Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD) essays

Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD) essays While drugs have existed for many years LSD is one of the most well known used drugs in the world today. LSDs technical term is lysergic acid diethylamide and it falls into the group of drugs known as hallucinogens or psychedelics. These groups of drugs may cause harm to a persons central nervous system. LSD is found in ergot, a fungus that grows on rye, wheat, and other grains. The first individual to discover this drug was a man by the name of Dr. Albert Hofmann, a Swiss chemist working for Sandoz Pharmaceutical, a chemical company. In 1938 he was working in his lab trying to find new medications to relieve headache pain. Dr. Hofmann was working with the ergot fungus and he made a new chemical which he called LSD. While he was working with his new creation he accidentally ingested a small amount of the drug and he began to experience the effects of this drug. In a report subsequently filed with Author Stoll, his immediate superior, Hofmann described his hallucination as an uni nterrupted stream of fantastic images of extraordinary plasticity and vividness and accompanied by an intense kaleidoscope play of colors (Steven 4). Dr. Albert Hofmann was the first chemist to come across this drug, in the medieval times many communities baked bread and sometime the flour the used would be contaminated with ergot fungus. The people would eat the bread and begin to trip but during those times they werent aware of the drug and it effects. Today LSD is given in very small portions about 20 to 80 micrograms per dose, this would be enough for someone to have a long trip. During the 1960s a dose ranged from 100 to 200 micrograms (Nida 1). A dose of LSD can usually last up to 8 to 12 hours. If the dose is strong it can last for days or weeks which can cause a person to go insane. The symptoms of LSD are usually hallucinations which includes seeing, hearing and feeling things that are not real. LSD was u...