
LSD helps to treat alcoholism - gruseom
http://www.nature.com/news/lsd-helps-to-treat-alcoholism-1.10200
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zcid
LSD is also known for it's use in treating migraines (about a 1/4 of a
recreational dose is effective). I used to keep a supply for this purpose as I
was unable to afford the prescription drugs that provide me relief.
Unfortunately, LSD carries such a heavy penalty that I no longer do this and
usually just shut myself in a dark room for a day or two when I get migraines.
I'm lucky that I get them very rarely as opposed to those that get them
monthly or even weekly.

I remember a short blurb in a Cary Grant [auto?]biography about his use of the
drug in therapy and how it changed his life and perspective for the better.

It bothers me that a drug like this is so demonized that its possible
therapeutic values are almost completely ignored. I know that there are some
researchers still doing work in the area, but they are very few due to the
huge legal obstacles at the federal levels.

I see this as just one more area where prohibition has harmed us. It's so sad
that science has become subject to government after so many hundreds of years
working to free it from the yoke of religion.

Edit: BTW, LSD is listed as a Schedule I drug (the most serious according to
US law) and is listed with other such threats as MDMA, heroin, and mankind's
worst enemy: Marijuana. It also carries a life sentence in federal prison upon
a second trafficking offense.

~~~
samstave
It is demonized as it wakes the user up to the bullshit of the system. If you
see the universe in all its natural glory, you flatly reject the idea that you
should pay fealty to the faulty systems of corrupt humans.

LSD is illegal because it creates more Humanity in humans, Humanity which is
more closely connected with reality.

~~~
drewblaisdell
This sentiment is so romantic that I almost chose not to reply about how
inaccurate it is.

~~~
tlb
When the military tested cannabis and LSD on soldiers, it made them lose
discipline indefinitely. They probably thought of it more as "turning them
into hippies" than "waking them up to the bullshit", but either way they
didn't like it.

Prohibition makes a lot of sense from the point of view of an army that might
need to draft a lot of men and make good soldiers out of them quickly.

~~~
gdubs
Funny, a Liberal Arts education can have a similar effect on people. Bell
Telephone ran a program where managers were given a humanities education, and
by the end of it most of them wanted to work less and spend more time with
their families:

<http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/16/opinion/16davis.html>

Maybe I should post this to "new", it's a pretty interesting article; slightly
off topic here.

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jdc
This is my understanding of the schedule I drugs: they're listed as schedule I
because they're not medically usable, and they're not medically usable because
they're listed as schedule I.

~~~
rms
You got it! Except it's a bit confounded because a few of the schedule 1 drugs
really, truly aren't medically usable because they are trumped by substances
proven to be less harmful.

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quattrofan
So yet another "illegal" drug that could have been improving/saving countless
lives for years needlessly prevented from being used by idiot US
prohibitionists.

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sneak
LSD helps with just about everything.

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rjurney
Morphine cured alcohlism in 1817. Cocaine cured morphine addiction in 1884.
LSD cured alcoholism in 1960.

Detect the pattern.

~~~
munchhausen
The destructive consequences of alcohol or morphine addiction are in no small
regard caused by the fact that it's possible to indulge in the drug daily, and
therefore it is easy to completely lose yourself in the cycle of drug use.

This problem does not occur with LSD, since LSD tolerance builds up incredibly
fast. It is simply not practical to use it more often than once a week, and
even this frequency is unusual with most users, since longer periods of
abstinence between trips have a very direct and positive influence on the
quality of the experience. Most regular users are very well aware of this, and
their usage patterns reflect this fact.

There is no pattern to be found in what you described, since LSD is a
dramatically different kind of drug compared to the other two you mentioned.

~~~
rjurney
Taking acid once a week will do bad things to you. Worse than morphine.

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rjurney
LSD is amazing stuff in that it makes bullshit real, thus expanding the mind's
ability to waste time.

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itmag
On a similar note, has anyone here had success getting therapeutic effect from
MDMA?

~~~
rdl
There's the MAPS MDMA study.

I'm also personally familiar with several (> 10) people who used MDMA to treat
depression (other than PTSD), both independent of conventional psychotherapy
and in a few cases in conjunction with it (by telling the doctor after
independently dosing; since he's an MD he has a duty to care for the patient
even if he's "on an illegal drug" at the time, but isn't at personal legal
risk).

