LSD (Lysergic Acid Diethylamide)

1. LSD (Lysergic Acid Diethylamide) By Mackensie Baker Block C

2. Common Street Names • You probably know this drug as ‘acid’, but there are many other names. These include: • Boomers, Yellow Sunshine, Backbreaker, Battery Acid, Doses, Dots, Elvis, Loony Tunes, Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds, Pane, Superman, Window Pane, Zen, and more • Be careful. You never know what you could be getting into

3. Psychological Effects • LSD is usually taken by the mouth. It’s typically sold as a liquid and can be applied to blotter paper, sugar cubes, gelatin squares, or tablets • It began as a kind of brown mold found on rye bread, which a Swiss chemist by the name of Albert Hofmann accidentally discovered by ingesting one day • How does LSD work? It blocks the seratonin in your body from getting to your brain receptors. The brain then becomes confused without the neurotransmitter and sends out false signals that result in a ‘trip’, or, intense sensational hallucinations (mostly visual) • Effects begin half an hour to an hour after taking the drug, and the effects last for about 12 hours

4. “Woah, man!” On a good trip, the user feels everything on a much deeper level, and many have claimed to feel connected to people and to the world in general in a spiritual and almost mystical sense. On a bad trip, the user feels panicky and anxious, afraid they’re losing their minds. Some remain depressed or anxious for days afterwards. Feelings of disconnection, anxiety, confusion, depression, extreme fear, and paranoia have been affiliated with this drug.

5. Short Term Physiological Effects • With Pregnant women, LSD can bring on contractions, resulting in Miscarriage • With all users, LSD raises blood pressure, heart rate, and body temperature. Sweating and a dry mouth are common side effects • All sensations are intensified, but visual effects are often bizarre. Hallucinations are common, as is synesthesia (the blending of sensations, making users believe they can hear colors and see sounds • There are adverse and Long Term Side Effects as well… • Users may experience sudden psychedelic symptoms even when they are not high on the drug. These are called flashbacks and may occur days, months, or even years after someone last used the drug. • Can result in schizophrenia or severe depression of they run in the family or the individual is naturally inclined to such disorders • Yeah. Scary.

6. Can you get addicted? Can you die? Physiologically, LSD is not addictive. Psychologically, as with anything, there is a risk. If people can get hooked on cheeseburgers or sugar, they can get hooked on hallucinogens. While it’s nearly impossibleto overdose on LSD, the user may be so out of touch with reality that they inadvertently kill themselves; i.e. jumping out a window in the belief that they can fly

7. Facts and Statistics Concerning LSD 15.9% of adults have done LSD at least once 1.8% of freshman in high school have used the drug at least once in their lifetime 9.7% of all ages 12 and up in 2004 had stated that they had done it at least once On August 16th, 1951 the CIA laced bread from a village bakery in Pont-Saint-Esprit with acid as part of a mind control experiment during the Cold War. One man tried to drown himself, an 11-year-old boy tried to strangle his grandmother, and another man jumped out of a window under the mistaken assumption he was a plane. After falling and breaking his legs, he carried on running for another 50 yards

8. Conclusion • Many disillusioned youth believe that such mind-altering substances such as marijuana, LSD, and ecstasy, won’t hurt them all too much in the long run. • Hopefully, you all know a little more now about the truth of the matter and can tell those dear to you so that they don’t get hurt.