
Albert Hofmann discovers the effects of LSD (1943) - benbreen
https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/intoxication/exploring-alternate-universe
======
datpuz
Given that he didn't know what we know now about LSD (that it's not going to
kill you or cause brain damage), his experience was probably a lot more
terrifying than the usual bad trip. Not being able to remind yourself that
you're safe and that the drug's effects will wear off would make it a lot more
scary.

~~~
StavrosK
Not only that, but I was struck by the realization of how devastated he must
have felt to be dying (or so he thought) after consuming 250 MICROgrams of a
substance.

The part where he worried about whether his family would think he was reckless
for doing this was poignant, because there was no way anyone could have
expected 250 micrograms of ergot to produce any sort of observable effect.

~~~
idbehold
[http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/health/a14442546/two...](http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/health/a14442546/two-
drops-mercury-poisoning)

~~~
StavrosK
That dose was a few thousand times larger, though.

------
nerdponx
_A peculiar presentiment—the feeling that LSD-25 could possess properties
other than those established in my first investigations—induced me, five years
after the first synthesis, to produce it once again so that a sample could be
given to the pharmacological department for further tests.

This was quite unusual; experimental substances as a rule were definitely
stricken from the research program if once found to be lacking in
pharmacological interest. Nevertheless, in the spring of 1943, I repeated the
synthesis of LSD-25. As in the first synthesis, this involved the production
of only a few centigrams of the compound._

I absolutely love this writing. Reminds me of the great "scientific gothic"
novels like _Frankenstein_ and _Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde_.

~~~
aaron_m04
> As in the first synthesis, this involved the production of only a few
> centigrams of the compound.

At ~0.1mg per dose, this translates to "only" a few hundred doses.

~~~
oxide
I found the documentary "Orange Sunshine" to be a very illuminating tale of
licit (and then illicit) synthesis and distribution of psychedelics, mainly
LSD-25 but they do mention psilocin, etc.

At one point they had produced 10,000 doses in one synth, a grief-fueled
synth. An anecdote to be sure, but a hell of an anecdote I won't ruin by
paraphrasing any further.

This naturally leads into the story of ALD-52, also known as Orange Sunshine.
The analogue people liked more than LSD-25 itself. Which is an entirely new
interesting tale of injustice and prosecutor overreach, with an entirely new
bunch of folks.

"...And Justice for All" indeed.

------
alifbae
This encouraged me to read his book "LSD: my problem child" (where this
article pulls this excerpt from). I would recommend anyone interested in
psychedelics to give it a read! It's available for free on the internet
archive:
[https://archive.org/details/LSDMyProblemChildByDr.AlbertHoff...](https://archive.org/details/LSDMyProblemChildByDr.AlbertHoffman)

------
virtualwhys
> I was just barely capable of asking my companion to summon our family doctor
> and request milk from the neighbors.

Hah, hah, a sign of the times. That's the last thing I'd want to injest when
in the throws of a deep, harrowing LSD trip, yuck.

Really the only thing that "helps", I find, is a watch (if you're able to read
the watch that is). Time can help ground you in the sense that you know
roughly when the peak will occur, so if you're already overwhelmed 2 hours in,
that means "only" 2-4 hours before you're over the hump ;-)

Taking LSD is very much continually answering the question, "here, ultimate
(un)reality, isn't that what you asked for?", with "Yes". Easier said than
done when you're in the thick of it...

~~~
odammit
We always carried “totems”.

Little trinkets that we’d hold while waiting for the effect while silently
repeating to ourselves that this would remind us we’re just high.

Be damned if you lost that thing though.

Mine was a toy kitten holding a cheeseburger.

~~~
Jarwain
Something I've gotten into the habit of doing actually involves writing on my
arm in sharpie. I notate what I took, how much, and at what time.

I got the idea from a friend, who likes to experiment with some psychedelic
RCs. The idea is, if for some reason he ends up in the ER, unable to
communicate what he has taken to the doctor trying to help him, it's on his
arm!

