Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD),

also known as acid, is a hallucinogenic drug. Effects typically include altered thoughts, feelings, and
awareness of one's surroundings. Many users see or hear things that do not exist. Dilated pupils,
increased blood pressure, and increased body temperature are typical. Effects typically begin within half
an hour and can last for up to 12 hours. It is used mainly as a recreational drug and for spiritual
reasons.
LSD does not appear to be addictive, although tolerance may occur with use of increasing
doses. Adverse psychiatric reactions are possible, such as anxiety, paranoia, and delusions. Distressing
flashbacks might occur in spite of no further use, a condition called hallucinogen persisting perception
disorder. Death is very rare as a result of LSD, though it occasionally occurs in accidents. The effects of
LSD are believed to occur as a result of alterations in the serotonin system. As little as 20 micrograms
can produce an effect. In pure form, LSD is clear or white in color, has no smell, and is crystalline. It
breaks down with exposure to ultraviolet light.
About 10 percent of people in the United States have used LSD at some point in their lives as of 2017,
while 0.7 percent have used it in the last year. It was most popular in the 1960s to 1980s. LSD is typically
either swallowed or held under the tongue. It is most often sold on blotter paper and less commonly as
tablets or in gelatin squares. There are no known treatments for addiction, if it occurs.
LSD was first made by Albert Hofmann in 1938 from lysergic acid, a chemical from the fungus ergot.[13]
Hofmann discovered its hallucinogenic properties in 1943. In the 1950s, the Central Intelligence
Agency (CIA) believed that the drug might be useful for mind control, so they tested it on people, some
without their knowledge, in a program called MKUltra. LSD was sold as a medication for research
purposes under the trade-name Delysid in the 1950s and 1960s. It was listed as a schedule 1 controlled
substance by the United Nations in 1971. It currently has no approved medical use. In Europe, as of
2011, the typical cost of a dose was between €4.50 and €25.

Uses
Recreational
LSD is commonly used as a recreational drug.
Spiritual
LSD is considered an entheogen because it can catalyze intense spiritual experiences, during which
users may feel they have come into contact with a greater spiritual or cosmic order. Users
sometimes report out of body experiences. In 1966, Timothy Leary established the League for
Spiritual Discovery with LSD as its sacrament. Stanislav Grof has written that religious and mystical
experiences observed during LSD sessions appear to be phenomenologically indistinguishable from
similar descriptions in the sacred scriptures of the great religions of the world and the texts of
ancient civilizations.
Medical
See also: Lysergic acid diethylamide § Research
LSD currently has no approved uses in medicine. A meta analysis concluded that a single dose was
effective at reducing alcohol consumption in alcoholism. LSD has also been studied in depression,
anxiety, and drug dependence, with positive preliminary results.

Effects
Some symptoms reported for LSD

Physical
LSD can cause pupil dilation, reduced appetite, and wakefulness. Other physical reactions to LSD
are highly variable and nonspecific, some of which may be secondary to the psychological effects of
LSD. Among the reported symptoms are numbness, weakness,
nausea, hypothermia or hyperthermia, elevated blood sugar, goose bumps, heart rate increase, jaw
clenching, perspiration, saliva production, mucus production, hyperreflexia, and tremors.

Psychological
The most common immediate psychological effects of LSD are visual
hallucinations and illusions (colloquially known as "trips"), which can vary greatly depending on how
much is used and how the brain responds. Trips usually start within 20–30 minutes of taking LSD by
mouth (less if snorted or taken intravenously), peak three to four hours after ingestion, and last up to
12 hours. Negative experiences, referred to as "bad trips", produce intense negative emotions, such
as irrational fears and anxiety, panic attacks, paranoia, rapid mood swings, intrusive thoughts of
hopelessness, wanting to harm others, and suicidal ideation. It is impossible to predict when a bad
trip will occur. Good trips are stimulating and pleasurable, and typically involve feeling as if one is
floating, disconnected from reality, feelings of joy or euphoria (sometimes called a "rush"), decreased
inhibitions, and the belief that one has extreme mental clarity or superpowers.

