Posted on 01/11/2006 4:16:29 AM PST by beyond the sea
http://wjz.com/watercooler/watercooler_story_010144726.html
Father Of LSD Celebrating 100th Birthday
(AP) GENEVA LSD is an unlikely subject for a 100th birthday party. Yet the Swiss chemist who discovered the mind-altering drug and was its first human guinea pig is celebrating his centenary Wednesday — in good health and with plans to attend an international seminar on the hallucinogenic.
"I had wonderful visions," Albert Hofmann said, recalling his first accidental consumption of the drug.
"I sat down at home on the divan and started to dream," he told the Swiss television network SF DRS. "What I was thinking appeared in colors and in pictures. It lasted for a couple of hours and then it disappeared."
Hofmann, who also had bad experiences with the drug, continues to insist it should be legalized for medical treatment, particularly in psychiatric research. But LSD's reputation has been as turbulent as some acid trips.
The drug earned a bad reputation amid fatalities associated with hallucinations and reports of "flashbacks" — the recurrence of hallucinations when not taking the drug.
LSD inspired the 1960s hippy generation and was immortalized in the Beatles' hit "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds," although the band denied any connection. But it was also known as Like Swift Dead.
For decades after LSD was banned in the late 1960s, Hofmann defended his invention.
"I produced the substance as a medicine," he said. "It's not my fault if people abused it."
The chemist — who still takes nearly daily walks in the picturesque village where he lives in the Jura mountains with his wife of 70 years, Anita — discovered lysergic acid diethylamide-25 in 1938 while studying the medicinal uses of a fungus found on wheat and other grains at the Sandoz pharmaceuticals firm, now part of Novartis.
(Excerpt) Read more at wjz.com ...
If you like using acid that is your business.
That fluid baseball card is a collectors item. Doc was gliding along at the 6 hour point.
Interesting. I used LSD/mushrooms/etc. way over 100 times I would guess, and I have never had "flashback". All my friends who used never have either. I consider that mostly all baloney, but I guess the Army wanted to be quite careful.
I was ASA '69-71. I had a top secret crypto-clearance as I was a code receiver. But, I consider it good fortune that I was never introduced to drugs of any sort until after my college graduation and my military service days were over.
Anyhow, most of that alarmism about LSD is just that ........ alarmism.
Used correctly by well-adjusted adults, it is generally a very beautiful and meaningful learning experience. I am so glad I had a friend who introduced me. I know this kind of talk seems dangerous to some who read it, but I'm talking about responsible usage by intelligent, well-adapted adults.
;-)
Who is that?
Watching the sun rise was always a spiritual moment. The late 60's and early 70's in Uniontown were a trippy time.
What a relief, I was worried about your approval.
;-)
I've only done it about five times in the past decade or so. Now, when I take it, I just see all these unfinished projects all around me.... projects that I began but never followed through on. Oh well. By the way, I have a great idea for a new lawnrake if you want to hear about it.
;-)
Window pane....I forgot about that one. Certainly a good clean memory.
;-)
Oh yeh, those were the good old days. After some late afternoon summer thunderstorms, I used to like to listen to the water seep into the lush roughs off the fairways at The Pittsburgh Field Club. Heavy, huh?
;-)
WDVE broadcasts were tape loops with cutting edge music at that time. One quirky thing was watching Chilly Billy on Chiller Theater. Sometimes, I believe he knew what his audience was up to.
LOL ............. but the lawn rake idea is for real. It's for removing autumn leaves from beds of ivy, myrtle, or pachysandra ---- bedding plants, ground covers. This rake does not get caught up in these beds like a normal lawn rake does, yet can still get the leaves out pretty easily. It's a great idea, but I need some big honcho to get it going.
Hey Bill Gates, are you lurking?
;-)
Your question reminds me, again, how old I am getting......
A Windex memory.
;-)
***
I can see clearly now, the rain is gone,
I can see all obstacles in my way
Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind
It’s gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright) Sun-Shiny day.
UGH!
If the good doctor's 'trip' only lasted 2 hours, he received a smaller dose than most. --- different back then.
The 'really good stuff' kept you going for 9 or 10 hours. --- It sure did.
Most of the folks I knew, treated LSD like religious sacrament, used it only 2 or 3 times a year or less to achieve max. effect and always in a non-public venue. --- that's a great idea. But I must say, a buddy and I took some LSD before a World Series game in Three Rivers Stadium in 1971. We were way up in the upper deck with 53,000+ people, the clearest, clean blue sky that day, and as we were sitting there in that place, we felt like we were in a giant fishbowl. Oh, and the Pirates won.
;-)
I believe Art Linkletter's daughter jumped to her death from her Manhattan apartment.
Fine, but it's generally not well-balanced, mature people who are the ones using it...
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