Father of LSD nears the century mark: Scientist calls drug 'medicine for the soul'

Seattle Post-Intelligencer ^ | 1/7/06 | CRAIG SMITH/New York Times

[wagglebee]

BURG, Switzerland -- Albert Hofmann, the father of LSD, walked slowly across the small corner office of his modernist home on a grassy Alpine hilltop here, hoping to show a visitor the vista that sweeps before him on clear days. But outside there was only a white blanket of fog. He picked up a photograph of the view on his desk instead, left there perhaps to convince visitors of what really lies beyond the window.

Hofmann will turn 100 on Wednesday, a milestone to be marked by a symposium in Basel on the chemical compound that he discovered and which unlocked the Blakean doors of perception, altering consciousnesses around the world.

As his time left grows short, Hofmann's conversation turns ever more insistently around one theme: man's oneness with nature and the dangers of an increasing inattention to that fact.

"It's very, very dangerous to lose contact with living nature," he said. "In the big cities, there are people who have never seen living nature, all things are products of humans," he said. "The bigger the town, the less they see and understand nature."

And, yes, LSD, which he calls his "problem child," could help reconnect people to the universe.

[wagglebee]

He calls LSD "medicine for the soul" and is frustrated by the worldwide prohibition that has pushed it underground. "It was used very successfully for 10 years in psychoanalysis."

But the drug was hijacked by the youth movement of the 1960s and then unfairly demonized, he said. He concedes LSD can be dangerous and calls its promotion by Timothy Leary and others "a crime."

Does he have any evidence of success using LSD in psychoanalysis?

[tallhappy]

It's all baloney, really.

Interesting to hear he is still alive. He has been a great chemist.

But drugs like LSD and the like and their widespread use are the main reasosn we are in the liberal cesspool we are in now.

[tallhappy]

Even today the same old grifters are talking about drugs like ectsatsy or whatever the flavor of the day being used for "psychoanalysis" etc...

[cripplecreek]

Oh yeah, Imagining spiders swarming out of your pores is real "medicine for the soul".

[RouxStir]

"Does he have any evidence of success using LSD in psychoanalysis?"

No, unfortunately, both the psychologist and the patient have to be tripping at the same time to communicate at the same level.....not enough functioning neurons were left in either for analysis.

[Vaquero]

Yeah he might still be alive, but Timothy Leary's dead....
......no...wait...he's just on the outside looking in.

[Gordongekko909]

"Does he have any evidence of success using LSD in psychoanalysis?"

Yes, he does. But you have to be crazy on acid to see it.

[Supernatural]

Ergot blight. Probably caused hallucinations for centuries among unknowing people, even back in the middle ages.

[steveo]

LMAO!

[wagglebee]

Ergotism was very likely the cause of irrational behaviors that resulted in the Salem Witch Trials in the 17th century.

http://web.utk.edu/~kstclair/221/ergotism.html

[toddlintown]

100 years? That's a lot time for flashbacks.

[Supernatural]

I can certainly believe it. Something has to explain the irrational behavior that got a lot of innocent people brutally killed.

[ex-Texan]

"Medicine for the soul?"

When I was in college back in the 1960's, LSD was everywhere. San Francisco, Haight Street, the "Summer of Love." Two or three people I knew pretty well flunked out of school after they got involved with acid. One guy went on a really bad trip and was hospitalized for a couple of weeks. Another went nuts and just walked away from his scholarship. The last time I saw him he was a street bum begging for handouts.

[Freedom_no_exceptions]

Yeah he might still be alive, but Timothy Leary's dead.... ......no...wait...he's just on the outside looking in.

Tuned out, turned off, dropped dead.

[cubreporter]

Oh yeah....that's REAL Medicine for the soul. Amazing huh?

[Nick5]

That's a pretty broad claim--drugs equals liberalism--which I don't think you could support with the facts. (Plenty of drunks and pillheads on our side of the table, sorry to say.) That said, I took LSD about a dozen times in college and apart from one really fun afternoon in the Egyptian wing of a museum in New York ABSOLUTELY NO GOOD CAME OF IT-- the "revelations" that come from acid add up to so much bulls**t in the light of day--and I know this from hard experience. In exchange for a little wild fun, LSD drains away physical health, concentration, memory and true creativity. I met Leary a couple of times late in his life and it struck me that there was about 45% of a brain there.

