Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann discovered iconic drug in 1938.
NEW YORK - Albert Hofmann, the father of the mind-altering drug LSD whose medical discovery grew into a notorious "problem child," died Tuesday. He was 102.
Hofmann's hallucinogen inspired — and arguably corrupted — millions in the 1960's hippy generation. For decades after LSD was banned in the late 1960s, Hofmann defended his invention.
"I produced the substance as a medicine ... It's not my fault if people abused it," he once said.
The Swiss chemist discovered lysergic acid diethylamide-25 in 1938 while studying the medicinal uses of a fungus found on wheat and other grains at the Sandoz pharmaceuticals firm in Basel.
He became the first human guinea pig of the drug when a tiny amount of the substance seeped on to his finger during a repeat of the laboratory experiment on April 16, 1943.
"I had to leave work for home because I was suddenly hit by a sudden feeling of unease and mild dizziness," he subsequently wrote in a memo to company bosses.
"Everything I saw was distorted as in a warped mirror," he said, describing his bicycle ride home. "I had the impression I was rooted to the spot. But my assistant told me we were actually going very fast."
Three days later, Hofmann experimented with a larger dose. The result was a horror trip.
"The substance which I wanted to experiment with took over me. I was filled with an overwhelming fear that I would go crazy. I was transported to a different world, a different time," Hofmann wrote.
Hofmann and his scientific colleagues hoped that LSD would make an important contribution to psychiatric research.
The U.S. government banned LSD in 1966 and other countries followed suit.
Everyone lives their own life. Each person has a different path filled with different experiences. He must have lived an extraordinarily strange life.
...And wow! 102 years old!
Rest in Peace...
Have an amazing weekend!
~xo
Lee Ann
5 comments:
LSD...102.
Hmmm, I wonder if there's any connection?
Looks like you were trippin' a little towards the end there!
May he rest in peace. I do not know how to make the peace sign with any keyboard tricks...so imagine the peace sign
Sometime ago this joe got a long time in jail for selling millions and millions of microdots of LSD ... caught in Operation Julie. He wanted his lawyer to read out a statement saying he was trying to alter the consciousness of modern youth, but his lawyer thought he was in enough trouble already. So here's to Mr Hoffman! There's nothing as bad as a bad acid trip, but I used to think there was nothing as good as a good acid trip and I only had one dodgy one out of about thirty or so. Picture yourself on a boat by a river .... wouldn't have missed it for the world! Hotboy
I knew I could rely on hotboy on this one. My own experience was less successful, so I may not achieve immortality.
Post a Comment