Ebook Acid trips and chemistry Part 2

(BQ) Part 2 book Acid trips and chemistry has contents: Covert dosing, acid law, psychedelic seeds, acid synthesis, ergot cultures, tartrate from ergot, acid from tartrate, glossary of chemical terms.

conscious-Many people, of course, take exception to Leary'sfirst commandment But the consequences that canoccur when his second commandment is violatedmake it a rule that any sensitive person can agreewith.

Guaranteed Bummer

Ingesting acid unwittingly is a set-up for a badtrip The victim of an accidental or surreptitious dosemay never figure out what's causing the radical

changes in perception that are taking cially if he or she is inexperienced with the effects ofLSD—and descend into confusion, attributing theexperience to the eruption of psychosis or believingthat the world itself is somehow shifting or chang-ing, all familiarity melting away into chaos.

place—espe-If the victim figures out what's going on, the firstreaction is likely to be the shock of having been vio-lated, the sense of having one's own will and self-sovereignty stolen away Such a mental set hardlybodes well for a good trip, as these feelings may be-come central themes of the entire experience

Acid As A Weapon

Certain echelons of the acid underground stillhave a kind of psychedelic "Wild West" flavor Inthese circles, the covert administration of a huge dose

of acid has sometimes been performed as a form ofretribution against an individual who ripped othersoff in a drug deal or otherwise committed a seriousviolation of the outlaw code This practice is some-times referred to as "spinning" the victim

Acid, especially in a liquid form as shown, can easily be given to unsuspecting people, but the practice is highly unethical and causes

a guaranteed bummer No one should ever be given LSD without first being informed and consenting.

An Unwelcome Surprise

Covert dosing also sometimes occurs for otherreasons Young, naive, inexperienced, or just plainthoughtless trippers sometimes think that sneakingsomeone else a dose of acid is some kind of favor—like leaving an unexpected gift or staging a surpriseparty for another person's brain cells Although themotivations in such cases are relatively innocent, re-sults of such behavior usually range from unpleas-ant to catastrophic for the person who gets dosed

An Accidental Awakening

At least one famous case of possible covert ing produced results that the "victim" consideredbeneficial Psychologist Art Kleps is the author of the

dos-Boohoo Bible, a surreal psychedelic religious tract that

is the central text of a bizarre, eccentric, but hearted cult called the Neo-American Church Kleps

light-is the guru of thlight-is loose-knit, obscure organization,which employs acid as its primary sacrament

Kleps lived at Millbrook, the experimental chedelic research community in rural upstate NewYork that Timothy Leary and his colleagues set upwhen they were booted out of Harvard Universityfor their acid experiments Kleps relates this period

psy-of his life in a wacky and entertaining book called

Millbrook, which recounts an incident that Kleps tributes to Leary and colleagues slipping acid into

at-his wine Alone in at-his Millbrook bedroom after ishing his drink, Kleps had a mystical episode closelyresembling the descriptions in Hindu texts of the clas-sic yogic Kundalini experience The latent cosmicgenerative energy, known to Eastern mystics as the

fin-Kundalini-shakti, suddenly erupted and sprang forthfrom the base of Kleps' spine, filling his body withelectric force and his mind with visions and ecsta-sies This episode was a major spiritual turning pointthat changed the course of Kleps' life

Kleps assumed that the Millbrook honchos haddosed his wine with a boatload of acid, and was ac-tually almost grateful to them because of the nature

of the experience that ensued According to Kleps,however, Leary and cohorts denied any responsibil-ity for the incident—without appearing even re-motely defensive about the accusation Consideringthe innocent character of their reaction—as well asLeary's profoundly spiritual approach topsychedelics and his strong moral stance against slip-ping acid to people without their knowledge—itseems likely that this denial was truthful

Nobody knows what really caused Kleps'Kundalini awakening While someone may well haveslipped him acid—if not Leary and his close associ-ates—the ancient texts of Yoga do claim thatKundalini activation can occur spontaneously inthose who are specially blessed

