Perhaps the first fermented fruit ingested by man, created a long history of mankind’s desire to alter consciousness. Throughout recorded history, humanity has sought to alter self with some form of substance, from socially approved consumption, methods of healing, and spiritually divine experience. This substance use has grown almost equally with human development and over time has developed into a debate of morality versus psychological ailment. Crocq (2007) states that the complex etiology of addiction developed from the opposing attitudes that are still debated today, such as is: whether addiction is a sin or a disease and should treatment be moral or medical. Society will always find a debatable platform well into the future, but as cultures
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From its foundation found in ergot alkaloids found in a fungus that grows on rye, the purpose behind its discovery was to aid in contracting the uterus after child birth and treating migraine headaches. As it was synthesized into LSD in 1938, there was little to no understanding of its hallucinating side effects. (Inaba & Cohen, 1997) Recorded throughout history, there have been numerous accounts of ergot poisoning due to rye consumption, resulting in hallucinations, permanent insanity, and gangrene. It was not until 1943 that a Dr. Albert Hoffman continued the synthetization of LSD and unwittingly exposed himself to the drug and recorded his experience as “characterized by an exaggerated imagination (Smith, 2007)”. In the infancy of LSD, the need to cope with bleeding deaths after child birth came the original use of the ergot and through time was altered to the form it is more commonly known for today. As LSD is considered an investigational drug by the Food and Drug Administration due to a lack of profound scientific studies, the United States government utilized LSD in mind altering experiments. By the 1960’s LSD had turned into a method of enhancing power of creativity as technology opened up the method of delivery. Acid as it became more commonly known is a liquid form, that could be ingested on wafers or paper blotter. Gel forms and pure forms were also available as acid increased in popularity. At this point the intake to the body had not really changed much over time, as LSD is primarily absorbed or ingested. Today LSD is still taken by the same methods, but often is in lower dosages than found in the 60’s and acts more like a stimulant according to Inaba & Cohen (1997). As with many drugs, it is not expected to disappear, but instead to re-invent itself in social culture. Its only through understanding and education that any changes to how substances are
From its foundation found in ergot alkaloids found in a fungus that grows on rye, the purpose behind its discovery was to aid in contracting the uterus after child birth and treating migraine headaches. As it was synthesized into LSD in 1938, there was little to no understanding of its hallucinating side effects. (Inaba & Cohen, 1997) Recorded throughout history, there have been numerous accounts of ergot poisoning due to rye consumption, resulting in hallucinations, permanent insanity, and gangrene. It was not until 1943 that a Dr. Albert Hoffman continued the synthetization of LSD and unwittingly exposed himself to the drug and recorded his experience as “characterized by an exaggerated imagination (Smith, 2007)”. In the infancy of LSD, the need to cope with bleeding deaths after child birth came the original use of the ergot and through time was altered to the form it is more commonly known for today. As LSD is considered an investigational drug by the Food and Drug Administration due to a lack of profound scientific studies, the United States government utilized LSD in mind altering experiments. By the 1960’s LSD had turned into a method of enhancing power of creativity as technology opened up the method of delivery. Acid as it became more commonly known is a liquid form, that could be ingested on wafers or paper blotter. Gel forms and pure forms were also available as acid increased in popularity. At this point the intake to the body had not really changed much over time, as LSD is primarily absorbed or ingested. Today LSD is still taken by the same methods, but often is in lower dosages than found in the 60’s and acts more like a stimulant according to Inaba & Cohen (1997). As with many drugs, it is not expected to disappear, but instead to re-invent itself in social culture. Its only through understanding and education that any changes to how substances are