~~~
odammit
Thats a pretty good idea!

------
ncal
The comparison of lsd to overclocking a processor is a pretty good one.
Someone I know describes the experience in a similar way: "In normal waking
life, data comes into my brain in a singular stream. On lsd my brain feels
like it has the ability to process more at once- more streams."

Interesting things happen with all this input. Sensations get mixed around and
felt in odd ways. For instance synesthesia... You make hear colors, or see
emotions.

Here's an article about LSDs effects on the brain:
[https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/apr/11/lsd-
impact-b...](https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/apr/11/lsd-impact-brain-
revealed-groundbreaking-images)

~~~
debaserab2
In my experience it feels more like you're _underclocked_ than overclocked.
Sensations become so overwhelming at times it's hard to interpret them in ways
that can be useful to you. I think in normal waking life, your brain
interprets these sensations for you and narrows the amount your conscious mind
actually has to deal with.

~~~
ncal
I would imagine it depends on the dose. An large dose of lsd would render just
about anyone completely incoherent and possibly, absolutely insane. However,
there is a reason many are gathering behind the idea of microdosing lsd for
productivity. Here's an article on microdosing:
[https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/gv5p5y/a-brief-
hi...](https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/gv5p5y/a-brief-history-of-
microdosing)

------
Synaesthesia
What’s interesting is when LSD was first discovered and popularized with
psychiatrists, it was considered a “model psychosis” - inducing a temporary
state of psychosis which researchers could use to study mental problems. That
theory was discredited in the late 60’s when it got banned (it was one of the
reasons why it was supposed to have no medical value).

I believe there’s a lot of truth to it, from my experience it totally matches
a mini psychotic event.

~~~
sev
Looking at the definition of psychosis:

> a severe mental disorder in which thought and emotions are so impaired that
> contact is lost with external reality.

Based on my research, typical (and even greater than typical) recreational
doses of LSD do not cause a “severe mental disorder” as described in the
definition.

At “raves”, for example, lots of people are under the influence and yet they
have not lost contact with external reality.

~~~
golergka
> At “raves”, for example, lots of people are under the influence and yet they
> have not lost contact with external reality.

Taking LSD is a strange choice for a rave, IMO; you want less visual and audio
stimulation under it's influence, not more.

MDMA, MDA, 2CB, amphetamines, mephedrone and other similar substances (and
their mixes in ecstasy pills) are much more rave-friendly.

~~~
cc81
Not very strange in the psytrance scene.

~~~
golergka
True, but I would hardly call a trance open-air a "rave". But the use of the
term probably depends on local music culture.

------
Dowwie
_She was no longer Mrs. R, but rather a malevolent, insidious witch with a
colored mask_

it feels like I'm reading the memoirs of Dr. Frankenstein

------
throwawayLSD
Disclaimer: I probably shouldn't be posting this, even under a throwaway, but
I'm on the other side of the international date line, and I've had a few beers
tonight. This post is in response to several comments on this thread.

I've done quite a lot of LSD, and I feel that I have some anecdotal input that
might be valuable to some. First, some background regarding my usage:

I've been using hallucinogenic substances for about 20 years (I was sixteen
when I had my first LSD trip); at this point in my life, I like to have about
four solid trips per year. In total, I've had around 200-250 trips on various
drugs. At one point, I was doing mushrooms so frequently that they essentially
stopped working (there was a week during college when I dosed on high-grade
cubensis mushrooms eight times - by the end of the week, it took a full ounce
before I could feel any effect). I've done most of the 2C drugs, DMT,
ketamine, and every drug about which you've ever seen a cautionary after-
school special. I've micro-dosed on LSD, and I've thumb-printed raw crystal.
I've had multiple "level five" experiences. I've worked in tech for years, at
companies that you've heard of.

First off: please be aware that hallucinogens are _very_ powerful drugs, and
they should never be taken lightly - I make no pretense of being a role-model.
I knew a man who was absolutely addicted to LSD (he tripped every day, give or
take since the early sixties - during the time that I knew him, he had a week
or so when he couldn't trip, and he was truly frightening to be around sober.
If you've ever seen anyone go off of anti-psychotics cold-turkey after
prolonged usage, it was similar.)