Sensory
Some sensory effects may include an experience of radiant colors, objects and surfaces appearing
to ripple or "breathe", colored patterns behind the closed eyelids (eidetic imagery), an altered sense
of time (time seems to be stretching, repeating itself, changing speed or stopping), crawling
geometric patterns overlaying walls and other objects, and morphing objects. Some users, including
Albert Hofmann, report a strong metallic taste for the duration of the effects.
LSD causes an animated sensory experience of senses, emotions, memories, time,
and awareness for 6 to 14 hours, depending on dosage and tolerance. Generally beginning within 30
to 90 minutes after ingestion, the user may experience anything from subtle changes in perception to
overwhelming cognitive shifts. Changes in auditory and visual perception are typical. Visual effects
include the illusion of movement of static surfaces ("walls breathing"), after image-like trails of
moving objects ("tracers"), the appearance of moving colored geometric patterns (especially with
closed eyes), an intensification of colors and brightness ("sparkling"), new textures on objects,
blurred vision, and shape suggestibility. Some users report that the inanimate world appears to
animate in an inexplicable way; for instance, objects that are static in three dimensions can seem to
be moving relative to one or more additional spatial dimensions. Many of the basic visual effects
resemble the phosphenes seen after applying pressure to the eye and have also been studied under
the name "form constants". The auditory effects of LSD may include echo-like distortions of sounds,
changes in ability to discern concurrent auditory stimuli, and a general intensification of the
experience of music. Higher doses often cause intense and fundamental distortions of sensory
perception such as synaesthesia, the experience of additional spatial or temporal dimensions, and
temporary dissociation.
history
LSD was first synthesized on November 16, 1938[82] by Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann at the Sandoz
Laboratories in Basel, Switzerland as part of a large research program searching for medically
useful ergot alkaloid derivatives. LSD's psychedelic properties were discovered 5 years later when
Hofmann himself accidentally ingested an unknown quantity of the chemical.[83] The first intentional
ingestion of LSD occurred on April 19, 1943,[84] when Hofmann ingested 250 µg of LSD. He said this
would be a threshold dose based on the dosages of other ergot alkaloids. Hofmann found the effects
to be much stronger than he anticipated.[85] Sandoz Laboratories introduced LSD as a psychiatric
drug in 1947 and marketed LSD as a psychiatric panacea, hailing it "as a cure for everything from
schizophrenia to criminal behavior, 'sexual perversions,' and alcoholism."[86]
Beginning in the 1950s, the US Central Intelligence Agency began a research program code
named Project MKULTRA. Experiments included administering LSD to CIA employees, military
personnel, doctors, other government agents, prostitutes, mentally ill patients, and members of the
general public in order to study their reactions, usually without the subjects' knowledge. The project
was revealed in the US congressional Rockefeller Commission report in 1975.
In 1963, the Sandoz patents expired on LSD.[76] Several figures, including Aldous Huxley, Timothy
Leary, and Al Hubbard, began to advocate the consumption of LSD. LSD became central to the
counterculture of the 1960s.[87] In the early 1960s the use of LSD and other hallucinogens was
advocated by new proponents of consciousness expansion such as Leary, Huxley, Alan
Watts and Arthur Koestler,[88][89] and according to L. R. Veysey they profoundly influenced the thinking
of the new generation of youth.[90]
On October 24, 1968, possession of LSD was made illegal in the United States.[91] The
last FDA approved study of LSD in patients ended in 1980, while a study in healthy volunteers was
made in the late 1980s. Legally approved and regulated psychiatric use of LSD continued in
Switzerland until 1993.[92]

