In high school science, I was told that LSD can cause permanent mental illness, as well as all sorts of physical damage. Is this the case? If so, what is the specific damage, and the mechanism involved?
The answer to the “all sorts of physical damage” part would be no, as long as we’re not talking about trying to fly or some such while under the influence.
For the rest of your question, here’s some links (they are not in agreement):
I think Zenbeam has a lot of info on this (well, some poster does), and he (or the other poster) is willing to speak at length about it, if he sees it. Or he was ONCE. So I’ll give this a bump for you to help him notice it.
Past LSD usage can bar you from getting certain jobs. Many law enforcement agencies, for example, will not allow you to be hired if you have used LSD, even once. Anyway, they must think that it can cause permanent damage.
Can they detect past LSD use, beyond the time it takes the body to purge itself? Or are they relying on your word?
Someone mention my name? Oh, well close enough. I’m fairly certain you mean me.
Anyhow, on the OP for my ad nauseum account of LSD, Effects, Doseages, etc just look up my name and go a ways back yoiu will find plenty. I’m not sure if I touched on the physical effects of LSD precisely so I’ll do a bit of that here (I see also there is a nother’ cid thread here so I’ll go in there and see if I’m needed later).
LSD like anything else that you can ingest and which interacts with the human nervous system certainly can effect you physically. Of course so can an aspirin or a beer (so says my urologist anyhow but what does he know, he paid big $$ to look at pee and sick weenies all day). The big debate is on long term damage caused by LSD and where that damage is done, some say dain bramage and some folks so your spine will collapse after a certain amount (that amount must be a whole lot because other than that which comes with age and a somewhat reckless motorcycle dismount technique I have been working on my spine is pretty good and I have been pretty methodical about “testing” the substance for the past 14 years on myself at pretty regular intervals.)
But to be fair lets list the major possible physical effects (any of you Piled Higher and Deeper tipes want to fill in a blank feel free):
Even proponents of LSD use for beneficial emotional and personal growth list the following, Heart disease sufferers are at risk (they state because you can suffer the stress of coming into contact with your innermost distressing moments, I’ll buy that. I had a three hour crying session during one trip which was very needed and very cathartic for me but I suppose it could have caused stress to someone in poor health) moving on,
Liver disease; well the liver is the coffe filter of the body now ain’t it? Stands to reason if you jam in a bunch o’ crud it might fail on ya but the quantities of pure LSD used to experience the stuff make this one of the lesser likely problems (so long as you are using the real and not some squirrel pee bastard dilute hodge-podge of houseold cleaners and whatever else),
Epilepsy; you can have a fit. Avoid strobes too.
Pregnancy; no it won’t get you pregnant (might make you find some toad charming enough to get pregnant by him but the LSD won’t make YOU pregnant, but like all drugs one should avoid use while pregnant. LSD is similar and derivative of the fungus Ergot which can stimulate contractions. Premature babies are hard to buy diapers for and incubators is for chickies.
Temperature; the user is likely to have an increased heart rate (another reason for those with weak tickers to avoid the stuff), which can increase blood pressure and body temperature.
Now the big three:
Chromosone damage. I dunno’, I have a healthy and smart 9 y/o daughter (do the math). She’s about as “normal” as could be considering I’m a flake who overcompensates with gifts and have my own Peter Pan issues. The big brains argue constantly about chromosone damage, you make your own decision.
Schitzophrenia: There has been (or used to be) a lot of talk about LSD linking to insanity as a causal relationship. Nowadays according to most of my sources thats bunk. Huxley talked about the “doors of perception” and I think it was apt. Schitzos’ are probably born with the potential for the disease and LSd may show them that “door” but I don’t think it makes them nuts.
Depression: I’m a manic depressive, I self medicate with a good diet, meditation, moderation and I never EVER trip if I’m down or on any kind of swing. Since MD disorder is chemichal I listed it here. LSD can make you feel things you are not ready to deal with and make you try to deal with things you are not ready to feel. If you are unstable then avoid the stuff.
“Flashbacks”: Never had one. Oh I have had little aftershocks, but I have never been walking down the streey and all of a sudden been tripping out. I reserve my opinion on that one.
As for further minutae I refer you to the web using a search engine and typing the following “LSD+long+term+effects” then hit enter.
My only long term effect is that I never used to gon on like this for hours.
nuff said’
Related to OP and paranoia-- back in The Day, the major fear we had with LSD (as it wasn’t supposed to show up in piss tests-- the safe drug, when applying for jobs) was the apocryphal/ rhetorical “hair test” (can’t remember what it was called, exactly) or spinal taps. Are these possible/ likely; Did/does anyone ever really do this; is this within the boundaries of local police department cash flow?
Taking a slightly different tack on the OP, it could be useful to think about what effects saying good things, or failing to say bad things, about drugs might have on a high school teachers job security.