Behavior Changes and Side Effects in LSD Users Essay

In the sixties, the psychedelic music scene was at its prime and the world was full of hippie musicians that loved to drop acid and create some of the most interesting and innovative music known to man. During this time, drugs were a very popular part of the hippie culture and the prevalence of LSD helped to create the distinct genre of psychedelic music known as psychedelic or acid rock. Many bands and artists such as Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, The Beatles, and The Byrds were heavily influenced by LSD, which led to the creation of some very popular music. This decade was full of adventure, music, sex, and drugs, and it was all made possible due to this powerfully trippy drug.

LSD has potential medical and therapeutic uses. Even though LSD 's illegalization caused a drastic

A new wave study on hallucinogens, and other mind-altering substances, was organized to address whether these

Throughout human history people have sought experiences that somehow transcend every day life. Some sort of wisdom that might progress their knowledge of self and of the world that they live in. For some reason they believed that the tangible world just could not be all there is to life. Some believed in a greater force that controlled them, some believed of invisible beings that influenced their lives, some of an actual other world that paralleled their own. Many of these people also believed that it was possible to catch a glimpse of these forces, beings, or worlds through a variety of means that propel individuals into altered states of consciousness. These techniques include

Since the 20th century, many medical professionals and researchers have been attempting to utilize psychedelic drugs in psychological illnesses treatments. In many testing cases, these psychedelic drugs were having hallucination effects on the patients. For examples, psychedelic drugs such as LSD and methoxamine are capable of changing a person’s moods, feelings, or even behaviors in either positive or negative ways. However, after decades of restriction on psychedelic drugs in 1960s, hallucinogens have been researched constantly in order to find a proper ways to utilize them in medicine. In other words, medical experts have been testing these drugs occasionally on patients, raising questions about medical ethics as a result. For instance, various patients reported to experience drug addiction, violent or suicidal thoughts, and physical syndromes such as coma, seizures, or loss of muscular coordination. Therefore, not only the testing of psychedelic drugs causes ethical debates, but the use of these drugs in general also questions whether they should be used in medicine at all.

After World War II ended, the age of baby-booming and urban sprawling began. During this time, many American soldiers came home from the war; married, and had five or six children. This created the largest generation ever. Could this new generation change the social world of America? In 1964, most of the baby-boomer's children were in their late teens. This was the beginning of a major social change in the United States. With the birth of rock-n-roll not far in the past, and a growing liberalism of the normally conservative American Society, it is no wonder that a powerful hallucinogenic drug called LSD gained so much popularity.

The researchers conducted their study at the alcoholic unit of the New Jersey Neuro-Psychiatric Institute at Princeton, New Jersey. Participants were recruited by offering patients admitted to the institute the opportunity to take part in the experimental LSD program. A total of 28 alcoholics were admitted to the program, and their results were compared to that of a group of 34 alcoholics who took part in a standard comparison program provided by the Alcoholic Unit. Details about the patients were recorded such as their ethnic background, age, and marital status. Subjects were placed into groups of four. The first week was structured as an orientation week, and at the end of the week, two of the members were randomly chosen to be administered

The first experiment that was done with human subjects was agreeing on being apart of the study by signing a consent form. The human subjects that volunteered to be apart of this study were given hallucinogenic drugs. After completing the experiment, the human subjects, who were volunteer prisoners at a rehabilitation center in Kentucky, got addicted to some of the drugs that were being tested and “as a reward far participation in the program, the addicts were provided with the drugs of their addiction” (“94TH Congress…”). During the CIA’s research they tested several subjects using another drug that is known as LSD. They wanted to use LSD to be able to control the bodies of their enemies. They also used the drugs to develop ways to kill or disable their enemies, specifically the Soviets during the Cold War. The CIA wanted to use these mind controlling drugs because the Soviets were using them against their own enemies. The CIA said that “there is ample evidence in the reports of innumerable interrogations that the communists were utilizing drugs, physical duress, electric shock, and possibly hypnosis against their enemies” (“94TH Congress…”). The CIA began testing the LSD drug on human subjects without their consent “in normal settings by undercover officers of Bureau of Narcotics acting for the CIA” (“94TH Congress…”). The CIA tested the human subjects who did not consent in order to see if LSD was

Psychedelics have become so common in America that 8% of high school seniors report having used LSD [Nation 1]. LSD is also known as “acid,” is a chemical compound lysergic acid diethylamide. The effects range from an altered state of reality to strong visual hallucinations. LSD first became popular in the 1960’s, seemingly overnight. Because it was such a new drug, it remained legal until 1966 [Riser]. Many thought of acid as a spiritual aid, and used it to meditate. It was often compared to the drugs peyote and mescaline that were used in Native American religious ceremonies [Riser]. During this time period there were social reforms taking place all over the country.