Legal status
The United Nations Convention on Psychotropic Substances (adopted in 1971) requires the signing
parties to prohibit LSD. Hence, it is illegal in all countries that were parties to the convention,
including the United States, Australia, New Zealand, and most of Europe. However, enforcement of
those laws varies from country to country. Medical and scientific research with LSD in humans is
permitted under the 1971 UN Convention.[108]
Australia
LSD is a Schedule 9 prohibited substance in Australia under the Poisons Standard (February
2017).[109] A Schedule 9 substance is defined as a substance which may be abused or misused, the
manufacture, possession, sale or use of which should be prohibited by law except when required for
medical or scientific research, or for analytical, teaching or training purposes with approval of
Commonwealth and/or State or Territory Health Authorities.[109]
In Western Australia section 9 of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1981 provides for summary trial before a
magistrate for possession of less than 0.004g; section 11 provides rebuttable presumptions of intent
to sell or supply if the quantity is 0.002g or more, or of possession for the purpose of trafficking if
0.01g.[110]
Canada
In Canada, LSD is a controlled substance under Schedule III of the Controlled Drugs and
Substances Act.[111] Every person who seeks to obtain the substance, without disclosing
authorization to obtain such substances 30 days before obtaining another prescription from a
practitioner, is guilty of an indictable offense and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3
years. Possession for purpose of trafficking is an indictable offense punishable by imprisonment for
10 years.
United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom, LSD is a Schedule 1 Class 'A' drug. This means it has no recognized
legitimate uses and possession of the drug without a license is punishable with 7 years'
imprisonment and/or an unlimited fine, and trafficking is punishable with life imprisonment and an
unlimited fine (see main article on drug punishments Misuse of Drugs Act 1971).
In 2000, after consultation with members of the Royal College of Psychiatrists' Faculty of Substance
Misuse, the UK Police Foundation issued the Runciman Report which recommended "the transfer of
LSD from Class A to Class B".[112]
In November 2009, the UK Transform Drug Policy Foundation released in the House of Commons a
guidebook to the legal regulation of drugs, After the War on Drugs: Blueprint for Regulation, which
details options for regulated distribution and sale of LSD and other psychedelics.[113]
United States
LSD is Schedule I in the United States, according to the Controlled Substances Act of 1970.[114] This
means LSD is illegal to manufacture, buy, possess, process, or distribute without a license from
the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). By classifying LSD as a Schedule I substance, the DEA
holds that LSD meets the following three criteria: it is deemed to have a high potential for abuse; it
has no legitimate medical use in treatment; and there is a lack of accepted safety for its use under
medical supervision. There are no documented deaths from chemical toxicity; most LSD deaths are
a result of behavioral toxicity.[115]
There can also be substantial discrepancies between the amount of chemical LSD that one
possesses and the amount of possession with which one can be charged in the US. This is because
LSD is almost always present in a medium (e.g. blotter or neutral liquid), and in some contexts, the
amount that can be considered with respect to sentencing is the total mass of the drug and its
medium. This discrepancy was the subject of 1995 United States Supreme Court case, Neal v.
United States, which determined that for finding minimum sentence lengths, the total medium weight
is used, while for determining the severity of the offense, an estimation of the chemical mass is
used.[116]
Lysergic acid and lysergic acid amide, LSD precursors, are both classified in Schedule III of the
Controlled Substances Act.[117] Ergotamine tartrate, a precursor to lysergic acid, is regulated under
the Chemical Diversion and Trafficking Act.
Mexico
In April 2009, the Mexican Congress approved changes in the General Health Law that
decriminalized the possession of illegal drugs for immediate consumption and personal use, allowing
a person to possess a moderate amount of LSD. The only restriction is that people in possession of
drugs should not be within a 300-meter radius of schools, police departments, or correctional
facilities. Marijuana, along with cocaine, opium, heroin, and other drugs were also decriminalized;
their possession is not considered a crime as long as the dose does not exceed the limit established
in the General Health Law.[118] Many[vague] question this, as cocaine is as synthesised as heroin, and
both are produced as extracts from plants. The law establishes very low amount thresholds and
strictly defines personal dosage. For those arrested with more than the threshold allowed by the law
this can result in heavy prison sentences, as they will be assumed to be small traffickers even if
there are no other indications that the amount was meant for selling.[119]
Czech Republic
In the Czech Republic, until 31 December 1998 only drug possession "for other person" (i.e. intent to
sell) was criminal (apart from production, importation, exportation, offering or mediation, which was
and remains criminal) while possession for personal use remained legal.[120]
On 1 January 1999, an amendment of the Criminal Code, which was necessitated in order to align
the Czech drug rules with the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, became effective, criminalizing
possession of "amount larger than small" also for personal use (Art. 187a of the Criminal Code)
while possession of small amounts for personal use became a misdemeanor.[120]
The judicial practice came to the conclusion that the "amount larger than small" must be five to ten
times larger (depending on drug) than a usual single dose of an average consumer.[121]
Under the Regulation No. 467/2009 Coll, possession of less than 5 doses of LSD was to be
considered smaller than large for the purposes of the Criminal Code and was to be treated as a
misdemeanor subject to a fine equal to a parking ticket.[122]
Ecuador
According to the 2008 Constitution of Ecuador, in its Article 364, the Ecuadorian state does not see
drug consumption as a crime but only as a health concern.[123] Since June 2013 the State drugs
regulatory office CONSEP has published a table which establishes maximum quantities carried by
persons so as to be considered in legal possession and that person as not a seller of
drugs.[123][124][125] The "CONSEP established, at their latest general meeting, that the 0.020 milligrams
of LSD shall be considered the maximum consumer amount.[126]

