Ergot Poisoning Essay

LSD has many effects on the body moreover the mind for example “An hour later Stanley thought he had gone insane. His head was filled with terrifying visions and his body seemed to tumble through time and space. Then his mind snapped and sent him into a frenzy of rage. According to Linda Hunt, "They told me the next day that I broke down the door and ran down the hall screaming," Stanley

Lysergic Acid Diethylamide or LSD is a hallucinogenic drug that can be taken orally, injected or even absorbed through the skin. Once LSD has entered the body, it starts to take effects on the levels of serotonin in the brain which can cause; hallucinations, mood change, and even sensory distortion. After taking LSD, the effects on the brain usually last from 6 to 9 hours depending on multiple factors; the dosage of LSD taken, the subject taking LSD, and even the user 's mood can affect the duration of LSD use. LSD is a non-lethal, non-addictive, and a non-habit forming drug that has little to no effect on the long-term health of an individual. However, LSD has been illegal since the 1960 's. Not only did availability of LSD become scarce with the criminalization of the substance, but the legislation also put a halt on the research of the chemical as well. Much of the way LSD interacts with the brain has been left unknown. This derivative from the rye fungus Ergot has been the source of controversy that has left many people wondering why LSD has been classified as a drug that is just as dangerous to use as heroin. It becomes difficult for an individual to understand how legislation could criminalize a chemical without completely understanding how it functions and affects people. LSD should be legalized for scientific, medical and recreational usage.

     The modern world’s first glimpse into the world of psychedelics was through d-lysergic acid diethylamide, or LSD. LSD was first synthesized in 1938 by two Swiss chemists from the alkaloid lysergic acid found in ergot, a parasitic fungus that grows on rye and other grains. Five years later, on April 19, 1943 Albert Hoffman, one of LSD’s co-discoverers

Ergot can affect any part of the body in both people and animals and can cause problems in any body system, known or unknown. The symptoms can range from mental to physical distresses, such as extreme confusion and hallucinations to convulsions and crippling loss of movement (Bonnet & Basson, 2004). While LSD is not addictive, it can do damage similar to, but not as extensive as, the plant of its origin, ergot.

At first, Hoffman doubted whether he had accidentally poisoned himself with the LSD. Days later, he decided to voluntarily intoxicate himself with 250 micrograms of LSD to see if that was the cause of his psychedelic experience earlier in the week. When he was debating about how much of the LSD to intoxicate himself with, he decided that it would be best to be very conservative and try just a small dose. Unknowing of exactly how powerful this new hallucinogenic chemical was, he thought 250 micrograms would have little or no psychological effects. Later it was determined that 250 micrograms was an extremely large dose for a human to consume. After ingesting the LSD, Hoffman describes in his own words the events that followed:

Ergot, the toxic fungus found on rye, is mostly found during the spring and summer months with humid climates (Clues and Evidence). When reproducing, the contaminated grain releases a yellow thick, sticky substance which contains the fungus that spreads the poison throughout the crop. Once the grain is infected, it’s seeds contain lysergic acid which is what the hallucinogen LSD is created from (Clues and Evidence). Some side effects of ingesting Ergot are: “... strange mental aberrations, hallucinations, a feeling of burning skin or insects crawling under the skin. Women frequently miscarried, and fertility was generally reduced during outbreaks… many victims lost hands and feet” (Schumann). Victims of the lethal infection also experienced convulsions, paralysis, tremors and acting disturbed or insane(Schumann).

Drug experimentation was normalized in the Hippie culture. Popular drugs were marijuana, ecstasy, and LSD to enhance their emotions and give them a deeper mindfulness. LSD or lysergic acid diethylamide became widely popular because it was believed to have the power to bring people together and restore brotherhood up until 1966 where it was made illegal and pronounced a Schedule 1

Ergot grows on cereal grains, especially rye. Though it typically emerges after rainy springs or humid summers, it may appear in one field but not another, or infest a crop one year and never appear again (Caporael 9). When an animal consumes grain that contains ergot, it will probably develop ergotism. The symptoms include hallucination, vertigo, tinnitus, painful tingling sensations, delirium, vomiting, and convulsions (Caporael 9). If convulsive ergotism did afflict the girls, it would explain all the unsolved mysteries surrounding the witch

Merry Pranksters were famous for using LSD and they used higher doses of LSD because they felt that they were in touch with the nature spiritually and it also gave them sensations that they never felt before. In reality, LSD is a

On October 6, 1966 the state of California makes LSD illegal. The dead sign with Warner Bros who were not quite yet the superpower company they are now. They were Warner Bro’s first rock band which made the company seem much hipper.Unlike other the bands, the Dead would do countless benefits but never advertised that they were doing it, the benefits were usually political events.

When something new comes and is publicized and talked about, human nature tends to make people experiment. That is exactly what people did with L.S.D. The mass of the population did it for fun with no real intent to harm them. Psychiatrists had a field day with the new drug. Psychotherapy was the major field in which L.S.D. played a factor. All through the Sixties and up into the early Seventies, doctors tried all angles to find a concrete use in the field of psychotherapy for L.S.D. In the Sixties the drug was even attempted as a weapon for chemical warfare. The effect of the drug was said to take all rationality out of its victim making them an easy target. L.S.D. prevailed in 1965 because it was said to do "good" things to people. First, it could easily bring out inner emotions and repressed memories

On April 16, 1943, Dr. Hoffman decided to do further research with the LSD compound (Dye, 1992 p. 5). While handling the drug,

For instance, on page 9, an FBI agent accidentally sniffed LSD while searching an LSD lab run by Pickard. He had to be induced into a coma with Thorazine, which suppresses LSD’s hallucinatory effects- it wore off while he was in the shower and he slipped back into a coma. However, with disappearance of the drug, Americans did not stop using; instead they started looking for others illegal drugs to feed their addiction. They started experiencing herb salvia which was not illegal, and it has less side effects comparing to LSD. Like it is stated on page 3, “like all drugs acid is a bellwether of American society. Its effect on our culture in the sixties and seventies was immeasurable, and its disappearance in the early years of the twenty-first century was limited to the Unites

Many other bands wrote music inspired by LSD in 1966, such as The Rolling Stones, The 13th Floor Elevators, and The Byrds. The influence of Psychedelia and LSD was everywhere. At the end of 1966, the United States started outlawing LSD use, but it was too late. The drug was increasing in popularity, and peaked in the summer of 1967. Although it was now illegal, LSD was still getting more and more popular (DeRogatis 6, 9, 10).

How Canada supports its economy plays a major role in governmental decisions. With glyphosate being the one of the main herbicide in the lumber industry, as well as a product that can be bought by home owners, it is up to each province’s government to manage the use of glyphosate products. Governments like the province of Quebec have already banned the usage of glyphosate in their forests, a decision the federal government claims were based more off politics than science (Thompson, 2011, para. 44). In a statement to Nova Scotia’s provincial government, the Ecology Action Centre (2016) wants them to stop funding the use of glyphosate, banning it on federal lands, and to give companies a sustainable alternative (para. 4). Sadly, these plans are