Government Pranks

The practice of dosing other people without theirforeknowledge has occurred in no situation withgreater frequency than in secret government experi-mentation with acid as a weapon and an agent ofmind-control The book Acid Dreams, by Martin A.Lee and Bruce Shlain, documents these experimentsand relates an abundance of anecdotes about covertdosing The government even set up a phony brothel

in Northern California in which agents posing asprostitutes slipped acid into their client's drinks,while the results were observed from behind a two-way mirror

Agents and administrators at the intelligenceagencies became so enthused and power-drunk withtheir potent and intriguing new pharmacological toolthat many of them lost control, stepping well out-side the bounds of the experiments for which thegovernment supplied the acid In fact, they actuallystarted slipping large doses of the powerful psyche-delic into each other's coffee at agency offices dur-ing work hours The victim would often display bi-zarre, senseless, or self-destructive behavior—oneeven jumped out of a window

While the extreme behavior that resulted fromthese office pranks has sometimes been used withingovernment circles to support the belief that acid it-self is uncontrollably dangerous, the abusive and

frightening nature of the circumstances makes thevictims' reactions easy to understand As conspiracywriter Robert Anton Wilson put it with characteris-tic wit and irony, "they either didn't know what washappening to them, they thought they were losingtheir minds, and they jumped out the window Or,they did realize what was happening, that the intel-ligence agency of their own government was covertlygiving them mind-altering drugs and they jumpedout of the window."

Tragedy And Torture

Back in the 1950s, one African American soldiersuspected of treasonous activity was held and inter-rogated—in fact, tortured—by authorities after hav-ing been slipped a large dose of acid that the govern-ment agents apparently hoped would function as atruth serum Not only did the man turn out to be in-nocent, but after this terrifying experience he wasintensely anxious and severely dysfunctional for therest of his life Decades later, when he found out thatthe government had given him acid, he took his case

to the media

The Acid Credo

Acid is well-known for its connection to spiritualexperiences, which in turn often lead to a Buddhist-like belief in nonviolence and gentle respect for all

living things Despite the fact that this kind of fistic ethic is prevalent in the acid underground, thepatently violent act of dosing people with acid with-out their prior knowledge or consent still sometimesoccurs However, this practice represents a seriousinfringement of the ethical credo of serious, thought-ful trippers, who view it as a violation of both mindand body—a kind of brain-rape And those who ap-proach acid from a spiritual perspective consider thisact an unconscionable abuse of a holy sacrament.

paci-ACID LAW

One hundred years ago, there were no druglaws in the United States Pleasure drugs werenot prohibited and medicines weren't regu-lated In fact, interference in such matters conflicteddirectly with the government's proper role as it wasdescribed by the nation's founders, especially Tho-mas Jefferson Nonetheless, in the early 1900s, theUnited States government began passing laws exer-cising control in these areas

History Of Drug Law

The first drug laws were directed at smokedopium products While opium in tincture form was

a cornerstone of the practice medicine throughout theWestern world at this time, the practice of smokingopium—and opium's distinct smokable forms—werecharacteristic of Oriental cultures, especially China.The practice of smoking opium as a pleasure drughad arrived in the United States by way of a largeinflux of Oriental immigrants, many of whom werebrought in to build railroads

Because they targeted only drug practices andproducts of specifically Oriental origin, the first druglaws are believed to have reflected racist—or at leastnationalist—motives Racial and other kinds of dis-crimination have also been evident in the wording

of subsequent American drug control laws

For instance, laws introduced in 1937 carefullyemployed the Spanish word marijuana—used byMexican immigrants for the plant they smoked forpleasure—instead of the term cannabis, used by doc-tors who prescribed it as a medicine, or the word

hemp, by which the plant's industrially-used strainswere widely known Since marijuana was at that time

a much more obscure word than either cannabis or

hemp, most citizens thought that the law was merelypreventing a decadent foreign scourge from spread-ing through American society They were unawarethat a beneficial medicine was being taken away fromthem

