LSD: A Closer Look Part 2
LSD: A Closer Look Part 2:
This secondary article is the continuation from our first which explored the ancient and more recent history of LSD and psychedelics prior to 1960. Americans quickly saw a turning tide in the relationship we were allowed to have with LSD and psychedelic medicines. This article goes into the major government decisions that were made and the picture painted to the American public which were vital in swaying our relationship with psychedelics in a particular direction. This “direction” is one that we are just beginning to wake up from. In other words it is a paralysis that American society is beginning to shake loose, or will it?
The Political Tide Turns
These good times and open exploration by American society came to an intersection and went more so underground after Congress passed the 1962 Drug Efficacy Amendment to the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act of 1938. Because of this amendment, all drugs became strictly regulated and required to pass what is now known as a clinical trial. This shifted the power from the people to influence the thoughts and actions of American culture to increased regulation and control of the narrative in the name of “safety.” Arguably, this power was repositioned with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Although not yet illegal, LSD was swept up in the forward focused, politicized narratives around drugs and crime. Subsequently, this became a narrative around social incompatibility, morality & compliance. During the 1960s news outlets influenced by sociopolitical strong arms at the time and the Nixon Administration continued writing, influencing the public narrative of LSD. They began labeling LSD as a dangerous drug leading to violence and crime with a tendency to be abused. For example, actions and decisions made by youth exploring their own place in the world was written as proof of LSD being a dangerous drug that incites defiance and/or harm to others or self. Many of these claims purposely, negatively labeled otherwise common or expected human behavior as a fallout of having taken LSD.
New York Times & Los Angeles Times archives provide glaring examples of this. With headlines such as; “Damage to Mind from LSD Feared,” “Beware of LSD!” or “LSD Linked o Dead Youth” we can surmise the importance of language in shaping public opinion, in either direction. This has been named by some as the Moral Panic Theory. (4) which proved successful over time in curbing the open mind with which LSD was approached.
It's worthwhile to know that during the 1966 Senate hearings President of the National Institute of Mental Health, Dr. Yolles stated; “Psychological dependence on drugs of the LSD type… is usually not intense,” further he stated; “the number of adverse reactions… is in the same range of magnitude of occurrence as in any other type of psychiatric treatment.” Despite Dr. Yolles testimony and similar testimonies by other doctors and scientists; most senators defaulted to criminalizing LSD.
“By 1968 the World Health Organization, with the support of several Western nations, urged all governments to ban the drug altogether. Most nations complied, putting a legal end to all LSD experimentation — medical and recreational.” (Sproul, 2021).
Finally, in 1970 Congress officially criminalized possession of LSD with the Controlled Substances Act. This occurred within the Nixon Administration and what has become known as “the war on drugs” era. This too functioned as a racial and social tool of division while painting lines against and in-between different socio-economic groups of otherwise harmonious people. This drew lines of “morality” between differing socioeconomic classes as well. This was done under the premise of concern with productivity & “social good standing.” Easily identified as being between middle class America and the more “fringe” artists, youth & non-racially divided groups. Groups that did indeed support and enjoy one another's well-being despite any racial, economic or other differences.]
The Early Definition of Mental Health Treatment
The prescribed narratives discussed above were secondarily a reflection of the grave, yet commonly misunderstood complexities surrounding the origin and treatment of mental illness. Looking back we can more clearly see the limited reach that science has into the human mind. This is a complexity which organically arises within mental health research study during any time in history.
And here it is; despite scientists best efforts to create standardized and unbiased research environments, to what degree can any study conclude to fully understand or cure mental illness? To what degree can we promise “full recovery” of arguably lifelong and environmentally created symptoms which are only treated (in a medical study) through standardized, clinical settings spanning over a finite period of time?
What happens when the individual is no longer held within the logistical or emotionally supportive interventions that accompany being part of a clinical trial?
These early studies of LSD and psychiatry were hopeful at seeing treatment being oriented towards finding the root cause. Early researchers were oriented towards utilizing LSD for its self-reflective properties that have the potential to enhance one’s own conscious awareness of self and the world they live in. This is evidenced by these professionals favorably experiencing the drug themselves and promoting that caregiving of those in trials or receiving mental health treatment also benefit from LSD.
Researchers were optimistic that LSD would allow them to understand schizophrenia & so to say, reverse engineer the disorder to identify the cure. For example, Abram Hoer was a controversial Canadian psychiatrist who partnered with Humphry Osmond in exploring various techniques for schizophrenia. Hoer and Osmond developed the “oxidized adrenaline, adrenochrome model of schizophrenia, the Hoer-Osmond Diagnostic Test (HOD), niacin therapy for schizophrenia and tests for hallucinogenic indole metabolites.” (Dyck, 2007). While the details of these techniques are outside the scope of this article, it's interesting to note that there was a curiosity around using LSD’s hallucinatory effects as a way to understand mental illness whose origin was unknown but symptoms so similar.
It’s helpful to keep in mind that science as we know it today was in its infancy during the 1940s - 1970s. This is especially true in regards to the topic of psychology and understanding the roots of trauma or mental illness.
Can scientific study truly ever be free of social influence, bias or the greater influence of interested parties? Let’s take a look through the case study that LSDs history provides us.
Regardless, the 1960s proved to be a pivotal time in America’s history when it came to watching (in real time) the influence of organizations and political initiatives on a populace’s opinion and freedoms. We see here the notable turn towards a medical, industrial complex backed by political initiatives. These initiatives changed our relationship to psychedelics by removing our free choice to participate with psychedelics without jail time. And these decisions made in 1960 shaped our relationship to “treating” human behavior for nearly a century and removed psychedelics as a legitimate option for treatment.
