Hoffman's Potion

[CyberHippie]

Just caught this really interesting Canadian made documentry about the history of LSD. Essentially it was these far out 90 year olds talking about all the LSD research they did etc... Probably one of the most interesting things was that it was extremely effective in curing alcoholism.

Description (from Sundance Channel website):

It all started when Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann accidentally made a mind-blowing discovery while searching for a cure for migraines. Lysergic acid diethylamide (better known as LSD) was soon eyed by physicians as a possible treatment for alcoholism and mental illness, while writer Aldous Huxley and Harvard psychologists Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert (Ram Dass) hailed it as a tool for self-understanding. Documentary filmmaker Connie Littlefield delves into the little-known early history of the world's most notorious psychedelic concoction.

[paisley]

it had been around already for five years and he came across its affects by accident

quote:

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In the final step of the synthesis, during the purification and crystallization of lysergic acid diethylamide in the form of a tartrate (tartaric acid salt), I was interrupted in my work by unusual sensations. The following description of this incident comes from the report that I sent at the time to Professor Stoll:

Last Friday, April 16,1943, I was forced to interrupt my work in the laboratory in the middle of the afternoon and proceed home, being affected by a remarkable restlessness, combined with a slight dizziness. At home I lay down and sank into a not unpleasant intoxicated-like condition, characterized by an extremely stimulated imagination. In a dreamlike state, with eyes closed (I found the daylight to be unpleasantly glaring), I perceived an uninterrupted stream of fantastic pictures, extraordinary shapes with intense, kaleidoscopic play of colors. After some two hours this condition faded away.

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LSD: My problem child - Albert Hofmann