Arguably the most popular psychedelic substance in the world, has the reputation in 2017
As either an old drug of the past or still one of the most profound and important substances of all time
in the 1960s there was an enormous drug culture in America and LSD was right in the forefront
since then, because of strict Laws and negative connotations its popularity has to manage to less than only
0.02% of the population over 12 Years old
There is still a strong culture behind LSD even today, and in recent years it does
Seem to be making a comeback in some circles in my life I've noticed a lot of misinformation Being Spread about LSD
Not Only in the sense of What It Is and where it came from but
How rare and hard to actually get pure LSD is in today's World
So with that I hope to really dive deep and spread truthful Information about a substance that I personally have found profound Life-Changing
Experiences with, both positive and negative. So, without further Ado smoke somethin'
Drink somethin'. Please give this video a Thumbs Up if you enjoy it, and let's get into the history and truth of LSD.
LSD was first synthesized on November 16th 1938 by the Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann with the intent of obtaining a Respiratory and Circulatory
Stimulant
Hofmann First Synthesized LSD in the Sandoz Laboratories in Switzerland
Though it was synthesized, the actual Psychedelic properties of LSD weren't found until five years later in 1943
Albert Hofmann was born in Baden Switzerland the oldest of four children born to factory worker Adolph Hofmann and his wife Elizabeth
Since Hofmann's family had such low income his education was paid for by his Godfather
Hoffman's father became ill, and around this time, he got a job as a commercial apprentice while still attending school.
At the age of twenty, he began his chemistry degree at the University of Zurich, finishing only three years later in 1929;
nine Years Before The discovery of LSD.
Hofmann gave more insight to his decision to become a chemist during a speech he gave in 1996. He said:
Hofmann joined the pharmaceutical chemical department of Sandoz laboratories.
He began studying the medicinal plant Squil and the fungus Ergot, as part of a program to
purify and synthesize active compounds for use as medicines.
While researching Lysergic Acid derivatives, Hofmann first Synthesized LSD on November 16th 1938.
The main intention of the synthesis was, to obtain a way to stimulate the circulation of blood in the body.
Though Hofmann found it did not work for that reason, So it was set aside for five years, until April 16th 1943...
...when Hofmann decided to take a second look at it.
While re-synthesizing LSD, he accidentally absorbed a small amount of the drug, through his fingertips and discovered its powerful effects.
He described what happened and how he felt as:
Only three days after Hofmann accidentally absorbed that small amount of LSD,
he decided to perform one of the most famous, self-experiments of all time. He ingested, what he thought was a small threshold dose of
250 micrograms.
For perspective a low or threshold dose, is actually around 20, and rather than me tell the story and show cool pictures and videos, I'll let
The man himself tell you the story.
"Being a cautious man, I've started with a very, very little amount only with a quarter of a milligram.
I tested and then I had
I could say, a terrible, terrible experience
It came up very, very strong
Then I asked my lovely assistant, to accompany me
That was the famous bicycle ride.
The   bicycle takes about 6 Kilometers, 4 Miles, home...
...and um....
...I get home, I asked for the doctor...
That time was... I got in a very, very terrifying situation.
Although so strange, became so strange and um...
I had then felt... Maybe that we have become insane now and
Then if you know, you may know if your time...
The feeling comes up and It's terribly
enhanced, because I did not know if even, if ever i would come back of this...
other reality
That made me Fearful. Go to the state of Fear and it was enhanced and
that was very, very
terrifying and really, at the climax of the
experience, about three, four hours after I had ingested it.
I had the feeling of being out of my body.
I had left my body and at all, and we may have died and you are now in another world and
...and I had uh....
...left my family. I could always think behind, it's very strange. After the article comes in
And say you have made a big discovery and now you are just...
Cannot even enjoy It and not even use it. I can't even tell anybody about it and left My Family, with three children,
so
It was really an terrible situation.
But then finally
I feel that the feeling that I could come back. and then a beautiful, joyful blissful
experience came
...and it was like a Rebirth.
After death and birth...
Then I enjoyed This
All This
Stimulated
fun, fantasy, display of colors and
This
Stimulated Feeling of Life, life coming again, and I was very happy and
Happiness, which I could not experience before and finally
I fell asleep and the next morning, I was really
Kind of changed human being
I had Feeling to have been died and born and
...ummm....I....
it was beginning of my
Thinking about both as really
Reality. Because I had left our everyday reality
have been in another reality and
that was
Beginning
Open inside in our world. Which I never would have had, without this experience
The event of the first LSD trip in history is known as Bicycle Day
This proved to Hoffman that he had indeed made a significant discovery.
It was some sort of psychoactive substance that was extremely powerful and very potent capable of strong Shifts in Consciousness
Hoffman's first thought was that this substance could be a powerful
Psychiatric tool, because of his experience he said he could never imagine It becoming a recreational drug
LSD was introduced as a commercial medication under the trade name Delysid for various psychiatric uses in 1947.
