LSD-25

Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (acid))

LSD. The holy grail of spiritual awakening in the counter-culture days of the late 60's. And on the plus side, almost non-existent addictivity!  The name however conjures up thoughts of drinking from a car battery or some other equally horrific "acid" source. When most times it is a small drop of liquid (tasteless) on absorbent paper (blotter) that is put under the tongue to dissolve. So I've been told.

Hence the term "blotter acid".

LSD causes different reactions in different people but many report intensified awareness. Altered visual effects (the melting wall or rippling carpet). Some get very intensely "into" something, quite often music. Some see imaginary things as products of their own mind. For those not mentally unstable or damaged to begin with, it is an awakening. So I have been told.

This appears to have been one of Hunter's favorite sources of recreation and inspiration. To what degree it's hard to say. When he states in Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas that among other drugs, he had a large number of sheets of high quality blotter acid it gives the impression he lived on it. Sadly another chief effect of LSD is the quick build up of a tolerance to its mind-expanding effects. Taking it more than a couple times a week greatly diminishes the result. So I have been told.

Acid has been a largely misunderstood drug from the 60's primarily due to the government testing soldiers with it for mind control possibilities. LSD has been used to treat alcoholism and in psychotherapy treatments.

Now how about this? In Switzerland from 2008 - 2011 they have been experimenting with end of life anxiety treatment using LSD for terminally-ill patients. Results are promising and no negative results have been reported. Really? And who would have done this reporting...the dead?

Flash backs have really been non-existent and are more of an urban legend. No record of anyone ever dying of an Acid OD has been found and tests show there are no long-term physiological effects on the brain or the rest of the body.

I will say this, if this were available in the US for easing anxiety for terminal illness...count me in.

Mahalo