take LSD is not nearly as strong as the obsessive cravings experienced by those dependent on cocaine or heroin.
LSD, a very powerful hallucinogen

Use of LSD can cause serious and lasting psychiatric disorders

                                      

HISTORY

First synthesized by chemist Albert Hofmann in 1938, LSD was marketed a few years later by Sandoz Laboratories of Switzerland, under the brand name Delysid®.

In the 1950s, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) conducted Operation MK-Ultra to test the effectiveness of LSD as a mind-control drug and “truth serum”. Even though the results of these tests were of limited interest, and even though LSD caused significant anxiety in the subjects to whom it was administered, the CIA continued this research in hope of developing a broad-scale psychochemical weapon.

In the early 1960s, two scientists at Harvard University, Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert, actively promoted LSD on campus and were forced to quit their jobs. They went on to found the International Federation for Internal Freedom (IFIF), which eventually had several thousand members.

Until 1965, LSD was studied as an adjuvant to psychotherapy, in some countries, and many papers were published about it. An advertising campaign about its toxicity led to its being banned in Canada in 1962.

LSD
       SOME RECENT STATISTICS FOR CANADA

  • In 20041, approximately 1% of Canadians aged 15 and over reported having taken LSD or other hallucinogens during the preceding year. That represents over 240,000 people.
  • According to a 2002 survey of persons attending raves in Montreal11, 56.2% of them reported taking LSD during the preceding year.
  • According to the 2002 national survey Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children4 held in Canadians in schools, 8% of boys and 3% of girls among Grade 10 students reported having used LSD during the 12 preceding months.
    Statistical trend : 5% for boys and
    10% for girls from 1998 to 2002

 ILLICIT 
SUBTANCE



WHAT DOES THE LAW SAY?

  • LSD is listed in Schedule III of the Canadian Controlled Drugs and Substances Act.
  • Unless authorized, possession, trafficking, possession for the purpose of trafficking, production, importing, and exporting of LSD, and possession for the purpose of exporting are illegal.