No More Drugs For Addicts

In 1914, the Harrison Narcotics Act institutedgovernment control of all non-medicinal—or "recre-ational"—opium and cocaine Furthermore, one par-ticular medical use of these substances was alsobanned by this legislation: the treatment of addicts.Under the Harrison Narcotics Act, doctors who pre-scribed opium to opium addicts could go to jail

Previous to this legislation, the practice of scribing addicts their drug of abuse had been quitewidespread in medicine This approach—while simi-lar to the modern practice of prescribing methadone

pre-to heroin addicts—may seem pre-to modern eyes surdly contradictory to the goal of actually treatingthe problem

ab-But to many turn-of-the-century doctors, thispractice was just common sense Getting the drug byprescription from a pharmacy helped the addict mini-mize the damage wreaked upon his or her health andway of life The addict was no longer subject to thedangers, drain on time and money, questionableproduct, and association with nefarious types neces-sitated by dealing with the drug underworld Medi-cal supervision also provided the opportunity for thephysician to use his presence to guide the situationtowards a healthy resolution—hopefully, the patient'sliberation from addiction altogether

Rise Of The AMA

Legions of doctors—unaccustomed to the notion

of government interference with the practice of ing—were outraged by the decision to criminalizedoctors for following a common course of treatmentthat was often dictated by their best medical judg-ment Drug regulation thus inspired a collective mo-bilization of American physicians to protect their pro-fessional practice from control, corruption, and deg-radation by political, social, and economic agendas

heal-The vigilance galvanized in the medical nity by these developments was channeled largelyinto the expansion and consolidation of the Ameri-can Medical Association Spurred into rapid growth

commu-by the advent of government drug regulation, theAmerican Medical Association is now firmly estab-lished as one of the world's most prominent and pow-erful professional organizations

Prohibition

The next major form of drug law was a tional amendment prohibiting alcohol passed in the1920s Prohibition was largely a response to the vastand politically influential "temperance movement"

Constitu-of the time

Prohibition, however, was an utter failure Peoplewho wanted to drink just kept on drinking Further-more, organized crime underwent a tremendousgrowth spurt in order to meet the huge new nationaldemand for black market alcoholic beverages Theamendment prohibiting alcohol was soon repealedfor these reasons

The Marijuana Tax Act

The Marijuana Tax Act controlling cannabis waspassed in 1937 over the objections of many doctorsaware of the plant's medical utility Sponsored to agreat extent by wealthy lobbyists from the petroleum

and paper industries, this law was viewed by many

as little more than an attempt to stamp out tive industries using hemp for fuel and paper Theenormous manufacturing demands created by WorldWar II, however, prompted the United States Gov-ernment to encourage the cultivation of hemp for afew years despite the new law

competi-Acid Banned In The 1960s

Drug laws and bureaucratic regulation of cines have thrived, expanded, and proliferated sinceWorld War II In 1966 a law banning LSD was passedbecause tripping was becoming a huge phenomenonamong youth and bummers were starting to capturemedia attention This law took effect in 1967

medi-Federal Controlled Substances Act

The Federal Controlled Substances Act of 1970erased all previous drug laws and made new ones.The purpose of this Act was to replace the disorga-nized and inconsistent drug laws of the past withsystematic, consistent, and unified national legisla-tion This law, with some revisions, is still in effect.The Controlled Substances Act classifies all con-trolled substances into five legal categories called

"schedules," which are assigned the Roman als I-V Crimes involving drugs in Schedule I are sub-ject to the severest level of legal penalty Penalties for

numer-drugs placed in Schedule II are somewhat less severe,and so on, with the mildest restrictions and penaltiesassigned to drugs placed in Schedule V.