Economics
Production

Glassware seized by the DEA

An active dose of LSD is very minute, allowing a large number of doses to be synthesized from a
comparatively small amount of raw material. Twenty five kilograms of
precursor ergotamine tartrate can produce 5–6 kg of pure crystalline LSD; this corresponds to
100 million doses. Because the masses involved are so small, concealing and transporting illicit LSD
is much easier than smuggling cocaine, cannabis, or other illegal drugs.[127]
Manufacturing LSD requires laboratory equipment and experience in the field of organic chemistry. It
takes two to three days to produce 30 to 100 grams of pure compound. It is believed that LSD is not
usually produced in large quantities, but rather in a series of small batches. This technique
minimizes the loss of precursor chemicals in case a step does not work as expected.[127][dead link]
Forms

Five doses of LSD, often called a "five strip"

LSD is produced in crystalline form and then mixed with excipients or redissolved for production in
ingestible forms. Liquid solution is either distributed in small vials or, more commonly, sprayed onto
or soaked into a distribution medium. Historically, LSD solutions were first sold on sugar cubes, but
practical considerations forced a change to tablet form. Appearing in 1968 as an orange tablet
measuring about 6 mm across, "Orange Sunshine" acid was the first largely available form of LSD
after its possession was made illegal. Tim Scully, a prominent chemist, made some of these tablets,
but said that most "Sunshine" in the USA came by way of Ronald Stark, who imported approximately
thirty-five million doses from Europe.[128]
Over a period of time, tablet dimensions, weight, shape and concentration of LSD evolved from large
(4.5–8.1 mm diameter), heavyweight (≥150 mg), round, high concentration (90–350 µg/tab) dosage
units to small (2.0–3.5 mm diameter) lightweight (as low as 4.7 µg/tab), variously shaped, lower
concentration (12–85 µg/tab, average range 30–40 µg/tab) dosage units. LSD tablet shapes have
included cylinders, cones, stars, spacecraft, and heart shapes. The smallest tablets became known
as "Microdots".[129]
After tablets came "computer acid" or "blotter paper LSD", typically made by dipping a preprinted
sheet of blotting paper into an LSD/water/alcohol solution.[128][129] More than 200 types of LSD tablets
have been encountered since 1969 and more than 350 blotter paper designs have been observed
since 1975.[129] About the same time as blotter paper LSD came "Windowpane" (AKA "Clearlight"),
which contained LSD inside a thin gelatin square a quarter of an inch (6 mm) across.[128] LSD has
been sold under a wide variety of often short-lived and regionally restricted street names including
Acid, Trips, Uncle Sid, Blotter, Lucy, Alice and doses, as well as names that reflect the designs on
the sheets of blotter paper.[130][131] Authorities have encountered the drug in other forms—including
powder or crystal, and capsule.[132]
Modern distribution
LSD manufacturers and traffickers in the United States can be categorized into two groups: A few
large-scale producers, and an equally limited number of small, clandestine chemists, consisting of
independent producers who, operating on a comparatively limited scale, can be found throughout
the country.[133] As a group, independent producers are of less concern to the Drug Enforcement
Administration than the large-scale groups because their product reaches only local markets.[134]
Many LSD dealers and chemists describe a religious or humanitarian purpose that motivates their
illicit activity. Nicholas Schou's book Orange Sunshine: The Brotherhood of Eternal Love and Its
Quest to Spread Peace, Love, and Acid to the World describes one such group, the Brotherhood of
Eternal Love. The group was a major American LSD trafficking group in the late 1960s and early
1970s.[135]
In the second half of the 20th century, dealers and chemists loosely associated with the Grateful
Dead like Owsley Stanley, Nicholas Sand, Karen Horning, Sarah Maltzer, "Dealer McDope,"
and Leonard Pickard played an essential role in distributing LSD.[98]
Mimics

