
LSD Chemist William Pickard to Be Released from Prison - miles
https://www.psymposia.com/magazine/william-leonard-pickard-lsd/
======
pmoriarty
The _Psychedelic Salon_ podcast did a long reading of Pickard's novel, _The
Rose of Paraselsus_ , which included an introduction which went in to
Pickard's background.

It's well worth listening to.

The first episode of the series can be heard here: [1],[2]

[1] - [https://psychedelicsalon.com/podcast-609-the-rose-garden-
int...](https://psychedelicsalon.com/podcast-609-the-rose-garden-
introduction/)

[2] - Direct link to the mp3:
[https://media.blubrry.com/psychedelic_salon/archive.org/down...](https://media.blubrry.com/psychedelic_salon/archive.org/download/609TheRoseOfParaselsus001/609-TheRoseOfParaselsus-001.mp3)

~~~
Alex3917
Thanks for the link. Haven't listen to that podcast in many years, but am
excited for this. It's funny that his style of thinking and writing is clearly
kind of similar to Nick Sand, if you've listened to the previous episodes with
him.

------
newbie789
This is delightful news. I really hope in the coming decades the research of
organizations like MAPS get more attention and become completely mainstream.

Making psychedelics Schedule 1 set us back decades that could have been spent
doing important research on a large number of mental health conditions.

~~~
rdmirza
MAPS (multidisciplinary association of psychedelic studies) is systematically
demonstrating the positive effects of psychedelics.

Their most impressive work is in PTSD. In Phase 2 trials, they took people
with established PTSD (for years) and undertook ~3 guided psychotherapy
sessions with MDMA. Within 2 months, 53% no longer met criteria for PTSD and
at 12 months 68% didn't.

Far more efficacious that anything else we have. Powerful tool for psychologic
healing.

~~~
chmod775
What about the control groups in those trials? How many people?

Hard to tell how effective the treatment is with nothing to compare to.

~~~
MacsHeadroom
22% in the drug-free therapy control groups. It's a pretty major difference.

Psychedelics work at changing the mind and they work astonishingly well,
provided their consumption accompanies skilled counseling.

[https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00213-019-05249-5](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00213-019-05249-5)

------
throwaway9955
For those that want LSD but not have to be a criminal I recommend trying 1-P
LSD which has the functional class of LSD without being illegal in most
countries, happy tripping. If you're on the wall about trying it micro dose
and work your way up to something functional.

~~~
dr_dshiv
Is the effect exactly the same or somewhat different?

~~~
luckylion
Very close / the same in my experience. I've never had the exact same effect
even from two doses of LSD from the same sheet, much less different producers,
but 1p-lsd was just fine and felt the same to me.

I bought a bit before it was put on the controlled substances list in my
country. A good demonstration that legal LSD doesn't end the world: it was
legal, it was LSD, the world didn't end!

~~~
bookofjoe
>I've never had the exact same effect even from two doses of LSD from the same
sheet...

As a retired neurosurgical anesthesiologist (38 years) who has never taken LSD
or any psychedelic/psychoactive substance, I found your observation very
thought provoking.

More likely than not, the LSD on each unit on a given sheet is chemically
identical.

Therefore, the only variables are 1) the amounts in each dose, and 2) the
substrate on which the drug will act (i.e., your brain at a given instant is —
on the whole — the same, but functionally totally different from second to
second as pathways activate and connect).

I would therefore hypothesize that, more likely than not, most if not all
individuals who have a strong response to a given dose of LSD will have
different responses to repeated doses from the same sheet.

I'm hoping people who've taken LSD will school me.

~~~
Strom
I think it's important to differentiate between the effect of LSD and the
experience of the subject. The effect is always the same (for the same dose)
but the experience is different. The differences in experience come because
LSD is just a modifier on your perception and thoughts. Thus you can only have
the same experience if you repeat the same sensory inputs and thoughts - which
is pretty much impossible.

