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 veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,985
Loc: 
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 Whatever became of LSD? 
#6619898 - 02/28/07 09:11 AM (5 years, 2 months ago) |
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February 28, 2007 - The Guardian
The trip goes on
It was the drug that fuelled the psychedelic 60s - and was tested as a weapon by MI6. But whatever became of LSD? Duncan Campbell traces its colourful past, and finds that the acidheads are still out there
'I was seeing what Adam had seen on the morning of his creation - the miracle, moment by moment, of naked existence ... flowers shining with their inner light and all but quivering under the pressure with which they were charged ... words like 'grace' and 'transfiguration' came to mind."
That was the writer Aldous Huxley extolling the benefits of LSD from his vantage point in the Hollywood Hills in 1953, and he remained, right up to his death - and possibly beyond - an admirer of the substance. He even took it on his deathbed in 1963 so that he could enter the afterlife with, as it were, his doors of perception wide open. Some of LSD's other proponents are still with us. Albert Hofmann, the biochemical researcher credited with discovering LSD in Switzerland in 1943 - he described it as his "problem child" - celebrated his 100th birthday in Basle last year. But where does LSD feature in the drugs firmament today?
This month sees the updated republication, after 20 years, of The Brotherhood of Eternal Love by David May and Stewart Tendler, the book that charted the history of the LSD counter-culture and the so-called Brotherhood that distributed it so energetically in the 60s and 70s. The book's epilogue brings us up to date with the surviving members of the tale.
LSD has certainly had a long, strange trip since it gained worldwide attention in the 60s. Timothy Leary, its most famous promoter, dropped out of his earthly existence in 1996 and his ashes were, appropriately enough, blasted into space. His book, The Politics of Ecstasy, still sells well and there have been reports in the past few months of plans for various feature films. One of them would involve Leonardo DiCaprio, who knew Leary and has always been interested in a life that involved espousing the drug, being busted, escaping from prison, holing up in Algeria and eventually ending up on the lecture circuit as a double-act with the Watergate burglar Gordon Liddy.
Augustus Stanley Owsley III, the San Francisco chemist who produced the famous "Owsley" dosages of LSD, is now in his 70s. He has long since left the production game and lives in Australia, where he sells jewellery, carvings and music from a website under his nickname, Bear. Owsley, described by US agents as "the man who did for LSD what Henry Ford did for the motorcar" and called "God's secret agent" by Leary, also writes essays on his website, still campaigning against the drugs laws and arguing that "the use of substances which alter in various ways the consciousness of man is an extremely ancient and established practice."
The Brotherhood of Eternal Love ran the drug's largest international network, stretching from California to Hawaii and Afghanistan, with a UK branch in the unlikely spot of Broadstairs, Kent. Described by the California department of justice as "a pseudo-religious organisation responsible for the manufacture and distribution of LSD on a worldwide level", it operated more or less with impunity between 1966 and 1971 and had an estimated 750 people involved before it came unstuck. Many of them ended up behind bars, but some are still out there, somewhere, hoping that the FBI has forgotten them.
Britain's best-known LSD network, which prompted what became known as Operation Julie, included a couple of doctors, two chemists, a teacher and an author. A total of 15 people were jailed for up to 13 years at Bristol crown court in 1978 after they were infiltrated by undercover police, some of whom inadvertently ingested some of the drug and had their own trippy experiences.
The drug also had a sinister sub-life within the intelligence world: the CIA experimented with it and even made an unsuccessful attempt to slip some into Fidel Castro's system before he made a TV broadcast. In Britain, in the 50s, servicemen were given the drug without being told, so that MI6 could study its effects. Last year, three of the servicemen received thousands of pounds in damages for being used as unwitting guinea pigs. One had described seeing, "Salvador Dali-style faces and cracks in people's faces". He had been told the tabs he was instructed to take were an attempt to find a cure for the common cold.
Officially, the production and use of LSD have diminished considerably since the days when psychedelia was fashionable, but there is still a strong underground market. "The interesting thing about LSD is that 20 years ago it cost £1.75 and it still costs about the same today," says Mike Jay, a trustee of the drugs policy foundation Transform and author of The Emperor of Dreams, a history of drugs in the 19th century. "It tends to be distributed now by enthusiasts rather than profiteers. It's an insider market and it's a seasonal thing. Every May or June, reasonably large amounts come in from California and Holland. The quality is quite good and it's not watered down as it was in the 70s and 80s."
"It is used much less than even a few years ago," says Matt McNamee of the drugs advice organisation Release. "People usually still put much more spiritual significance into it; they prepare for it in a way they don't with most other drugs." Users preferred the notion of taking LSD while "running across meadows with wildflowers" rather than ingesting it in a noisy club, he says. Dr Luke Mitcheson, a clinical psychologist with the South London and Maudsley NHS Trust, has just published with colleagues a study of hallucinogens among UK dance users. They noted that "the marked decline in LSD prevalence would seem very curious ... One possibility is that LSD's much longer duration is less compatible with leisure lifestyles that are organised around an evening out."
