How it began
Albert Hofmann, a Swiss chemist at the Sandoz pharmaceutical laboratories in Basel, was studying ergot, a fungus that affects rye and other cereal grasses, as a source of medicines. On November 16, 1938, while researching lysergic acid derivatives, he first synthesized lysergic acid diethylamide, known as LSD-25. He was looking for a stimulant for the circulatory and respiratory systems. The compound was set aside for five years.
How it works
LSD is a synthetic derivative of lysergic acid, obtained from compounds found in ergot. It is active in extremely small amounts. Hofmann's first deliberate dose of 0.25 milligrams, which he took to be a small one, was about ten times the minimum that produces an effect. It alters perception and the sense of reality for several hours.
How it spread
Hofmann and Arthur Stoll published the compound in 1943, and Werner Stoll published its effects in 1947. Sandoz supplied it to psychiatric researchers from 1947 under the trade name Delysid, and brought it to the attention of the United States in 1949. Extensive research ran from the late 1940s to the mid-1970s. Recreational use spread in the 1960s.
Who pushed back
Hofmann disapproved of casual recreational use and held that the drug should stay in the hands of psychiatrists. Sandoz stopped production in August 1965 after growing government protests at its spread among the general public. The manufacture, sale and possession of LSD were made illegal in the United States in the mid-1960s.
What changed first
On April 16, 1943, while preparing a fresh batch, Hofmann accidentally absorbed a trace and went home with a remarkable restlessness and a stream of vivid images. On April 19 he took 0.25 milligrams on purpose. He rode home by bicycle with his laboratory assistant as the effects grew severe, and felt normal again about six hours later. He and his colleagues concluded that the substance could be useful in psychiatry and research.
What lasted
By the end of the 20th century few authorized researchers remained, working mostly on approved protocols for the dying and for people with addictions. Hofmann set out his view that controlled use could be valuable in his 1979 book, published in English as LSD: My Problem Child. He died in 2008 at the age of 102.
