Acids

The lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) is the most powerful drug known: less than 30 grams are sufficient to produce over three hundred thousand doses. Because of this power, the dosage of LSD is measured in micrograms, and each microgram equals one millionth of a gram. One hundred micrograms are sufficient to produce a trip, as the effect of the drug is known.

In pure form, LSD - a semi-synthetic derivative of lysergic acid - present in the crystal, but can also be produced with power five thousand times greater than that of mescaline and two hundred times greater than that of psilobcina. Doses sold illegally usually have 50 to 400 micrograms have effect for a period varying between 8 and 12 hours. LSD overdoses can happen more easily than with other drugs, since it is difficult to measure such small quantities. Some researchers, however, suggest that a real overdose of LSD occurs only with the intake of fantastic, around 7 million micrograms.

The history of LSD is relatively recent. It begins in 1943 with the Swiss chemist Dr. Albert Hoffman, who worked for Sandoz Laboratories researching derived from Claviceps purpurea, also known as ergot, a fungus that attacks rye. The alkaloids of this fungus had been isolated some years earlier, but for the first time Dr. Hoffman noted their presence in higher plants, the family of Convolvulaceae. These plants - the Rivea corymbosa and Ipomoea violacea - were employed for centuries in Central America by the Zapotec Indians. It is believed that the alkaloids synthesized by Hoffman in the rye fungus were responsible for the delirium that accompanied the symptoms of plague that raged through Europe, the Middle Ages, when entire populations were poisoned by eating bread made from rye contaminated with Claviceps purpurea.

By experimenting with the d-lysergic acid diethylamide, the twenty-fifth substance extracted from a series of tests with the fungus, Dr. Hoffman absorbed accidentally through the skin, a quantity of drugs. Intrigued by the effects experienced, the scientist christened the substance LSD-25 and decided to do further research with it, later writing a report that drew the attention of the scientific world for the discovery of a drug that, according to Hoffman, could trigger a state of altered reality. In the early 60's, LSD-25 was used experimentally in psychotherapy sessions, especially in the United States, where its use was legal. The clinics and universities, the drug spread to the world, becoming, along with "Beatlemania" and the sexual revolution, symbols of an era that, for many, marked the beginning of the Aquarian Age.

Although its use has been legally restricted from 1963, lysergic acid continued to be manufactured in clandestine laboratories and consumed in large quantities. But since 1969, consumption began to decline, while the faded dream of 60 years. In the decades after LSD became the drug out of fashion and today its use is rare. While in vogue, lysergic acid profoundly influenced the music, film, visual arts and customs, a broad movement that became known as psychedelic.

LSD-25 is officially classified as a hallucinogenic drug, although some experts contend that the substance can not be considered so as not cause hallucinations. Thus it is considered that the substance is a drug psychomimetic: it can induce symptoms that simulate or mimic psychosis such as schizophrenia. But none of this is shown. What we know for sure is that LSD stays in the brain during a period of twenty minutes. Most of the drug goes to the liver and kidneys, and lysergic acid can be detected in the bloodstream for only two hours after ingestion. U.S. reports claim that the effects of LSD are the result of the release or inhibition of substances that already exist in the brain, which alter the chemical balance of the organ. I mean, not the drug that causes changes in consciousness - LSD comes, rather, relations of the organism itself. The first effects of LSD are physical and they get about an hour after ingestion of the drug. They range from a vague sense of anxiety to nausea and were followed by accelerated heartbeat, dilated pupils, increased temperature, heart rate and blood pressure, and restlessness and reduced appetite.

Then the User enters a state of high suggestibility: subconscious impressions arise in torrents, while the ability to receive and analyze the structural form of the information environment is distorted, and may even disappear. The experiment, which varies greatly from one person to another can induce synesthesia, a state of crossing of the senses in which the User "see" music and "hear" colors. Space perception is also changed and the colors are enhanced in intensity; kaleidoscopic images and three-dimensional floating in the void. The sense of time dissolves, and past, present and future seem to be borders.

Some researchers claim to have documented therapeutic uses of LSD, since the substance can induce "self-improvement, increased interest in matters philosophical, theological and cosmological, and spiritual enlightenment. Emotional responses and learned patterns of behavior can be altered by the drug, resulting in change of lifestyle. Empathy and responsiveness can be altered to the point of telepathy, although such effects could be the result of personality characteristics of each User. Many of the major changes in lifestyle attributed to LSD can be explained sociologically rather than chemically. American authors consider that the drug does not create physical dependence, but it causes tolerance to various doses are taken on.

Psychological dependence is also rare, since the intensity of the experience lisérgica discourages users to their new doses in a short period of time. The tolerance decreases rapidly as the ingestion of LSD is reduced, tending to disappear after three days of suspension of consumption. There are no documented symptoms of withdrawal. Also due to the intensity of the "trip" caused by LSD, the User may be more prone to accidents, and this is perhaps the greatest of dangers caused by the drug. Medical studies are rare and incomplete, and in 1967, the United States, published a report saying that lysergic acid can damage the chromosomes. Laboratory tests suggested that LSD may cause chromosomal aberrations, as well as caffeine, X-rays, viral infections, and sunburn.

User of LSD is also subject to the so-called bad trips, or "bad trips" in which can be taken to emotional states of depression, which can progress to psychotic reactions and paranoia. In extreme cases, these states can last for the entire trip, which turns into nightmare. Such problems are usually caused by the predisposition of the User, but can be also results in adulteration of LSD sold illegally in the form of capsules, tablets, microdots, drops on blotting paper and foil cups. Another side effect that is subject to the User of LSD is the phenomenon known as flashback, an occasional return of the effects of the drug several days after she was taken. It is unclear what causes the flashback, although it is believed that it is a psychological process and not chemical. Still, there are suspicions that the flashbacks can be triggered by psychological fatigue or ingestion of drugs antagonists.

The effects of long-term use of LSD has not been determined. However, it is suggested that the hypothesis of psychotic reactions is minimal, since the drug is taken with certain precautions. Administered in scientific experiments with people classified as clinically healthy, and properly warned about the psychological changes that face, the drug demonstrated not to cause further damage. Paradoxically, when taken without medical supervision specialist, LSD can result in temporary states of panic, fear, depression and psychosis. One of the rarest of the drug is the "unmasking" of psychotic personalities that, although apparently normal, no longer suppressed internal conflicts emerge when ingesting LSD.