But there are still risks for anyone seeking to produce the drug, and dealing in it carries a 14-year jail sentence. In 2000, there was a spectacular bust in Kansas when William Pickard and Clyde Apperson were arrested by Drugs Enforcement Administration agents as they tried to move their mobile lab out of a grain silo. The agents claimed to have found 41.3 kilos (90lbs) of the drug - enough, they said, to make an estimated 10 million doses. But by 2004, a total of just 317,321 doses were seized worldwide. Seizures in this country are relatively tiny - around 7,000 doses in 2004, the last year for which figures are available. Jay reckons that well over 90% of the LSD trafficked around the world is below the radar of customs officers as it remains one of the easiest of drugs to smuggle, whether in liquid form - in, say, a nasal spray, or on blotting paper hidden in a book or wallet.
"I don't think that the Brotherhood had a beginning and I don't think that the Brotherhood had an end," says Nick Sand, one of the original bootleg chemists interviewed for the new edition of the book. "The Brotherhood exists. We are still brothers because we shared the light. The Brotherhood is still there between us. So has the Brotherhood died? No, of course not".
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EntheogenicPeace
Scholar
Registered: 10/04/05
Posts: 3,448
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 Re: Whatever bacame of LSD? [Re: veggie]
#6619990 - 02/28/07 09:41 AM (5 years, 2 months ago) |
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LSD + camping = mystical experience
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Every part of this country is sacred to my people. Every hillside, every valley, every plain and grove has been hallowed by some fond memory or some sad experience of my tribe.
Even the rocks... as they swelter in the sun along the silent seashore in solemn grandeur thrill with memories of past events... and the very dust under your feet responds more lovingly to our footsteps than to yours, because it is the ashes of our ancestors, and our bare feet are conscious of the sympathetic touch, for the soil is rich with the life of our kindred.
And when the last red man shall have perished from the earth and his memory among white men shall have become a myth, these shores shall swarm with the invisible dead of my tribe.
- Chief Seattle
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 Mmush
PoweredMM::padawan::
Registered: 01/14/07
Posts: 64
Last seen: 4 years, 8 months
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LSD+ lonely beach on caribeann =awesome trip
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GrimTroll
This Is The AgeOf Fire
Registered: 10/15/06
Posts: 167
Loc: Canada
Last seen: 11 hours, 9 minutes
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Re: Whatever bacame of LSD? [Re: Mmush]
#6620137 - 02/28/07 10:45 AM (5 years, 2 months ago) |
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LSD + ... You = Awesome!
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Hidden secret sabbat summoning my name
On my way to satan to give the kiss of shame
Flaming pagan fire burning high at night
Wild copulation in the fullmoon light
Atmosphere so wicked as the mass begins
Deep inside the forest
Where the dark lord reigns!
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thongster
Home Grown Hero
Registered: 06/16/06
Posts: 421
Loc: Down The Street
Last seen: 3 years, 2 months
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Re: Whatever bacame of LSD? [Re: GrimTroll]
#6620192 - 02/28/07 11:21 AM (5 years, 2 months ago) |
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LSD + Anything = AMAZING!!!!
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"In the land of the limbless the one-armed drummer is king"
Sidewalk Chemist
First Time Tripping My Story
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demius
broccolilocks
Registered: 08/18/05
Posts: 36,556
Loc: the popcorn stadium
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LSD + any outdoor activities, especially with lots of sunshine = 
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Littleman
Stranger
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Re: Whatever became of LSD? [Re: veggie]
#6620269 - 02/28/07 11:44 AM (5 years, 2 months ago) |
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LSD + raving = you never want to touch a pill again 
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"Well Right after the 4th hit he was so far gone he puked all over him self. He had no clue that he threw up on him self and was finger painting in it on his stomach."
- Mudnpool
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impgl
CrimethINCspecial agent
Registered: 02/07/06
Posts: 2,460
Loc: california!
Last seen: 5 months, 30 days
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Re: Whatever became of LSD? [Re: Littleman]
#6620345 - 02/28/07 12:08 PM (5 years, 2 months ago) |
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Quote:
Littleman said:
LSD + raving = you never want to touch a pill again
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omg really?
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moon_glue
Orwell's Post9/11 Era
Registered: 01/20/07
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Loc: Earth, today...
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Re: Whatever became of LSD? [Re: impgl]
#6620592 - 02/28/07 01:12 PM (5 years, 2 months ago) |
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lsd + e + raving = mystical experience
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StonedPhilosophr
Stranger
Registered: 09/30/06
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Loc: north america
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Re: Whatever became of LSD? [Re: moon_glue]
#6620701 - 02/28/07 01:36 PM (5 years, 2 months ago) |
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(lsd - lsd) + shrooms = !