LSD blotter acid mimic actually containing DOC

Different blotters which could possibly be mimics

Since 2005, law enforcement in the United States and elsewhere has seized several chemicals and
combinations of chemicals in blotter paper which were sold as LSD mimics, including DOB,[136][137] a
mixture of DOC and DOI,[138] 25I-NBOMe,[139] and a mixture of DOC and DOB.[140] Street users of LSD
are often under the impression that blotter paper which is actively hallucinogenic can only be LSD
because that is the only chemical with low enough doses to fit on a small square of blotter paper.
While it is true that LSD requires lower doses than most other hallucinogens, blotter paper is capable
of absorbing a much larger amount of material. The DEA performed a chromatographic analysis of
blotter paper containing 2C-C which showed that the paper contained a much greater concentration
of the active chemical than typical LSD doses, although the exact quantity was not
determined.[141] Blotter LSD mimics can have relatively small dose squares; a sample of blotter paper
containing DOC seized by Concord, California police had dose markings approximately 6 mm
apart.[142] Several deaths have been attributed to 25I-NBOMe.[143][144][145][146]

Research
A number of organizations—including the Beckley Foundation, MAPS, Heffter Research
Institute and the Albert Hofmann Foundation—exist to fund, encourage and coordinate research into
the medicinal and spiritual uses of LSD and related psychedelics.[147] New clinical LSD experiments
in humans started in 2009 for the first time in 35 years.[148] As it is illegal in many areas of the world,
potential medical uses are difficult to study.[25]
In 2001 the United States Drug Enforcement Administration stated that LSD "produces no
aphrodisiac effects, does not increase creativity, has no lasting positive effect in
treating alcoholics or criminals, does not produce a 'model psychosis', and does not generate
immediate personality change."[149] More recently, experimental uses of LSD have included the
treatment of alcoholism[150] and pain and cluster headache relief.[7]
Psychedelic therapy
In the 1950s and 1960s LSD was used in psychiatry to enhance psychotherapy known
as psychedelic therapy. Some psychiatrists[who?] believed LSD was especially useful at helping
patients to "unblock" repressed subconscious material through
other psychotherapeutic methods,[151] and also for treating alcoholism.[152][153] One study concluded,
"The root of the therapeutic value of the LSD experience is its potential for producing self-
acceptance and self-surrender,"[154] presumably by forcing the user to face issues and problems in
that individual's psyche.
Two recent reviews concluded that conclusions drawn from most of these early trials are unreliable
due to serious methodological flaws. These include the absence of adequate control groups, lack of
followup, and vague criteria for therapeutic outcome. In many cases studies failed to convincingly
demonstrate whether the drug or the therapeutic interaction was responsible for any beneficial
effects.[155][156]
In recent years organizations like the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies have
renewed clinical research of LSD.[157]

