History of Lysergic Acid Diethylamide

LSD was first synthesized in 1938, and in the 75 years since then the chemical has had a profoundly turbulent and influential history. The domains of psychology, theory of mind, public policy, and creative expression have all been deeply touched by the influence of the gold standard of the psychedelics, in a way that's not taught or known as widely as I'd like. You can read more about that history here:
History of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD)

First, a largely irrelevant comment on notation. "LSD" is an initialism for the German "Lysergsäure-diethylamid." Since initialisms don't translate, this one seems a bit nonsensical in English. Had LSD been discovered in the United States, it would probably be known as "LAD" today, but that's just not the particular universe we live in. Sandoz Laboratories, the original patent-holder on LSD, marketed it under the brand name Delysid, and if you want to sound streetwise you can call it "acid" or "Lucy." Back to history.

Bicycle day, April 19, 1943, is one of the most important days in the history of LSD. Albert Hofmann first synthesized the derivative compound of the ergot fungus five years earlier, and accidentally dosed himself for the first time three days before bicycle day, but wanting to further understand and characterize the phenomenological properties of LSD, he self-administered the first intentional dose of the psychedelic three days later. Hofmann did a back-of-the-envelope calculation to estimate the smallest possible dose that could induce any psychedelic effects, and came up with 250 micrograms. This is about two and a half times a typical street dose and an order of magnitude over the threshold dosage. Hofmann didn't know it at the time, but he was in for a very unusual day.

Fortunately LSD is virtually harmless from a physiological point of view, and its ratio of lethal to threshold dosage is greater than that of caffeine. Within an hour, the Sandoz chemist began experiencing hallucinations, synesthesia, and an intensely different perception of time and space. Since vehicles were restricted in wartime Switzerland, he rode his bike home in what must have been one of the weirdest bike rides in human history, went through periods of severe anxiety, determined that he was safe after a while, and enjoyed the intense magnification and distortion of human perception under psychedelic consciousness until the drug wore off.

This was only the beginning, of course. Sandoz knew it had a powerful technology on its hands, but didn't know what to do with it. Extensive scientific research was conducted in the 1950s and early '60s on psychedelic therapy. Psychology students were offered free doses in an attempt to better understand psychosis. Mainstream psychologists administered Delysid to their patients as therapy for addiction, anxiety, and depression. Before LSD, drugs were not thought to be a viable option for treating depression. Since this research, drugs (particularly selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) have become one of the most important arrows in psychiatry's quiver. The CIA and NATO forces sought to weaponize the drug, predictably leading to some unfortunate consequences and at least one hilarious video of British troops traipsing about the forest on acid. For science:

Attempting to use a technology better suited to peaceful exploration and healing for war didn't help, but in the end it was Timothy Leary's irrational exuberance for LSD that most directly led to its ejection from the mainstream. President Nixon labelled Leary "the most dangerous man in America" for his promotion of the counterculture and his association of psychedelics with it. Meanwhile Nixon authorized the bombing of Cambodia and cancelled lunar exploration after Apollo 17. Funny how those labels sort themselves out.

The psychedelics, foremost among them LSD, stayed influential even after they went on the DEA's list of controlled substances and the black market. The exact effects are just more difficult to determine now. What we do know is that the work of musicians from The Beatles to Animal Collective has been strongly influenced by psychedelic experience (and M83 has composed at least one thinly-veiled advertisment for LSD), as have the careers of people like Steve Jobs and Kary Mullis. Technology builds on technology, and it's hard to quantify the value of new perspective in the creative process. Suffice it to say that Hofmann's potion has affected more of the previous and current centuries than you might think, and the effect might be more positive than you imagine.

After decades of marginalization from the scientific sphere, meaningful clinical trials using psychedelics (and sometimes LSD) to treat end-of-life anxiety, cluster headaches, and PTSD are ramping up. Hopefully the sociological lesson has been learned, and the researchers will be more cautiously optimistic than irrationally exuberant. It's time to stop the madness against a tool that has tremendous potential for discovery and therapy. With any luck, there's much joyful history to be added to the Wikipedia article in the future.

I'm off my soapbox, but here's one last thing before I go. The following video, from the first golden age of psychedelic research. Why? Because it's my blog and I can link to Youtube videos of pretty British girls on acid if I want to:

I gotta admit, the end is a bit silly. Sorry about that.