Creator of LSD Turns 100

[Doc]

This is a pretty tough issue for me to approach objectively.  Personally, while my wife and I worked at making children we both adopted a regime of extreme purity starting at least a year before we decided to take that plunge, and it involved all aspects of our life including food, drink, medicines, air, water, etc.  Since that time though, I must confess to straying from the path at times to succumb to some scrumptious temptations.

As a libertarian, I would in no way expect any other person to approach the world as I do, or that my approach is "the right way".  My change of philosophy came to me one day when I was thinking about my years raising livestock on the farm.  We endeavor to provide our animal charges with clean water, nutritious food, and good vet care.  We keep them in a safe environment, and as stress free as possible.  When given a choice, why would we not treat ourselves as well?

But, you can see that for someone that eyes a Twinkie as plastic, or a Diet Coke as a potion of vile chemicals, that to embrace endorsing LSD, or even Tylenol for that matter is a pretty huge leap.  As for the positive effects of LSD...  I don't see much, while the detriments (as you described) are well known.  Random rewiring of synapses may appear to be "opening up creativity", but it looks like prolonged use results in brain damage to me.
[right][snapback]99270[/snapback][/right]

LSD must be used in much the same way one goes about lucid dreaming. For good things to happen, one must be in control, have super human will, and all the mental horsepower one can muster. Also must be trained in meditation and visualisation. If you are not the sort of person that can slice themselves open with a boxcutter with out flinching and ignore the pain, and then procede to stitch one's self up, using LSD to bash open the doors of perception is probably not for you. The level of dedication involved in keeping the mind focused is not something everybody can muster. With the sorts of doses required to achieve these states of higher thought, falling victim to illusion is to accept failure and possibly the loss of your mind.

On the other hand, it showed a great deal of promise with those who are mentally unstable, those with schizo-effective disorders.

LSD has also caused some users to experience vast leaps forward in IQ. But it's a crapshoot.

The side effects... Brain damage? Seeing trails and auras, well, I don't know what to call them, but I am not sure if I would call it brain damage. Auras are interesting. While they do screw with your vision at times, it's possible to see shifts in somebody's mood because the whisps of colour-cloudy smoke around them changes slightly. While you can't always tell what that mood might be, it is pretty obvious when you see it shift. Although angry folk... Or people with a lot of negative emotions tend to have darker more subdued shades, although this is not always the case. Doctors call this sort of thing Post Hallucinogen Perception Disorder. And they are studying some of the folks that took enough LSD to permanantly alter how their brain works, studying what sort of perceptions humans can observe when humans can see auras and halos. Just because the brain works differently doesn't always mean that it is broken, although some times it can be. As it turns out, there really is some "mystical" energy that surrounds human beings. I don't know that it is really mystical, it's probably just something that we don't yet understand, and anything that can't be explained by science tends to be looked at as mystical or somehow magical, when in reality there is probably some very good explaination for it. As for the name, I disagree with calling it a disorder. It's a condition yes... But for many, it is by no means disabling.

There are other worlds, other universes, all to be found by exploring the mind. And like any other means of exploration, you need a means to get there. LSD was one of many gateways. Even its creator laments that its full potential was never truly explored. And as with every form of exploration, there is bound to be casualties, loss, and people horribly crippled and or mutilated from the experience. But that is the cost of expanding your horizons. The oceans have been crossed, the fringes of our space explored, but our minds hold so much more.

It is also very interesting to note that the people involved with LSD, er, the strong minded, iron willed people involved with LSD tend to have very long lives. Leary was right up there in age, and was active and, well, for lack of a better set of words, sharp as a tack right up to the end. A bit fruit loopy maybe... But his mind was stronger than most normal peoples. There has been some speculation that LSD may effect how the body ages.

Sigh. So many questions. No answers coming any time soon.