LSD
Frequently Asked Questions (part 2)
Bad Trips
A person on LSD who becomes depressed, agitated, or confused may experience these feelings in an overwhelming manner that grows on itself.
The best solution is to remove disturbing influences, get to a safe, comforting environment, and reassure the tripper that things are alright.
It may comfort those who fear that they are losing their minds to be reminded that it will end in several hours.
Authorities are fond of administering injections of anti-psychotic drugs. Recovery in the presence of authorities, in hostpitals or police stations, is not pleasant.
Sedatives or tranquilizers such as Valium may help reduce panic and anxiety, as well as calm talking. Some claim that niacin (an over the counter vitamin supplement) can abort a trip, but this may be due to a placebo effect (niacin produces a flushing effect).
Myths
LSD does not form crystals that reside in the body to be dislodged later, causing flashbacks. LSD is a crystalline solid (though it is unlikely that one would ever have enough to be visible to the naked eye) but it is easily water soluable, thus cannot form bodily deposits.
Furthermore, it is metabolized and excreted in hours. The bogus loosened crystal description in not necessary to explain flashbacks, which are psychological phenomena.
LSD does not cause chromosome damage.
Some Urban Legends
I've heard two stories about people blinding themselves on drugs. One was revealed as a hoax by the person who perpetrated it (apparently it was intended to illustrate the dangers of LSD), another is trotted out by anti-drug speakers at high schools:
1) Seven people on LSD stared at the sun and lost 90% of their reading vision.
2) A teenager arrested while on LSD plucked out his eyeballs in his jail cell, and felt no pain.
While these are bogus, the drug has powerful effects on the mind and the consumer should be aware of the hazards, and act appropriately.
There is an occasionally circulated fake warning from some police department about LSD-laced tattoos or stickers (the blue star tattoo story) being given to children. This probably originated with some hick cop or ignorant and panicky parent not understanding some children-cartoon (eg, mickey mouse in sorcerer's garb) printed on a sheet of blotter.
Dangers
Purely psychological hazards, not harmful to body. May release latent psychosis or exacerbate depression, leading to irrational behavior. There is also a danger of foolish or incautious behavior, e.g, misjudging distances or thinking one can fly like some kind of Super LSD Man.
Physical overdose is not a hazard, though one may easily ingest more than one may be able to handle psychologically.
Because the LSD psychosis is not distinguishable from non-drug- induced psychosis, we have reasonable evidence to conclude that LSD was not the sole cause of psychosis.
Instead, it would seem that the drug brought on the problems in vulnerable individuals.
Interestingly, the rate of parental alcoholism was found to be much higher in LSD patients than in other patients or in the general population by one study
(Vardy and Kay, Arch-Gen-Psych, 1983 40(8): 877-83).
Lethal (toxic) doses of LSD are conservatively several tens of thousands of times as much as a normal dose, making it (in the toxic sense) one of the safest drugs known.
It would take ten thousand to one hundred thousand hits of LSD to kill a person. One would throw up before dying, simply because of the amount of paper, sugar, or barrel ingested.
Never take any drugs while pregnant.
Flashbacks
From Licit and Illicit Drugs Written by Edward M. Brecher and the editors of Consumer Reports.
A simple explanation of LSD flashbacks, and of their changed character after 1967, is available.
According to this theory, almost everybody suffers flashbacks with or without LSD. Any intense emotional experience, the death of a loved one, the moment of discovery that one is in love, the moment of an automobile smashup or of a narrow escape from a smashup, may subsequently and unexpectedly return vividly to consciousness weeks or months later.
Since the LSD trip is often an intense emotional experience, it is hardly surprising that it may similarly flash back.
Insomnia
Insomnia occurs frequently after the trip. A mild, over-the-counter sleeping aid can help, and these antihistamines do not produce adverse interactions. Also, some people like to consume a small amount of alcoholic beverage to smooth the jitteries. The usual precautions about sleeping aids if alcohol has been consumed apply of course.
Tolerance
Aquired rapidly, usually within 3 days you will not get the same effect from the same amount of LSD. You will need more. Tolerance dissipates equally rapidly, without withdrawl, craving, or symptoms of addiction. It is best to wait at least a week between trips.