LSD was eventually brought to the attention of the United States in the 1949 by Sandoz
Laboratories because they believed it might have Clinical Uses. It may Be hard to believe but in the 1950s LSD had a pretty good reputation.
Mainstream media reported on the research of the substance and it's growing used in psychiatry. Time Magazine even published, six positive reports on lSD between
1954 and 1959
In the Mid-1950s LSD research was being conducted in many different major American medical centers. Where it was
mostly used as a means of temporarily replicating the effects of  mental illness.
Only a few had actually thought about the idea for using it with help with other, more minor issues like Depression
alcoholism and even creativity.
In one study in the late 1950s, Dr Humphrey Osmond,
gave LSD to Alcoholics in AA, who had failed to quit Drinking.
After one year around 50% of the study group had not had a drink.
A success rate, that has never been duplicated by any other means.
There are also many conspiracy theories and actually Some facts about the CIA, and how they were using LSD as a mind-control substance and more.
This supposedly was going on even before the 1950s
and that's neither here nor there we could do an entire video on just that, so let's just move on.
Yes, the 1950s were truly the best days for the research and therapeutic uses of LSD but that sure didn't last long.
During the 15 years between 1950 and
1965, there are over 1000 scientific papers, several dozen books and six international conferences on LSD and other hallucinogens
Overall LSD was prescribed to over 40,000 patients in this time as well, with mostly positive results.
Many psychiatrists
Began taking it and sharing it with friends and of course there were many different doctors and chemists who played a large role in the
rise of the substance. But the most prestigious was known as Timothy Leary
Dr. Timothy Leary was a professor of Psychology at Harvard University, Leary claimed among other things that in the right setting and with the right
dosage LSD can have profound, positive effects.
Dr. Leary began conducting experiments with Psilocybin in 1960 on himself and a number of Harvard graduate students after trying the mushrooms while visiting Mexico.
Leary was later introduced to LSD and eventually called it his mental catalyst of choice
Leary and his team at Harvard, performed many different experiments and studies and there is much controversy, surrounding the results from,
supposedly altering numbers, to accusations of ignoring bad trips, and possibly hiding an attempted suicide after a Mescaline Study.
None of these are proven but were the main causes of Leary's eventually bad reputation.
By 1962 The Harvard faculty's disapproval with Larry's experiments reached its breaking point.
Leary was informed CIA was monitoring his research, other professors began complaining and even parents of the kids at the school also complained.
Leary eemed to be well-Intentioned but eventually he, along with another Harvard professor Richard Alpert were dismissed from the University in
1963 for quote "failing to keep his classroom appointments and making himself absent from cambridge without permission".
After this, Leary and friends acquired a 64 room mansion in New York where they continued their experiments.
I bring this up because, it's one of the largest events, that Sparked the public outcry against Psychedelics
By The Mid-1960s the backlash against LSD had grown to new political and National Levels.
It was all over the country now, and there was so much propaganda
mixed with some truth about very bad things happening while on the substance.
From people accidentally killing themselves, running into traffic, Jumping off buildings. These were
real stories and at the time LSD or Should I say Acid was being looked at as a Toxic Chemical.
LSD was declared a schedule one substance. Legally designating that the drug had a high potential for abuse and had no medical uses at all
LSD was removed from legal circulation and that did nothing, but interest the public more.
Timothy Leary was doing interviews with Playboy and Alpert Hubbard Was introducing the drug to everyone from scientists to politicians
LSD was no longer the respected substance in medicine it began as ...
...with Dr. Hofmann on that bicycle trip that first day.
It  was now an illegal recreational drug only being used correctly by a very small amount of it's users.
Eventually as the decades went on LSD's popularity dropped significantly and eventually became the low statistic that It is today.
Up until the 1970s
Psychiatrists therapists and researchers administered LSD to thousands of people as a treatment for everything from
Alcoholism to Anxiety and depression and people with Advanced stage Cancer, among so many other things.
There are studies that show, it can help from everything to headaches to creativity to just overall happiness.
Do the research yourself you can Check out the links in the description
to really dive deep into the hundreds of reports of positive effects of LSD.
It's funny, recently, I got into a conversation with somebody about the possibility of overdosing on LSD.
He swore it was possible and that it happened all the time, and I did my best
to have a conversation about it. But sometimes there's just no talking to people, who have already made up their mind. The only thing I
can hope for and what the point of this whole, History and Truth series has been, is to spread
truthful information to people who may not have opened their mind to the possibilities at first.
Cheers and here's to a long future of more Truth and more Honest documentary style content.
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Thank you so much for watching. Please consider Subscribing if You haven't already. And as always smoke somethin', drink somethin; and I'll see you guys on Sunday.
Peace.