Other uses
In the 1950s and 1960s, some psychiatrists (e.g. Oscar Janiger) explored the potential effect of LSD
on creativity. Experimental studies attempted to measure the effect of LSD on creative activity and
aesthetic appreciation.[158][159][160][161]
Since 2008 there has been ongoing research into using LSD to alleviate anxiety for terminally
ill cancer patients coping with their impending deaths.[162][163]
A 2012 meta-analysis found evidence that a single dose of LSD in conjunction with various
alcoholism treatment programs was associated with a decrease in alcohol abuse, lasting for several
months, but no effect was seen at one year. Adverse events included seizure,
moderate confusion and agitation, nausea, vomiting, and acting in a bizarre fashion.[164]
LSD has been used as a treatment for cluster headaches with positive results in some small
studies.[7][165]

Medical Definition of LSD

Privacy & Trust Info
LSD: Lysergic acid diethylamide is an hallucinogen. LSD is an abbreviation of the
German term Lysergsaure-Diathylamid for lysergic acid diethylamide.
LSD is considered the typical hallucinogen and the characteristics of its action
and effects apply to the other hallucinogens, including mescaline, psilocybin, and
ibogaine. LSD was discovered in 1938. It is manufactured from lysergic acid,
which is found in ergot, a fungus that grows on rye and other grains.
LSD is sold on the street as "acid" in tablets, capsules, and, occasionally, liquid
form. It is odorless, colorless, and has a slightly bitter taste. It is usually taken by
mouth. LSD is often added to absorbent paper, such as blotter paper, and
divided into small decorated squares, with each square representing one dose.
The effects of LSD are unpredictable. The user usually feels the first effects of
the drug 30 to 90 minutes after taking it. The physical effects include dilated
pupils, higher body temperature, increased heart rate and blood pressure,
sweating, loss of appetite, sleeplessness, dry mouth, and tremors. The user may
feel several different emotions at once or swing rapidly from one emotion to
another. If taken in a large enough dose, the drug produces delusions and visual
hallucinations.

THE HARMFUL EFFECTS OF LSD

On LSD, which is often taken in tab form, an intense, altered state transforms into
disassociation and despair. Often there is no stopping “bad trips,” which can go on for
up to twelve hours.

“I started drinking at the age of 15. Then I progressed to taking Ecstasy, speed, cocaine
and LSD.

“I found it difficult to hold down a job and became depressed and thought I would never
overcome my obsession with drugs. I attempted suicide twice by overdosing on pills. I
was put under psychiatrists who gave me even more drugs, antidepressants and
tranquilizers, which just made matters worse.

“As an outlet for my feelings I turned to self-harm—I started cutting and burning
myself.” —Justin

Physical Effects

 Dilated pupils
 Higher or lower body temperature
 Sweating or chills (“goose bumps”)
 Loss of appetite
 Sleeplessness
 Dry mouth
 Tremors
Mental Effects

 Delusions
 Visual hallucinations
 An artificial sense of euphoria or certainty
 Distortion of one’s sense of time and identity
 Impaired depth perception
 Impaired time perception, distorted perception of the size and shape of objects,
movements, color, sounds, touch and the user’s own body image
 Severe, terrifying thoughts and feelings
 Fear of losing control
 Panic attacks
 Flashbacks, or a recurrence of the LSD trip, often without warning long after taking LSD
 Severe depression or psychosis

"After taking the acid, I imagined that we had driven head-on into an eighteen-wheeler
and were killed. I could hear the screeching metal, then a dark and evil quiet. I was
terrified at this point, I actually thought we were dead....For a year I wouldn’t go into any
cemetery because I was terrified I would find my own grave.” —Jenny

ANO ANG LSD?

Ang LSD ay isa sa mga pinakamalakas at nakakabago ng ugaling kemikal.
Ginagawa ito mula sa lysergic acid, na matatagpuan sa amag na tinagawag
na ergot na tumutubo sa rye at sa iba pang mga butil.

Ginagawa ito sa kristal na anyo sa ilegal na mga laboratoryo. Ang mga

kristal na ito ay ginagawang likido para sa distribusyon. Wala itong amoy,
walang kulay at may bahagyang mapait na lasa.