[newzjunkey]

I don't know that it's reasonable to equate his controlled use of LSD and the street versions of LSD.

I knew someone in college who had tried LSD before and experienced what he was like when he had a flashback. Wasn't pleasant.

The Drug Enforcement Administration reports that the strength of LSD samples obtained currently from illicit sources ranges from 20 to 80 micrograms of LSD per dose. This is considerably less than the levels reported during the 1960s and early 1970s, when the dosage ranged from 100 to 200 micrograms, or higher, per unit. (Source: NIH/DHHS)

[Bommer]

"Does he have any evidence of success using LSD in psychoanalysis?"

Not sure. but Cary Grant swore by it!

[Vaquero]

if I am not mistaken, there is a limit that the body can absorb and you reach a plateau and thats it.....one could take a 10X overdose and the effects and longevity would remain the same......

[cubreporter]

Well, for knowing or claiming to know so much and how to save the world from the rest of us "over 30's crowd" they sure didn't contribute anything. Instead they got high and stayed that way.

[Lancey Howard]

On the day that the author Aldous Huxley died from cancer (the same day Kennedy was assassinated, btw) he was administered, at his request, 100 mics of LSD intramuscularly. Check this out, from Hofmann's autobiography:

8. Meeting with Aldous Huxley

I read many of Huxley's books when I was in college, including The Doors of Perception (Jim Morrison chose this title as the original name of the band, btw), Island, Brave New World, Crome Yellow, The Devils of Loudun (which was made into a very interesting movie starring Oliver Reed), Ape and Essence, and Heaven and Hell. He is worthwhile to read, even today. Huxley was as much a "Godfather" of the "psychedelic movement" as anybody, and certainly more than Timothy Leary. Huxley took it very seriously - - it was not a matter of "getting high" to him, nor was it "recreational".

[Lancey Howard]

God Only Knows there were plenty of acid casualties in the world of Rock and Roll as well.
Brian Wilson comes to mind. And Syd Barrett. LSD didn't help Morrison or Hendrix much, either. The Beatles got some pretty good stuff out of it, but they were the exception, not the rule.

[tet68]

My bumpersticker says,

If it weren't for Flashbacks,
I'd have no memory at all.

[Cobra64]

When I was in college back in the 60s, we blew a little weed once in a while, but never came close to dropping.

Some jerks dropped tabs in the orange juice in the student union. Kids were freaking all over the place. Really sad.

[DouglasKC]

Drugs like LSD and marijuana are the devils attempt to counterfeit actual spiritual communion with the God of the universe. Satan uses these tools to draw people further and further from God and make them dependent on him.

[VOA]

The ergotism of Salem was given good coverage on a segment of PBS's
"Secrets of The Dead" (link below)

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/case_salem/index.html

IIRC, the segment also mentioned a breakout in a village in France in the
late 1940s that left a bunch of folks tripping due to some bad bread.

[Delta 21]

Dont eat the brown acid!

[Trailerpark Badass]

Does he have any evidence of success using LSD in psychoanalysis?

Don't know, but I thought it was pretty fun. Wouldn't have wanted to be talking to a shrink at the time, though.

[BallyBill]

Everything's so,...... Green!

[elfman2]

I agree with your summary of its effects. I think people assign profound “soul cleansing” meaning to them because the creations generated while under are so unexpectedly rich and otherworldly that they sake up the soul. It’s not just things like “spiders swarming out of your pores”, but your entire environment reshaped with associations redrawn faster than you can take note of them. But that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s “cleansing for the soul” or even benign to the soul.

Danny Elfman released a CD with Oingo Boingo called “Good for your Soul” that I always thought referenced LDS. “Once or twice, is good for your soul. If you don’t stop, you loose control.”. With the deconstruction of traditional ethics in the 1960s, it must have been tempting to make a lifestyle of it like your San Francisco friends found out. It took experience to show that our minds and souls are generally not built to be shaken that hard so often.