Charles would hypnotize people by cutting down their egos and telling them to listen to his word without question. When his followers were brain-washed he could command them to do or listen to anything he wanted them to. (Manson) Why does LSD affect the brain in this dramatic way? " Simply put, it profoundly alters and expands consciousness by loosening or -- at higher doses -- completely erasing the normal filters and screens between your conscious mind and the outside world" (LSD Effects). It easy to see how Manson was able to find the evil within everyone of his followers and exploit it with the use of

For thousands of years people have spoke of all types of visions. Whether the visions were from religious groups, Indian tribes, or self proclaimed prophets; all types of people have seen things. This was more than likely occurring with the help of different types of hallucinogens. Hallucinogens have been around since the beginning of time. Some mushrooms, cactus flowers, and even different types of mold are all able to produce hallucinogenic effects. However, it was only within the last century that man actually started to produce his own. LSD, or lysergic acid diethylamide-25, is a relatively new substance in society. All known effects show LSD, or acid, as the harmful drug most people know it as. There are people who believe

A Swiss chemist named Dr. Albert Hoffman first produced lysergic acid Diethylmide –or best known as LSD in 1938 (Dye, 1992, p. 2). Hoffman discovered the drug while trying to synthesize a new drug for the treatment of headaches. He obtained the lysergic acid from the parasitic fungus that grows on rye plants known as ergot. From the lysergic acid, he synthesized the compound LSD. He used the compound to test for its pain killing properties on laboratory animals. Being that appeared totally ineffective, the bottle of LSD was placed on a shelf and remained untouched for five years.

An individual’s behavior and emotion becomes chemically altered often resulting in dependency, aggression, onset of diseases and poor judgement. This poses a dangerous threat to the neurotransmitters since they have multiple jobs in different parts of the brain. Drugs of abuse are able to exert influence over the brain reward pathway either by directly influencing the action of dopamine within the system, or by altering the activity of other neurotransmitters that exert a modulatory influence over this pathway. These drugs are often powerful and have been known to trigger schizophrenic behavior and can also cause a person to cease breathing, for example hallucinogens such as LSD, mescaline, and psilocybin are able to artificially stimulate the serotonin receptor (Sapolsky, 2005).

It is such effects as the latter, synaesthesia, which introduces the cons and explicit dangers of ingesting a hallucinogenic drug. This is particularly mentioned when regarding the use of lysergic acid diethylamide, commonly known as LSD or acid. LSD is rather infamous in the hallucinogenic drug world, known to induce extremely convincing hallucinations. Unlike ayahuasca, a hallucinogen that is discussed below, there have been many cases individuals using LSD and never properly recovering. This is evident in not only LSD users, but all hallucinogenic drugs. When an individual consumes a hallucinogenic substance, they run the risk of aspects of a specific trip reoccurring at later times that can last for years, even when in a completely sober state (Vale, 2007). This, of course, is a negative aspect of participating in recreational use of LSD, as it can happen to an individual even if they experiment with the drug once and once only. Hallucinogens have the power to not only alter conscious perception of surroundings when a person is sober, but also have the power to inflict grave physical harm when taken in large, pure amounts. Such harm includes complications regarding blood platelets, muscular twitches and tremors, respiratory arrest and uncontrolled seizures (Vale, 2007).

Bob presented many of his self-visualized problems in our first session, and became somewhat sad while doing so. Bob indicated that he thought that he could reasonably complete his time in counseling after between 10 and 15 sessions, so it was agreed upon that we would function under the assumption that we would complete 12. In our first session, Bob described his experience with LSD in great detail, and indicated that this is the only cause of his anxiety that he could think of. He had trouble beginning to speak about his family life, however after a little encouragement, he was able to speak