Anti-Psychiatry
Albert Hofmann´s 100th Birthday
RIP Albert Hofmann died as a result of a heart attack on April 29, 2008 in the village of Burg im Leimental, near Basel, Switzerland. He was 102. Albert was due to speak at the World Psychedelic Forum from March 21 to March 24, 2008 but was forced to pull out due to poor health.
On the 11 January 2006, Dr. Albert Hofmann, the well-spoken inventor of the hallucinogen LSD celebrated his 100th Birthday, at a conference held in his honour in Switzerland. Since 19 April 1943, the day Swiss chemist Dr. Albert Hofmann discovered this psychoactive compound, millions of people from all over the world have used the unique substance LSD with profound and far-reaching insight; created innovative social transformation, music, art, and fashion; were healed from addiction, and depression; experienced enlightened persepectives into the human consciousness and were able to bring an energetic renewal of meaning to their lives.
By 1965, Dr. Hofmann was well aware of the potential of LSD to be of considerable aid in psychotherapy, and particularly under appropriate conditions to reveal the hidden aspects of human nature. Such a tool was sorely needed to counter what he felt were the painful deep-seated sociological causes of public interest: "..materialism, alienation from nature through industrialization and increasing urbanization, lack of satisfaction in professional employment in a mechanized, lifeless working world, ennui and purposelessness in wealthy, saturated society.."
You can no doubt imagine Dr. Hofmann's deep disappointment when his unique discovery was criminalised.
LSD : Explanation of the Three Most Misunderstood Letters in the History of Science
Lysergic acid diethylamide, abbreviated "LSD", is a derivative of ergot fungus which grows on cereals and grasses. It is potent in the microgram (the millionth part of a gram). The colorless LSD crystals have a mind-altering effect. The threshold dose for slight bodily and weak mental effects for most people is under 25 microgram; within therapeutical frameworks up to 850 microgram are used. A fatal LSD dose for humans is not known, although people have taken incredible amounts and survived. On the black market LSD mostly is sold in the form of paper trips ("blotter acid" or "tickets") which are usually 50-150 microgram, or as micro tablets containing between 50 and 250 microgramm of the active substance. Liquid acid available on the street usually contains around 150-250 microgram per drop. After taking LSD, it is absorbed by the body within one hour. Two hours later the LSD level in the blood – and with it its effect – is at a maximum. Generally the effect lasts about eight to twelve hours. Especially in the initial stage respiration, pulse rate, blood pressure, body temperature, and blood sugar level can be heightened; sometimes dizziness and a dazed feeling occur. These bodily side effects are of a temporal nature, however, they rarely have a negative effect.
Like mescaline and psilocybin, LSD belongs with the ‘psychedelic’ drugs. It differs from other psychoactive substances in many ways: even when used repeatedly over an extended period of time it is neither addictive, nor does it lead to any organic harm. The high it triggers is being experienced consciously. The feeling of effusive joy, profound inner freedom, and compassion. Feelings of being at ease with oneself and the world, of being free from limitations, being aware of reality and the presence of life.
Those experienced with LSD also report that memories of certain events become much clearer, and the imagination extremely vivid and capability to creatively associate images and thoughts intensifies. For many people the experience with LSD is so profound and confrontative that any avoidance or suppression are almost impossible. By it, a constructive and creative potential is being released which can transform a neurotic, psychotic, or addictive behavior, and make a permanent connection with natural life energy possible.
An LSD trip doesn’t always turn out pleasantly, however.
Risks include:
- acute panic reactions, triggered by particularly intense alterations of perception, by the re-experiencing of suppressed traumatic experiences, or by working oneself up into a crisis.
- "flashbacks": about 15% of LSD users report that minor drug effects return at least once, even without taking LSD again.
- "being stuck": with psychologically unstable ("ego-weak" persons, for instance), alterations of perception, unpleasant hallucinations, and other mental disorders might occur, which can last for quite some time.
- psychological crises: now and then temporary depressions, or paranoid and schizophrenic behavior patterns occurred with people after having ingested psychedelica. Whether these present a purely pharmocological effect of hallucinogenic drugs is doubtful, however. Possibly the consumption of drugs induced the outbreak of a crisis which, sooner or later, would have become manifest anyway.
Whether LSD has such negative effects depends decisively on the personality structure of the person in question, of his or her predominant and momentary state of mind, and the environment. When all of these conditions are favorable there are (or such is the opinion of experienced users, therapists, and researchers) hardly any risks.
Afternote: In December 2007, Swiss medical authorities permitted a psychotherapist to perform psychotherapeutic experiments with patients who suffer from terminal stage cancer and other deadly diseases. Although not yet started, these experiments will represent the first study of the therapeutic effects of LSD on humans in 35 years, as other studies have focused on the drug's effects on consciousness and body. Hofmann supported the study, and continued to believe in the therapeutic benefits of LSD.