A brief history of the scientific use of LSD

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Religious adepts, government organizations, psychophysiologists and psychiatrists have all used this psychoactive substance in their scientific research.

Officially, the history of LSD began on November 16, 1938. On this day, Albert Hofmann, a young chemist who worked for the Swiss pharmacological company Sandoz, obtained from ergot (Claviceps), an ergot fungus parasitizing on cereals, an alkaloid - lysergic acid. From it, he synthesized LSD-25 (lysergic acid diethylamide 25) - the substance received the number 25, being the 25th compound synthesized from this acid.

The effects of ergot alkaloids on the human body have been known for a long time. The fungus has repeatedly affected rye crops around the world since at least the middle of the 6th century. Consumption of bread from infected grain (ergot spread mainly in cold and damp years) led to large-scale epidemics of ergotism, or "St. Anthony's fire" - poisoning with ergot alkaloids: from the beginning of the 18th to the beginning of the 20th centuries, 24 major epidemics were recorded in the Russian Empire alone.

The ergotism sufferer was struck by convulsions and gangrene of the extremities; in addition, mental effects were observed: the patient fell into a state of delirium. Due to the large number of symptoms in the spread of epidemics of ergotism, witches were even blamed: it was believed that the "Anthony's fire" appeared not without the help of witchcraft.

Despite their danger, in small doses ergot alkaloids have long been used in pharmacology: for the treatment of migraines, nervous disorders, as well as during childbirth - to stop bleeding and stimulate uterine contractions. At Sandoz, Hofmann explored the possibilities of expanding the potential for medicinal uses of ergot and discovered its powerful psychoactive effects by accident.

Way back home

It all started with the fact that on April 16, 1943, Hofmann prepared a portion of the drug he had synthesized five years earlier. At the end of the manipulations, the scientist felt strange: he fell into an unusual mental state for himself, similar to a waking dream. Hofmann suggested that a microscopic dose of LSD had entered his body, which remained on the pads of his fingers. Three days later, on April 19, the scientist decided to conduct a targeted experiment on himself - to take 0.25 milligrams of the drug. Based on data on the use of ergot alkaloids in medicine, Hofmann decided to start with the lowest dose that, in his opinion, could lead to at least some effect.

The real effect, however, exceeded all expectations. Feeling unwell, Hofmann went home by bike. Over the next few hours, the scientist experienced all sorts of hallucinations: the colors of nature changed colors, the walls in the living room spread, and the furniture took on human forms.

I was seized with an insane fear of losing my mind. I was carried away to another world, place and time. My body seemed senseless, lifeless, strange. Am I dying? Was it a transition to the next world? Sometimes I felt myself outside my own body and could observe the tragedy of my position from the side.

Albert Hofmann on taking LSD for the first time

The effects of the drug were truly frightening. Having recovered, Hofmann reported the results of his experience to the Sandoz management. Deciding that the use of the substance obtained by Hofmann could help in the study and treatment of mental conditions and disorders (from alcoholism and depression to schizophrenia), the company began commercial production of LSD in 1947: the drug was called Delicide and was distributed in psychiatric hospitals. Hofmann himself continued his research and recruited his laboratory workers and students to experiments with the use of LSD.

The use of LSD for the treatment of mental disorders became widespread in the 1950s. This method of treatment was called "psychedelic psychotherapy", and the leading center for its use was the psychiatric hospital "Povik" in the British county of Worcestershire. One of the institution's doctors, Ronald Sandison, became interested in LSD after meeting Albert Hofmann in 1952. After telling the hospital management about the effectiveness of treatment of clinical depression and even schizophrenia due to the "release of consciousness" under the influence of the drug, Sandison insisted on the introduction of psychedelic psychotherapy in the hospital.

The first study was carried out in the same year: it turned out that patients with depression, taking LSD, more quickly and better turn to their most secret (and even suppressed) memories, which greatly facilitates their communication with the psychotherapist and, as a result, increases the effectiveness of treatment.