That said, I believe that hallucinogens, and particularly LSD, have profoundly
improved my life. The shift in perspective has helped me to defuse many
emotional and psychological issues, and heightened my understanding of people,
programming, and society as a whole.

To the person who wonders if they are too old to try LSD, I think you most
likely are not. Most people who I have seen lose their shit on hallucinogens
had it happen in their 20's - if you've made it to 30 without issues with
psychosis, you're most likely in the clear.

All first time users should have their first experience in a comfortable
setting, ideally with an experienced guide. I think it's tragic that modern
society has all but eliminated the role of a shaman - it is very helpful to
have someone who has walked the path before you show you the way.

One point that I would like to emphasize is that you shouldn't do
hallucinogens to have fun. The experience is, of course, very frequently
enjoyable, but these experiences should not be taken lightly. Personally, I
believe that there is no such thing as a "bad trip". Some trips are
challenging, and unpleasant, but if they are viewed with the proper
perspective, they are still useful. Indeed, I have purposely taken trips in
unpleasant circumstances in order to help me transcend various issues (again,
if you have pre-existing psychosis, or are under ~25 years old, a trip might
trigger some underlying issues).

If you're curious, and reasonably stable, I strongly recommend that you give
it a try. LSD is the safest option - be wary of "designer" drugs, which can
have much more dangerous side effects. As in all things, research is your
friend, do some reading on erowid.org before you try any new drug. Be wary of
LSD look-alikes, namely 25-I, which is increasingly common these days.

This is obviously a throw-away account, but I'll try to respond to any
questions or comments tomorrow (GMT+8).

~~~
throwweed
You’re recommending that the general public engage in consuming LSD. This is
so incredibly irresponsible that I’m at a loss of words. Simply, there’s no
reliable way to assess whether someone will have a bad reaction. Your
recommendations for assessing safety are not reliable. And, trips are a one-
way journey. You’ll never be the same after you trip.

Just keep in mind that you’re getting advice from someone who has already
fried his/her brain on acid, and isn’t in any position to say whether that
crap will affect you in any bad way, and they certainly don’t care, despite
carefully framing their bad advice. This person is interested in
“enlightening” as many people as possible, and his/her friends will disembowel
you because there’s “twelve” of them. Quite simply, some people have a brain
chemistry that doesn’t mix well at all with LSD.

You’re really irresponsible for posting this. Shame on you. How dare you post
such a recommendation. Someone could listen to your advice here, think that
because they’re stable that they’re safe, have a bad reaction and never quite
be the same.

That garbage is pure evil poison for some, and one simply has no way of
ensuring they won’t have a bad reaction, regardless of whether they are stable
or not. One will _never_ be the same after dosing, for better or worse. Johnny
95 IQ quarterback might not be profoundly impacted, but a typical nerd with an
already creative mind will certainly have a life changing experience, and such
changes are not always roses for all, despite your anecdotes.

I am cognizant of the fact that my viewpoint on this subject is not the norm
in these parts, but someone needs to offer a responsible counterbalance. I
recommend that most people do not try LSD at all.

~~~
throwawayLSD
It seems that you or someone you know has had a bad experience with LSD - I'm
very sorry about that. I've known a couple people for whom LSD triggered or
exacerbated some underlying conditions; however, when I looked deeper into
these cases, there did seem to be a strong correlation with them having pre-
existing issues.

If you look into the statistics, I think you'll find that most of the cases
where LSD has triggered other issues, the unfortunates tend to be under the
age of 25 (it seems that most of the neurochemical issues that don't play well
with acid manifest in the early 20s for most people).

I agree that LSD will almost certainly cause a life changing experience, and
that such experiences are "not always roses for all", however, I do believe
that life changing experiences are, in general, good things if taken with
proper perspective. Again, YMMV.

