The Significance Of LSD To The Brain

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.

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.

There are many substances in this world that are used and abused in order to achieve pleasing psychoactive effects. Two substances of such nature that are abused in today’s society are alcohol and LSD. Alcohol is a liquid that is derived from the fermentation of grains and/or fruit (7). LSD is an ingestible form of lysergic acid which is derived from a fungus called ergot. Both of these drugs are drastically different with minimal similarities, primarily because alcohol is classified as a depressant and LSD is classified as a hallucinogen. Even though these drugs differ in many ways, they are commonly used in unison.

When observing LSD’s impact on human health, one would expect the environmental impact of this drug to be equally as detrimental. This, however, is not the case. LSD poses very little harm on the environment; there are almost no consequences of this drug escaping into the ecosystem. If leaked into large water streams, LSD’s solubility enables it to disperse enough that it has insignificant repercussions on aquatic life. If leaked into lakes or ponds, LSD poses more of a treat onto aquatic life, but not a deadly one. As stated in commercial uses, water concentrated with LSD has no negative physical effects on fish other than making them surface. However, because amides like LSD contain alkaline/basic properties, the drug retains the ability of making the Ph of water more basic.

Is it acceptable for one individual or a group of individuals to come together and fight for a common cause? Or are they just seen as young people who are too high on drugs who do not know what is actually going on in the world today? Throughout the 1960’s there was a new generation emerging, a generation that demanded change and fought for this change when it did not happen. Even though there was an influence of drugs on this young generation it did not mean they were any less capable to stand up and fight for what they believed in. Many of these young individuals had these revolutionary and spiritual thoughts while they were on mind-altering drugs. They believed that they one day could change the world they lived in. Many people associate the 1960’s with drug use and assume it was just a hedonistic search for personal happiness. Given the larger context, with so many social movements and challenges to the status quo floating around, could it have been more than that?

The psychedelic effects of d-Lysergic Acid Diethylamide-25 (LSD) were discovered by Dr. Albert Hoffman by accident in 1938. In the 1950s and 1960s, LSD was used by psychiatrists for analytic psychotherapy. It was thought that the administration of LSD could aid the patient in releasing repressed material. It was also suggested that psychiatrists themselves might develop more insight into the pathology of a diseased mind through self experimentation. 1,2 During the late 60s, LSD became popular as a recreational drug. While it has been suggested that recreational use of the drug has dropped, a recent report on CNN claimed that 4.4% of 8th graders have tried it. LSD is considered to be one of, if not the, most

This article revisits events occurring 12 to 25 years ago. The events harsh and heartbreaking; the government used drugs and chemicals to control innocent people. The CIA , responsible for the after damage after found guilty for domestic testing by the church committees inquiries.

Many psychiatric and psychoactive drugs that are available on the market, pharmaceutically or illegally, closely resemble neurotransmitters and are actually able to mimic it to the extent that it fools the receptors. Basically, these drugs hijack the neurotransmitters. Once these drugs are ingested, it enters into the brain, gets into the synapse and binds itself to the receptor. This then causes the inappropriate release of neurotransmitters and alter the breakdown and recycling of neurotransmitters or can be used to destroy particular neurotransmitters completely (Sapolsky, 2005, p. 14).

LSD has many effects on the body and 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. "They told me the next day that I broke down the door and ran down the hall screaming," Stanley recalled” (Linda Hunt).

The problem with LSD specifically is that it comes in many forms. For instance, if a person is holding 1 hit of liquid LSD that is placed on a strawberry can get up to 10 years in jail whereas another person with 100 hits of acid in paper form may not even get a mandatory sentence if it weighs under a gram. The whole point behind the legislation comes in response to the American public 's desire to crack down on those who sell drugs. According to The USCC (U.S. Sentencing Commission), fifty-five percent of all federal drug defendants are low-level offenders, such as mules or street dealers.

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.

The psychedelic drug LSD, short for Lysergic Acid Diethylamide, was a drug used for the treatment of mental disorders and alcoholism in the 1950s. After a twenty-year reign, its use stopped why psychiatrist were prescribing the drug like Pez Dispensers. Unknowingly these doctors were overdosing their patients. The question is, if prescribed correctly, could LSD still be a useful medicine, or do the risks outweigh the benefits. Doctors and loved ones of alcoholics might greatly benefit. If the taboo were removed this drug could still be useful.

The Central Intelligence Agency and various military agencies also became interested in LSD research in the late 1950’s (Dye, 1992, p.410.) Their interest in the drug was in the area of mind control. They saw the possibility of manipulating of manipulating the beliefs of strong willed people. They gave the drug to a group of army scientists and then attempted to change some of their basic beliefs while under the influence of the drug. However, one of the scientists became psychotic and committed suicide by jumping from a hotel window. These agencies continued their research by using drug addicts and prostitutes to test their mind control theories. After extensive experimentation, it became apparent that LSD could alter LSD the mind but not control it. The United States government discontinued this sort of research. Up until today, the Food and Drug Administration have never approved LSD. This strong hallucinageous drug remains only as research and medical

Ecstasy is both a hallucinogenic, causing hallucination, and a stimulant drug. Ecstasy is the name given to methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA). It was first synthesized in 1912 by Merck chemist Anton Köllisch. Ecstasy appears to disturb the body 's ability to regulate its temperature and this can lead to serious problems with overheating of the body. Ecstasy can be swallowed as a pill or tablet or snorted like a powder. Users of ecstasy can experience a rush of good feelings, a high, and makes someone 's feelings much more intense, whether they 're good or bad feelings. Ecstasy’s effects usually last up to 6 hours.

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).