oh, the wheels on the bike go ’round and ’round
You might be hard-pressed to remember exactly what you were doing 68 years ago
on this date. I was still in the ether, awaiting the call to become a twinkle in my
father’s eye. But Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann, researching the fungus ergot for
Sandoz labs, decided to take another look at a lysergic acid he had created in 1938.
On April 16, 1943, while resynthesizing the drug, he accidentally absorbed some
through his fingertips, experiencing a “not unpleasant intoxicated-like condition”.
Three days later he intentionally ingested 250 micrograms of LSD, estimating that
to be a threshhold dose. Twenty mikes would have been plenty. Within an hour,
he was having intense perceptual changes.
Hofmann asked his assistant to help him home. They were on bicycles because
motor vehicles were banned in wartime Switzerland. After an anxiety-riddled
ride, during which he feared he’d poisoned himself, his doctor reassured him he
was fine except for his huge dilated pupils. He fell into a mellow mood where:
“. . . little by little I could begin to enjoy the unprecedented colors and
plays of shapes that existed behind my closed eyes. Kaleideoscopic,
fantastic images surged in on me, alternating, variegated, opening
then closing themselves in circles and spirals, exploding in colored
fountains, rearranging and hybridizing themselves in constant flux . . .”
That was some great ergot derivative.
LSD had made its way across the Pond by the early 50’s. It was warmly welcomed.
By mid-decade, major U.S. medical centers were researching it. Results encouraged
psychotherapists to use it on clients. Time magazine ran 6 positive stories on LSD
from ’54 to ’59.
It was particularly well-received by author Aldous Huxley (Brave New World, Ape
and Essence). After a session with mescaline given to him by Humphrey Osmond,
who coined the term psychedelic, Huxley wrote the classic psychonaut’s primer,
The Doors of Perception. He graduated to LSD and wrote many more books, essays
and articles. Stricken with cancer, he took the drug on his deathbed.
As larger than life characters like Al Hubbard, Timothy Leary, and Ken Kesey put
more focus on LSD, the mainstream media ran sensationalist stories that turned
public opinion against the drug. Bogus claims that acid could cause birth defects,
or that users staring at the sun went blind, overtook rational discourse. When rock
stars, widely-known to be the spawn of the Devil, started espousing its use, it was
made illegal in the mid-60’s in the U.S., mid-70’s in Canada.
That’s regrettable. Somewhere between the total embrace of LSD by some and total
demonization by others is an impressive bank of studies that shows its therapeutic
promise. I don’t advocate its widespread use in such a fearful time, but I don’t see
the value of jailing someone who willingly, healthily takes that chance.
Hofmann eventually referred to LSD as his “problem child”. But as he pedalled his
bike home exactly 68 years ago today, he couldn’t possibly have known how his
creation would resonate through history.
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