Drugs are assigned to the different Schedules cording to their abuse potential and the presence orabsence of medical uses accepted within the UnitedStates Drugs considered to have the highest abusepotential and no accepted medical uses are placed inSchedule I Drugs with very high abuse potential butaccepted medical use are placed in Schedule II, and

ac-so on, with medically useful drugs featuring the est abuse potential appearing in Schedule V

low-Schedule (

LSD is placed among Schedule I drugs, which arecharacterized by very high abuse potential and thecomplete absence of medical applications accepted

in the United States Since they have no acceptedmedical uses, they are considered to be unsafe evenwhen used under medical supervision

Along with acid in Schedule I are several other

"hallucinogenic" or psychedelic drugs, includingpeyote, the sacred visionary cactus of indigenousAmerican peoples, and ibogaine, a plant psychedelicfrom Africa now used around the world for its abil-ity to bring many people's addictions to a completehalt with only one treatment Bufotenine—a chemi-cal excreted by toads—is placed in Schedule I for its

supposed hallucinogenic dangers, even though cent research indicates that this substance has no psy-choactive properties at all.

re-Heroin—an opiate originally disseminated as atreatment for morphine withdrawal that unfortu-nately turned out to be even more powerfully addic-tive than morphine itself—keeps company with thepsychedelics in Schedule I Cannabis—despite itswell-known medical uses and the fact that even DrugEnforcement Agency Administrative Judge FrancisYoung considers it "the safest therapeutic substanceknown to man"—is also included in Schedule I

Schedule II

Drugs in Schedule II are considered to have highpotential for abuse that can lead to severe physiologi-cal or psychological dependence However, thesedrugs have medical uses accepted within the UnitedStates Schedule II features many opiates, includingmorphine, codeine, fentanyl, Percodan®, andDemerol® It also includes PCP ("Angel Dust") andthe chemical precursor from which it is made Co-caine and coca leaves, the natural source of cocaine,appear in Schedule II, along with amphetamine,methamphetamine, barbiturates such as Phenobar-bital®, and dronabinol (the synthetic form of THC,one of the strongest active ingredients in cannabis)

Schedule IV

Drugs placed in Schedule IV have medical usesaccepted within the United States and less abuse po-tential than drugs placed in Schedules I through III.The abuse of Schedule IV drugs, according to the leg-islators, may lead to limited physical or psychologi-cal dependence Schedule IV drugs include thewidely prescribed minor tranquilizers of the benzo-diazepine group such as Valium®, Xanax®, andAtivan®

cal dependence that is less severe than that ated with the drugs of Schedule IV Drugs in Sched-ule V include Bupenorphine®, a treatment for heroinwithdrawal; Lumodil®, a treatment for diarrhea; andlow concentrations of codeine, like those appearing

associ-in cough syrup

LSD And Related Compounds

As mentioned, LSD appears in Schedule I Thepossession, distribution, import, and export of LSDare therefore felonies associated with the severestlevel of penalties for drug crimes

Manufacture of LSD and related compounds isalso illegal under the Controlled Substances Act Fur-thermore, possession of certain chemicals used in themanufacture of LSD, including both solvents andstarting materials like ergotamine tartrate, is also il-legal Lysergic acid amides, which appear naturally

in morning glory and baby Hawaiian woodrose seedsand can be used as starting materials in the manu-facture of LSD, are classified in Schedule III Thesecompounds have accepted medical uses, like the use

of methysergide in sub-psychedelic doses to treatmigraine headaches The law classifies lysergic acidamides as either depressants or stimulants despitethe fact that they have psychedelic effects in higherdoses

Possession of lysergic acid amides can be used incourt as evidence of intent to manufacture LSD, a veryserious crime Anyone who extracts lysergic acidamides from seeds therefore risks major legal prob-lems.

