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Drug Enforcement Administration
LSD in the United States
LSD: The Drug
Background D-lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD
01) is the most potent hallucinogenic substance known
to man. Dosages of LSD are measured in micrograms, or millionths of a gram.
By comparison, dosages of cocaine and heroin are measured in milligrams, or
thousandths of a gram. Compared to other hallucinogenic substances, LSD is 100
times more potent than psilocybin and psilocin and 4,000 times more potent than
mescaline.
02
The dosage level that will produce an hallucinogenic effect in humans generally
is considered to be 25 micrograms. Over the past several years, the potency
of LSD obtained during drug law enforcement operations has ranged between 20
and 80 micrograms per dosage unit. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)
recognizes 50 micrograms as the standard dosage unit equivalency.
LSD is classified as a Schedule I drug in the Controlled Substances Act of 1970.
As a Schedule I drug, 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.
LSD was synthesized in 1938 by a chemist working for Sandoz Laboratories in
Switzerland. It was developed initially as a circulatory and respiratory stimulant.
However, no extraordinary benefits of the compound were identified and its study
was discontinued.
03 In the 1940’s, interest in the drug was revived when
it was thought to be a possible treatment for schizophrenia. Because of LSD’s
structural relationship to a chemical that is present in the brain and its similarity
in effect to certain aspects of psychosis, LSD was used as a research tool in
studies of mental illness.
Sandoz Laboratories, the drug’s sole producer, began marketing LSD in 1947 under
the trade name “Delysid” and it was introduced into the United States a year
later.
04 Sandoz marketed LSD as a psychiatric cure-all and “hailed
it as a cure for everything from schizophrenia to criminal behavior, ‘sexual
perversions,’ and alcoholism.”
05 In fact, Sandoz, in its LSD-related literature, suggested
that psychiatrists take the drug themselves in order to “gain an understanding
of the subjective experiences of the schizophrenic.”
06
In psychiatry, the use of LSD by students was an accepted practice; it was viewed
as a teaching tool in an attempt to understand schizophrenia. From the late
1940’s through the mid-1970’s, extensive research and testing were conducted
on LSD. During a 15-year period beginning in 1950, research on LSD and other
hallucinogens generated over 1,000 scientific papers, several dozen books, and
6 international conferences, and LSD was prescribed as treatment to over 40,000
patients.
07 Although initial observations on the benefits of LSD
were highly optimistic, empirical data developed subsequently proved much less
promising.
As enthusiasm for the untested assumptions became tempered by the findings of
actual experiments—and as less scrupulous professionals in the industry relaxed
supervision and control of experiments—LSD emerged as a drug of abuse in certain,
primarily medical, circles. Some psychiatric and medical professionals, acquainted
with LSD in their work, began using it themselves and sharing it with friends
and associates.
08
During the early 1960’s, this first group of casual LSD users evolved and expanded
into a subculture that extolled the mystical and pseudo-religious symbolism
often engendered by the drug’s powerful effects. The personalities associated
with the subculture, usually connected to academia, and the propaganda they
circulated soon attracted a great deal of publicity, generating further interest
in LSD.
09
During the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, the drug culture adopted LSD as the
“psychedelic” drug of choice. The infatuation with LSD lasted for a number of
years until considerable negative publicity emerged on “bad trips”— psychotic
psychological traumas associated with the LSD high—and “flashbacks,” uncontrollable
recurring experiences. As a result of these revelations and effective drug law
enforcement efforts, LSD dramatically decreased in popularity in the mid-1970’s.
Scientific study of LSD ceased circa 1980 as research funding declined.
As a casual drug of abuse, LSD has remained popular among certain segments of
society. Traditionally, it has been popular with high school and college students
and other young adults. LSD also has been integral to the life of many
individuals who follow certain rock music bands, most notably the Grateful Dead.
Older individuals, introduced to the hallucinogen in the 1960’s, also still
use LSD.
LSD most often is found in the form of small paper squares or, on occasion,
in tablets. On occasion, authorities have encountered the drug in others forms—including
powder or crystal, liquid, gelatin square, and capsule—and laced on sugar cubes
and other substances. LSD is sold under more than 80 street names including
acid, blotter, cid, doses, and trips, as well as names that reflect the designs
on sheets of paper (see Appendix 1). More than 200 types of LSD tablets have
been encountered since 1969 and more than 350 paper designs have been acquired
since 1975. Designs range from simple five-point stars in black and white to
exotic artwork in full four- print. Inexpensiveness (prices range from
$2 to $5 per dosage unit or “hit,”; wholesale lots often sell for as little
as $1 or less), ready availability, alleged “mind-expanding” properties, and
intriguing paper designs make LSD especially attractive to junior high school
and high school students.
LSD has been available—at first legally, then on the illicit market—for over
40 years. Its use in scientific research has been extensive and its use has
been widespread. Although the study of LSD and other hallucinogens increased
the awareness of how chemicals could affect the mind, its use in psychotherapy
largely has been debunked. It 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.
10
However, drug studies have confirmed that the powerful hallucinogenic effects
of this drug can produce profound adverse reactions, such as acute panic reactions,
psychotic crises, and flashbacks, especially in users ill-equipped to deal with
such trauma.
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