Cross-tolerance can and is developed between other indole hallucinogens, eg, DMT, LSD and Psilocybin.
Botany
Indole Alkaloids In Plant Hallucinogens Richard Evans Schultes, PhD. Journal of Psychedelic Drugs Vol.8(No.1) Jan-Mar 1976
The main constituent of the seeds of Rivea corymbosa is ergine or d-lysergic acid amide. Minor alkaloids present are the related d-isolysergic acid amide (isoergine), chanoclavine, elymoclavine and lysergol.
The seeds of Ipomoea violacea have a similar composition, but instead of lysergol, they have ergometrine (ergonovine). Later, very minor amounts of two alkaloids ergometrinine and penniclavine - were found in I. violacea by chromatography. the total alkaloid content of the seeds of Ipomoea viloacea is approximately five times as great as that of the seeds of Rivea corymbosa: 0.06% in the former; 0.012% in the latter.
This difference in the alkaloid content explains why Indians employ smaller doses of seeds of the Ipomoea than of the Rivea.
Ethnopharmacology and Taxonomy of Mexican Psychodysleptic Plants Jose Luis Diaz M.D. Journal of Psychedelic Drugs Vol. 11(1-2) Jan-Jun 1979
Seeds of various Morning Glories contain Ergolines: ergine,isoergine,ergonovine Glucosides: turbicoryn [apparently in Rivea corymbosa only] called Tlitlitzen (Aztec word for The Divine Black One) to the Aztecs, Black is a hot color, a property of psychotropics associated with light.
The Botanical and Chemical Distribution of Hallucinogens Richard Evans Schultes, PhD. Journal of Psychedelic Drugs Vol.9(No.3) Jul-Sep 1977
I. violacea, often referred to by it's synonyms I. rubro-caerulea and I. tricolor, is represented in horticulture by a number of varieties, such as: Heavenly Blue, Pearly Gates, Flying Saucers, Wedding Bells, Summer Skies, and Blue Stars - all of which contain the hallucinogenic ergot alkaloids.
Anthropology
From The Road to Eleusius by Hoffman, Wasson, and Ruck.
Summary:
A secret religion existed for 2,000 years in Greece (until the christians displaced it around 400 AD). The initiation was open to anyone who spoke Greek and hadn't committed murder, once in their life. After 6 month long preporatory rituals, members walked to Eleusius whereupon they underwent secret rituals. The rituals remained secret until the 1970's.
Wasson, an ethnomycological scholar and former banker (and the first white to trip on shrooms with the mexican indians) proposed the following explanation of the Eleusian mysteries to Hoffman, an ergot-alkaloid expert chemist, and Ruck, a greek scholar.
The Secret of the ritual involved the personal visions induced by drinking the grain decoction administered to the inititiates. The domestication of grains permitted the development of greek civilization; it also brought ergot fungus (of St. Anthony's fire infamy).
The thin book contains their argument for the use of the ergot fungus in Eleusian rites, Wasson providing some backround on the use of mushrooms and grains and their role in the culture; Hoffman on the psychoactivity of ergot strains; and Ruck on the mythological and cultural backround of the sect.
Evidence includes: Hoffman dosed himself with large (ergot-derived) doses of obstestric compounds to assay their hallucinogenic potential, and found them to possess such activity. The Eleusian temple site still remains, but there is no room to view theatric performances, just rows of tripping initiates, further supporting their argument.
An interesting read, and its neat to think that the culture that more or less lead to the western industrial one had psychedelic rites. (Various greek prominant figures attended the rituals, including Plato).
Ipomoea Purpurea: A Naturally Occurring Psychedelic
Charles Savage, Willis W. Harman and James Fadiman
From Altered States of Consciousness, A Book of Readings edited by Charles Tart
Of the naturally occurring plant alkaloids used in ancient and modern religious rites and divination one of the least studied is ololiuqui.
The earliest known description of its use is by Hernandez, the King of Spain's personal physician, who spent a number of years in Mexico studying the medicinal plants of the Indians and accurately illustrated ololiuqui as a morning glory in his work which was not published until 1651 (Schultes, 1960).
In his words, When a person takes ololiuqui, in a short time he loses clear reasoning because of the strength of the seed, and he believes he is in communion with the devil (Alacon, 1945).