------
eindiran
There was an article several years ago in Vice which mentioned him:
[https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/nndz9z/life-is-a-
cosmic-g...](https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/nndz9z/life-is-a-cosmic-
giggle-803-v18n5)

~~~
sybarita
Please read this, Krystle is an evil person
[https://thislandpress.com/2013/07/28/subterranean-
psychonaut...](https://thislandpress.com/2013/07/28/subterranean-psychonaut/)

~~~
tdeck
Any kind of TL;DR for this? It's quite a commitment to read.

~~~
masklinn
According to the testimony of Brandon Green (the victim), Cole actively
participated in his torture and mutilation alongside Skinner, she apparently
even paid Green's rent in advance so nobody would look too hard for him. The
case is really fucked up: [https://caselaw.findlaw.com/ok-court-of-criminal-
appeals/125...](https://caselaw.findlaw.com/ok-court-of-criminal-
appeals/1251267.html)

She got off basically scot-free (she's on youtube and IG) because she most
likely snitched, and it probably helped that she was a young white woman.

Not that Skinner doesn't deserve everything bad that could happen to him, he
was the main torturer of Green, and a DEA informant and the reason Pickard got
caught, and got life.

------
kanobo
Ironically if prisons in the US were actually for rehabilitation, LSD therapy
could help some.

~~~
retreatguru
This should be at the top. There is so much truth to this!

------
stormdennis
People like the DEA and the FBI can just make up statistics to make themselves
look good and they're reported as fact. The drugs seized had a street value of
N million dollars, the supply of LSD went down 95% after his arrest. Good job
DEA

~~~
intricatedetail
Is this comment sarcastic? What is good about this "job"?

~~~
icelancer
>> Is this comment sarcastic

yes

------
smabie
For some reasons the feds in the 90s were unusually interested in prosecuting
psychedelics. I'm of the opinion that all drugs should be legal, but even if I
wasn't, I think I would still question why LSD manufacturers were getting such
long sentences around that time. Never really made sense to me.

~~~
zelly
To make an example out of them and discourage others, prevent a cottage
industry from forming. LSD manufacturing scales immensely. One lone wolf could
create enough LSD to serve the whole United States demand, maybe even the
global demand. LSD is also harder to manufacture. You generally need at least
a MS degree and lab experience. The people who fit that profile tend to think
about the future enough to respond to the possibiliy of a life sentence.

~~~
kitteh
You also need precursors (like ET) which is difficult to get. Though China is
a pretty good source if you can pull it off (and for other things like
safrole, etc.).

~~~
d33
What's ET? It's pretty difficult for me to Google this acronym given that it
mostly finds "et al" when I couple this with LSD queries. Is it ergotamine
from the other subthreads here?

~~~
a2h
Ergotamine Tartrate.

Interestingly, ET is used to treat cluster headaches and migraines.

~~~
zelly
LSD treats cluster headaches, for some people permanently:

[https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2011/06/lsd-alleviates-
suici...](https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2011/06/lsd-alleviates-suicide-
headaches)

~~~
detritus
As does Psilocybin in Magic Mushrooms. Back when we used to sell the stuff
(UK, 2005 or so), we had a small 'lab' (a grand term) run by someone who
suffered serious cluster headaches and had gotten involved with us through our
selling of 'shrooms.

We used to sell to quite a few people who similarly suffered from the
condition, and used mushrooms to treat it - but it was an impossible thing for
us to market or advertise, due to the way the MHRA (Medicines and Health
Regulatory Agency) dictates what beneficial claims can be stated about
retailed items.

\- ed typo, grammar

------
3131s
[http://freeleonardpickard.org/Skinner-
Timeline.html](http://freeleonardpickard.org/Skinner-Timeline.html)

------
kitteh
He got a raw deal. People around him who were pretty evil got off.

------
braindead_in
He is gonna love his first trip once he's out. Respect.

