Test of knowledge/misconceptions

In My Humble Opinion
1

I have found a couple topics that what most people believe about it is almost pure legend.

I thought I would pick one and get a more detailed idea of just how extensive this can be. So, if you are going to participate in this, just put down what you believe. Don’t use any references, not even the other posts. If this work well, I may try it with some other topics.

I will post the answers after a decent number of people respond. Hopefully, this will be interesting.

Topic: LSD

What do you know/think you know about it?

in terms of:

  1. toxicity (overdose risk)
  2. long term effects both physical and mental
  3. finding in drug testing
  4. number of people who have OD’d on it
  5. legal facts
  6. Adulterants/impurities
  7. addiction potential
  8. other assorted info
2

This is a poll and so belongs in IMHO, not General Questions. I’ll move it.

bibliophage
moderator GQ

3

Sorry about the wrong forum.

Seemed the best choice to me.

4
  1. No lethal dose that I know of.
  2. Anecdotal evidence of long-term mental impairment
  3. Difficult to find in drug testing; not often tested for
  4. None that I know of
  5. Illegal for recreational use; may be legal for psychotherapeutic use
  6. Street drugs don’t really have any quality controls.
  7. Possible psychological addiction, but unlikely. No physical addiction.
  8. Never try to order a half chocolate chip/half creme de menthe malt at Baskin Robbins while tripping.

How’d I do?

5

Rysdad,

I can’t tell ya how you did yet, don’t want to skew the other responses too much.

Also, for those who haven’t done replied yet. You don’t have to have answers to all or any of those 8 items.

Those are there just get ya started.

6

Not a damn thing.
**

Not a damn thing.
**

Not a damn thing.
**

Not a damn thing.
**

Not a damn thing.
**

Not a damn thing.
**

Not a damn thing.
**

I know what LSD stands for…

So…how’d I do?

7

Darwin’s Finch

I guess it is far better to know nothing than know stuff that is incorrect.

Its hard to believe that you don’t know some story about it.

8
  1. toxicity (overdose risk)

Physically, slim to none.

  1. long term effects both physical and mental

Physically, very few to none. Mentally, it can lead to unwanted brain functions (such as flashbacks, etc).

  1. finding in drug testing

Not easily detected, I don’t believe. I don’t think it would show up on a regular drug test.

  1. number of people who have OD’d on it

None.

  1. legal facts

It’s…illegal.

  1. Adulterants/impurities

I have no idea about these. I don’t think there’s a way to “cut” acid, as acid is acid is acid.

  1. addiction potential

I don’t believe there is any, at all.

  1. other assorted info

Never pet a burning dog.

9

I believe(and I could be wrong) that the flasback is a physical thing. As I understand it, habitual use can lead to the drug being stored in fat calls, and the high is experienced when the fat cell is ‘burned’, or whatever the hell happens to it.

10
  1. toxicity (overdose risk)

Nope.

  1. long term effects both physical and mental

Physical: None
Mental: I imagine that there’d be some effects like flashbacks or subconscious hallucinations if taken repeatedly.

  1. finding in drug testing

I think it CAN be found, just that it’s not usually looked for (not a performance-enhancing drug, or one that has medium-term effects)

  1. number of people who have OD’d on it

None.

  1. legal facts

Illegal to produce, illegal to sell, illegal to possess, illegal to use.

  1. Adulterants/impurities

Well, it’s a man-made chemical. There’s nothing natural in it in the first place, so who’s to say?

  1. addiction potential

I don’t think there is.

  1. other assorted info

-“Discovered” in a university chem lab by a grad student in the 60s.
-The danger lies in the trip: a bad trip can lead you to do irrational things like scrape your face off because you’re convinced that it’s a banana peel and if you don’t peel it off, you’ll die of suffocation. Or taking an axe to that dwarf that’s crawling up your leg… that kind of stuff.

11

I guess I didn’t do a very good job formulating the OP.

I was hoping to see how prevelant alot of the man on the street misconceptions were. I was looking to see how common these fables were by seeing how many people would bring them up on their own.

