By Alyssa Cusimano and Malllory Guarino

Table of Contents

All information will be listed as follows:

• History of the drug
• How it's made
• Ingredients of the drug
• Explanation of how it's used
• Short term effects of LSD
• Long term aeffects of LSD
• How LSD affects someone's behavior
• How LSD affects people's relationships with others
• Community resources that can help people who struggle with drug addiction
• Facts you didn't know
• Works Cited

History of the drug

In 1938, LSD was synthesized for the first time by a chemist named Albert Hofmann, who was working for Sandoz Pharmaceutical at the time. The drug was created in attempts to create a blood stimulant. The harmful hallucinogenic effects of LSD weren’t discovered until 1943, leading it to become popularized in the 1960s.

How it is made

LSD is a man-made substance, which is produced in crystal form in illegal laboratories. The crystals can be converted to a liquid, tablets, capsules, or gelatin squares for distribution.

Ingredients of the drug

Ingredients of LSD include lysergic acid, which is found in the ergot fungus that grows on rye and other grains.

Explanation of how it's used

LSD is on paper that is licked or swallowed. Capsules and liquids are also swallowed.

Short term effects of LSD

• During “trips” people will suffer from both physical and psychological effects. Physically, they may experience dilated pupils, dry mouth tremors and more.
• Mentally, it’s likely they will endure visual hallucinations, distortion of their sense of time and identity, impaired time perception, distorted perception of the size and shape of objects, movements, color, sounds, touch and the user’s own body image

Long Term Effects of LSD

LSD does not only affect the body, it also affects the brain. Some effects that it may induce on the body are hypothermia, overheating, and sudden heart failure. The effects that it may have on the brain are persistent psychosis and recurrent hallucinations.

How LSD affects someone's behavior

When on the drug, it is likely that someone will experience impulsiveness and rapid emotional shifts that can range from fear to euphoria, with transitions so rapid that the user may seem to experience several emotions simultaneously,

How LSD can affect someone's relationship with others.

When someone is using LSD, people in which they have personal relationships may experience 4 common stages. The first stage is finding out that the person is using the drug. This can result in many different reactions, depending on that person's specific stance on the use. The second stage is denial; they try to forget about the fact that the person is using. The third stage is adaptation to the drug user. During this stage, some people may become enablers. The final stage can be called “rock bottom” in which the people in relation of the drug user experience a time of depression and anxiety.

Community resources that may help the user release from addiction

Those attempting to quit their LSD addiction may seek out psychological treatment due to the hallucinogenic effects causing the user to possibly develop paranoia and experience flashbacks of “trips” , good or bad. The user may also use counseling as a quitting mechanism to end the depression that may come along with using the drug and to recognize the fact that it’s a harmful drug and not an escape.

Facts you may not have known about LSD

• NASA in an experiment tried to intoxicate spiders with different drugs in order to see if they will still build an effective web or not. All of the drugs used on the spiders reduced their web regularity except for small doses of LSD.
• LSD helped cure a holocaust survivor from Auschwitz’s PTSD and also helped him to sleep for the first time in 30 years without any nightmare.
• As a result of tripping on LSD, 2 Nobel Prize winners succeeded in their award winning scientific discoveries.
• William Leonard Pickard is convicted to be the largest manufacturer of LSD in the history since, from 1991 to 2000, 90% LSD in the world was produced by him alone.
• As compared to most drugs which take a minimum of a gram or two to be effective, LSD just takes a 100-200 millionth of a gram to send a person off on a deep trip to euphoria and hallucinations which may last up to 12 hours.

Works Cited

• "Watch Truth About Drugs Documentary Video & Learn About Substance Addiction. Get The Facts About Painkillers, Marijuana, Cocaine, Meth & Other Illegal Drugs." Foundation for a Drug-Free World. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Apr. 2017.
• "What You Need to Know About Drugs: LSD." KidsHealth. Ed. Mary L. Gavin. The Nemours Foundation, Jan. 2014. Web. 23 Apr. 2017.
• "Long-Term Effects of LSD." Luxury.Rehabs.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Apr. 2017.
• "How LSD Abuse Affects Families." LSD Abuse Help. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Apr. 2017.

Glossary

Some "street names" for LSD are acid, superman, battery acid...

Trip: the period of time in which someone is under the influence of LSD

Hallucinogenic: a drug that alters the mental state and causes the subject to have hallucinations.

Works Cited

• http://ohfact.com/interesting-facts-about-lsd/
• http://www.drugfreeworld.org/drugfacts/lsd/a-short-history.html
• http://www.drugfreeworld.org/drugfacts/lsd.html
• http://kidshealth.org/en/kids/know-drugs-lsd.html?WT.ac=ctg
• http://www.drugfreeworld.org/drugfacts/lsd/the-harmful-effects-of-lsd.html
• http://luxury.rehabs.com/psychedelics-abuse/long-term-effects-lsd/
• https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/hallucinogens-dissociative-drugs/how-do-hallucinogens-lsd-psilocybin-peyote-dmt-ayahuasca-affect-brain-body
• http://www.lsdabusehelp.com/how-lsd-abuse-affects-families
• http://www.lsdaddiction.us/content/treatment-for-lsd.html