# Has LSD Ever Been proven Useful? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 13, 2010, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-lsd-ever-been-proven-useful/556988 "2010-10-13T12:53:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-lsd-ever-been-proven-useful/556988/1 "2010-10-13T12:53:05Z")
The famous hallucigenic drug has been around for 70+ years now. has it ever been proven useful for any medical purpose? Guys like Tomoth Leary claimed that it helped you expand your consciousness, and it was tried (by the CIA) as a means of interrogation. But as far as i know, nothing really usefil ever came of this. Is anybody studying its use today? ---
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-lsd-ever-been-proven-useful/556988/2 "2010-10-13T12:59:07Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > The famous hallucigenic drug has been around for 70+ years now. has it ever been proven useful for any medical purpose? > Guys like Tomoth Leary claimed that it helped you expand your consciousness, and it was tried (by the CIA) as a means of interrogation. > But as far as i know, nothing really usefil ever came of this. Is anybody studying its use today? [Sure.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LSD#Cluster_headaches) > [@](#): > > LSD has been used as a treatment for cluster headaches, an uncommon but extremely painful disorder. Researcher Peter Goadsby describes the headaches as “worse than natural childbirth or even amputation without anesthetic.”[46] Although the phenomenon has not been formally investigated, case reports indicate that LSD and psilocybin can reduce cluster pain and also interrupt the cluster-headache cycle, preventing future headaches from occurring. ---
**Author:** ![dzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f9b8f/32.png) [@dzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dzero)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-lsd-ever-been-proven-useful/556988/3 "2010-10-13T15:19:41Z")
I’ve heard of uses like helping the terminally ill accept their mortality but if it turns out that there aren’t many, I don’t think that means much. Drugs classified as schedule (class) I narcotics have a huge stigma attached to them not to mention the legal issues so researchers aren’t busting a nut to do clinical trials with them unless they already have very good reasons to think they might be beneficial. So you can see the catch-22 here. I know that for a few days after I did acid I felt much better than my usual mental state. It’s impossible to describe except to say that I felt “normal”. And after about a year of doing [MDA](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3,4-Methylenedioxyamphetamine) off and on, my OCD symptoms virtually disappeared for several years but gradually crept back. ---
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-lsd-ever-been-proven-useful/556988/4 "2010-10-13T15:54:48Z")
This isn’t about LSD per se, but [here’s](http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2008/07_01_08.html) a study on Psilocybin, the active ingredient in “Magic Mushrooms” (which acts on the 5HT receptors of the brain, the same receptors LSD acts upon) so I think this is at least partially relevant. > [@](#): > > Writing in the Journal of Psychopharmacology, the Johns Hopkins > researchers note that most of the 36 volunteer subjects given > psilocybin, under controlled conditions in a Hopkins study published > in 2006, continued to say 14 months later that the experience > increased their sense of well-being or life satisfaction. > > “Most of the volunteers looked back on their experience up to 14 > months later and rated it as the most, or one of the five most, > personally meaningful and spiritually significant of their lives,” > says lead investigator Roland Griffiths, Ph.D., a professor in the > Johns Hopkins departments of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and > Neuroscience. ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-lsd-ever-been-proven-useful/556988/5 "2010-10-13T15:57:11Z")
I’m to dumb the find the cite at the moment but I’ll keep looking. Anyway, I read ‘something somewhere’ to the effect that LSD was proven to be very successful in the treatment of alcoholics. IIRC, there was some evidence that the majority of alcoholics so treated stayed sober indefinitely. ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-lsd-ever-been-proven-useful/556988/6 "2010-10-13T16:05:05Z")
I must have misspelled a word or something equally stupid; Googling ‘treating alcoholism with LSD’ will get you a ton of hits. It seems that a comprehensive study was conducted in Canada; give it a shot. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-lsd-ever-been-proven-useful/556988/7 "2010-10-13T16:34:05Z")
It was in the experimental stage of treatment for autism when it’s scheduling classification asserted that it had no accepted medical use. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-lsd-ever-been-proven-useful/556988/8 "2010-10-13T16:43:51Z")
> [@LouisB](#): > > I’m to dumb the find the cite at the moment but I’ll keep looking. Anyway, I read ‘something somewhere’ to the effect that LSD was proven to be very successful in the treatment of alcoholics. IIRC, there was some evidence that the majority of alcoholics so treated stayed sober indefinitely. I remember that study. LSD was just one aspect of the treatment program; when the study was repeated with the same program minus the LSD, the success rates were similar. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-lsd-ever-been-proven-useful/556988/9 "2010-10-13T16:45:37Z")
The [Multidiscliplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies](http://www.maps.org/) researches the medical application of LSD and other psychedelics. Their website contains lots of information on current research and findings. ---
**Author:** ![constanze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@constanze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/constanze)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-lsd-ever-been-proven-useful/556988/10 "2010-10-13T16:47:37Z")
I just watched a BBC doku about drugs - legal and illegal - sorted from 20 to 1 according to how dangerous they are, and when LSD came up, they said that it was originally developed to help people with schizophrenia, and had some success there, before the counter-culture discovered it. They had not only Prof. O’Leary, but a younger doctor who argued that all the hysteria about the dangers of LSD should be put aside (since they were exaggerated and untrue - nobody jumped out of the window because of LSD, that’s just an UL) and it should be studied anew without prejudice. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-lsd-ever-been-proven-useful/556988/11 "2010-10-13T17:04:12Z")