LSD causes chromosome damage/birth defects

If you have used LSD x many of times you are consider legally insane.

LSD crystalizes in you body/spine

The good drug test for LSD is a spinal tap

LSD often has some poison (strychnine) in it

All of the above are completely false.

The only common one I saw was the on flashbacks. Flashbacks are not caused by stored lsd being rereleased into ones body. It seems to be very closely related to Post Tramatic Stress Syndrome. Any very strong emotional experience can sometimes be vividly relived when one comes in contact with something that reminds them of that past emotional experience.

The “discovered in a university chem lab” is false too. It was discovered in Albert Hofmann in 1938 at the Sandoz drug company in Switzerland.

Anyway, I am (re)working something similar on the topic of relativity. Seems to be another subject that alot of people have heard of but have many misconceptions about. Maybe my OP will be better with this one.

12

Scotth,

You didn’t do a bad job. I see that you are relatively new here so you probably do not realize that this is not the place to do a “man on the street” type of poll. This is not Jaywalking. The people that post here tend to be highly intelligent, highly educated, and post here because they like to know a lot about almost everything.

I, for instance, partially completed a PhD program in psychopharmacology at an Ivy League university. I could write a small book on this topic off of the top of my head so I didn’t even bother posting. To suggest that someone like me would think that LSD makes you legally insane and can kill you is rather insulting.

13

As per request, answering without reading other posts first:

  1. toxicity (overdose risk)

If you take…oh, maybe 10,000 times the dose that’ll get you astonishingly high, it probably isn’t good for you and might make you rather sick or even kill you.

  1. long term effects both physical and mental

Physical effects are minimal under ordinary circumstances. Mental is far more difficult to evaluate. You may never be the same, which can be good or bad depending on your experiences and how you handled them. I tend to doubt that it has many long-term effects on HOW the mind works, in the data-processing, memory-loading, memory-storing raw-circuitry sense of how a mind works, but I think it may affect how the mind prioritizes the different kinds of processing it is capable of.
3) finding in drug testing

They can probably detect it within days of tripping. Don’t know about weeks or longer. With such a small amount of substance in a dose, it seems unlikely.

  1. number of people who have OD’d on it

zero

  1. legal facts

huh? I presume you don’t mean as opposed to illegal facts, whatever they might be, but I really don’t know what you’re asking here.

  1. Adulterants/impurities

Strychnine was alleged, as were angel dust and amphetamines. I don’t believe the angel dust, and someone once told me the strychnine was a lie too; OTOH, I had heard previously that the organic chem methods of making it were capable of introducing strychnine as a by-product and this is what made your stomach skwinch up a bit the first hour or so after taking it. Amphetamines I do believe–I’ve had “speedy” trips and “churchy” trips depending, I’d imagine, on whether or not some speed was included in the batch. Legend is that a little speed makes bad trips rare – ?

  1. addiction potential

Physical: zero

Psychological: Most folks’ reaction to coming down from a good trip is NOT to hop back on again. Now, a few months’ later, that’s a different story. Is someone addicted if they can DO without a substance without evil withdrawal symptoms for years and years and yet never get past the tendency to entertain a “gee I wish I had some acid!” inclination no matter how long it’s been?

  1. other assorted info

I notice that I don’t have any and haven’t tripped in years and…gee, I wish I had some acid!

14

I agree, I would likely find a much better than average group of people here as far as being informed.

However, many of those intelligence insulting ideas are being taught in school (at least they were in my high school). These stories and supposed facts were taught in my high school.

  1. Someone slipped some LSD into a “good girl’s” drink. She immediately went into a coma and died.
  2. LSD causes chromosome damage. If you have children any time after taking LSD there is a large change of birth defects.
  3. LSD is made from strychnine and was frequently present in final product.

Many people, even intelligent people don’t question information that comes from a trusted/reliable source. That was what I was looking for.

15

Look, it’s pretty obvious what you’re trying to do here. You want to expound the virtues of LSD, but you’d prefer to do it in a forum where you can be an expert dispelling silly myths.

That’s unlikely to happen. So as an alternative, why don’t you go forward with your descriptions of how it’s a wonder drug and let others debate your points.

