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What is LSD?

Overview

LSD is a psychedelic drug.

People take it for varying reasons: personal growth, spiritual growth, to have fun alone, to have fun with friends, or just to experience altered states of consciousness.

Safety

Drug Safety Chart: LSD vs Other Drugs

“This inquiry … indicates that with proper precautions [LSD and mescaline] are safe when given to a selected healthy group.”1

“A large number of previous human trials indicate that LSD [acid] can be safely administered within a research or psychotherapeutic setting.”2

From LSD Side Effects.

What does LSD look like?

LSD is most often found on small pieces of paper called “blotter paper,” though is also sold on sugar cubes, mints, as liquid drops, and so on.

What are bad things about LSD?

A woman was given LSD without her knowledge, and she took her own life1

[Taking LSD caused a] 5 day psychotic reaction in a subject with a schizophrenic twin1

It seems reasonable to say that the biggest risk of taking acid or LSD is actually in getting fake LSD. In particular, NBOMe substances carry acute toxicity risk and have been involved in a few deaths in the last few years3

Impaired judgement leading to doing something dangerous or deadly. Best mitigated with a safe environment and a trusted and experienced sitter.

From LSD Side Effects.

LSD can make you extremely scared while you’re tripping: you might be paranoid of the people around you, or extremely fearful that you’ll never return to your normal state.

What are good things about LSD?

Positive effects during use:

  • Joy/intense happiness4
  • Peace/harmony4

Desirable effects after use

These effects were primarily reported at the 6-9 month follow-up of a non placebo-controlled study of a high-dose guided session of LSD (150-400 micrograms).5

These positive effects will not all apply with casual use. These benefits were found for participants that followed a particular guided acid trip protocol, as detailed in the Psychedelic Explorer’s Guide.

  • More energy for work (p .01), more initiative (p .01), finding the job easier (p .01), and getting more work done (p .01)5
  • Increased cooperation (p .01)5
  • Increased confidence in one’s decisions (p .01)5
  • Being closer to others (p .01), having more friends at work (p .01) and outside work (p .01)5
  • Increased self-confidence (p .01)5
  • Increased marriage satisfaction (p .01)5
  • More satisfaction with intercourse (p .01)5
  • Addiction reduction. Both anecdotal reports in recreational settings, and research in medical settings on alcohol dependence.6
  • Increased purpose7

😮

From the page on LSD’s effects.

Does LSD have any medical uses?

“For example, a recent meta-analysis of six randomized clinical trials of treatment for alcoholism conducted between 1966–1970 found that a single dose of LSD [acid] reduced the probability of alcohol misuse almost two-fold relative to comparison conditions (Krebs and Johansen, 2012).”8 6

References

  1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/13811003, PDF [return]
  2. http://www.maps.org/research-archive/lsd/swisslsd/IB_LSD.pdf [return]
  3. https://erowid.org/chemicals/2ci_nbome/2ci_nbome_death.shtml [return]
  4. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5367557/ [return]
  5. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1594774021/ [return]
  6. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22406913 [return]
  7. http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0022167816674625 [return]
  8. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25586402 [return]

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