# effects of LSD
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/effects-of-lsd/509
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports
**Created:** [July 6, 1999, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/effects-of-lsd/509 "1999-07-06T01:28:00Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [July 6, 1999, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/effects-of-lsd/509/1 "1999-07-06T01:28:00Z")
i wanted to know what kind of effects LSD has on the human spinal cord. Ive heard such fairy tales as it will drain the fluid in your spine or even, if enough is taken, cripple or paralye someone
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mikey
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### Author:  [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [July 6, 1999, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/effects-of-lsd/509/2 "1999-07-06T01:35:00Z")
The only reason why spinal cords lose fluid is that the doctors extract too much fluid out for tests of damage or disease. I haven’t heard of any condition which will cause a spinal cord to lose fluid by itself.
Also, I’d be more worried about the effects of LSD on the brain than effects on the spinal cord.
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### Author:  [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [July 6, 1999, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/effects-of-lsd/509/3 "1999-07-06T02:59:00Z")
LSD’s effects on one’s physiology are minimal and NOT permanent. An emotionally powerful LSD trip may seem to have permanent effects, especially if one is psychologically unsound to begin with. Flashbacks, for instance, are true to the extent that ANY emotionally charged experience can later be triggered. Post-traumatic stress disorder is the same thing.
LSD is one of the least physically damaging drugs one can take, partly because so little of the drug is required to produce the desired effect. Keep in mind here that I am only addressing the question of true LSD, not
PCP, ecstacy, or any other hallucinogen.
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### Author:  [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [July 6, 1999, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/effects-of-lsd/509/4 "1999-07-06T04:37:00Z")
I have heard such spinal fluid stories about X, which my experience suggests MAY have some basis in reality.
Careful out there, kids.
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### Author:  [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [July 17, 1999, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/effects-of-lsd/509/5 "1999-07-17T05:59:00Z")
My neighbour, the psychiatric nurse, always told me that a fair portion of the teenagers in the institution were there because they had taken LSD and it had exposed their underlying mental problems. She also said the same about marajuana, but that is another thread. But those were the two major drugs that caused mental illness in predisposed people.
* * *
What’s the ugliest part of your body?
Some say your nose, some say your toes,
But I think it’s your Mind - Frank Zappa
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### Author:  [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [July 16, 1999, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/effects-of-lsd/509/6 "1999-07-16T18:41:00Z")
On Reuters, I read about a very recent study proporting to show permanent changes to the brain caused by X. (I can’t find it now, though.) The same apparently isn’t true for LSD. From the [LSD FAQ](http://www.hyperreal.org/drugs/psychedelics/lsd/FAQ-LSD),
> [@](#):
>
> LSD does not form “crystals” that reside in the body to be “dislodged” later, causing flashbacks. LSD is a crystalline solid … but it is easily water soluble, thus cannot form bodily deposits.
The dangers of LSD are purely psychological (and legal, of course). Also from the FAQ,
> [@](#):
>
> May release latent psychosis or exacerbate depression, leading to irrational behavior. There is also a danger of foolish or incautious behavior, e.g, misjudging distances or thinking one can fly. Physical overdose is not a hazard, though one may easily ingest more than one may be able to handle psychologically.
Incidentally, FloChi, schizophrenics who take LSD are more likely to show symptoms earlier in life than those who don’t, but LSD doesn’t “cause” schizophrenia or any other psychological problem. There is no correlation between schizophrenia and marijuana.
Lastly, you know those stories of people staring at the sun, jumping off buildings, or commiting murders while on LSD? I can’t find any sources for any of it. So far as I can tell, no one’s ever done these things. Does anyone have a reference for any of those, or are they urban legends?
Your Quadell
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### Author:  [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [July 17, 1999, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/effects-of-lsd/509/7 "1999-07-17T09:06:00Z")
Lord, there are bunches of UL’s about LSD.
Where do you want to start?
[www.snopes.com/horrors/drugs/lsdsun.htm](http://www.snopes.com/horrors/drugs/lsdsun.htm)
If you don’t mind a personal look back at the 60’s…Last year I helped bury a friend who couldn’t get off coke. He was 51. His was not an isolated case. That stuff is death. That’s a personal opinion from personal observation.