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Hix
Animal Mother
Registered: 02/20/06
Posts: 299
Last seen: 4 years, 6 months
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LSD+scary movies+people dancing around in mask+ red strobe light+ small room+ sharp objects+loud Japanese noise music= convicted murderer
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cerpinjc7
LegalizationAdvocate
Registered: 04/18/06
Posts: 56
Loc: SomewhereBetweenReality&F...
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Re: Whatever became of LSD? [Re: Hix]
#6621270 - 02/28/07 04:01 PM (5 years, 2 months ago) |
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LSD+PCP+MDMA+Pilates= THE MARS VOLTA LIVE AT LOWLANDS CONCERT 2003!
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"I have only provided the keys, it is up to you to awaken your third eye and unlock the portal of your mind..." -
MARILIZE LEGALJUANA
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Cloud9
I don't feel, and it feels great
Registered: 07/03/03
Posts: 1,261
Loc: between here and there
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Re: Whatever became of LSD? [Re: cerpinjc7]
#6621474 - 02/28/07 05:08 PM (5 years, 2 months ago) |
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Quote:
cerpinjc7 said:
LSD+PCP+MDMA+Pilates= THE MARS VOLTA LIVE AT LOWLANDS CONCERT 2003!
best concert ever
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TheBulb2005
Human
Registered: 12/20/05
Posts: 309
Last seen: 1 year, 1 month
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Re: Whatever became of LSD? [Re: Cloud9]
#6622134 - 02/28/07 08:12 PM (5 years, 2 months ago) |
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L+S+D=LSD
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impgl
CrimethINCspecial agent
Registered: 02/07/06
Posts: 2,460
Loc: california!
Last seen: 5 months, 30 days
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Re: Whatever became of LSD? [Re: Hix]
#6629100 - 03/02/07 05:13 PM (5 years, 2 months ago) |
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Quote:
Hix said:
LSD+scary movies+people dancing around in mask+ red strobe light+ small room+ sharp objects+loud Japanese noise music= convicted murderer
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omg really?
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skeeter
The $ickest Loco
Registered: 12/07/06
Posts: 1,604
Loc: wasteland
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Re: Whatever became of LSD? [Re: TheBulb2005]
#6629117 - 03/02/07 05:19 PM (5 years, 2 months ago) |
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--------------------
UncleLuke said:
you talking about the child porn? I can explain that... it's my nephew.
stickyicky13 said:
I'm not gay, I'm brittish! you let one guy put his wiener in your bottom and instantly everyone thinks you are a poofta
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jewunit
Right On!
Registered: 01/11/07
Posts: 26,877
Loc: Columbus, Ohio
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Re: Whatever became of LSD? [Re: skeeter]
#6629363 - 03/02/07 06:30 PM (5 years, 2 months ago) |
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LSD+math=unnecessary
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Madtowntripper said:
It's common knowledge that Jewunit is an umemployed drain on society, supposedly attending some university that nobodies ever heard of.
He may in fact, be a literal bum, only able to make himself known to us here by occasionally stopping into dark internet cafes to make a few quick, frantic posts before the owners force him to leave because of the stench of rotting vegetables and desperation wafting forth from his pores.
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shriek
*********
Registered: 12/13/03
Posts: 3,274
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Re: Whatever became of LSD? [Re: veggie]
#6630655 - 03/03/07 02:30 AM (5 years, 2 months ago) |
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yeah lsd seems to come in the late spring \ early summer here from russia or netherland or wherever it comes from. When i think about it I only seen LSD in summertimes and never when its winter.
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MustNotBe
HPPDer
Registered: 01/27/06
Posts: 912
Loc: BrewCity
Last seen: 1 year, 3 months
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Re: Whatever became of LSD? [Re: shriek]
#6632410 - 03/03/07 06:31 PM (5 years, 2 months ago) |
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It wasnt LSD bill gates used, it was marijuana. You see he was really baked one day, and he was looking at his wall, and he was like.. hehe.. a window.. hehe... I'm going to make a operating system called windows.
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Junkies United we stand , Devided we're sick as fuck.
- - -
"Hallucinations are something heroin users are not at all accustomed to," said Const. Conor King, Victoria police drug expert. "They react like you or I would react if we took Aspirin and all of a sudden the TV got up and started walking across the room."
- - -
Make drugs legal, or alcohol and tobacco illegal. Either way it's more fair.
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friedclyde
Lysergic Me
Registered: 09/29/06
Posts: 92
Loc: India
Last seen: 3 years, 5 months
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Re: Whatever became of LSD? [Re: MustNotBe]
#6636633 - 03/05/07 01:35 AM (5 years, 2 months ago) |
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steve jobs claims one of the most important things he did in his life was LSD
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