LSD, the problem child

Tales from the world's most famous psychedelic

Apr 19, 2024

Article voiceover

0:00

-7:01

Hi friend! The voiceover today is not an AI-generated voice, but my own. Are we using voiceovers? Is this something we like? I’m having fun with it — but you let me know.

Happy Bicycle Day!

81 years ago today, Sandoz chemist Albert Hofman rode his bicycle home after ingesting 250 micrograms of LSD (nearly twice the now regular trip dose). In celebration of the world’s first-ever LSD trip, it is time to shed some light on the myths and mysteries around acid.

Today:

What I gained from my first psychedelic experience with LSD
Why LSD is the most stigmatized psychedelic
What current research reveals about this medicine
Some practical guidance on set, setting, and dosage
Brief resource roundup

I’m melting. I’m in the Brazil heat, horizontal on a sun bed. My straw hat is pulled over my face. But it’s not the sun that is melting me. It’s the acid. A warm, orgasmic sensation permeates my body. It originates from my stomach.

Light is radiating out of my core. And from above. From the sun. Realities collapse as light streams out of my body, warps into sunlight, and merges back into me. The border between me and the world is dissolved. It’s all one big circus. It is my first experience of unity consciousness.

After bathing in this sensation for who knows how long, I open my eyes and pull my hat off my face. My friends are at the other end of the pool dancing and giggling. We’re in Trancoso, a quaint little Brazilian beach town, and we’re all melting in the garden of our Airbnb, all on LSD.

I get up and schlepp my dissolved body to the bathroom. I’m not ready to interact with anyone yet. Instead, I’m on the way to do what everyone tells you not to do on psychedelics: look in the mirror.

The heavy, wooden door opens up into the dimly lit bathroom. I walk up to the mirror. I don’t see my face but a faceless version of me. A version that is free from all the suffering. She’s perfect and pure.

I feel my heart opening to a wave of self-acceptance. It feels foreign. You always think everything about you needs to change, my faceless reflection tells me. But you’re still the same person. That’s who you are. You have to learn to live with it. With this version of you.

Why LSD is the most stigmatized psychedelic

Before Michael Pollan’s book, I was convinced LSD was as dangerous as heroin. All thanks to my two favorite presidents, Nixon and Reagan. If it weren’t for them, I could’ve realized much sooner that I’m not separate from the world around me, and that it was not impossible to make peace with the mess of myself.

What went wrong with acid in the 60s and 70s can be boiled down to one name: Timothy Leary. Leary, a Harvard psychologist, famously instructed the masses to “Turn on, tune in, and drop out”. The “dropping out” portion was particularly problematic for the US government. Counterculture hippies were running acid-fueled peace campaigns to protest the Vietnam War. Make love, not war, their posters read. Nixon decided that the best way to disrupt the hippies was to starve them of their fuel.

By the 1980s, Nancy Reagan was campaigning against drugs all over the country. Americans were told that drugs “fry your brain” on national TV.

If only we had someone fund TV ads on what your brain on LSD actually looks like. One day, hopefully. We’re working on it.

The Brain on LSD Revealed: First Scans Show How the Drug Affects the Brain |The Beckley Foundation

A breakthrough therapy on track for FDA-approval

It’s not random that none of the most advanced psychedelic trials use LSD. The stigma turned LSD from the obvious frontrunner for clinical studies to an afterthought. In the 1970s, nearly all the psychedelic research used LSD, and now it’s just a sliver. Psilocybin and MDMA are leading the way, they’re the poster children.

That’s not because LSD isn’t safe or doesn’t work.

A study investigating over 25,000 LSD and mescaline sessions from the 70s reported very few cases of adverse reactions. Early Canadian research showed that LSD helped 50-90% recover from alcohol addiction. Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) founder Bill Wilson believed LSD could aid recovery and wanted to include it in the AA program, but by that time was already advised against it due to political turmoil.

When LSD was criminalized in 1970, together with all other psychedelics, prominent psychiatrists vetoed the decision. But the Nixon administration had an agenda and LSD was the perfect public scapegoat. Now, LSD is reclaiming its original fame as a rising star in psychiatry.

A search on clinicaltrials.gov currently brings up 163 results for LSD. A month ago, the FDA designated Breakthrough therapy status to LSD for the treatment of anxiety.

The most advanced clinical trials are investigating LSD for generalized anxiety disorder (a single dose leads to remission of anxiety in nearly half the patients), ADHD, cluster headaches, and migraines. More studies on depression, alcoholism, and opioid addiction are in the pipeline. We shall stay tuned.

Practical guidance for LSD: set, setting, dosages

To caveat what follows: I am not an LSD expert. I can count the times I have taken more than a microdose on my two hands. But — every single time, it was lovely.

The classic full-tab journey (150 micrograms) is intense and mind-bending but can be overstimulating. I recommend it only in controlled, calm, and ideally nature-based settings. Not at Burning Man. Definitely not at Burning Man. Things will come and get you. The lights, people yelling, a bike. If too much is going on around you on a tab of acid, anything can come and get you.

People do have terrible experiences with acid if the container isn’t right. Or if they mix it with weed, which makes you paranoid. But in the right setting, 1-1.5 tabs is a magical, life-enhancing, and spiritual experience. Don’t mix it. Acid is perfect as it is.

I’ve also enjoyed microdosing LSD in the past. I prefer it over mushrooms because (a) it’s just introspective enough to expand awareness while still allowing you to move on with your day productively and (b) it lasts longer, around 10-12 hours. Which is great. Because LSD, especially in smaller doses, is really great. You’ll want it to last longer.

My favorite way to enjoy the magic of acid, however, is the recreational medium dose. A third or quarter tab, in nature, with great company, on special occasions - chef’s kiss. You feel connected and present. A little LSD is infinitely better than booze in social settings. I have yet to ride my bike on acid, but I’ve enjoyed just a little bit of acid during festivals, beach days, and— don’t judge — weddings. There’s no better way to celebrate love than with friends and just a little bit of acid.

Do you have any experience with LSD? If so, how has it been for you? What settings have you enjoyed (or disliked)? What dosages? Any questions or concerns?

Discussion about this post

Ready for more?