Seeds And The Law

Since it's illegal to possess lysergic acid amides,

it can also be illegal to possess plants—like the ing glory and baby Hawaiian woodrose vines—thatcontain them Possessing and using these plants forgardening and decorative purposes, however, iswidely permitted by the authorities After all, morn-ing glory vines grow wild in many places and arecommonly cultivated in gardens all across the coun-try because of their beautiful blossoms Morningglory and woodrose seeds are thus easily—and le-gally—available from commercial seed companies.The law makes a distinction between legal andillegal possession of these plants on the basis of in-tent This means that it is illegal to possess these plantswith the intention of using them for their mind-al-tering properties or extracting their psychoactive in-gredients for personal ingestion or LSD manufacture.Courts determine intent according to relevantevidence Ground-up seeds, for instance, can't beused for horticultural purposes, but are used for in-gestion or extraction Possessing ground-up seeds can

morn-therefore be taken as evidence of illegal intent Thepresence, along with seeds, of chemical hardware, sol-vents, and other substances used in extraction of ly-sergic acid amides and LSD production can also betaken as evidence of illegal intent.

Carrier Weight

Mandatory sentencing laws for drug cases basepunishment on the weight of the quantity of drugseized Weight-based sentencing has made the issue

of "carrier weight" an especially controversial aspect

of acid law "Carrier weight" refers to the weight ofthe blotter paper, liquid, or other material in whichthe acid is held In many acid cases, the weight of thecarrier has been added to the weight of the acid itself

to exponentially multiply the severity of the sentence.Carrier weight has made many sentences for LSDfar greater than sentences for equivalent numbers ofdoses of Schedule I substances that require no car-rier In other words, the sentence for ten doses of acid

on blotter paper could end up being greater than thesentence for many more doses of heroin! Some peopleconvicted on acid charges have been sentenced toover twenty years in Federal prison with no option

of parole for possessing only a few hundred hits ofacid—while convicted murderers are often eligiblefor parole after only seven years

A basic psychedelic body:

A benzene ring with a short tail.

5 6

CH 3 0 groups at the 3rd, 4th, and 5th positions and an NH 2 at the end of the tail create mescaline.

CH 3 0

H H

I I C—C—N11 2

CH ,O

H H

I I C—C—NH 2

This enables chemists

to develop new drugs

with similar effects

that are members of

the same chemical

"family" In 1986 the

Federal government

passed a revision to

the Controlled

Sub-stances Act called the

"Controlled

Sub-stance Analogs

En-forcement Act." This

law, sometimes called

the "Analogs Act" or

"designer drug bill,"

makes it illegal to

manufacture, possess,

or sell any substance

"substantially similar" in chemical structure or in choactive effect to an illegal substance In other words,when the court decides that the drug seized is "sub-stantially similar" to acid, it can prosecute the of-fender on the basis of laws about acid, even if thechemical in question is a newly developed uncon-trolled substance that nobody has ever heard of

psy-This law is so all-encompassing and vague that itcan even be used to prosecute a person on the basis

of his or her motivation In other words, a person can

be charged and sentenced for acid crimes if he or shemanufactures, possesses, or sells a substance with the

hope that it will have effects similar to those of LSD—even if the substance turns out to be completely inef-fectual

Furthermore, a person who inaccurately sents the effects of a substance as being similar tothose of acid can also be prosecuted and punished as

repre-if the substance were acid In other words, a drugdealer selling a substance that has no effects at allcan be charged and sentenced for acid crimes—aslong as there's evidence he told someone the sub-stance was like acid

Sentencing For Drug Crimes

Judges throughout the country are required tofollow the sentencing guidelines provided by theFederal Controlled Substances Act Complex calcu-lation may be required for accurately determining theminimum sentence attached to a drug crime becausefactors besides the weight of the controlled substanceseized may be relevant These factors include whether

or not weapons were seized along with drugs andwhether the person being sentenced has a record ofprior criminal offenses A convicted person may beable to get a sentence reduced by giving testimonythat is used to convict someone else