I kind of resent your statement that I've fried my brain - I think that anyone
who knows me would disagree with that assertion, but I understand that you're
presenting the perspective of someone who has had a bad experience (or who
knows someone who has had a bad experience). Any chance you'd like to discuss
the motivation for your viewpoint further? I'm very interested in more data on
the subject!

In any case, my apologies if I have offended; my intent was to share my
experience.

I'll emphasize again that anyone considering taking _any_ drugs should do some
research first (erowid.org presents both the good and the bad), and should
know themselves well before experimenting.

I truly hope you'll share some more about your experience(s). Thanks!

~~~
throwurself
You and the rest of this Silicon Valley hippie love fest is infested with
possessed fried self important humans that live in a goddamn bubble. (Note how
the previous comment was down voted). You don’t know what you’re talking
about. You don’t have the whole picture at all, and your promotion of LSD here
is damaging to society.

Oh, and you use the word “I” too often. You’re selfish. “Oh I hope you share
your experiences!” I’ve never done that garbage, but I’ve known folks that had
no indication of any mental issues totally lose their minds and never recover.
Frame it however you want; had they not taken that poison, they wouldn’t have
had that experience and wouldn’t have ruined their lives. One can have no
indication of any mental hangups, dose on LSD in what they believe is a sound
state of mind and trustworthy set/setting, and never be the same thereafter,
for the far worse. It’s Russian Roulette for the mind.

There’s obvious survivorship bias here. Someone who lost their shit and ruined
their life likely isn’t posting on hacker news. And such forgotten acid
casualties are presumed to have already had pre existing issues by folks like
you, which is just more self serving nonsense. It’s part of the counter-
culture mental-tough-guy mentality. “Can you handle it?” “Yo that guy who went
nuts on acid was already crazy”. Well maybe, not in every case, but his brain
chemistry didn’t mix well with LSD.

People get damaged from that shit permanently (LSD) and there’s no way to know
in advance if that’s the case. Your “research” on that subject isn’t relevant
at all. You and the rest here are spreading dangerous information.

Check your ego, son. Your brain is fried. At the least I’m hoping this
response doesn’t get totally flagged. It’s personal to me, very much, when you
(and others, but you’re the worst offender in this thread) promote that poison
in a place where people lurking don’t understand the hippie underpinnings of
this community.

~~~
samiralajmovic
I think the down votes are due to you and the previous person attacking the
poster instead of his post. I think you present some valid points and they
would come through a lot better if you focused on them instead of attacking
the poster.

------
cairo_x
You can't get high from LSD by touching it. Albert is a liar. He nibbled some.

My theory is, he knew those in the know know that this is an impossible way to
get high, which is why he stuck with it (a crafty wink). He could have simply
said he got a little on his finger and touched his mouth, but he stuck with
the skin absorption story.

Just a little harmless tinfoil.

~~~
peg_leg
Perhaps with microgram amounts - common dosages. He was working with a huge
amount ... milligrams. The idea that a microgram may transmit transdermally is
not inconceivable at that amount.

~~~
bonesss
I'd also challenge the idea of an active scientist "getting things in his
mouth" or ingesting new chemical compounds for the heck of it (at doses almost
legendarily small compared to most drugs etc)...

Knowing that the compound is not dangerous or toxic handling some with the
hands, or improper inhalation, sounds reasonable. Being in the habit of
nibbling on your synthesized chemicals sounds kinda wonky.

Not to mention, there is no real motivation to lie here, unless Hofmann were a
routine imbiber of random chemicals and wanted to keep his dark secret. LSD
was legal at the time.

~~~
DanBC
> I'd also challenge the idea of an active scientist "getting things in his
> mouth" or ingesting new chemical compounds for the heck of it (at doses
> almost legendarily small compared to most drugs etc)...

We're talking about the 1940s, when things were a bit different.

See the history for saccharin, cyclamate, and aspartame for other examples of
accidental ingestion.

~~~
bonesss
Have any chemicals been ingested accidentally since 1940? Sure!

