Father of LSD, now 100, and his 'problem child'

[Tace]

By Craig S. Smith -- The New York Times

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 hanging just beyond the crest of the hill. 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 turns 100 on Wednesday, a milestone to be marked by a symposium in nearby Basel on the chemical compound that he discovered and that famously altered consciousnesses around the world. As the years accumulate and his time left on the planet 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.

(more)

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/01/06/news/profile.php

[Faygo Kid]

1. Did it twice, in the early 1970s. Totally excellent both times.

No way to express the hilarity, and the warmth. If you are ever to do it, do it with good friends.

[MuseRider]

6. Always with good friends. n/t

[ixion]

2. hallucinogens are to the human mind

what nitrous oxide is to an internal combustion engine. :-)

[stevedeshazer]

3. I'm 50 now, I can't imagine what it will be like to be 100.

By the way, I owe Albert Hofmann some special thanks for helping me cope with life so far.

I want my next 50 years to be more in touch with nature.

[Berry Cool]

4. Sorry, but I don't see how a chemical produced in a lab

can help people get more in touch with nature.

I'll figure out my insights without any artificial aids, thank you very much. Especially those with that much potential for danger.

[pfitz59]

16. Ergot!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.chm.bris.ac.uk/motm/lsd/lsd1_text.htm

"LSD is one of the most powerful hallucinogenic drugs known. It was invented in 1938 by the Swiss chemist, Albert Hoffman, who was interested in developing medicines from compounds in ergot, a fungus that attacks rye. Although LSD is purely synthetic, clues to its biological activity can be found by tracing the history of the fungus from which it is derived."

Naturally occurring substance. BTW - Life is full of dangers.

[pfitz59]

17. Hoffman is 100!

And he tasted his invention...several times!

[stevedeshazer]

19. Okay then

Peace be with you.

[Ben Ceremos]

23. The danger is in your mind...

psychotropics and hallucinogens help make you aware of what you refuse to recognize in normal/quotidian consciousness. The risk inherent in self-discovery and self-denial is the main risk associated with the use of such chemicals. Physically, LSD has never been proven to cause genetic mutation, alter chemistry after usage or engender disability. Most problems with LSD are problems of consciousness. Our own inner nature is nature and we ignore it at the same peril as we ignore our destruction of the external world. Under safe conditions, hallucinogens pose no risk to the user, except as argued above. My views are established on experience and scholarly study. By the way, an excellent book on the uses of LSD in psycho-therapy was written by dr. Stanislav Grof, I believe it's entitled Realms of the Human Unconscious

http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Stanislav%20Grof

Consciousness is much more than the daily experience we have of it...LSD helps see this.

[Tace]

5. I'll Be 50 In March -- I Know Exactly What You Mean

By the way, this is a fellow who suggests that pre-threshold doses of LSD (approx. 25 mics) are a wonderful anti-depressant! It seems to have been working well enough for him. He he!

[stevedeshazer]

20. I don't doubt it.

That low doses help fight depression, I mean.

[Botany]

7. Hmmmmm

A grassy alpine hilltop with some lysergic detergent

Just say Know. :rofl:

[Clara T]

8. "It's very, very dangerous to lose contact with living nature," he said.

Truer words never spoken. And we are bubble wrapped in the technosphere thinking we are immune and beyond the workings of the natural world. These are the days of mass extinctions and very few seem to notice or care as we are so eviscerated from the very source of all of our strength.

Humanistic hubris

[soothsayer]

24. That's the very danger of GM foods---they sever the ancestral

connection with nature

[marylanddem]

9. An amazing drug. I don't regret doing it but

I am amazed at the risks we took!

[Warren Stupidity]

10. actually LSD is fairly safe.

Compare its risks to the normally accepted risks of drinking alcohol, for example, or riding a bicycle, or skiing, or lots of other things we do that are risky. The aversion is based on an emotional reaction to something that is different rather than a rational assesment of risk. Odd however, to have to argue the merits of LSD from a rational perspective.

