Last Trip For Man Who Discovered LSD
Sky News
April 30, 2008[/align]
The Swiss chemist who discovered the hallucinogenic drug LSD has died aged 102, from a heart attack at his home in Basel. Albert Hofmann termed the discovery his "problem child" and advocated the medicinal properties of the drug, rather than the mind-altering ones.
He felt the hippy movement of the 1960s hijacked and abused LSD - also commonly known as 'acid'. The chemist felt the drug was useful in analysing the mind and how it works. He hoped it could be used to recognise and treat illnesses, such as schizophrenia, and defended it for decades after it was banned in the 1960s.
Mr Hofmann stumbled on the drug - lysergic acid diethylamide - when a small amount leaked on to his hand during a laboratory experiment in 1943. He wrote of the effects in his book, LSD - My Problem Child, saying a "remarkable restlessness, combined with slight dizziness" made him stop his work. At home I lay down and sank into a not unpleasant intoxication-like condition, characterised by an extremely stimulated imagination. In a dreamlike state, with eyes closed (I found the daylight too unpleasantly glaring), I perceived an uninterrupted stream of fantastic pictures, extraordinary shapes with intense, kaleidoscopic play of colours."
Mr Hofmann experienced the first "bad trip" a few days later, when he intentionally took a dose of LSD. He wrote: "A demon had invaded me, had taken possession of my body, mind, and soul. I jumped up and screamed, trying to free myself from him, but then sank down again and lay helpless on the sofa. The substance, with which I had wanted to experiment, had vanquished me."
--------------------------
I used the stuff for fun and self-analysis. So what does that mean about it's value? I never believed that he 'accidentally' noticed the effects when first isolating it though - he was working on a cold-cure and while working with ergot (well known for its hallucinogenic effect) he isolated that part of the fungus' structure.
Still, it was a lot easier than necking a handful of mushrooms...