If you really are here as you claim to put forth real information and dispel misinformation, I’ll applaud. But I’ve got to tell you that my initial assumption is that this is not your intent.

16

Actually, I wasn’t terribly interested in putting forth any information. I was mostly interested in collecting information about people’s misinformation for myself. For the purposes of this thread, I would be just as happy to take note of the responses and not confirm or correct any of them. My offer to post answers was mainly to interest people in participating.

I understand your suspicion, but it is misplaced this time. Rest assured, I have the public courage to take the path you suggest.

I, in fact, am truly curious about what most people have been taught or told on this subject. Notice, I didn’t ask for any opinions or value judgements. I also didn’t plan to offer any, myself.

In the larger picture, I am interested in indoctrination and public understanding of topics.

Perhaps this is a better way to approach this.

Here is a list of common misinformation. I am very interested in knowing how many people have been told or believe(d) any of these to be true. I also would be interested in knowing the source of this info, i.e. school, tv, parent, or peer.

  1. Something involving strychnine contamination
  2. Chromosome damage/birth defects
  3. Declared legally insane after x number of uses
  4. It forms crystal in spinal fluid
  5. It is detectable in a spinal tap forever
  6. Easy to overdose
  7. Commonly given to kids on temp tattoos
  8. Flashbacks being caused by body stored LSD coming back into system
  9. If you are caught with more than x (typically 5 to 10) doses of LSD you will be charged with attempted murder
17

Okay, I haven’t posted much today. I’ll play.

I have heard that this can occur. Something unspecified about chemical reactions occuring post-production? Supposedly this was why sometimes you get stomach cramps when on acid. If it was “clean” (i.e., no strychnine), no cramps. Source: druggie friends.

Don’t recall ever hearing these. #3 is obviously ridiculous.

I never heard this, but I was told it is detectable in hair for quite a long time. A friend of mine once shaved her head because of this rumor.

Nope.

Heard this one. Wrote it off as an urban legend. Don’t remember the source.

Haven’t heard what the mechanism was supposed to be. I did quite a bit of acid 12-15 years ago, and have never had a flashback. I still get a minor “trails” effect sometimes.

Does anyone actually believe that? Sounds absurd to me.
Somewhat funny, possibly true anecdote: Friend of a friend was arrested for selling LSD. Turned out the LSD was fake. So they charged him with fraud.

18

I read only the OP so here’s my addition …

  1. toxicity (overdose risk)

I’d say low, but one commonly hears of adulterants used or
badly manufactured causing problems (I don’t know how serious).

  1. long term effects both physical and mental

No long term physical, potential for permanent mental effects (flashbacks).

  1. finding in drug testing

Not sure … fairly difficult, I’d guess.

  1. number of people who have OD’d on it

No idea, probably none conclusively shown.

  1. legal facts

Illegal to own, use, manufacture

  1. Adulterants/impurities

Again, I hear of ‘bad acid’/‘bad trips’ from users commonly, I’ve taken that to mean due to impurities, which would then be rather common.

  1. addiction potential

Almost none, either physical or psychological.

  1. other assorted info

Apparently easier to manufacture than many other drugs (I’ve seen 12-page instructions, not that that is conclusive or anything) , artificially produced (not refined from organic sources), promoted for ‘consciousness raising’ by Timothy Leary and rumored to have been tested in military experiments.

19

The source for most of my information (and everything in which I am apparently correct about) was what I was taught in high school – in class, and on informational posters. A little bit more (and mostly the incorrect information) was from users.

So I hope your high school does something about teaching about drugs properly. From what you say, they haven’t done a good job yet.
By the way, does anyone actually know (Shagnasty, maybe) what the lethal dose is and how it compares with the usual amount used?

20

Well, according to this site, the evidence is inconclusive, but it looks like it’s an old paper.
http://www.psychedelic-library.org/grofchro.htm
Regarding flashbacks, there’s one study that suggests that LSD can contribute to them by affecting serotonin reception, from 1994.
http://www.nida.nih.gov/DirReports/DirRep297/DirectorReport3.html