Delicide began shipping six years later for widespread use in clinical trials; under the leadership of Sandison, studies were carried out until 1966, when due to the spread of LSD outside clinics, among people who took it for recreational purposes, the production and circulation of the drug (even for medical purposes) was banned in the United States and several other countries. In total, more than 600 patients have gone through psychedelic psychotherapy under the direction of Sandison.

Turn on, tune in, drop out

This is not to say that the ban on the production and distribution of LSD completely stopped its circulation. It was the mid-60s: a time of emancipation, freedom and creativity: numerous works of art - from songs and paintings to works of architecture and books - were inspired by psychedelic journeys of consciousness. Scientists also experimented with LSD, of course, already outside the walls of psychiatric hospitals.

One of the key figures in research related to LSD was a lecturer at Harvard University, psychologist Timothy Leary. He began experimenting with psychedelic drugs in the early 60s, before the ban on their use. For a long time Leary studied the effect on the mental state of people of psilocybin - an alkaloid and psychedelic contained in some types of so-called hallucinogenic mushrooms. Leary and his students often experimented on themselves, which led to conflicts with the ethics committee and the university leadership.

One of the most famous experiments led by Leary in 1962 was conducted by his student, psychiatrist Walter Punk: he studied the effects of psilocybin on Harvard theology students. Punk, in particular, wondered if deeply religious people could survive the moment of divine revelation. The experiment was placebo-controlled, and in a survey conducted several years after the experiment, participants rated their experience as one of the "highest points" of their spiritual life.

After Leary's acquaintance with LSD, he began to use LSD in his experiments.

The scientist was convinced that the psychological effects of the use of psychedelics could change the behavior of people, for example, relieve criminals from craving for violence.

Protests from the university leadership grew: students who did not get to Leary as volunteers, having learned about the effects of LSD from their acquaintances, began to take it for recreational purposes (and this was not approved even before any official prohibitions). Leary and one of his colleagues were fired in 1963.

This did not stop the scientist: Leary continued his experiments without official affiliation. He actively promoted the use of psychedelics, which attracted the attention of not only numerous hippies, but also the special services. In 1970, he was convicted of possession of marijuana for 38 years. However, Leary spent a short time in prison: after fleeing, he moved to Switzerland, but, not receiving asylum there, went to Afghanistan, where he was caught in 1972, after which he returned to an American prison, from which he was released four years later and already legally.

In the countries of the Soviet bloc, among the scientists who studied the effects of LSD on the human psyche, the Czechoslovak psychologist Stanislav Grof was best known. He began his experiments in the mid-50s of the last century at the Prague Institute for Psychiatric Research. For experiments, in addition to LSD, he also used psilocybin and mescaline, a psychedelic derived from Lophophora cacti. The scientist studied psychedelics in the context of transpersonal psychotherapy - an offshoot of psychology aimed at studying changes in the state of consciousness. In the early 1960s, Grof moved to Johns Hopkins University in Maryland, USA, where he continued his studies for the next seven years.

Without resistance

Government organizations have also been interested in the use of LSD. The infamous secret CIA project MK-ULTRA was devoted to the search for effective means of manipulating the mass consciousness: for almost 20 years, from the early 50s to the late 60s of the last century, special services studied all sorts of ways to control the human mind.

Most of the research was led by American psychiatrist Donald Cameron at McGill University in Quebec, Canada. Of all the drugs used in experiments, LSD attracted the attention of the CIA the most: the leaders of the special services wanted to know if it could use this substance to reveal Soviet agents and if the Soviets, in turn, could do the same with American intelligence officers.

