LSD

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LSD, or lysergic acid diethylamide-25, is a psychedelic drug. It is a synthetic chemical similar to the ergot family, which occur naturally in some plant diseases. The substance can bring about changes in the human nervous system in such small quantities that it was not, at first, believed possible (as little as 50 micrograms). It acts on the human nervous system by rapidly crossing the blood-brain barrier and blocking the receptor sites responsible for stopping a neuron from firing and communicating a stimulus to the next neuron in a neural pathway. So your neurons just keep firing merrily away, resulting in various optical and mental special effects.

Although it was initially experimented with as a drug with potential psychiatric and/or military uses, its recreational use quickly became more significant. This was partly a result of some of the "test subjects" in University research programs reporting that some of what they experienced was, well, something they wanted to do again. As soon as the government found out that people were using it to have "fun", it was made illegal.

The U.S. government's CIA also experimented briefly (the infamous MKULTRA program) with using it as a truth serum, among other things, but gave up when the results on the subjects proved to be too unpredictable for government work. They later switched to other drugs such as prozac.

While it can be used purely "recreationally", as in, "oh, man, I'm so high my face is melting -- and so is yours", it has also been used by many in more positive, although still amateur, pursuits. These include seeking greater insight into life's mysteries, greater understanding of our oneness with life, intense contemplation of the hidden meanings on Beatles and Pink Floyd album covers, intensive creation of Pink Floyd albums, a more developed sense of humor (i.e. uncontrollable laughter at everything), inspiration for audiovisual special effects via watching the trippy effects from moving your handses around... and the always important speculation as to why Jimi Hendrix needed to be excused in order to "kiss this guy". In theory LSD should be a performance-reducing drug; however, in 1970 All-Star Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Dock Ellis managed to deliver a no-hitter against the San Diego Padres under the influence of acid.[1] Steve Jobs also claimed that Microsoft would be, all in all, a more interesting software company if Bill Gates had ever done acid.[2]

On the other hand, if you were already in outer space like a lot of rock stars were in the 1960s, doing LSD several times a day by having one's "friends" spike everything one ate and drank was sufficient to create several permanent LSD casualties such as Peter Green of Fleetwood Mac and Syd Barrett of Pink Floyd.

"LSD" comes from the German name, "Lysergsäure-diethylamid." LSD is also an acronym for the pre-decimal British money system,[3] for limited slip differential, and for low-speed diesel, none of which can make a weekend last eight days. So, if you are wondering why Manfred Mann did a song entitled "LSD", yup, it's about money.

Street names

Typical LSD users. Note the mindless grins and a background that in reality is a projection of their collective delusions.
LSDrotate.gif

See also

Footnotes

  1. No Hitter
  2. "I wish him the best, I really do. I just think he and Microsoft are a bit narrow. He'd be a broader guy if he had dropped acid once or gone off to an ashram when he was younger." Steve Lohr. "Creating Jobs." The New York Times Magazine, 1997-01-12.
  3. Or £SD - pounds, shillings, and pence. For some reason the abbreviation refers to a Latin translation (Librae, solidi, denarii) rather than their English names.
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