**In Lieu of Flowers, The Family Requests 'Shrooms
April 30, 2008
The Swiss chemist, Albert Hofmann, has taken the ultimate trip at age 102. Hofmann, who discovered the psychotropic effects of LSD in 1943, died of a heart attack on April 29, 2008.
Hofmann made his discovery when he accidentally spilled or ingested some of the compound. He recounted some effects in his 1979 biography, "LSD, My Problem Child":
"a remarkable restlessness, combined with a slight dizziness. At home I lay down and sank into a not unpleasant intoxicated-like condition, characterized by an extremely stimulated imagination.
In a dreamlike state, with eyes closed, I perceived an uninterrupted stream of fantastic pictures, extraordinary shapes with intense, kaleidoscopic play of colours. After some two hours this condition faded away."
The remarkable fact was his ability to embrace this phenomenally altered state. Most people would have been absolutely terrified! Far from masking reality or numbing ones senses, this drug puts reality under a microscope, then heightens sensory receptors exponentially. It is not a drug that I would want to take without a little bit of warning, or knowledge.
Of course, the CIA had no such concerns. The U.S. Government gave it to unwitting suspects in a series of covert experiments in mind control throughout the 50's and 60's. (Project MK-Ultra) The drug was made illegal in the 1960's but was easily synthesized and marketed on the street.
I happened to be a pre-teen when American college students latched onto LSD. My parents never censored any reading material and I remember reading up on the drug furiously. So many of the articles and anecdotes were so frightening. (Gov't propaganda, perhaps?) People, thinking that they could fly, jumping to their deaths from high places. It worked on me, at least for a while. As a 12 year old, I was certain that it didn't sound like anything that I wanted to try.
I passed on LSD for a very long time. I believe it may have been the only drug that I ever declined. I was afraid.
Then one cold winter weekend in Lansing Michigan, I took the LSD plunge. I took the teeniest, tiniest, little bit of a liquid that had been dried on Saran wrap. It was no bigger that a small typed, letter a. I cut it in half to be cautious. It had to have been measured in fractions of microns. But holy shit, what a drug! It was my favorite drug of all time and one of the best experiences of my life. I have never regretted it, and hope to never forget it.
Far from being a hallucinogenic, for me, it clarified and amplified perceptions to a degree that I don't expect to ever experience again, at least not in this lifetime.
None of the things that I saw, heard, felt, or experienced were imaginary. They were positively, scientifically true observations, or events, that I had been unable to perceive without the assist from the drug. The most remarkable things go on around us, unnoticed. (There is a reason for that. Sensory overload, of that magnitude, is so physically exhausting that one could imagine it resulting in death.)
For instance, (and one of my favorites) I was puttering around the house and came upon a little house plant that needed water. As I reached my hand for the pot, I was able to feel the heat surrounding the plant! Startling at first, but thinking logically, plants do give off heat. An amount small enough to require laboratory equipment to detect. Not with this drug! LSD opens up every nerve cell, fiber, and receptor. Your pupils dilate to enormous sizes and you can see everything! Every dog hair on the carpet, the slightest movement of anything. It's like having super powers!
This slight glimpse into the supreme potential of human sensory perception was the most profound experience that I've ever had. I stopped after two further "trips", fearing physical damage to my nervous system. As with any street drug, the dosage can be problematic, and LSD is unbelievably powerful. The amount of the drug I took could probably fit on the head of a pin, but had me flying for days!
I'm still curious about the drug. For instance, I've wondered what it would be like in an earthquake zone. A zone where they have those tiny little quakes constantly and don't notice? On LSD would every little tremor feel magnified? Could you predict a quake, kind of like birds and other animals do?
Up until his death, Hofmann also remained curious about the drug and maintained contact with the scientific community still studying it. He was still involved with a group called Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies. And, although he felt as though the drug had been hijacked for recreational purposes, he never lost hope that it would, someday, be useful to the medical community. (He also sat on a Noble Prize jury.) In 1988 the Albert Hofmann Foundation was established "to assemble and maintain an international library and archive devoted to the study of human consciousness and related fields".
A quote from Albert Hofmann's website:
"You, my dear friends, and millions all over the world who now commemorate the 50th birthday of ergot's child, we all testify gratefully that we got valuable help on the way to what Aldous Huxley said is the end and the ultimate purpose of human life--enlightenment, beatific vision, love. I think all these joyful testimonies of invaluable help by LSD should be enough to convince the health authorities, finally, of the nonsense of the prohibition of LSD and of similar psychedelics."
I don't intend to ever take LSD again, nor am I suggesting that anyone else try the drug. It's illegal. It has been suggested that it might cure alcoholism, so, someday there might be a medical application. If that's the case, please sign me up.
**No, I didn't write that. I heard it on the radio.
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