Being in the throws of a rather intense hallucinogenic event can create significant stress and disorientation. A contemporary user can certainly combat these feelings by the comforting information that LSD is a widely used, and well studied chemical, and the effects are non-lethal and presenting in their proper manifestations.
For Hofman, this was not the case. It must have been extremely concerning to be without this information. The complete alteration of the perception of all of his senses, no information about the duration or magnitude of the event, and unsure if he had been fatally poisoned.
Given his initial experience, it is amazing that he persisted the way he did.
> combat these feelings by the comforting information that LSD is a widely used, and well studied chemical
When you are in the thick of it you are most certainly not taking comfort in the fact that the LSD (you mostly likely purchased on the street) is a widely used and well studied chemical ;-)
In the past I went into the woods with nothing; later I brought a wrist watch. Being able to know roughly how long until the peak helped to ground me more than anything else. Of course, if you can't even read your watch, then all bets are off, as was the case with Hofmann when he took, completely out of any context (as you point out) for his first trip, a dose @ equivalent to 4 tabs of blotter, and lab pure to boot, yikes o_O
OT, but drinking 2 liters of milk to fend off the demons, hah, that made me chuckle.
I recognized the feeling/fear of going insane. One of my mushroom trips I had the same thing - not exactly fun. I'm not really interested in trying LSD due to the trip lasting longer - 4 hours (mushrooms) of pure fear is enough. Yes, I've had good trips too, but about half of them went bad at some point and that ain't fun.
In general, only take hallucinogenics if you're in a good, stable place... Not when you're worried or afraid of something.
LSD amplifies beliefs and makes the user highly receptive to external ideas. Before the concept of a "bad trip" and the idea that LSD is "dangerous" became common, very negative experiences on LSD were anecdotally not frequent. In fact, most people do not have a bad first trip for similar reasons, as they don't know what to expect and aren't familiar with the sensations, and thus do not try to control them, getting into a pilot induced oscillation, further amplified by the fear of going into the dreaded bad trip that they've heard so much about. I suspect that Hofmann's experience was not so bad.
Hofman describes his furniture as contorting into "grotesque" and terrifying shapes. He mourns his family and the loss of his research lab as he believes he is dying. He himself explains at length the curious and terrifying situation.
Further, there was nothing to prepare him for this. Heroin, largely demonized by society and a quite potent drug has a "standard" dose of about .1g or 100mg. Obviously, a dose differs based on habit and potency, however this is certainly enough to feel the effects. Hofman consumed 1/4 of a mg. A dose 400x smaller than that which was just described. With little known about hallucinogens (certainly native Americans and Amazonians had discovered psychoactive plants) at least to Hofman, this feelig was wholly original. It would be entirely possible, probably plausible given his disposition, that he was lethally poisoned.
Hofman, did say that as he descended down the bell curve after the peak that it was an enjoyable experience. He even remarked that psychologists would line to study it. However, given how intense and terrifying he deacribed the initial onset, I would not fault him, not call him cowardly, for not wanting to resume self-experimentation. This likely would have lead to LSD-25 not being put into widespread circulation, possibly forever.
To your point of the self-perpetuating bad trip. I concede that it is entirely possible that the meme of a bad trip and the medias portrayal of the drug could certainly induce one to have a bad trip. However, the knowledge of how the drug interacts with the body and the now well-known pharmacology can be leveraged for confort when one is under the influence. The knowledge that one is safe and it is only a temporary state brought about by a drug. Hofman did not have this. He could not take comfort in knowing approcimately when the effects would subside, or even of they ever would. i don't think comparing a trip where a person jas knowledge of the drug academically, but never practically (a contemporary persons first trip) can be legitimately compared to the first ever trip.
It goes to show how amazing and extraordinary the feelings and perception must have been when Hofman became comfortable. After the fear and heavy effects wore off, he must have truly marveled at the changed perspective, and been willing to try amd acheive it again for its benefits accross a host of disciplines and use cases
I read LSD: My Problem Child. Interesting, short, book. At one point, Sandoz was giving out samples to anyone who asked, as they were hoping someone would find a good commercial use. Timothy Leary went and ordered 10 grams (which is 100,000 x 100ug doses), but apparently Princeton(?) didn't back him up or there was some importing issue, and by that time Sandoz started getting suspicious and stopped sending out samples. Oops.