> [@constanze](#): > > I just watched a BBC doku about drugs - legal and illegal - sorted from 20 to 1 according to how dangerous they are, and when LSD came up, they said that it was originally developed to help people with schizophrenia Well, they’re wrong. LSD was discovered entirely by accident; a Swiss scientist, Albert Hofmann, was synthesizing various ergot-related drugs in hopes of developing migraine medications. LSD was one such creation; he discovered its psychedelic properties only when he accidentally ingested some in his lab one day. He published what is now a very famous account of this first acid trip; I’m sure it’s available online. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-lsd-ever-been-proven-useful/556988/12 "2010-10-13T17:14:08Z")
According to [House](http://www.housemd-guide.com/season2/212happiness.php), LSD can help with chronic pain and migraines. Okay, so he’s not a doctor. But he plays one on TV. ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-lsd-ever-been-proven-useful/556988/13 "2010-10-13T17:59:29Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > > [@LouisB](#): > > > > I’m to dumb the find the cite at the moment but I’ll keep looking. Anyway, I read ‘something somewhere’ to the effect that LSD was proven to be very successful in the treatment of alcoholics. IIRC, there was some evidence that the majority of alcoholics so treated stayed sober indefinitely. > > I remember that study. LSD was just one aspect of the treatment program; when the study was repeated with the same program minus the LSD, the success rates were similar. I wasn’t aware of that; thanks for the update. ---
**Author:** ![ChrisBooth12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@ChrisBooth12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChrisBooth12)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-lsd-ever-been-proven-useful/556988/14 "2010-10-13T20:03:30Z")
I am sure many artists have used it for inspiration and the like, sounds useful for me ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-lsd-ever-been-proven-useful/556988/15 "2010-10-13T20:23:39Z")
> [@LouisB](#): > > I must have misspelled a word or something equally stupid; Googling ‘treating alcoholism with LSD’ will get you a ton of hits. It seems that a comprehensive study was conducted in Canada; give it a shot. I see what you did there … 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Engywook](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bc8723/32.png) [@Engywook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Engywook)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-lsd-ever-been-proven-useful/556988/16 "2010-10-14T04:41:28Z")
> [@dzero](#): > > Drugs classified as schedule (class) I narcotics have a huge stigma attached to them not to mention the legal issues so researchers aren’t busting a nut to do clinical trials with them unless they already have very good reasons to think they might be beneficial. So you can see the catch-22 . This. In another life, I was a clinical psych grad student. I took on an interest in psychedelic psychotherapy after \ and reading an article about the use of ibogaine in treating addictions and OCD. So I decided to write a paper on it. The sixties were long gone at that point. So for that matter were the eighties. What greeted me at the university library: 1. Tons of papers that were written before LSD and psilocybin became Schedule 1. Mostly anecdotal, nothing you could really hang your hat on. No followup research on humans worth reporting after, say, 1975. 2. There were a few papers written later about how well rabbits learned mazes and puzzles while tripping. But those findings could be written off to state-dependant learning. 3. Really nothing at all from the last few years, except the ibogaine thing, which hadn’t been reproduced at the time (anybody hear anything, because I ain’t heard even a whisper). All of which completely failed to teach me to stay away from an interesting, badly documented subject in spite of the D I got. ---
**Author:** ![Number](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/number/32/242_2.png) [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-lsd-ever-been-proven-useful/556988/17 "2010-10-14T05:01:27Z")
> [@constanze](#): > > nobody jumped out of the window because of LSD, that’s just an UL Well there is the sad case of [Frank Olson](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Olson), though the complete truth about it will probably never be known. > [@](#): > > **Frank Olson** (July 17, 1910 – November 28, 1953) was a U.S. Army biological warfare specialist employed at Fort Detrick in Maryland, who was at first said to have taken his own life due to depression. Later it came out, in the 1970s, that he had been given LSD without his knowledge at a joint meeting between CIA spies and US Army biowarfare experts, who cooperated on biological weapons and toxins and drugs under the umbrella of MKNAOMI and MKULTRA. This was said to have driven him to leap out of a hotel window ten days later. Further evidence pointed to the CIA having assassinated Frank Olson over fears that he would reveal the entire U.S. biological warfare program, as well as the chemical interrogation program, to the press. This doesn’t really have any bearing on recreational use of course. ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-lsd-ever-been-proven-useful/556988/18 "2010-10-14T08:48:59Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > > [@LouisB](#): > > > > I must have misspelled a word or something equally stupid; Googling ‘treating alcoholism with LSD’ will get you a ton of hits. It seems that a comprehensive study was conducted in Canada; give it a shot. > > I see what you did there … 😃 I wish it was that easy. ---
**Author:** ![mack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mack)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2010, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-lsd-ever-been-proven-useful/556988/19 "2010-10-15T03:29:20Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > > [@constanze](#): > > > > I just watched a BBC doku about drugs - legal and illegal - sorted from 20 to 1 according to how dangerous they are, and when LSD came up, they said that it was originally developed to help people with schizophrenia > > Well, they’re wrong. Not really. It’s true that Albert Hofmann discovered LSD, but that’s just the first step. He was working for Sandoz, and they eventually determined that it might have psychiatric uses and developed it along those lines. ---
**Author:** ![Reloy3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c68b51/32.png) [@Reloy3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reloy3)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2010, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-lsd-ever-been-proven-useful/556988/20 "2010-10-15T15:04:04Z")
IIRC, LSD has been used in veterinary care of some large animals (mostly horses) with some neurological disorders. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-lsd-ever-been-proven-useful/556988.md?page=2)