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Embarking on an Acid Trip: Analysis of the benefits and dangers of LSD HP 200 Abstract A thorough analysis of the hallucinogenic drug lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD- 25) and its effect on humans are given. The various uses of the drug are also examined throughout several decades, beginning with its first synthesis in 1938 as well as first use by humans five years later to its current usage today by young adolescents. Various myths have also surrounded the capacity of the drug. For example early users believed that it could alter your personality and way of thinking or pave the way toward spiritual enlightenment, while in later decades, anti-drug campaigns led people to believe that the drug could cause insanity or genetic damage.
The realities associated with the drug are that it can be used for psychoanalysis and other studies of the mind. Yet there is always the possibility the user may undergo panic attacks and hysteria from the inability to cope with the intense cortical overload. In the end it seems that our understanding of the properties of LSD are still very limited and it would be hard to proclaim judgment over whether or not the drug would be more harmful or beneficial in our current applications of it in scientific research. Embarking on an Acid Trip: Analysis of the benefits and dangers of LSD Drug use has been an undeniable factor in human life. From Aspirin and Caffeine to Cannabis Sativa and Opium, its uses vary widely from medical purposes to substance abuse. History has also forced our society to cope with the reality that the problem will always exist as long as people can find ways to synthesize and obtain them.
Even so, an effective way of combating this problem is to have a thorough understanding of how these drugs work, and how they affect the user. One type of drug that has created much controversy over its possible benefits and / or dangers would be the psychoactive drug Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD). The Psychoactive Drug Lysergic Acid Diethylamide The drugs that have won the greatest attention in today's drug abuse problems fall under the category of psychoactive drugs, or drugs that can alter ones perception, way of thinking, and behavior. Of these, hallucinogens have the ability to "alter [the] consciousness in profound ways. " (Williams & Knight, 1994) They have also been labeled illusionogenic, psychedelic, and mind-expanding, depending on whether scientists or users are talking about them. They include mescaline, psilocybin-psylocyn ("magic mushrooms"), phencyclidine (PCP) and methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDA). Of this group, however, LSD, commonly known as "acid, " is by far the most potent; it is approximately 100 times stronger than psilocybin and 3, 000 times stronger than mescaline.
Having been synthesized in the Laboratory in 1938 for the first time, LSD use largely grew over the years. By the 1960 's many people had already tried the drug, and the numbers continued to rise with the onset of the hippy movement. Today its use has even spread to the club and rave scene (a seeming modern derivative of the hippy movement), to house parties, and even to recreational use. However the use of LSD was deemed illegal in 1965 under Schedule H of Canada's Food and Drugs Act shortly after it had gained worldwide popularity. As a result its possession is only allowed to qualified laboratory and research personnel conducting approved clinical and experimental investigations.
Consequences of possession include a maximum penalty of $ 1, 000 and six months imprisonment, for subsequent offenders there is a maximum penalty of $ 2, 000 and imprisonment for a year, and if tried by indictment, LSD possession can carry a maximum penalty of $ 5, 000 and three years imprisonment. (DEA Publications, 2001) It might seem strange that with the strict penalties and anti-drug campaigns during recent years LSD is still around and so widely used today. Even so, many of the effects of LSD on the human body are still unknown. So what do we know of the effects of LSD? Well, when ingested, LSD is absorbed easily from the gastrointestinal tract, and rapidly reaches a high concentration in the blood.
It is circulated throughout the body and, subsequently, to the brain. After two hours, less than 10 percent of the drug is still active; the rest is broken into inactive by-products by the liver. Even though only a small portion of each dose stays biologically active (and even less - only 0. 01 percent - ever crosses into the brain), that tiny amount is plenty. How LSD produces its effects is still only partially understood, but we do know that it alters the action and supply of serotonin, a neurotransmitter that the brain uses to make sense of all the scents and sights and sounds that we perceive from the world around us. Because LSD is structurally similar to the serotonin molecule 5 -HT, it is believed that LSD's affinity to 5 -HT 2 receptors causes the mediation, not modulation (what 5 -HT does), of specific functions. (Kawasaki & Purvin, 1996) One doctor described that once LSD is inside the body, it interacts with the "deepest biological circuits and engines of human consciousness. " (Stoneman, 1998) The result is a temporary overload of the central nervous system circuitry.