I would consider the long-term risks of 1-5 doses of MDMA over a year FAR
lower than the side effects of prescribed antidepressants or other psychiatric
medications on an ongoing or permanent basis. (I'm not a doctor, though. Just
going based on observation of a not statistically significant number in both
groups.)

~~~
itmag
Interesting. What are your thoughts on how to make sure what you're getting is
actually MDMA and not rat poison or something? Or is this concern just
baseless media hysteria?

~~~
_exec
You can buy a testing kit online.

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jwco
According to the Wikipedia article on LSD, the US DEA claims that the drug
among other things "produces...no lasting positive effect in treating
alcoholics."

The TSA chimed in, noting that LSD also produces no safeguard against "things
that go BOOM!"

~~~
jwco
Just to be clear, the first comment was not a joke:
"[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lysergic_acid_diethylamide#Pote...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lysergic_acid_diethylamide#Potential_uses)

------
sammanual
heck I'd rather take a 'trip' with one little pill then have to down 3L of
anything (outside of Maotai - 375ml's enough)

------
jdub
Can't help thinking, "There's a hole in my bucket, dear Liza, dear Liza..."
;-)

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jostmey
Burn the house to kill the termites?

~~~
lightcatcher
Not at all actually. LSD seems to quite a safe drug, and I'm beginning to
question why it is illegal. Alcohol on the other hand seems to be much more
dangerous.

This graph of active dose to lethal dose ratio and dependence risk serves as a
fairly good measure for the risk of various drugs in my opinion:
[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a5/Drug_dan...](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a5/Drug_danger_and_dependence.svg)

~~~
rjurney
Temporary insanity is viewed as dangerous. LSD is a particularly harsh
substance, so on the scale of psychedelics... I would legalize it right before
PCP.

~~~
radu_floricica
Evidence based dear sir... evidence based. We don't really want to start
legalizing drugs based on subjective perception, we want to start having
studies and publishing numbers, and make decisions based on them.

~~~
rjurney
True. I'm basing this on outcomes in my peer group.

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shareme
Secrets of LSD...

Are you ready for this?

When humans and most mammals give birth the female body produces a drug that
produces psychedelic effects as a counter to pain of child birth on the baby.

And guess what? That replay of effects is what we call the illusion of near
death experiences that some experience later in life..

Is not the biological machine fascinating? :)

~~~
sev
Just to clarify, the drug is produced to counter the pain that the baby feels
or the pain that the mother feels?

Also, I'm very curious about this...is there a source I can read that you know
of?

~~~
disgruntledphd2
There's some evidence that ketamine, at least is released in near death
experiences. Having taken ketamine twice, this is not something that I wish to
happen to me. I wouldn't be surprised if it happened in chidbirth also, but I
don't know of any evidence pointing towards that.

[http://scholar.google.co.uk/scholar?q=ketamine+and+near+deat...](http://scholar.google.co.uk/scholar?q=ketamine+and+near+death+experience&hl=en&btnG=Search&as_sdt=1%2C5&as_sdtp=on)

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orbitingpluto
I know this is the type of comment that gets downvoted, but when I first saw
the article title I thought, "Isn't that nice of the Mormon church."

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rjurney
I wonder how many of those alcoholics moved on to psychedelics after treatment
:)

You guys are downvoting me, but at the time addiction and alcoholism were
considered separate phenomenon. Psychedelics being new, nobody predicted the
1970s and burnt out hippies, thus the study doesn't seem to take into account
alcoholics becoming drug addicts.

~~~
INTPenis
Good point if you've grown up around addicts you'll know that it's VERY common
for them to simply substitute one drug for another.

In the lucky cases they substitute meth with alcohol, tobacco and coffee but I
could totally picture someone going for cannabis, LSD instead of alcohol.

Essentially, it's a psychological thing and it's rarely about the substance
itself. LSD is just a replacement for the god experience.

However I'd take this opportunity to recommend the documentary Ibogaine - A
rite of passage.

~~~
itmag
What can you tell me about Ibogaine? Mind telling me more? :)

~~~
geoffw8
Hey - put it into Google scholar search. Essentially, around 100 addicts take
the substance while trying to get off of heroin, most of them never get a
withdrawal symptom from Heroin, and are off it. Some go straight back to
Heroin and a guy dies, I think.

They draw plenty of conclusions, you'll see if you do that Google search.

~~~
itmag
Yeah I know what it is. I was wondering if you had some personal experience?
:)

~~~
geoffw8
Hey, no, sorry. No experience of either substance.