On the other hand I can’t think of a single LSD user still on the drug. They all ended getting “burned out” with it and moving on with their lives.
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### Author:  [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [July 17, 1999, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/effects-of-lsd/509/8 "1999-07-17T16:25:00Z")
You get up early, Doug!
Yes, coke can be death and so can some other illicit drugs, but none of em - actually all of them together - don’t even come close to tobacco as a cause of morbidity and mortality.
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### Author:  [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [July 17, 1999, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/effects-of-lsd/509/9 "1999-07-17T19:38:00Z")
Speaking from experience and intense scientific experimentation during the halcyon days of my youth, I can personally attest to no permanent spinal cord damage.
The effects on my brain, however, were substantial and lasting although of a fairly benevolent variety. (This observation might be a subject of debate in some quarters).
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### Author:  [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [July 17, 1999, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/effects-of-lsd/509/10 "1999-07-17T19:52:00Z")
Regarding spinal cord fluid, my husband earlier this year had a back operation to fix an internal tear caused by a previous surgery.
Before the operaton he was leaking spinal cord fluid internally which caused a large bump (1-2 in.) on his back. He also suffered from constant headaches.
But after the internal tear was fixed he was fine. He seems to have no permanent injury. Therefore I’m extremely suspicious about the stories of LSD causing someone’s spinal cord fluid to drain. The fluid has to go somewhere and obviously your body replaces fluid gradually that would get lost for any reason.
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### Author:  [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [July 17, 1999, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/effects-of-lsd/509/11 "1999-07-17T23:15:00Z")
I’ll wager that the LSD horror stories have CAUSED more bad trips than they’ve prevented.
This is a good example of an urban legend becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy. A person
under the influence of LSD is in an emotionally charged (and altered) state of mind and is especially susceptible to the power of suggestion. Despite this, there are still surprisingly few documented cases of the bizarre behaviors we grew up hearing about.
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### Author:  [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [July 21, 1999, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/effects-of-lsd/509/12 "1999-07-21T07:47:00Z")
TennHippie posted
> [@](#):
>
> I’ll wager that the LSD horror stories have CAUSED more bad trips than they’ve prevented. This is a good example of an urban legend becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy. A person under the influence of LSD is in an emotionally charged (and altered) state ofmind and is especially susceptible to the power of suggestion. Despite this, there are still surprisingly few documented cases of the bizarre behaviors we grew up hearing about.
Saying something isn’t as bad as people make it out to be, doesn’t mean that it’s really a good thing in the first place.
Funny how you make an altered, emotionally charged, and easily susceptible state of mind sound like a good thing.
Hey, since LSD doesn’t cause my teeth to rot, I think I’ll load up on it right now!
Peace.
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### Author:  [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [July 21, 1999, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/effects-of-lsd/509/13 "1999-07-21T13:08:00Z")
TennHippie said: _LSD is one of the least physically damaging drugs one can take, partly because so little of the drug is required to produce the desired effect._
My experience of (non-drinkable) drugs is practically non-existent outside of reading, but I have to take issue with the above statement. There are a tremendous number of chemicals, both natural and synthetic, that are deadly in doses that are truly tiny.
For example, there’s a silicon-based synthetic (I am told that it is the only substance of its kind that is actually poisonous – a chemist went out of his way to see if he could make a poisonous silicon-goop) that is lethal in doses of less than 1 nanogram. Certain toxins produced by marine critters are almost as deadly, being lethal with a few micrograms or milligrams. While none come to mind, I’m pretty sure there are plant toxins that kill in similarly small doses.
Saying LSD is safer because you take so little of it is like saying small bullets can’t kill you. It’s all relative.
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### Author:  [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [July 22, 1999, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/effects-of-lsd/509/14 "1999-07-22T03:47:00Z")
Just wanted to note that I don’t think this thread refers to any of Cecil’s columns. He has talked about LSD in some of his columns, but not specifically about how it might affect the spine. In fact when I asked him (or asked Ed to ask him), he said he’d never heard that theory before. I’m not gonna be a control freak and tell you you can’t discuss it here, though. It’s a pretty interesting discussion. Just didn’t want anyone going nuts looking for the associated SD column.