Schultes (1941) and Wasson (1961) have reported in detail on the religious and divinatory use of two kinds of morning-glory seeds, Rivea corymbosa and Ipomoea violacea, among the Mazatec and Zapotec indians. The first of these is assumed to be the ololiuqui of the ancient Aztecs.
In 1955 Osmond described personal experiments with Rivea corymbosa seeds and reported that the effects were similar to those of d-lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD-25).
He suggeted (1957) that the word psychedelic (meaning mind-manifesting) be used as a generic term for this class of substances to refer to their consciousness-expanding and psychotherapeutic function as contrasted with the hallucinogenic aspect.
In 1960 Hoffman reported that he had isolated d-lysergic acid amide (LA) and d-isolysergic acid amide from the seed of both Rivea corymbosa and Ipomoea violacea.
LA is very similar to LSD in its psychological and physiological manifestations but is reported to have about one twentieth the psychological effectiveness of LSD (Cerletti & Doepfner, 1958).
The work of these investigators led us to a preliminary study of the psychedelic properties of species of Ipomoea which are commonly found within the continental United States.
The seeds of Ipomoea purpurea, the common climbing morning glory, resemble the seeds of Ipomoea violacea and have been found to have similar psychedelic properties. Recent analysis by Taber et al. (1963) has verified that LA is present in the varieties used and is probably the primary active agent.
The effects of the seeds of Ipomoea purpurea (varieties Heavenly Blue and Pearly Gates) in a total of 45 cases are summarized below.
The subjects are all normally functioning adults and the majority had previous experience with LSD. The onset of effects is about half an hour after the seeds have been chewed and swallowed and they last from five to eight hours.
Low Dose, 20-50 Seeds (11 Subjects)
This dosage rarely produces any visual distortions, although with eyes closed there may be beginning imagery. Restlessness, evidenced by alternating periods of pacing about and lying down, may be present.
There tends to be a heightened awareness of objects and of nature, and enhanced rapport with other persons. A feeling of emotional clarity and of relaxation is likely to persist for several hours after other effects are no longer noticable.
Medium Dose, 100-150 Seeds (22 Subjects)
In this range the effects resemble those reported for medium-dose (75-150 micrograms) LSD experiences, including spatial distortions, visual and auditory hallucinations, intense imagery with eyes closed, synaesthesia and mood elevation.
These effects, which occur mainly during the period of 1 to 4 hours after ingestion, are typically followed by a period of alert calmness which may last until the subject goes to sleep.
High Dose, 200-500 Seeds (12 Subjects)
In this range the first few hours may resemble the medium-dose effects described above. However, there is usually a period during which the subjective states are of a sort not describable in terms of images or distortions, states characterized by loss of ego boundaries coupled with feelings of euphoria and philosophical insight.
These seem to parallel the published descriptions of experiences with high doses (200-500 micrograms) of LSD given in a supportive, therapeutic setting as reported by Sherwood et al. (1962).
All the subjects who had previous experience with LSD claimed the effects of the seeds were similar to those of LSD. Transient nausea was the most commonly reported side effect, beginning about one half hour after ingestion and lasting a few minutes to several hours.
Other reported side effects not commonly found with LSD were a drowsiness or torpor (possibly due to a glucoside also present in the seeds) and a coldness in the extremities suggesting that the ergine content of the seeds may be causing some vascular constriction.
If this is the case, there may be some danger of ergot poisoning resulting from excessive dosages of the seeds.
The only untoward psychic effect was a prolonged (eight hours) disassociative reaction which was terminate with cholorpromazine [Thorazine].
The possibility of prolonged adverse reactions to the psychological effects of the seeds is essentially the same as with LSD, and the same precautions should be observed (Cohen And Ditman, 1963).
Ipomoea.003 7-May-90
Additional Notes
Ipomoea purpurea is sold as the Heavenly Blue variety of morning glory. Ipomoea tricolor is the trade name used for that variety. It is identical with the species of morning glory described above.
The seeds must be chewed or ground in order to be effective. Soaking the ground seeds in water for several hours, filtering out the grounds, and then drinking only the water portion of the mixture can reduce some of the stomach-upset symptoms if such occur.
