LSD is one of the most potent, mood-changing chemicals.
It is manufactured from lysergic acid, which is found in the ergot fungus that grows on rye and other grains. It is produced in crystal form in illegal laboratories, mainly in the United States. These crystals are converted to a liquid for distribution. It is odorless, colorless and has a slightly bitter taste.
Known as “acid” and by many other manes, LSD is sold on the street in small tablets, capsules or gelatin squares. It is sometimes added to absorbent paper, which is then divided into small squares decorated with designs or cartoon characters (looney tunes). Occasionally it is sold in liquid form. But no matter what form it comes in, LSD leads the user to the same place – a serious disconnection from reality.
LSD users call an LSD experience a “trip”, typically lasting 12 hours or so. When things go wrong, which often happens, it is called a “bad trip”, another name for a living hell.
The effects of LSD are unpredictable. They depend on the amount taken, the person’s mood and personality, and the surroundings in which the drug is used. Normally, the first effects of LSD are experienced 30 to 90 minutes after taking the drug. Often, the pupils become dilated. The body temperature can become higher or lower, while the blood pressure and heart rate either increase or decrease. Sweating or chills are not uncommon. Extreme changes in mood, anywhere from a spaced-out “bliss” to intense terror, are also experienced. The worst part is that the LDS user is unable to tell which sensations are created by the drug and which are part of reality.
An LSD user might consider it fun to admire the sunset, blissfully unaware that he is standing in the middle of a busy intersection.
Many LSD users experience flashbacks, or a recurrence of the LSD trip, often without warning, long after taking LSD. Bad trips and flashbacks are only part of the risks of LSD use. LSD users may manifest relatively long-lasting psychoses or severe depression.
Because LSD accumulates in the body, users develop a tolerance for the drug. In other words, some repeat users have to take it in increasingly higher doses to achieve a “high”. This increases the physical effects and also the risk of a bad trip that could cause psychosis.
LSD was popularized in the 1960s, when there was an entire counterculture of drug abuse and spread the drug from America to the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe. Even today, use of LSD in the United Kingdom is significantly higher than in other parts of the world. Use of LSD significantly dropped in 2000 or so. However a study released in January 2008 by the National Institute on Drug Abuse found that about 3.1 million people in the US aged 12 to 25 said they had used LSD.
By giving the truth about drugs anyone can help others to make informed decision to live a drug free life. To get the facts visit www.drugfreeworld.org.
And for the person with a drug problem, there are also real solutions to addiction. Narconon, a drug rehabilitation program that utilizes the methods of L. Ron Hubbard, has a success rate of more than 75%. (www.narconon.org)