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### Author:  [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [July 22, 1999, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/effects-of-lsd/509/15 "1999-07-22T07:18:00Z")
Back in the late 70s and early 80s I enjoyed experimenting with acid (LSD).
I usually ingested “blotter” acid (of various patterns or “microdots” of various colors. A few times I had some clear liquid stuff that we put onto sugar cubes.
I always enjoyed my “trips”.
The worst side effects that I ever got were:
1. Extremely sore abdomen muscles the next day from an abundance of laughing (otherwise known in my circles as the microdot giggles)
2. Fatigue from pulling all-night trips.
and most curiously
1. Sometimes I’d have unpleasant abdominal cramps the next day. Someone told me that this was due to the fact that the stuff had been “cut” with stricnine (sp?), otherwise known as rat poison.
Leaky spinal fluid? Nah!
* * *
Contestant #3
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### Author:  [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [July 22, 1999, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/effects-of-lsd/509/16 "1999-07-22T07:34:00Z")
I have to share this acid story:
Once in 1978, three of us broiler chefs at a local steak house got together after work and popped some acid and hung out. After laughing and listening to Peter Frampton Live, etc., we eventually split up. The two other guys wanted to go home. This bummed me out, as I usually liked to do all-nighters when tripping.
The next day I went to the home of buddy #1. “Man!” he said when I saw him. “I had a bad trip last night dude!”, said he. What the hell are you talking about I asked? We had a great time…we were laughing, etc.
“No dude”, he said, “I’m talking about after I went home man”. “I freaked out on the windowfan in my bedroom…I thought it was a monster that was growling at me and was going to eat me man!” “I hid under the blankets in fear all night!”.
Of course I’m trying to keep a straight face…
We then hopped into the car and went to the home of buddy #2. Things got worse! When we rousted buddy #2, it was unbelievable. The guy had also had a bad trip after he went home. He didn’t want to talk about the details, but he informed us that as that that day forth, he was swearing off drugs, refer, beer, cigarettes, and check this…he was even going to start going to church! Dude wouldn’t even cuss anymore!
“Damm, I thought I could trust you guys to maintain” I said!
Buddy #1 and I stayed friends and still stay in touch. We had other trips later on, but it was a couple of years before he tried it again. Buddy #2 kept his word as far as I knew and I lost track of him.
Damm thing was that this wasn’t a first or second trip for these guys. They (like me) were veterans.
Still to this day I wonder why they freaked out so bad but I didn’t…
* * *
Contestant #3
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### Author:  [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [July 22, 1999, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/effects-of-lsd/509/17 "1999-07-22T21:08:00Z")
Right on Contestant #3…I’ve always heard that they strychnine caused the horrible aching back pain too. I’ve never experienced any spinal leakage to my knowledge but I don’t take acid anymore because it’s just too physically draining.
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### Author:  [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [July 22, 1999, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/effects-of-lsd/509/18 "1999-07-22T21:11:00Z")
Oh, by the way, tripping alone is a lot more intense and life-altering than doing it with other people. I’m sure Buddy #2 just freaked out hard-core about his life and God and the devil and decided to change things. I had a friend who swore off everything, wouldn’t leave his room and hung pine boughs from the ceiling of his dorm room for a really long time. He’s okay now…
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### Author:  [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [July 23, 1999, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/effects-of-lsd/509/19 "1999-07-23T05:15:00Z")
Actually, I’d like to hear a few more anecdotal accounts of the kind of trips LSDers have had – especially from the ones who’ve killed themselves (accidentally or purposely) as a result of the trip!
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### Author:  [@kidbrad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidbrad)
#### Post date: [August 6, 1999, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/effects-of-lsd/509/20 "1999-08-06T16:26:00Z")
Moriah, was that a joke? Any anecodotes from those who have killed themselves will have a lot more significance than the LSD issue. 🙂
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