Are trained chemists with PhDs in the subject working with complex synthesis
and dangerous chemicals in the habit, from 1929 to present day, of putting
those things in their mouths? Awwww heck no.

And 1940 is near the point we cracked the atom... we knew oodles about
dangerous chemical and safe handling practices. Accidents will happen, but the
(speculative) fiction we are discussing here is Albert Hoffman intentionally
eating LSD and lying about it :)

\----

Saccharin, the oldest artificial sweetener, was accidentally discovered in
1879 by researcher Constantine Fahlberg -- Fahlberg was working with coal, and
had no PhD AFAICT.

Cyclamate was discovered in 1937 at the University of Illinois by graduate
student Michael Sveda. Sveda was working in the lab on the synthesis of anti-
fever medication. He put his cigarette down on the lab bench, and, when he put
it back in his mouth, he discovered the sweet taste of cyclamate -- a student,
smoking in his messy lab

Aspartame was discovered in 1965 by James M. Schlatter, a chemist working for
G.D. Searle & Company. Schlatter had synthesized aspartame as an intermediate
step in generating a tetrapeptide of the hormone gastrin, for use in assessing
an anti-ulcer drug candidate.[65] He discovered its sweet taste when he licked
his finger, which had become contaminated with aspartame, to lift up a piece
of paper -- an actual chemist, but working with something with a well known
composition and known to be relatively harmless

------
ncal
Imagine riding your bike home on acid in 1943.

------
INTPenis
I love reading his trip report, it really pulls you in.

But what irks me is the website. I opened it on my pixel c and started
reading, after about one paragraph the whole screen went dark.

I didn't understand why, checked my screen light level from the shortcut menu
but moved on thinking the light sensor was wack and wanting to keep reading.

Several paragraphs after the first image I see the damn pop up.

This frenzy of gathering email addresses under the guise of newsletters irks
me to no end.

~~~
joosters
I have this handy bookmark that will remove all top-level unmovable HTML on a
page. One click will generally remove all popups and banners that obstruct
viewing:

    
    
       javascript:(function()%7B(function%20()%20%7Bvar%20i%2C%20elements%20%3D%20document.querySelectorAll('body%20*')%3Bfor%20(i%20%3D%200%3B%20i%20%3C%20elements.length%3B%20i%2B%2B)%20%7Bif%20(getComputedStyle(elements%5Bi%5D).position%20%3D%3D%3D%20'fixed')%20%7Belements%5Bi%5D.parentNode.removeChild(elements%5Bi%5D)%3B%7D%7D%7D)()%7D)()
    

(I hope that doesn't get mangled by HN formatting)

For a tiny piece of javascript, it works amazingly well on so many websites.
Give it a try!

~~~
sillysaurus3
Here's my modified version of Kill Sticky:

    
    
      javascript:(function()%7B(function()%7Bdocument.body.style.overflow%20%3D%20'auto'%3B(function%20()%20%7Bvar%20i%2C%20elements%20%3D%20document.querySelectorAll('body%20*')%3Bfor%20(i%20%3D%200%3B%20i%20%3C%20elements.length%3B%20i%2B%2B)%20%7Bif%20(getComputedStyle(elements%5Bi%5D).position%20%3D%3D%3D%20'fixed')%20%7Belements%5Bi%5D.parentNode.removeChild(elements%5Bi%5D)%3B%7D%7D%7D)()%7D)()%7D)()
    

The nice part is that some websites do the stupid scroll block thing, where
you can't scroll even after removing the elements. This script undoes that.

I'll give yours a try too.

~~~
StavrosK
Would you like to share your version with
[https://twitter.com/alisdair](https://twitter.com/alisdair)? Maybe he'll
update his, as this is very useful.

------
AluminiumPoint
bicycle day is April 19 why is this published now?

~~~
benbreen
No reason beyond the fact that I thought it was interesting. I knew the basic
outlines of Hofmann's bicycle story but had never read the full account
before.