The Law Is Always Changing

The law is constantly in a state of change because

it is subject to redefinition and reinterpretation byspecific court decisions Research into relevant courtcases is therefore necessary for keeping up with thecurrent implications of any law on the books

Controlled Substances: Chemical And Legal Guide To The Federal Drug Laws, by Alexander T Shulgin, is anunparalleled source of information about laws andsentences that apply to LSD and other drugs as well

as the chemicals used in manufacturing them juana Law, by Richard Glen Boire, also provides awealth of information about drug law

Mari-PSYCHEDELIC SEEDS

Morning glory and baby Hawaiian woodroseare vines whose seeds contain high concen-trations of lysergic acid amides—organic sub-stances similar in chemical structure to LSD Thesenatural chemicals have psychoactive effects like those

of acid but are only about one percent as potent

The Morning Glory Story

The morning glory vine

is native to Central America

and southern Mexico

His-torical accounts of morning

glory potions go back to

1615 AD, when notes were

first published by

Hernan-dez, a Spanish physician,

describing the botany of the

New World Subsequently,

however, knowledge of the

morning glory and its seed's

psychoactive powers was

lost for hundreds of years to

Morning glory seeds are a natural source of a LSD-like chemical compound.

all but a few Indian tribes During this time morningglory plants have been used in Indian religious ritu-als as an entheogen—a substance or plant with thepower to generate inner experiences of God, gods,

or divinity

Morning glory's psychoactive powers came tolight again in 1959, when ethnobotanist RichardEvans Schultes sent samples he found in Mexico toAlbert Hofmann, the Swiss chemist who first syn-thesized LSD Hofmann's study of these materials re-vealed that the plant contained some of the same psy-chedelically active alkaloids found in the rye moldsfrom which Hofmann derived LSD Over the nextseveral years, word of this discovery filtered into thepsychedelic underground, and the practice of gettinghigh from morning glory seeds and extracts made

from them began to spread.Native to India, babyHawaiian woodrose alsogrows wild in the HawaiianIslands Despite its name,baby Hawaiian woodrose isnot a rose at all, but rather awoody climbing vine withviolet flowers that thrives atlower elevations in the drierregions of Hawaii Accountsshow that the indigenouspeoples of Hawaii used itfor entheogenic purposes.Seeds of the baby Hawaiian

woodrose are also entheogenic.

The concentrations of active psychedelic ingredients

in baby Hawaiian woodrose seeds are much higherthan the concentrations found in morning gloryseeds

Tripping On Seeds

Using morning glory and baby Hawaiianwoodrose seeds for tripping requires specializedknowledge First, the seeds themselves must be pre-pared according one of several special proceduresbefore they can be ingested Furthermore, commer-cially-obtained seeds are usually treated with toxicchemicals that must be removed before ingestion.These procedures are discussed at length in my book,

The Little Book Of Acid.

The psychedelic effects of morning glory andbaby Hawaiian woodrose seeds take longer to kick

in than those of acid It takes one and a half to twohours for the trip to start Because some of the activeingredients in these seeds have tranquilizing effects,seed trips are considered "mellow" in contrast to thestimulating or "speedy" effects of actual LSD trips.Otherwise the trips and the factors influencing themare very similar to those for acid discussed earlier

Side Effects

As with peyote trips, nausea and vomiting arecommon among people who ingest morning gloryand baby Hawaiian woodrose seeds These discom-

forts dissipate in one to two hours as the trip sets in.Some people feel invigorated afterwards, while oth-ers suffer a kind of hangover of nausea, constipation,vertigo, blurred vision, and inertia The reader should

be cautioned that the lysergic acid amides contained

in these seeds can cause uterine contractions, ing a serious danger if they are used by pregnantwomen, who should not consume them under any

present-circumstances Because, as previously mentioned,these seeds are usually contaminated with chemicaltoxins, chewing up morning glory seeds from thepackets sold in gaiden stores isn't a good idea either

