What is LSD?

By Chelsie Vandaveer

July 15, 2003

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Ergot (Claviceps purpurea (Fries) Tulasne) is a fungus that infects grains particularly rye, but it will attack wheat and other grasses. The seeds in the grain ears are replaced by spur-shaped bundles of fungal hyphae. If these hyphae are ground with the grain and eaten, the disease ergotism ensues. (See Herbal Folklore September 10, 2001) Outbreaks of ergotism may manifest itself as mass insanity with suicides and murders, gangrene and loss of limbs, or St. Anthony's fire--extreme burning pain and seizures. (Medical Botany, Plants affecting Man's Health, W.H. Lewis and M.P.F. Elvin-Lewis, Wiley & Sons, 1977)

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Ergot (Claviceps purpurea (Fries) Tulasne) is a fungus that infects grains particularly rye, but it will attack wheat and other grasses. Silhouetted Botanist Examining Grain Photographic Print Steve Raymer Buy Photographic Print at AllPosters.com

Ergot, though, had a medicinal use. Medieval midwives administered ergot in minute amounts. The fungus is oxytocic, stimulating uterine contractions during labor, and hemostatic, stopping post-partum hemorrhage. But ergot varied and was risky, too much and the mother or child could die.

Using the core or central part of the ergot molecule, science developed safer oxytocic and hemostatic drugs. In 1938, Albert Hofmann was working in the Sandoz pharmaceutical laboratories in Basle on ergot derivative medications. His twenty-fifth laboratory variety, LSD-25 or D-lysergic acid diethylamide turned out to be hallucinogenic. (Chapter 7: "The Discovery of LSD and Subsequent Investigations on Naturally Occurring Hallucinogens", Albert Hofmann, Discoveries in Biological Psychiatry, F.J. Ayd and B. Blackwell editors, J.B. Lippincott Co., 1970)

Experiments with LSD became one of the most horrendous and shameful episodes in U.S. history. In 1953, Allen Dulles, then director of the CIA, signed an order to create MK-ULTRA, the code name for mind control research. (See What's in a Name? November 30, 2001)

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CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY ET AL. v. SIMS ET AL. Argued December 4, 1984 Decided April 16, 1985 U.S. Supreme Court, Washington, D.C., USA Framed Photographic Print Buy Framed Photographic Print at AllPosters.com

MK-ULTRA had no qualms about who they experimented on--employees, military personnel, and civilians, or what they experimented with--sensory deprivation, electro-shock, amphetamines, barbiturates, mescaline, and LSD.

LSD became a favorite 'medication' with Sydney Gottlieb, the project leader. Most test subjects had no idea they were given hallucinogens, many had been blackmailed into participation or were slipped drugs and simply observed, never knowing they were test subjects. Gottlieb is reported to have regularly used LSD; he became more sadistic with his test subjects as the years passed. Some subjects died, others were left with drug-induced psychoses.

Bits and pieces of the MK-ULTRA project found their way into publications. Neither the story nor all the unwitting participants will ever be fully known. In 1972, director Richard Helms ordered the records of MK-ULTRA destroyed. ("MKULTRA", Wikipedia, online encyclopedia)

FindLaw has posted the Supreme Court case of the CIA v. Sims. To learn more about the legal fallout of MK-ULTRA, click on the link:

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=471&invol=159

killerPlants Tendrils: ~~1~~2~~3~~4~~5~~

Suggested Reading:

How did a rye disease relieve migraines? Plants that Changed History - July 22, 2003
What is ololiuqui? Herbal Folklore - July 14, 2003
Why is it called cold turkey? What's in a Name? - October 18, 2002
Why is wheat preferred to rye for making bread? Herbal Folklore - September 10, 2001
What was spiderwort? What's in a Name? - December 6, 2002

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