Wow! Talk about synergy and synchronicity man! It's like the stars aligned in just the most cosmic of fashions, and the universe opened its soul for all of us to step inside. It was right there for all to see too, in that most uptight of places The Globe And Mail on line today.
There they were; like an invitation from the cosmos to remind us of how to open our minds and bare our souls; two articles from two different countries working in conjunction. First, there was the man who started it all. I mean, he unlocked the secret of the stars for us over in Switzerland, and he, Albert Hoffman, turned one hundred yesterday.
Now here's the real mind-boggling thing; at the same time the grandfather is being celebrated, the original vehicle of consciousness expansion is being resurrected. Can you dig it! Ken Kesey's original School Bus is being restored and put back on the road.
That's right, the vehicle that carried the Merry Pranksters across the old U.S.A from 1964 to 1969; spreading the truth about truth, and teaching us to expand our minds, has risen from the dead. It made its last trip to Woodstock in 69, and then was laid to rest. In 1990 it was given its final reward and pushed into the swamp out back of the Kesey farm where it could finally achieve pure oneness with mother earth.
Those of us who never experienced "being on the bus", but only read about it through the eyes of Tom Wolfe in Electric Kool Aid Acid Test, still most likely think of the bus named "Furthur"(as it was misspelt on the bus) as our initiation to the psychedelic. With the most famous driver in literature at the wheel, Neil Cassidy, (the real life basis for Dean Moriarty in Jack Kerouac's On The Road) and a fridge full of LSD spiked drinks, they set out to film themselves and America.
Dr. Hoffman discovered Lysergic acid diethylamide-25 (LSD) in 1938 while he was experimenting with the medicinal properties of a fungus. It wasn't until 1943 that he accidentally became the first human subject for testing. He spilt three drops on a finger during a laboratory test and experienced the first trip. He also experienced the first bummer (bad trip) a few days later when he deliberately ingested a larger amount.
Due to the drug's ability to exaggerate inner problems and conflicts, bad trips are usually a reflection of some inner conflict or problem. What Dr. Hoffman hoped was the drug would be useful as a means of treating and diagnosing psychiatric ailments like schizophrenia, and never foresaw it having a recreational potential.
Article comments
1 - Winq
Look, LSD has been written about for so long that allowing so many Urban Legends into an article, esp. with the Web and Google, is unacceptable.
There have been studies of heavy users of LSD with every type of mental and/or physical disorder (M.S., Alzheimers, etc. just look them up) and there's never been a single paper that's proven any rate of correlation, not even close. A friend with M.S. has it because they have it and we'll soon know it's a genetic probem from the Genome Project and that LSD has nothing to do with it.
Then there's the clincher - Strychnine? Not only is that not a part of the composition of LSD, but even if it was, it couldn't be delivered in the doses. LSD doses are supplied in micrograms (millionths of a gram, LSD being one if not the most psychoactive chemical for the smallest dose we know of) and the strychine molecule itself is far too huge to fit through any pippet or device that delivered micrograms. It's that simple - a straw is good at delivering water, and you've not going to suck up a basketball through it.
This article is just a rehash of all the same generalities and offers nothing new except to perpetuate the same old Urban Legends. If LSD is so dangerous, why is one user suffering from M.S. but Dr. Hoffman, who's taken it far more many time I'm sure, is living happily and healthy at 100 years old? Perhaps exercise, living close to nature, staying away from toxic foods and water?
Take a look at some of the literature about SSRIs that is finally being published, showing many people are actually worse off on them, much more likely to attempt suicide, etc. What's with the naive belief that a drug developed by a company and "tested" by the FDA is so very much safer than one that occurs naturually? Common sense might dictate the other way around...
2 - GoHah
Tune in, turn on, drop dead; the road to hippie hell is paved with good vibrations. Brown acid and brain damage combine with the darker, violent side of human nature. Blissed-out bacchanalian love-ins and cosmic consciousness teeter into full-totter bad karma and choking-on-your-own-vomit bummerdom. Before you know whether it's tomorrow or just the end of time, the Woodstock nation's freak-flag is at half-mast and you've helter-skeltered into your own private LSD-is-groovy-kill-the-pigs Altamont.
3 - Elvira Black
Ah, gypsyman, you're giving me flashbacks, and I never even tripped, not even once--lol!
Being a younger baby boom cohort, I came of age (high school and college) during the seventies rather than the sixties. I was, however, old enough to be aware of hippies, acid, and the Summer of Love.
My seventies experience was akin to a countercultural aftershock--definitely a lot of sex, drugs, and rock and roll--the latter including punk, disco (ugh), art rock, progressive rock, guitar god rock, and so on. Not a bad time to be young and reckless, all in all.
I didn't know that Kesey volunteered for those drug experiements. I'd be scared to death to do something like that, so I guess he was pretty ballsy and/or broke.
I also shudder when I think of the military personnel who were also guinea pigs in the testing of LSD, or so I've heard. I think perhaps he government thought it might be useful as a truth serum (or even an instrument of psychological torture?) But definitely don't quote me on that.
Let me just add that Tom Wolfe (sp?) is a brilliant soul, and one of the guiding lights of the "New Journalism" which blossomed so beautifully in the 70s.
Great piece--really brought me back. Let the sunshine...let the sunshine in...
4 - MSspiral
I know this article is long forgotten but I found it because I have MS and I used psychotropic drugs heavily in my teens and early 20's. I think there IS a connection between the two.
No, not everyone who uses psychoactive drugs will develop neurological disorders an likewise not every one with a neurological disorder has a connection with psychotropics.
I just know that people in my MS circle have admitted some sort of recreational use of drugs that affect the brain activity in a hallucinogenic way.
So, Wing, I find your comment offensive and unfounded.
Until you have scientific evidence, do not act like a know-it-all.
5 - LP
MSspiral,
I have MS too (haven't had any shoops for quite a while now thanks to Rebif) and I'm thinking about trying LSD for the first time. Do you think it's safe to do or should I really stay away from it?
Thanks in advance