Cultivation

While commercial seeds treated with chemicalsare inappropriate for human consumption or extrac-tion for starting materials, clean morning glory andbaby Hawaiian woodrose vines grown from commer-cial stock to produce seeds are usually safe for trip-ping Baby Hawaiian woodrose grows best in tropi-cal and semi-tropical climates, making most of NorthAmerica unsuitable for cultivating it On the otherhand, morning glories have been easily cultivatedthroughout the United States The cultivation infor-mation that follows applies to both morning gloryplants and baby Hawaiian woodrose plants in thoseareas where they can grow

Active Strains

Concentrations of lysergic acid amides in ing glory seeds varies widely among the numerousvarieties available Some have low concentrations.Strains with substantial psychoactive content include Blue Star, Flying Saucers, Heavenly Blue, Pearly Gates, Summer Skies, and Wedding Bells.

morn-Soil And Fertilizers

Soil conditions have tremendous impact on thelysergic acid amides in morning glory and baby Ha-waiian woodrose seed stock, with as much as fifteen-

to twenty-fold variation in concentration The idealsoil pH, or soil acidity, for producing seeds of highpotency is around 6.5 Growers usually use soil pHtest kits available at gardening supply outlets, whichalso sell formulas for adjusting soil pH levels Fertil-izers high in nitrogen, low in potassium, and high inphosphates tend to produce plants with seeds of highlysergic acid amide content

Planting

The cultivation process starts by soaking the seeds

in water overnight As an alternative to soaking,growers lightly nick the surface of the seeds with asharp blade before planting them They plant seeds

in loosely-packed, light-textured soil, about one-halfinch deep and at least six inches apart, after the dan-ger of frost has past Growers use trellises to supportvines as they grow

The concentrations of lysergic acid amides inmorning glory seeds are highest when they are har-vested in the fall at the end of the growing season.Growers look for seeds that are dark and hard, whichindicates that they are ripe Baby Hawaiian woodroseplants produce two crops of seeds every year

Psychedelic Underground Library, by Adam

Gottlieb, and my book, The Little Book Of Acid,

describe cultivation of morning glory and babyHawaiian woodrose plants in greater detail Bothbooks describe hormone treatments that increase theconcentrations of lysergic acid amides in the seedsharvested

ACID SYNTHESIS

LSD is one of the most potent psychoactivedrugs known, with effective doses measured

in millionths of a gram (micrograms) LSD is

so potent that a small amount yields many doses.Since the discovery of LSD synthesis in the late 1930s,many methodology advances have been developed

to increase yield

Specialized Expertise

Synthesizing LSD is complex and requires a phisticated knowledge of chemistry as well as theright ingredients and laboratory hardware It alsorequires precise laboratory conditions For instance,certain stages involve light-sensitive chemicals andare therefore performed under minimal, indirect light.When a procedure calls for water, chemists know toalways use distilled Because successful acid chem-istry entails knowledge of many special details such

so-as these, amateur chemists should leave it to the pros.The material that follows is provided as informationonly and not as a how-to manual Readers shouldnot attempt these procedures at home—or anywhereelse!

Safety Issues

In addition to the technical and technologicalknow-how required, acid chemists prepare for thedangers involved in synthesizing LSD In addition

to the use of highly volatile, toxic, and potentiallyexplosive solvents, synthesizing LSD involves chemi-cals so powerfully psychoactive that absorption ofminute quantities through the skin or by breathingcan cause a trip intense enough to be debilitating Infact, it was through this kind of accidental absorp-tion that chemist Albert Hofmann discovered acid'seffects Acid chemists don't take chances Instead theytake needed precautions and wear protective gear

Wei*

C313

The chemical structure of LSD (left) bears visible similarities

to that of the major psychoactive compounds found in baby Hawaiian woodrose and morning glory plants (middle and right) When interacting with any psycoactive chemicals, chemists always take precautionary measures.

