LSD
Lysergic Acid Diethylamide

LSD, chemically known as Lysergic Acid Diethylamide, or just acid, it is used for its hallucinogens effects on the body. This psychedelic illegal drug is usually found as a white odorless powder, when in its pure state. But it is sold in its liquid form, as tablets, or even in capsules. People all around the world take this drug because of its side effects, which consist of an average of twelve hours of hallucinations. The age among the people who takes LSD varies between teenagers and young adults, who usually take it to have more fun wherever they are. Small portions are potent, and it has a strong effect on the body. The molecular formula for Lysergic Acid Diethylamide, or LSD is C20 H25 N3 O.
Lysergic Acid Diethylamide, “more commonly known as LSD, is a non-toxic, non-addictive molecule which mimics serotonin in the brain (Rosling, Claire)”, is known for its hallucinogens effects on the body, and during the “trip” ”the person goes thru from 30 to 90 minutes after taking a capsule, tablet, or liquid form of LSD. The peaks of the effects are from 3 to 5 hours after taking it, and the effects last for up to 12 hours (Medical Group, Yale)”. User usually have a “good trip” which brings pleasant effects to the user, where everything seems to be amazing and beautiful, “colors seem stronger and lights seem brighter (Shanna Freeman)”, objects may get bigger or smaller then they are and moving around with halos, “LSD users often see patterns, shapes, colors and textures (Shanna Freeman)”. Users usually lose the notion of time and can’t tell if it is going forwards or backwards, time might slow down or speed up also. The user might go thru an euphoric state of mind where he feels self-confident, full of happiness, and very emotional. The effects of LSD depends from person to person, the place where they are at, who they are with, and the mental state of mind of the moment before taking it. Users have said that they went thru experiences that were spiritual or religious, but those are very rare cases. Taking acid has the possibility to end up in a “bad trip” which brings very unpleasant effects to the user. Scientists don’t know for sure what it causes a bad trip, because every “trip” is unpredictable and depends on the person. Usually a “bad trip” is caused by a bad mood or maybe the environment the user is found in it, or even expectations. “Bad trips” can caused fear and paranoia, and it seems like the “trip” for the user will never end, most of the time when someone takes LSD and has a “bad trip”, the male or female goes to the hospital. In the hospitals doctors can’t do much about a person “tripping” on acid, but they may see that he or she had an increasing of blood pressure on the body and on the heart beats; he or she may also have a loss of appetite, dry mouth, nausea, numbness and even tremor. In a long term, after taking LSD the user is mostly liked to have a “random trip” during their life time, which consist of a “trip” without taking acid and it can happen at anytime and anywhere. There are no records in history, not even one, of death due to overdose or even an allergic reaction on the users body from LSD, even though it can make you feel incredible, invincible, with super powers, and able to do whatever you want. “No one has ever died from taking too much LSD (Counseling, All About)”. Users who take an enormous amount of LSD usually end up taking other drugs and end up overdosing from the other drugs, and not acid.
LSD, or Lysergic Acid Diethylamide, was created in Basel, Switzerland, by Albert Hoffman. After some experiments with rats, LSD-25, the name of that time, didn’t seem to do anything, but Hoffman accidentally consumed it one day in the laboratory, and got confused with the unusual sensation and some hallucinations. “He resolved to carry out an experiment on himself with LSD-25 to determine whether it had been responsible. He took what he believed to be a miniscule amount, one-fourth of a milligram. Forty minutes later and after he wrote less than 50 words in his observation log, he stopped writing because, 'the last words could only be written with great difficulty (Nichols, D)”. LSD now a day has been used to help treat alcoholic and terminal cancer patients. “The last project using LSD as a treatment was in 1980s, it was used to treat patients that had concentration camp syndrome, and it was led by Jan Bastiaans in the Netherlands. Currently there is no research between humans and LSD, because they are illegal, but the FDA, or US Food and Drug Administration, has lately approved a study on the human brain about how LSD works on it. LSD’s market now a day is hard to understand or to even know about it, since it is an illegal drug (Nichols, D)”. Anything related to it like production, sale, possession, and the use of it runs on the drug dealers, and they don’t want it to get “too public”. The only possible way to understand the LSD market is by surveys given to teenagers and young adults, what makes a little bit easier to comprehend how its market works.

Bibliography: * Nichols, D.. "LSD: cultural revolution and medical advances." rsc.org. N.p., 2006. Web. 17 May 2012. <http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/Issues/2006/January/LSD.asp>. * Freeman, Shanna. "How LSD Works" 10 December 2008. HowStuffWorks.com. <http://science.howstuffworks.com/lsd.htm> 24 May 2012. * Rosling, Claire. "LSD." Lysergic Acid Diethylamide - LSD. Web. 24 May 2012. <http://www.chm.bris.ac.uk/motm/serotonin/LSD.HTM>. * Hallucinogenic effects of LSD discovered. [Internet]. 2012. The History Channel website. Available from: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/hallucinogenic-effects-of-lsd-discovered [Accessed 24 Mai 2012]. * Medical Group, Yale. "All About LSD." All About LSD. Yale School of Medicine. Web. 24 May 2012. <http://www.yalemedicalgroup.org/stw/Page.asp?PageID=STW001013>. * Counseling, All About. "LSD Overdose." – Dangers Of Acid – Signs Of Acid Overdose – Treating. Drug Overdose. Web. 24 May 2012. <http://www.allaboutcounseling.com/library/lsd-overdose/>.