# Did the CIA have a patent on LSD? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 5, 2001, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-cia-have-a-patent-on-lsd/60864 "2001-04-05T01:51:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SpinneZiege](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9e8a1a/32.png) [@SpinneZiege](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpinneZiege)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2001, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-cia-have-a-patent-on-lsd/60864/1 "2001-04-05T01:51:02Z")
I thought of this while talking with my mother about pharmaceuticals and US patent law, how the price of Claritan will go down soon due to the patent expiring. Now, as the legend goes, Dr. Tim Leary, famed acid guru, developed, with his team at the CIA, lysergic acid diethylamide. It was used by the military for reasons you could find [here](http://www.erowid.org/chemicals/lsd/lsd_writings2.shtml).I know Leary popularized the drug in the 1960s, was there ever a patent for this? Also, please don’t let this turn into a “this one time I tripped and, like… woah” thread. Mods don’t like that, apparently. ---
**Author:** ![Cabbage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@Cabbage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cabbage)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2001, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-cia-have-a-patent-on-lsd/60864/2 "2001-04-05T02:35:45Z")
The CIA and/or Timothy Leary had nothing to do with it, LSD was invented (in Switzerland, I believe) by Albert Hoffman, a Swiss chemist, in 1943 (the CIA didn’t exist until '47). I don’t believe there’s a patent for it, but I suppose I could be wrong. More than you probably ever wanted to know about it can be found [here](http://www.lycaeum.org/books/books/my_problem_child/) ---
**Author:** ![SpinneZiege](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9e8a1a/32.png) [@SpinneZiege](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpinneZiege)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2001, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-cia-have-a-patent-on-lsd/60864/3 "2001-04-05T02:59:33Z")
Ok then… What about other drugs, like MDMA, commonly known as Ecstasy. I remember hearing that it was originally marketed legally as an anti-depressent. Were there ever patents on other drugs that are now illegal? ---
**Author:** ![Cabbage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@Cabbage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cabbage)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2001, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-cia-have-a-patent-on-lsd/60864/4 "2001-04-05T03:38:40Z")
I take that back, apparently Eli Lilly did patent LSD in 1956, and was the company that supplied LSD to the CIA during that time. That’s the extent of my knowledge on the connection, however. ---
**Author:** ![Cabbage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@Cabbage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cabbage)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2001, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-cia-have-a-patent-on-lsd/60864/5 "2001-04-05T03:42:06Z")
I just realized the above might not be clear. Albert Hoffman did invent it 1943, of course; what I was taking back was that it was never patented (it wasn’t invented by Eli Lilly in 1956, in other words). ---
**Author:** ![Moe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moe/32/2972_2.png) [@Moe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moe)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2001, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-cia-have-a-patent-on-lsd/60864/6 "2001-04-05T03:48:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Cabbage \* > \*\*I just realized the above might not be clear. Albert Hoffman did invent it 1943, of course; what I was taking back was that it was never patented (it wasn’t invented by Eli Lilly in 1956, in other words). \*\* Actually, I could be wrong, but if IIRC I believe he invented it in 1937 or '38, but didn’t actually ingest it (or rather accidentally spill it on himself) until 1943. ---
**Author:** ![Cabbage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@Cabbage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cabbage)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2001, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-cia-have-a-patent-on-lsd/60864/7 "2001-04-05T05:01:29Z")
Thanks, yeah, that’s correct, it was first invented in 1938, first ingested in 1943. From the site I linked above (written by Hoffman himself), the first experience was on April 16th, from incidental skin contact. That experience prompted him to experiment with it a few days later, and the first full-blown trip was on April 19th, with the famous bicycle ride. ---
**Author:** ![linolium420](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a87d85/32.png) [@linolium420](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/linolium420)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2001, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-cia-have-a-patent-on-lsd/60864/8 "2001-04-05T05:06:46Z")
Albert Hoffman was german. Sandoz used to manfucature LSD so it’s possible that they held the patent for a while