Michael Valentine Smith, in his book delic Chemistry, which details manufacture of psycho-active drugs, warns foolhardy amateur chemistsabout the many dangers involved in undergrounddrug manufacture: "Inexpert procedures can, amongother things, asphyxiate you, blow you up, set you

Psyche-(or your house) on fire, and, if the end product is perfectly prepared, poison you and your friends." Theprocedures described in the following chaptersshould be conducted in a professional lab only—bychemists who have special licenses permitting them

im-to work legally with the controlled substances

or "underground" chemists

Legal Issues

In addition to physical hazards involved in LSDproduction, would-be LSD chemists risk runningafoul of the law Supplies of some of the chemicalsused in manufacturing LSD are monitored by gov-ernment authorities People who attempt to buy themcan attract the attention of law enforcement The pur-chase of large quantities of morning glory or babyHawaiian woodrose seeds can arouse suspicion aswell Getting caught with ergotamine tartrate andlysergic acid amides, two starting materials used inLSD synthesis, can have serious legal repercussions.Possession of acid itself, of course, is a serious crime,even more serious when the person possessing theacid is suspected of manufacturing or intending todistribute it Chemists require special licenses fromthe government to work legally with these chemi-cals Furthermore, solvents used in the processes ofextracting starting materials or making acid can giveoff telltale odors that can bring the narcs to your door

General Information

This book provides general information aboutissues and techniques involved in the extraction ofstarting materials and synthesis of LSD Technicalterms are explained when they appear For instance,the nature of a particular chemical may be discussed,

a piece of laboratory equipment described, or a ticular process elucidated Since the terms are usu-ally explained only upon first appearance, it is use-ful to scan a previous paragraph or chapter and checkthe "Glossary of Chemical Terms" at the back of thebook For those deeply interested in the chemistry ofLSD and its precursors (the word used by chemistsfor the materials from which a chemical can be de-rived), the information here provides conceptualgroundwork helpful in understanding the more tech-nical presentations that appear in scientific books andjournals

par-Fully explaining all of the terms and processesinvolved in LSD synthesis, however, is beyond thescope of this book Reference texts found at univer-sity and public libraries are a good next step for read-ers interested in more detail about the basic processesand tools of chemistry

ERGOT CULTURES

Chemist Albert Hofmann first created LSD bycombining a chemical called diethylamine withlysergic acid, an alkaloid derived from a fun-gus called ergot which grows on rye and other grains.Chemicals related to lysergic acid also occur in sev-eral other fungi

This chapter discusses the history of humankind'sexposure to ergot and explains one method by whichergot is cultivated The next chapter reviews a method

by which chemists extract ergotamine tartrate, a ing material used in the production of LSD, from er-got cultures

start-The Ergot Story

Ergot was occasionally used to induce uterinecontractions in childbirth from the 1600s to the 1800s.However, the unpredictable consequences of its in-gestion eventually limited ergot's use to combatinghemorrhages in the mother after delivery of the new-born

Ergot's effects have been observed for

centuries Bread made from infected rye

caused outbreaks of "St Anthony's fire."

Ergot's botanical name is Claviceps purpurea

His-tory shows that consumption of grain infected withergot fungus caused many outbreaks of circulationdisorders Mass ergot poisonings were once common

in Europe during extremely wet years Outbreaksaffecting thousands of people have been recorded asfar back as the Middle Ages

The connection between the ergot fungus andthese outbreaks was not recognized immediately,

however Ergot sonings appeared intwo forms, one charac-terized by convulsionsand another that led togangrene Gangrene,which usually occurs

poi-in the extremities, isthe death of soft tissuedue to obstructed cir-culation, which leads

to decomposition ofthe tissue In Europe,gangrene from ergotpoisoning becameknown as "SaintAnthony's fire," afterthe patron saint forthis affliction