Kilala bilang “acid” at sa marami pang ibang pangalan, ang LSD ay

ibinebenta sa kalye sa maliliit na mga tabletas (“microdots”), mga kapsula o
mga parisukat na gelatin (“window panes”). Minsan ay idinaragdag ito sa
absorbent na papel, na siya namang hinahati sa maliliit na
mga parisukat na napapalamutian ng mga disenyo o mga cartoon character
(“loony toons”). Paminsan-minsan ay ibinebenta ito sa likido nitong anyo.
Ngunit anuman ang anyo nito, dinadala ng LSD ang gumagamit sa parehong
lugar—isang malalang diskoneksiyon mula sa realidad.

Tinatawag ng mga gumagamit ng LSD ang karanasan sa LSD na isang “trip,”

kadalasang nagtatagal nang 12 oras o higit pa. Kapag hindi naging maganda
ang takbo ng mga bagay-bagay, na kadalasang nangyayari, tinatawag itong
“bad trip,” isa pang pangalan para sa isang buhay-impiyerno.

WHAT ARE THE RISKS OF LSD?

The effects of LSD are unpredictable. They depend on the amount taken, the person’s
mood and personality, and the surroundings in which the drug is used. It is a roll of the
dice—a racing, distorted high or a severe, paranoid1 low.

Normally, the first effects of LSD are experienced thirty to ninety minutes after taking the
drug. Often, the pupils become dilated. The body temperature can become higher or
lower, while the blood pressure and heart rate either increase or decrease. Sweating or
chills are not uncommon.

LSD users often experience loss of appetite, sleeplessness, dry mouth and tremors.
Visual changes are among the more common effects—the user can become fixated on
the intensity of certain colors.
Extreme changes in mood, anywhere from a spaced-out “bliss” to intense terror, are
also experienced. The worst part is that the LSD user is unable to tell which sensations
are created by the drug and which are part of reality.

Some LSD users experience an intense bliss they mistake for “enlightenment.”

Not only do they disassociate from their usual activities in life, but they also feel the urge
to keep taking more of the drug in order to re-experience the same sensation. Others
experience severe, terrifying thoughts and feelings, fear of losing control, fear of insanity
and death, and despair while using LSD. Once it starts, there is often no stopping a
“bad trip,” which can go on for up to twelve hours. In fact, some people never recover
from an acid-induced psychosis.

Taken in a large enough dose, LSD produces delusions and visual hallucinations. The
user’s sense of time and self changes. Sizes and shapes of objects become distorted,
as do movements, colors and sounds. Even one’s sense of touch and the normal bodily
sensations turn into something strange and bizarre. Sensations may seem to “cross
over,” giving the user the feeling of hearing colors and seeing sounds. These changes
can be frightening and can cause panic.

The ability to make sensible judgments and see common dangers is impaired. An LSD
user might try to step out a window to get a “closer look” at the ground. He might
consider it fun to admire the sunset, blissfully unaware that he is standing in the middle
of a busy intersection.

Many LSD users experience flashbacks, or a recurrence of the LSD trip, often without
warning, long after taking LSD.

Bad trips and flashbacks are only part of the risks of LSD use. LSD users may manifest
relatively long-lasting psychoses or severe depression.

Because LSD accumulates in the body, users develop a tolerance for the drug. In other
words, some repeat users have to take it in increasingly higher doses to achieve a
“high.” This increases the physical effects and also the risk of a bad trip that could
cause psychosis.

“At 13 years of age I took my first drink and soon after was introduced to marijuana.
Then LSD quickly fell into my hands and I became addicted, eating it like candy.

“One night during one of my binges I blacked out and awoke with blood all over my face
and vomit coming out of my mouth. By some miracle I pulled myself awake and cleaned
myself up. I got into the car, shaking, drove to my parent’s house. I climbed into bed
with my mom and cried.

“By the age of 21, I checked into my first rehab.” —Donna