Blog Entry 4 Amanda Myers The History behind LSD Common knowledge is that drugs exist; there are

the common ones in which college students know too much about such as marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamines among numerous others. Growing up in North Carolina, school systems always taught drugs are bad; not what they do or how they came into existence. In this blog Im hoping to look into why LSD is considered to be dangerous and how it played a role in the 1960s-70s culture. Personally, I had always assumed that LSD (acid) was just a hippie thing, a drug in which had its hay day was a dying breed. While watching Sex in 69, I was dumbfounded to find out that this drug (and other psychedelic drugs) were actually thought to be able to treat a broad range of psychological and psychiatric conditions, and additionally used by the CIA.1 According to Drug Policy a website co-authored by the CDC, tens-of-thousands of people were introduced in clinical studies. By the 1970s the government had ended all trials, because there were major questions regarding their safety and effectiveness. The Supreme Court ruled that psychedelics can still be used as part of practices of certain organized religions. These drugs are dangerous because while there has never been a recorded overdose, the majority of the side-effects are psychological; these reactions vary tremendously, therefore there is a broad range of reactions in which it is possible for a person to develop. They become dangerous because these drugs open up different levels of consciousness, in which repressed memories, fantasies, deep fears in which they will then have to face. Today it is known that LSD has the high potential for abuse, where there is no current medical use for it; but during the 1960s use spread from research projects at Universities into the streets.2 Dr. Timothy Leary a psychology professor at Harvard, was moved by his first experience with LSD that he convinced a Harvard colleague to help him launch a full research study into the effects of the drug. 3 The American government even attempted the drug well in a different way. Today there is evidence to prove the CIA was secretly testing the drug on hundreds of unsuspecting American Civilians and military personnel coined the MK-ULTRA program
1

Grinspoon, Lester. "Psychedelics Facts." Psychedelics: LSD, Mushrooms, Salvia. http://www.drugpolicy.org/drug-facts/psychedelics-facts (accessed April 28, 2014).
2 Freeman, Shanna. "How LSD Works" 10 December 2008. HowStuffWorks.com. <http://science.howstuffworks.com/lsd.htm> 28 April

2014
3 Freeman, Shanna. "How LSD Works" 10 December 2008. HowStuffWorks.com. <http://science.howstuffworks.com/lsd.htm> 28 April

2014

which ran from 1953-1954.4 For a while before documentation of the program was mad public those who accused the CIA were dismissed for being psychotic, according to Time Magazine. Also, reportedly these experiments were carried out because of them though those enemies like North Korea and China were already using the drug to brain wash captured solders.

Szalavitz, Maia, and Maia Szalavitz. "The Legacy of the CIAs Secret LSD Experiments on America | TIME.com." Time. http://healthland.time.com/2012/03/23/the-legacy-of-the-cias-secret-lsdexperiments-on-america/ (accessed April 28, 2014).
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