Party Vibe

LSD

LSD is a chemical derived from the parasitic fungus ergot which grows on rye. The full chemical name is d-lysergic acid diethyl amide.

Trips.

Albert Hoffman, (now retired) director of research for the Department of Natural Products of Sandoz, Ltd., produced LSD-25 for the first time when he was researching chemicals for Sandoz in 1943. His laboratory notes give some indication of his experience, although he didn’t realise at first that the chemical was the cause of his…well…trip…

“I suddenly became strangely inebriated. The external world became changed as in a dream. Objects appeared to gain in relief; they assumed unusual dimensions; and colors became more glowing. Even self-perception and the sense of time were changed. When the eyes were closed, colored pictures flashed past in a quickly changing kaleidoscope. After a few hours, the not unpleasant inebriation, which had been experienced whilst I was fully conscious, disappeared. what had caused this condition?”

What, indeed?

The rest of Albert’s story is told in his book, ‘LSD, my problem child’. There are many other descriptions of the myriad of experiences and research involving the chemical whose German name is Lyserg-Saeure-Diaethylamid…

Unless you know of other research chemists who are producing LSD, it is usually sold as a square of blotting paper about a quarter of the size of a postage stamp. That’s your ordinary size postage stamp, none of that special-edition nonsense. Bog standard. First class. Trips. When LSD is produced, it forms as a solid, a crystalline salt. The amount needed to produce the psychedelic experience (…man…) is generally 60-200 micrograms. That’s a tiny amount of anything. Unless you’ve produced your own LSD (which seems unlikely), someone will have dissolved some of the crystalline salt and dropped the solution onto a sheet of blotting paper, producing a sheet of ‘acid tabs’.

Just to ‘brand’ the acid, trips will usually be produced using blotting paper that has a design on it. Just like other ‘branded’ drugs (like e), trips are often known by the design.

Picture a scene…

About an hour after someone swallows the trip the effects start. Initially the user will feel disorientated. They may become giggly, excited, confused or anxious…usually ‘different’, anyway. As the trip progresses feelings are enhanced. The experience of time shifts, as does short-term memory. Colours and sounds seem more vivid. Perception of depth and distance changes. Things seem to flow.

LSD causes perceptual distortions or hallucinations – while someone is tripping, they (the person) can dramatically affect how they perceive their environment.

The environment will also dramatically affect the tripper’s experience (errr….trip). Change the environment and the nature of the trip will change.

As the trip progresses time becomes meaningless. It is impossible to tell whether a moment has lasted a moment or a million years has lasted a moment, or a million years. If it sounds confusing, it might be because it can be. Senses can become confused some people experience synaesthesia, mixed-up sensory information, where they might taste colours or see sounds.

It’s common for people at the peak of a trip to experience a sense of depersonalisation. They don’t feel like an ‘I’ anymore. They experience themselves as just a part of everything else.

If someone doesn’t like what they are experiencing and tries to get away from what is happening they are likely to move into a state of extreme fear. They might feel anxious, panicky or paranoid.

Tripping on LSD is essentially a trip into your own mind. Trips last for 8 – 12 hours.

This statement is false

LSD is thought to disrupt the way that seratonin is used by the brain. Seratonin is the chemical in the brain which enables electrical messages to pass through the synapses.

The (minimal) physiological changes caused by LSD include a slight rise in temperature and heart rate and dilated pupils. Someone who has taken LSD may appear to be completely normal, although occasionally confused or unexpectedly giggly.

The long-term physical effects of LSD use are not known. Concerns about chromosomal damage have not been proven. Some people have suffered from long-term mental disorders after using LSD. It is not known whether LSD caused their mental illness or uncovered a latent mental illness that was already there.

What’s the story, Morning Glory?

Errr….hang on a mo, Ipomoea violacea contains LSA, a similar yet different chemical entirely. Let’s not confuse the issue…

Safe. Respect.

Someone using LSD may become less aware of risks from the environment – busy roads can become impossible to navigate safely. Activities that involve co-ordination like swimming, driving or cycling will be much more dangerous than usual. Even finding your way home can seem an impossible task. If it’s reasonably safe to sit down and gather your thoughts while you decide whether you are heading towards or away from home, it could be kinda funny. If it’s freezing cold, or dangerous, or you’re scared, it could become horrific.