------
non-entity
Jesus 2 life sentences for manufacturing LSD? Wonder what people were getting
for drugs that actually kill people.

~~~
masklinn
As zelly notes below the US has mandatory life sentence for certain amounts of
drug production. Under 21 USC § 848(b), a life sentence is automatic for the
principal administrator of a "continuing criminal enterprise" involving in
excess of 300 times the quantities listed at 21 USC § 841(b)(1)(B), which for
LSD would be (v):

> 1 gram or more of a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of
> lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD)

By all accounts, Pickard had produced _kilos_ of LSD.

Not defending the life sentence (let alone two concurrently), but it's a
logical consequence of the US's fucked up laws & sentencing guidelines.

> Wonder what people were getting for drugs that actually kill people.

Depends, were they "black" of "leftist" drugs that "actually kill people"? I
don't think anyone got jailed over leaded gas.

~~~
andrepd
Reminder that leaded gas is still in use.

~~~
Enginerrrd
In the US? Not really. Its sale is banned for use in cars. Wikipedia says
there are a few exceptions for aircraft, farm equipment, and marine engines,
but even in those fields I've never heard of it being used. It's also been
pretty much phased out worldwide with a few tiny exceptions. What exactly are
you referring to?

~~~
tonyarkles
100LL is still a super common aviation fuel. It has a relatively low amount of
tetra-ethyl lead, it it’s there.

------
melenaboija
I found this video with some opinions about the case. I would say it is biased
but I though it was interesting.

[https://youtu.be/Ly6Zn1a-Xc0](https://youtu.be/Ly6Zn1a-Xc0)

------
rv-de
if the drug legalization momentum keeps up in the US, he might be back in
business one day - which would be awesome. psilos are great and all but LSD
brings the right amount of fun to tripping in my experience.

------
nlh
I found this line from the article particularly interesting:

“The court concluded that the 20 years served are sufficient for meeting the
goals of incapacitation, deterrence, retribution, and rehabilitation.”

Deterrence and rehabilitation (yeah, right) I knew were “goals” of the US
prison system, but I never realized that “incapacitation” and “retribution”
were actual legally-stated goals.

~~~
aspenmayer
Maybe _we’re_ the bad guys?

~~~
jhardy54
Only if you don't fight it. :~)

------
bennysonething
Twenty years!? Assuming he was non violent that is an absolutely brutal
sentence.

~~~
mhh__
But drugs ruin lives!

------
shitgoose
Two life sentences. Barbaric.

------
baron816
Government policy: prevent people from ruining their lives with drugs by
ruining it for them with prison.

~~~
marcrosoft
There should be no victimless crimes! This man made a product that others
willingly wanted for themselves. There are no victims here.

This can be applied to seatbelts, helmet laws, etc.

~~~
sandworm101
>> This man made a product that others willingly wanted for themselves. There
are no victims here

People may think LSD or cocaine is all well and good, but there are far more
dangerous substances out there. Things like Carfentanil need to be regulated.
So too all the so-called "date rape" drugs. Just because some guy _wants_ a
powerful, tasteless, anesthetic that can be readily dissolved in water doesn't
mean we should let him have it. Even if it has personal uses, the danger of
such substances means they need controls.

~~~
marcrosoft
Control the action by the bad actor, not the drug. This same thinking was
applied to LSD. “What if they put LSD in the water supply!”

~~~
teawrecks
How do you feel about the correlation between access to guns and an increased
suicide rate?

~~~
marcrosoft
Again, control (attempt to help) the actor and not the means.

------
intricatedetail
Government comitted crime against humanity. Suppression of research and
freedom is unforgivable.

~~~
thinkingemote
He wasn't doing research.

~~~
ethanbond
But all of his customers were :)

Only being half humorous here.

------
082349872349872
Pertaining to previous psychedelic prosecution:

The NYT OCR game is weak: [https://www.nytimes.com/1971/12/30/archives/swiss-
reject-ple...](https://www.nytimes.com/1971/12/30/archives/swiss-reject-plea-
by-us-for-return-of-timothy-leary.html)

In 1971 reaction GIFs had very few frames; I believe this is Leary after the
decision: [https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/EfA-
aysZvcNpE84iYc8A...](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/EfA-
aysZvcNpE84iYc8A217CN77cpuzPdlZjNSozRzxDQV0wqAS4kYRm6BZFf_qqehwIVUVlLH4QfNTEPJk)