[Dogmudgeon]

13. Many studies of LSD showed that it DECREASED suicide rates

Why do you think the federal government concocted that lame-ass "chromesome damage" story? They were unable to find any major risk factor for it, even with most people who were mentally ill.

I first used it because of intractable pain from ear surgeries and damage from tumors that occasioned the surgery. It killed the pain for several days, and reduced it for weeks. It also kept my analgesic opiate use low. Psilocybin (from "magic mushrooms") works similarly. There is a push to legalize medical mushrooms, as well as marijuana. In fact, a few species of psilocybe mushrooms were studied before the 1940s as a treatment for tuberculosis.

There's really no rational reason for the current state of affairs regarding drugs. None at all. From the point of epidemiology, outlawing drugs (of any kind) has been a public health disaster. Hopefully, the coming court cases over Uniao Vegetal -- a religion from Brasil featuring eucharistic consumption of entheogenic hoasca or ayahuasca -- will be decided in favor of sanity.

--p!

[Chemical Bill]

21. I don't think LSD is as risky ...

as what may have been mixed in to the street drugs we took. I know that I got some speed sometimes, and I heard tales of strychnine being added. Another argument for legalization.

BTW, to recognize the dark side for a second, I knew someone who was permanently damaged by hallucinogens. I also knew two people who were permanently damaged by high school sports. Who would have thought you could get paralyzed playing soccer, or have brain damage from football?

Bill

[cosmicdot]

11. wonder if he takes his other discovery -- Hydergine?

Hydergine was developed in the 1940's by Albert Hofmann while working for Sandoz Pharmaceuticals.



~snip~
Hydergine is known to have all the following effects:

Increase blood supply to the brain.
Increase oxygen delivered to the brain.
Enhance metabolism of brain cells.
Protect the brain from insufficient oxygen supply.
Slow the deposit of the age pigment lipofuscin in the brain.
Prevent free radical damage to brain cells.
Increase intelligence, memory, learning and recall.
~snip~
http://www.smart-drugs.com/Hydergine-WardDean.htm

~snip~
Ergoloid Mesylates (Hydergine)

Hydergine is a popular "smart pill" because it works in several ways to improve memory and mental function and protect the brain from aging-related damage. Europeans routinely use Hydergine as a productivity enhancing drug. In emergencies, European doctors inject hydergine directly into the carotid artery to protect the brain. Hydergine's mechanisms of actions include the reduction in the rate of lipofuscin deposition in brain cells, increased metabolism of brain cells by improving ATP synthesis and protection to the brain from free radical damage.
~snip~
http://www.lef.org/offshoredrugs.html#erg

[xchrom]

12. i want thank dr hoffmann --

both for his words today and his amazing discovery.

i used on more than one occasion -- wonderful.

[randr]

14. The chemical receptors in our brains are there by no accident.

Our brain evolved by the process of humans interacting with psychoactive plants and animals. Not to experiment with all the human possibilities is akin to life without the color red, the smell of fresh grass, or the touch of a lovers kiss.
KUDOS Mr. Hofmann, the human race may yet continue to evolve due to your sojourn on this planet.

[Tace]

15. Nice Picture Of Hoffman

http://worldnewstrust.org/

[RamblingRose]

18. Changed my life forever! One of the best things I ever did!!!

I did it in college. Too many responsibilities to do it anymore. I want my husband to slip me a dose when I'm on my deathbed.

I've always pondered its workings. It's beyond words!

I wonder when Mr. Hofmann tried it last????

Are you experienced???

[Berry Cool]

22. Nope. I'm not experienced. My drug use will always remain at a minimum.

and I'm fine with that.

I know ergot is a naturally occurring substance, but LSD is not. (Then again, I don’t think every naturally occurring substance is a good idea to ingest either. You won’t find me eating horse manure, for example.)

I think it is up to all of us to rationally weigh the safety of the actions we take. Based on rational assessment—not emotional assessment—I think LSD’s dangers outweigh its benefits for me.

If someone else concludes differently, that conclusion may be the one influenced more by emotion than by rational assessment. Who’s to say that a person might not be so eager to receive the insights that supposedly nothing other than LSD offers that he might not allow his emotions to cloud his assessment of the risks?