It's probably due to the reckless behaviour of early users that LSD got such a bad rap and banned so hard. Not that they should have had to been responsible -- they shouldn't be blamed for stupid government actions -- it's just an unfortunate thing. And early proponents weren't very rigorous and came up with fantastical claims, greatly exaggerating LSD's capabilities. It's still great stuff, just not quite a magical cure-all. Also I'm guessing most ethics systems would have issues with dosing people without their knowledge/consent.
The book also talks of later trips to Mexico where they did mescaline I believe. And how the images they saw, the shapes and patterns, looked exactly like Aztec art.
> It's probably due to the reckless behaviour of early users that LSD got such a bad rap and banned so hard. Not that they should have had to been responsible -- they shouldn't be blamed for stupid government actions -- it's just an unfortunate thing. And early proponents weren't very rigorous and came up with fantastical claims, greatly exaggerating LSD's capabilities.
This had very little to do with reckless behaviour of early users. I think it's generally well known at this point - that the "war-on-drugs" had primarily political purposes, especially suppressing the counter-culture.
More generally it's a war of ideas; the idea that there was a reality or conception of the world outside of say contemporary Christianity and material consumer society - were highly threatening at the time (to the nation's well-being if you will); and they remain so today (and this has much less to do with LSD and psychedelics and much more with preserving a power-structure).
LSD could have many therapeutic applications - especially for challenging existing doctrines and with managing addictions. But the government probably didn't want people to be freed of these mindsets.
The CIA immediately started testing it as a mind control substance and an adjunct to torture. They conducted thousands of cruel experiments, most of them without the consent of the experimentee's, usually on prisoners and people in mental institutions. I wouldn't put all the blame on Leary and other harmless eccentrics.
"It gave me an inner joy, an open mindedness, a gratefulness, open eyes and an internal sensitivity for the miracles of creation. [...] I think that in human evolution it has never been as necessary to have this substance LSD. It is just a tool to turn us into what we are supposed to be." — Albert Hoffman on his 100th birthday.
I'd like to try LSD but I have no idea where to find it. I am not too concerned with the illegality of it - but I'd like to make sure that I am not about to ingest some questionable drug that resembles LSD but isn't.
Media would have me believe that it can be abundant in some places. Never for me where I live though.
I must say that in my case I didn't find LSD, it found me.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that if you keep a certain type of company you will increase your chances of running into a good connect for LSD.
So from that perspective, I believe LSD finds many of its users in a very organic way. Call them hipsters, outsiders, whatever, they are people who believe in a moral code but not necessarily the code of laws presented by their government. People with these views tend to congregate together so sooner or later you find someone who has grown pot, mushrooms or even knows how to get LSD.
But it's important to point out that this is not always the case. I've also seen teenagers treat DMT like it was a friday night beer, and young people using LSD to be more like a fictional character portrayed by Johnny Depp and Bill Murray.
Those types definitely chase the substance, they're lucky to get it, and they're even more lucky to keep it or stay out of jail with it.
I was not talking about them, the ones I'm thinking about are the ones who don't chase the substance, but get it anyway. The substance appears to find them.
And there's little point in trying to be someone you're not only to fit in with a group you believe would fit that first description. Then you're just one of the many people chasing a substance that does not want to be found.
If you're looking for more information on LSD, may I recommend Mystic Chemist: The Life of Albert Hofmann and His Discovery of LSD
It's a biography of Albert Hoffman but also tells the history of LSD very thoroughly as well as it's possible uses, a description of all the effects etc.
For Hofman, this was not the case. It must have been extremely concerning to be without this information. The complete alteration of the perception of all of his senses, no information about the duration or magnitude of the event, and unsure if he had been fatally poisoned.
Given his initial experience, it is amazing that he persisted the way he did.