[cripplecreek]

It took experience to show that our minds and souls are generally not built to be shaken that hard so often.

No kidding tragic events in everyday life push some folks over the edge even without drugs.

[joesnuffy]

All LSD does is to scramble neurotransmitters and mimic schizophrenia...if enough is taken pathways can be altered for the rest of the victim's life..

Great legacy there Doc...chemically induced schizophrenia.. a byproduct of your psuedo 'enlightenment'...

Ruined many a youngster's life

imo

[Riverman94610]

I saw Leary speak once and he was quite brilliant-NOT!
I dabbled a wee bit in the psychedelic scene and knew quite a few acid burnouts like the ones you refer to-remember"The Beast of the Haight"?
Acid strips your ego bare.A lot of people can't handle that type of naked truth.
Taking psychedelics did NOT make me more liberal.Quite the opposite-I saw right through the egoism and opportunism of the Leftist's leaders and charlatans.

[Huck]

At least there's proof marijuana exists. You worship the tooth fairy.

[Riverman94610]

Well,you may be onto something there about Satan creating a false communion with God through hallucinogens.
Thought I saw "God"one time on a mescaline trip.
Yep,he was an old white guy with a long beard!

[Blackirish]

Yeah....a kid who lived on my block...kinda fragile guy...did acid in college. They found him running through the snow naked. Moved home. Still lives with his parents 20 years later. His hair went black to white within a year of that tab. Maybe he would of had a breakdown anyway....but acid slammed it home.

[DouglasKC]

At least there's proof marijuana exists. You worship the tooth fairy.

There's plenty of proof that God exists. If you knew the love of God you would be certain that his creation speaks of his existence.

[A. Pole]

oes he have any evidence of success using LSD in psychoanalysis?

It looks that LSD prolonged his life :)

[mugs99]

Well, for knowing or claiming to know so much and how to save the world from the rest of us "over 30's crowd" they sure didn't contribute anything

Bill Gates didn't contribute anything?
.

[Sir Francis Dashwood]

Drugs like LSD and marijuana are the devils attempt to counterfeit actual spiritual communion with the God of the universe. Satan uses these tools to draw people further and further from God and make them dependent on him.

The druggies, like the sex perverts, can only perpetuate an ever increasing market for their filth by molesting the minds and bodies of the young ones... this is the only way they get new Demo-rat voters... It is CHEMICAL, BIOLOGICAL and PSYCHOLOGICAL WARFARE!

[festus]

The pagans are sure out in force these days.

[Billthedrill]

Oh yeah, Imagining spiders swarming out of your pores is real "medicine for the soul".

Wait a minute...you're telling me the spiders weren't real?

[Porterville]

The only thing I learned from LSD is how to match my clothing. Other than that it was a wash.

[Tribune7]

Albert Hofmann, the father of LSD, walked slowly across the small corner office of his modernist home on a grassy Alpine hilltop here, hoping to show a visitor the vista that sweeps before him on clear days.

There's a giant doing cartwheels,
A statue wearing high heels.
Look at all the happy creatures dancing on the lawn.
A dinosaur Victrola listening to Buck Owens.

[wagglebee]

I had a really interesting two hour long conversation with a fishtank once!

[Tribune7]

You worship the tooth fairy.

The rigorous reasoning of the atheist Freeper once again unveils itself.

[cubreporter]

bill and how many????

[mugs99]

bill and how many????
Your guess is as good as mine. I only know about Bill because I read the interview he gave Playboy back in '94.
.

[Drew68]

Brings back a few fond memories from my college days. I had some good times, some unbelievably crazy times. Only one bad trip and it was manageable. Everybody isolated from one another and freaked out privately in their own bedrooms. Other than that, good LSD is an experience that cannot be described properly to one who has never tried it. I don't regret ever trying it because most of the dozen or so times I ate acid the experience was an enjoyable one with lots of laughter and camaraderie.

I wouldn't touch the stuff now for a million bucks. Waaaaay too powerful!

[Riverman94610]

"I tripped on a cloud and fell eight miles high
I broke my mind on a jagged sky
I just dropped in to see what condition my condition was in"