All research was carried out in the strictest secrecy, so the involvement of volunteers from the outside was not considered. Under the control of MK-ULTRA, LSD was taken by psychiatric patients, drug addicts and criminals - those who, as Sidney Gottlieb, 80, Dies put it; Took LSD to C. I. A. one of the project participants, "cannot fight back." In the end, the project was closed, and even an official investigation began against its participants. The press, in particular, got messages from Project MKULTRA, the CIA's program of research in behavioral modification that drug addicts were often involved in experiments, offering them heroin as a reward.

There are also known cases when the objects of the experiments were employees of the CIA and other government organizations, doctors and the military, as well as ordinary citizens, and almost always this was done without their knowledge and consent.

The most famous example is the appearance in some US cities of the so-called "safety houses" during Operation Midnight Climax. These houses were under the control of CIA agents and were essentially brothels: recruited sex workers lured people into them and offered them drugs, including LSD. The behavior of "experimental" after taking drugs was observed by agents and scientists who took part in the MK-ULTRA project; they were behind a special one-way mirror.

Despite the great government and scientific importance, the MK-ULTRA experiments in many ways violated the Nuremberg Code established in the late 1940s, which regulates the procedure for conducting experiments with human participation. The project was officially stopped in 1973, and the investigation of the experiments carried out in its course continued for several years after that.

LSD and the brain

Because of the widespread recreational use of LSD, as well as the publicity generated by government projects, lysergic acid diethylamide has long been a banned drug. That is why its pharmacodynamics, as well as the effect on brain activity, have not been fully studied, although the first data appeared thanks to the research of Hofmann himself. However, they managed to find out something: scientists studied the crystal structure of a substance in combination with receptors, conducted experiments on model organisms, and even, having received special permission, gave small doses to volunteers.

LSD belongs to the structural analogs of the neurotransmitter serotonin, which plays an important role in the functioning of the brain's reward system. Once in the body, LSD acts on various G-protein-bound receptors: dopamine (it is known, for example, that LSD acts as an agonist of the D2 receptor), serotonin and adrenergic receptors that react to epinephrine and norepinephrine.

Despite the fact that the biochemical properties of the drug have not yet been studied in any detail, studies show that the main "target" of LSD is the serotonin 5-HT2B receptor. In particular, last year just such a receptor effect of LSD was demonstrated by two independent groups of scientists from Switzerland The Fabric of Meaning and Subjective Effects in LSD-Induced States Depend on Serotonin 2A Receptor Activation and the USA Crystal Structure of an LSD-Bound Human Serotonin Receptor. In experiments with 5-HT2B and its homologous 5-HT2A receptor, scientists discovered that under the influence of LSD, one of the extracellular loops of the serotonin receptor forms a "cover", capturing a molecule of a substance in its active center. This causes the substance to be continuously activated and thus causes hallucinations.

A year earlier, in 2016, British scientists for the first time managed to obtain approval for the use of LSD in a placebo-controlled fMRI study by Neural correlates of the LSD experience revealed by multimodal neuroimaging. Participants in the active experimental group took 0.75 milligrams of the substance. The tomography data showed that in the brain after taking LSD, there is an increased activation of the network of the passive mode of the brain, as well as a general decrease in the orderliness of work: together, the regions that usually work separately were activated. So, synchronously with other areas, the primary visual cortex was activated - scientists have suggested that it is this mechanism of the brain that underlies the appearance of hallucinations. It is noteworthy that the official organizations refused to give the researchers money to conduct the experiment: the necessary amount (about 25 thousand pounds) was collected by launching a public crowdfunding campaign.

It can be said that in recent years, interest in research on the psychic effects of LSD has increased. For the first time since the middle of the last century, scientists are studying its effect, for example, on speech Semantic activation in LSD: evidence from picture naming and emotions, relieving the Acute effects of LSD on amygdala activity during processing of fearful stimuli in healthy subjects from fear. Nevertheless, scientists are just getting close to studying the phenomenon of human consciousness (namely, it is the main "object" of LSD exposure). Most likely, experiments with LSD will continue: of course, only legally and with the consent of the participants.