1. LSD
(D-LYSERGIC ACID DIETHYLAMIDE)
Common names: Acid, Doses, Tabs, Lucy, Yellow Sunshine,
Battery Acid, Blotter, Microdots, Dots, Electric Kool-Aid,
Window Pane, Pane, Sugar Cubes, Cubes, Elvis, Hits, Blue
Cheer
AMY DONIGER

2. HALLUCINOGENS
- Also called psychedelics or psychomimetics
- Classic synthetic hallucinogens
- LSD
- Some “designer” amphetamines (i.e.
MDA, MDMA)
- Classic natural hallucinogens
- Psilocybin (“magic mushrooms”)
- Mescaline
- Schedule I Drugs based on the FDA
classification system
- Salvia - most powerful natural hallucinogen.
Legal. Grows throughout the Americas,
including the US. In mint family.

3. WHAT IS LSD?
- LSD is the most commonly used synthetic
hallucinogen.
- LSD is a white or clear, odorless, water-soluble
crystal that can be crushed into a powder and
dissolved.
- The most common form of LSD is as a liquid
that has been transferred onto a small paper
square known as “blotter”
- Experiences on LSD are known as “trips”
lasting from 6-12 hours.
- Can be dried on gelatin sheets, put into
capsules or on sugar cubes, or laced with other
drugs.

4. DISCOVERY
- Albert Hofmann, a Swiss chemist, synthesized it in 1938 while
searching for pharmacologically active derivatives of lysergic acid
& accidentally discovered its dramatic psychological effects in
1943.
- 1947 Sandoz introduced LSD as a psychedelic drug
- 1949 Brought to the United States for testing and research
- Molecular structure activates serotonin 2a receptor
- Chemical structure is similar to serotonin and fits almost like a
key into the serotonin, stimulating its activity in prefrontal cort
- Perception, emotion, and appetite
- Computations that help us interpret reality

5. EXPERIMENTAL PHASE
- 1950s - several hundred articles and a handful
of books were written about the drug and its
effects.
- It was thought that LSD could help cure
behavioral problems like schizophrenia,
alcoholism and such. A 1955 LSD
experiment at
- Over 40,000 patients were prescribed with the Emory University
drugs and even some doctors took the drug tries to mimic the
symptoms of
themselves in order to gain a deeper
schizophrenia.
understanding of the schizophrenic.

6. THE “PSYCHEDELIC MOVEMENT”
- 1960s – “LSD is more important than
Harvard” - Timothy Leary Ph.D –
kicked out and became “leader” of
movement
- Use spread to recreational and
spiritual purposes.
- With the rise of rock n’ roll and the
counterculture/hippie movement,
LSD use continued heavily into the
70s.
- Many artists say they have been
inspired by the drug, or simply taken
it – Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Jerry
Garcia.
- It was legal until 1966.

7. CURRENT USE
Regained popularity in 1990s due to:
Easy availability, cheap, alleged mind-expanding properties, and attractive paper
designs, outdoor music festivals, “pill culture” rave culture, EDM
LSD users in the United States tend to be white males aged 12-24 years
Emergency department (ED) from LSD is uncommon - often involve multidrug use,
including MDMA and others.
13% of 16-23 year olds used LSD in 2002, with MDMA a close second (National
Survey on Drug Use and Health, 2002).

8. LSD TRIP
- 1st hour of trip – anxiety, tingling feelings, nausea, colors appear brighter
- 3rd hour – peak - Extreme visual, open and closed eyes, hallucinations. Vivid
colors and seeing things that are not there.
- Epiphanies or internal revelations.
- Can go from periods of giddiness, to extreme insight.
- Can become extremely paranoid, especially when put in a situation with
people who are not tripping.

9. SENSORY AND PSYCHOLOGICAL
EFFECTS 100-200 MICROGRAMS
Sensory alterations (visual, auditory, taste, olfactory, kinaesthetic)
Illusion
Pseudo-hallucination
Intensification of color perception
Metamorphosis-like change in objects and faces
Intense (kaleidoscopic or scenic) visual imagery with transforming
content
Alterations of affectivity
Intensification of emotional experience: euphoria, dysphoria, anxiety,
mood swings
Alterations of thinking
Less abstract and more imaginative thought
Broader and unusual association
Attention span shortened

10. SENSORY AND PSYCHOLOGICAL
EFFECTS 100-200 MICROGRAMS
Alterations of body perceptions
Change in body image
Unusual inner perception of bodily processes
Metamorphic alteration of body contours
Memory changes
Reexperiencing significant biographical memories
Hypermnesia – exceptionally exact vivid memory
Age-regression
Mystical-type experiences

11. SHORT-TERM RISKS
- The most common dangers of LSD result from bad trips, including terrifying
thoughts and feelings, despair, fear of losing control, and fear of death.
- These problems are especially common and severe in people with underlying mental
problems like severe depression, schizophrenia, or bipolar disease.
- Problems that might occur include:
Extreme changes in behavior and mood; person may sit or recline in a trance-
like state
Chills, irregular breathing, sweating, trembling hands
Changes in sense of light, hearing, touch, smell, and time
Nausea, especially in the first two hours
Increase in blood pressure, heart rate and blood sugar
Fatigue the next day

12. RARE LONG-TERM RISKS
- Can cause unpredictable long-lasting adverse neuropsychiatric effects,
relatively long-lasting psychoses, severe depression or schizophrenia-like
syndromes, especially in heavy or long-term users or in people with an
underlying mental illness.
- Some of the long-term problems associated with chronic or heavy LSD
use are:
A person can experience rapidly changing feelings, immediately and
long after use.
Chronic use may cause persistent problems, depression, violent
behavior, anxiety or a distorted perception of time.
Large doses may cause convulsions, coma, heart/lung failure or
ruptured blood vessels in the brain.

13. PSYCHEDELIC DRUGS FOR YOUR
HEALTH?
Click for Video
- 2006 – LSD was used to treat cluster headache sufferers and provided
promising results
- 2012 - LSD-Assisted Psychotherapy for Anxiety Associated with Life-
Threatening Illness (paper in review)

14. PSYCHEDELIC HARM REDUCTION
4 Basic Principles for guiding a person under the influence of LSD
1. Create a safe space
2. Sit with the person; do not guide them
3. Talk through the experience with them, not down
4. Remember that a difficult experience is not the same as a bad
experience
8 Minute Video: (optional)

15. HOW DOES THIS APPLY TO US
AS SOCIAL WORKERS?
- Biopsychosocial-spiritual client-centered
framework – peer into client’s experience with
LSD and possible effects it may have taken on life
trajectory.
- May indicate other drug use/experimentation.
- Psychoeducation to adolescents regarding effects
of use (applies to all drugs)
- Continuing education and research