The user may experience sensory crossovers such as the visualization of sound or the hearing of colors, often referred to as synesthesia. While most of the specifics of LSD's actions on the brain are still a mystery, its effects on perception and thought have been documented in numerous studies. LSD begins to affect the body 30 to 90 minutes after ingestion and lasts six to nine hours. Initial effects are mostly physical such as dilated pupils, increased body temperature, muscular weakness, rapid reflexes, decreased appetite and increased blood pressure. Later effects are concentrated mainly on thought and sensory processes. As the drug begins to take its effect on the user's neuro chemistry, visual, auditory, and tactile sensations mix and match in synesthesia.
During the "peak, " perceptions and thoughts can take on the "fluidity of dream states. " Other common effects include destructibility, rapid mood swings, depersonalization, and distortions in the users perception of their own body. In addition there have been many scare stories of "bad trips" on LSD and the subsequent damage to the body. Still, the drug rarely causes serious physical problems. Users may suffer a "crash" period, though, which can lurk in the background of everyday consciousness for a few days after the effects of LSD wear off. Truths Behind LSD Many myths have also surrounded the use of LSD. In the Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, an article describes how one patient developed catatonia one week following the consumption of LSD.
While being the only case of reported catatonia psychosis developing after the ingestion, the fact that it happened was enough to suggest the need for a new diagnostic category for the pathology. It was also initially believed that LSD could "'open the doors of perception' or [lead the way to] spiritual enlightenment... " but these ideas were quickly dispelled following the subsequent rumors of permanent insanity, over-dosage and deaths relating to the use of the drug. (Williams & Knight, 1994) Studies have shown that LSD does not cause cancer, brain damage, or chromosome breakage as confirmed by several studies. For example in one study in Mutation Research, tests revealed that "in those experimental organisms tested, using accepted techniques, LSD proved to be, at best, a weak mutagen, if mutagenic at all. " (Cohen & Shiloh, 1978) The doctors therefore ruled out chromosomal breakage, and regarded the cases of Leukemia in relation to 3 LSD users as being entirely coincidental. Furthermore, despite the potency, it is virtually impossible to overdose on it.
Yet that does not in any way mean that the drug is safe for regular usage. LSD can (and does) cause severe psychological discomfort, in some cases even trauma as was confirmed by the studies of Abraham and Alderidge in their journal Adverse consequences of LSD. "Evidence supports the association of LSD use with panic reactions, prolonged schizo affective psychosis and post-hallucinogen perceptual disorder, the latter being present continually for as long as five years... [And so] A hypothetical long term molecular mechanism of adverse effects is proposed. " (Abraham & Alderidge, 1994) It is likewise noted in Problems of toxic psychosis as illustrated on the example of the so-called LSD psychosis, that there were observations of several forms of psychosis in LSD users. In several case studies in another journal by Henry David Abraham MD and Anita Mamen MD, the doctors observed hallucinogen persisting perception disorder (HPPD), which "is a chronic, continuous, and possibly permanent disorder of the visual apparatus after the use of LSD. " (Abraham & Mamen, 1996) HPPD is otherwise known as "flashbacks" or the reemergence of effects that the user experiences awhile after the use of LSD has discontinued. Since LSD is not retained in the body, they conclude that these flashbacks are probably psychological rather than physical in origin.
Triggers can include stress, drug use, or cues associated with a past "trip. " In one study the symptoms of HPPD frequently occurred after an LSD user smoked cannabis. Likewise in another Journal found within Psychiatry Research, 44 LSD-induced HPPD subjects were observed. Results indicated that the subjects had a "shorter VER (visual evoked response) latency...
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Research essay sample on Lysergic Acid Maximum Penalty