Current Musings:
We can see similarities in this trend today in 2025 within the psilocybin revolution. What is ethical? What is safe? Where does the reach of a governmental body or pharmaceutical company end when it comes to a citizens free will? How do we participate with psychedelics in a way that honors Mother Earth and the Indigenous?
The return of psychedelics has been slow. Researchers, professionals, scientists and the like have been hesitant to research their benefits or effects in medicine. In 2015, Michael Pollan authored a New Yorker article, “The Trip Treatment” and followed up with a book, How to Change Your Mind. He shared positive sentiments towards psychedelics being able to “revolutionize mental healthcare and our understanding of the mind” (Massari, 2021). Now Massachusetts General Hospital has their Center for the Neuroscience of Psychedelics led by Jerrold Rosenbaum of Harvard Medical School's Stanley Cobb Professor of Psychiatry.
Where will we go once psychedelics are legal? How far will they be monitored and regulated by the government? Should they even be so? Alas, these are conversations to be had.
Scientific study has now located the neurological impacts of ergot alkaloids and LSD. It is these alkaloids that affect the serotonin and dopamine receptors in various inhibitory spaces of the brain. In translation, there will be a short plug in serotonin production in the brain and then once that has been released, a rush of serotonin will be produced which can cause the changes in perceptive abilities (ie: hallucinations).
Further, because it is affecting spaces in the brain in an inhibitory nature, that is where we see a decrease in our own conscious thought, ego or attachments and people will then surrender to the experience. This is the way that LSD (and other psychedelics) provide an enlightening experience, allowing us to go beyond our otherwise, typical human mind and experience another dimension of thought or inner being. Recent science confirms it is not addictive. These findings indicate and have contributed to psychiatric medicine greatly. There have been strong associations within medicine and treatment of mental illness by way of understanding the serotonin and dopamine mechanisms. As you may know many mainstream medical models and pharmaceuticals are based on either enhancing (antagonizing) or blocking (inhibiting) these receptors.
This is a good starting point. What side of history will you find yourself on?
Summary
Some folks believe it was this psychedelic revolution of the hippies that turned the tide of LSD and psychedelic medicines being seen as a truly legitimate medicine for psychiatry and “modern medicine” treatment. However, as we covered earlier in this article, we cannot isolate the public enthusiasm for LSD and mushrooms as the reason for the eventual criminalization of psychedelic medicine. We can now see the strong influence that psychedelic medicine suffered from the socio-political agendas at the time. And the exploratory nature of science & psychology just starting to establish themselves.
Regardless of how we understand the past, we can look at our current attitudes towards psychedelics and marry those attitudes with where we want to go. Learning the wisdom of psychedelic plants and medicine is imperative to protecting their sacred nature. This allows us to be conscious and ethical, safe consumers of these psychedelic medicines in our own lives today. Understanding the science behind the ways in which psychedelic medicine interacts in our brain chemistry allows us to consider how to interact with these medicines in a supportive manner without risk to our own stability or mental health. When considering any and all medicine, we are best to consider what our relationship to it is.
Works Cited
Bragagnolo, Caterina. “Maria Sabina - the Story of the Priestess of Mushrooms.” Womenonpsychedelics.com, 8 Mar. 2023, www.womenonpsychedelics.com/post/maria-sabina-the-story-of-the-priestess-of-mushrooms. Accessed 15 Apr. 2025.
Carlton, Genevieve . “A Medieval Outbreak Gave People Nightmare Hallucinations and Caused Their Limbs to Fall Off.” Ranker, 23 Sept. 2021, www.ranker.com/list/ergot-medieval-outbreak/genevieve-carlton. Accessed 3AD.
Dyck, Erika. “The History of LSD - the Original Psychedelic Drug: Acid Trip.” ResearchGate, Portland Press, Apr. 2007, www.researchgate.net/publication/288794607_The_history_of_LSD_-_The_original_psychedelic_drug_Acid_trip.
Hofmann, Albert. “LSD: My Problem Child.” The Antioch Review, vol. 39, no. 3, 1981, p. 389, maps.org/images/pdf/books/lsdmyproblemchild.pdf, https://doi.org/10.2307/4638477. Accessed 15 Apr. 2025.
Jastrzębski, Michał K., et al. “Methods of Lysergic Acid Synthesis—the Key Ergot Alkaloid.” Molecules, vol. 27, no. 21, 28 Oct. 2022, p. 7322, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9654825/, https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules27217322.
MacLean, Katherine. “Psychedelic Women.” Katherine MacLean, PhD, 2025, www.katherinemaclean.org/psychedelic-women. Accessed 15 Apr. 2025.
Massari, Paul. “A Long, Strange Trip | Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.” Gsas.harvard.edu, 28 July 2021, gsas.harvard.edu/news/long-strange-trip.
Noble, Lucy . “Saint Anthony’s Fire and Brimstone: Daily Bread or Daily Dread? – the Mills Archive.” Millsarchive.org, 25 June 2020, new.millsarchive.org/2020/06/25/saint-anthonys-fire-and-brimstone-daily-bread-or-daily-dread/. Accessed 15 Apr. 2025.
NPR. “Bicycle Day Marks an Unofficial Commemoration of the First Use of LSD.” NPR, 19 Apr. 2024, www.npr.org/2024/04/19/1245810413/bicycle-day-marks-an-unofficial-commemoration-of-the-first-use-of-lsd.
Sproul, Conrad . ““Don’t Kill My Buzz, Man!” - Explaining the Criminalization of Psychedelic Drugs.” Oregon Undergraduate Research Journal, vol. 19, no. 1, 2021, pp. 1–53, scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/bef3eed4-81e9-4cdd-a51f-65d0f5261950/content. Accessed 15 Apr. 2025.
ISSN: 2160-617X.
Researched and Authored by Maeve Lee at ThisModernMystic.com