In any case, that's that person's decision.

No, drug laws aren’t rational. All the more reasons for us to use our heads about drugs very wisely. The governments of this world sure don't.

As for me, my life is very full simply knowing things like “the color red, the smell of fresh grass, or the touch of a lover’s kiss.” I don’t need to experiment with everything else there is to experiment with. I'm not condemning those who choose otherwise—I'm just saying, don't tell me my life is poorer because I have chosen otherwise.

[soothsayer]

25. But horse manure smells so good! And of course you DO eat it--

it goes in the garden, and the worms break it down, and the plants eat it up, and you eat the plants.

[Tace]

26. BerryBush -- You Make Perfect Sense To Me

The leaders of the entheogen movement agree with you wholeheartedly -- LSD is not for everyone, and it's probably not for most people. There's no need to take it. Even Hoffman himself -- who took the drug dozens of times, and is a proponent of its legalization for use in medical and spiritual practices -- says he's not aware that any of his children had taken it.

I think its really important that no one feel pressured into doing something they don't think is right for them. You make perfect sense to me. Cheers

[nashville_brook]

27. rational vs. emotional -- personal vs. transcendent

it all seems so organized and reasonable like a business decision. i'm really happy i wasn't a reasonable youth. i learned more from tripping my ass off, than in 19 years of schooling.

organic vs synthetic chemicals? safey vs recklessness? hmmm. i had a great time doing drugs and never -- not once -- hurt myself or others. never got caught -- never wrecked a car. or lost a job or damaged by health. i had a great time on drugs and don't regret a moment of it.

as an adult, one day i walk into a hospital with back pain and received an infection from a dirty needle. was misdiagnosed. given the wrong medication. ignored, robbed, nearly died. three years later i still have chronic pain and can't work. hmmm. just that; hmmmm.

rational stoicism is funny like that.

[Beam Me Up]

28. The pharma industry want us to think only THEIR drugs are safe.

Surprise, surprise, more lies from the corporate establishment, backed up by government run Health and Human Services and marketed to the sheeple by corporate media. MOST PEOPLE in our society today are ON DRUGS almost 24/7. Sugar, caffeine, nicotine, alcohol--just for starters--then we have aspirin and Tylenol and ibuprofen and all the antidepressants and other prescription drugs. Tons of them being consumed all before we get anywhere near the ones made illegal.

Probably the safest drug on the planet (so far as its level of toxicity is concerned, which is almost non existent) is marijuana. And yet marijuana is in the same scheduling category as heroine and other "dangerous" drugs. It is also quantitatively the most used illegal drug. Gee, wonder why its illegal?

LSD: What an AMAZING chemical! Is it safe for everyone? No, but that isn't because the chemical itself is particularly dangerous. The dosage level (250 millionths of a gram is a very strong dose) is so low it would have to be extremely toxic to cause any harm in that quantity. But the effects! There are LEVELS to these effects depending upon dosage, quality, state of mind of those who ingest and the setting in which the experience occurs. Words can not describe it--it is truly "ineffable."

If you want an experience like that but don't want something made in a laboratory, there's the naturally occurring psilocybin -- which is very similar in most ways to LSD (although, at the same time, different in ways difficult to articulate).

There are others, but these three Schedule One substances should be AVAILABLE for adult use. They are not answers to any individual's problems, or the world's problems either for that matter, but they are 'teachers' and can yield deep insight into matters that are otherwise veiled from our awareness. I'm nearing 60 and began my psychedelic use 40 years ago. I seldom partake any more as I've already learned a lot of what they had to teach me but I regard them as one of the blessings to be found on this Earth. They need to be RESPECTED, not criminalized.

[blindpig]

29. It ain't no toy.

I did my share and do regret the frivolous way in which I often did. It's powerful "medicine" and while it did me no harm I feel that I might have gotten more out of it had I paid more attention to set and setting and perhaps had some guidance(I was rather young).

Still, those were experiences I wouldn't give up for the world, including the bummers. Insights and experiences I'll never forget. Making love when you and your partner are both tripping, man oh man...