Unpleasant LSD and morning glory trips can be smoothed out or even stopped by taking niacin (in the form of nicotinic acid, vitamin B-3 or niacin). Vitamin C has been shown to reduce the incidence of paranoia and prevent depletion of the vitamin from the adrenal glands during LSD trips.
There have been reports that commercially available packets of morning glory seeds from some distributors are coated with fungicides or other chemicals to increase shelf life or discourage the practice of eating them. Seeds from plants grown in one's own garden will be safe as long as you do not spray them with insecticides.
The last few notes about Niacin and Vitamin C are based on a paperback edition of Hoffer & Osmonds The Psychedelics.
It's pretty clear that the latin names of this plant are somewhat confused (which is typical). Ipomoea purpurea, Ipomoea tricolor, Ipomoea violacea and Ipomoea rubro-caerulea are all the same plant.
The other variety of morning glory, Ololiuhqui has at least two Latin names as well: Rivea corymbosa, and Turbina corymbosa.
Recreational Use Of Ergoline Alkaloids From Argyreia Nervosa
William E. Shawcross
Journal of Psychedelic Drugs Vol. 15(4) Oct-Dec 1983
Chemistry And Effect Of The Seeds
The Hawaiian baby woodrose entered the drug scene in 1965 with the publication of a paper in Science entitled Ergoline Alkaloids in Tropical Wood Roses by Hylin and Watson.
The wide circulation of this journal assured thorough dissemination of the information they presented. They wrote, The possible health and legal problems associated with the presence of similar compounds in commerically cultivated plants led us to examine the ornamental wood roses, Ipomoea tuberosa and Argyreia nervosa, both common Hawaiian crops that have assumed commerical importance as components of [the] dried tropical flower industry.
Comparing the seeds of these two plants with those of the morning glory varieties Pearly Gates and Heavenly Blue, they found the following yield of alkaloids (mg of alkaloid/g of seed material):
Heavenly Blue 0.813
Pearly Gates 0.423
I. tuberosa [None]
A. nervosa 3.050
The seed of A. nervosa is the best plant source of ergoline alkaloids discovered; it contains approximately 3 mg of alkaloidal material per gram of seed. Approximately one-eighth of this is lysergamide.
Hylin and Watson found the major alkaloidal constituents in A. nervosa seeds to be ergine (780 mcg/g of fresh seed) and isoergine and penniclavine (555 mcg).
[Note: Argyreia nervosa has NO history of shamanic use as a hallucinogen]
This is an excerpt from the article cited. There's no record of Argyreia being used as an hallucinogen in India, but it was used externally as some kind of skin medicine.
There's been speculation that Argyreia might have been a component of Soma, but there's no evidence for that, apparently. Because there's not a long history of human usage of Argyreia, it may be that there are glycosides not mentioned here that take effect at higher doses or might cause stomach upset, tachycardia etc. The article mentioned intestinal complaints in one or two cases at higher experimental doses.
part 1 part 2 part 3
Books Acid Dreams:
The Complete Social History of LSD:
The CIA, the Sixties, and Beyond
An accurate, well researched book. As the title implies, it covers such things as the origin of LSD and the CIA funded research for use as a mind control tool. But more importantly it explains how LSD and other drugs have affected society.
Not a boring text book, this is probably the best book available on the social history of LSD from its synthesis in the 1940's to the present day. Students looking for information about LSD should borrow this book at a local library.
Acid Dreams LSD
This is the book to get if you know your way around a chemistry lab and would like to produce LSD with readily available materials. Includes recipes from companies that have manufactured LSD on a large scale.
Besides the manufacturing information the history and uses of the drug are examined, but to a much lesser degree. With contributions from doctors and therapists that have used LSD to treat patients.
LSD LSD, Spirituality, and the Creative Process
An exploration of how LSD influences imagination and the creative process based on the results of one of the longest clinical studies of LSD that took place between 1954 and 1962, before LSD was illegal.
In 1954 a Los Angeles psychiatrist began experimenting with a then new chemical discovery known as LSD-25. Over an eight-year period Dr. Oscar Janiger gave LSD-25 to more than 950 men and women, ranging in age from 18 to 81 and coming from all walks of life.
Includes personal reports, artwork, and poetry from the original sessions as testimony of the impact of LSD on the creative process.
LSD, Spirituality, and the Creative Process
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