When someone is tripping, their experience is dramatically affected by the people around them. LSD can enhance feelings of anxiety or concern. A mild paranoia can quickly become amplified. Psychosis is rarely fun, often very distressing and sometimes outright dangerous.

Of course, people don’t usually take LSD to get scared.

…are you experienced?

If you’ve decided to take LSD, preparing for the the trip is a good idea. As with many things, planning makes for a better trip.

Think about the setting – the environment, the people…are there going to be other people around? Are the other people going to be friendly? Will you feel safe? Will someone else know what to do if everything becomes too scary, too hectic or just ‘a bit much’? Will they have access to a telephone? If you want to leave, will you be able to? Are you likely to be interrupted by something important, or someone else? Will you need to be somewhere else in the next 12 hours?

And when you’ve done thinking about the setting, consider your own mind-set. How are you feeling right now, before the trip, in yourself, and about the experience that you will be having? With any hallucinogen, the state of mind of the person who is experiencing the experience will dramatically affect the experience itself.

Are you relaxed? excited? happy? Looking forward to the experience?

Concerned? anxious? worried? feeling down, depressed or angry?

Planning to use LSD to enhance a ‘good time’, or get away from a ‘bad time’?

If you’ve used it before, you already know that it really won’t help you to get away from how you’re feeling. Oh, no….it will tend to amplify your mood. So make sure you’re amplifying something you want more of in your life…

Even when you’re feeling great and you’re with friends you can’t guarantee having a good trip. In ‘Beyond the Brain’, Stanislav Grof describes how his LSD research in the 50s and 60s found that many LSD experiences include re-experiencing early memories, even pre-birth memories. If you’re remembering ‘associated’ memories (as if you’re back in the experience again, seeing what you saw, hearing what you heard and feeling what you were feeling at the time) then your ‘trip’ will be affected by all of what you are representing when you remember – as far as your brain is concerned, the sensory information is just as it was at the time. Just like in ‘ordinary’ reality, memories and current perceptions of reality and your responses to the environment can be triggered by many things…’bad’ trips can also be triggered by a painful or difficult feeling that the user tries to avoid by resisting the effects of the drug. A bad trip is a bit like a nightmare, and can be extremely frightening.

Making it worse…

If someone is having a difficult time during their trip it is important to remember how open to suggestion they are. Trying to reassure a paranoid tripper by constantly asking them if they still feel paranoid is really not going to be very helpful. It’ll just keep them feeling edgy and anxious. “Are you OK?” you ask, innocently. On the inside it can seem like a very different experience. “Am I OK? I don’t know? How would I know if I was OK? What the hell is OK, anyway? and who am I, that might be OK? Or not? And asking myself, this question, does that mean I’m OK, or not? And who am I, again? Shit, I better say ‘uh-huh’ or something, otherwise they’ll ask me again” … “uh-huh” … “Did I say that out loud, or just think it? Shall I say it again, or will they just think that I’m not OK anymore? Am I OK?” etc. etc. etc. Add time-distortion, visual disturbance and not being able to work out whether or not you really are sinking into the floor and it can all get a wee bit confusing.

Making it better…

If you’re with someone who’s used LSD and is having a bad time you could help by being there to listen to them. Don’t get caught out by the content, and don’t expect it to make too much sense, all of the time. After all, assuming you’re straight, you are worlds apart. Any kind of communication is pretty amazing. Don’t expect coherence, too. Remind them they’ve used LSD (they might have forgotten), and that they’re tripping. Help them to talk if they want to, but without constantly questioning them. It may seem simple, and maybe that’s because it is, as I encourage you to move towards fun things. Talk about fun things. Find fun things to do. Elevate the mood a little. Change the environment. Put music on…turn music off…talk…be quiet. Do something you’re not already doing. It might be a good idea to get out if you’re not already, get close to nature, go for a walk, breathe in some fresh air…

Relaxation is the key. Sometimes it’s important to remember that all you need to do is take a deep breath in, breathe out, relax…go with the flow.

Hands off! This scrote’s mine…

Legally, trips are a no-no. LSD is controlled by the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 as a Class A, Schedule 2 drug.

Other Class A drugs include heroin and cocaine.