LSD

Hallucinogens

In 1943, Albert Hofman took the first “acid trip,” from accidentally ingesting his creation known as LSD, or lysergic acid diethylamide. Hofman reported his experience of seeing amazing pictures, fantastic shapes, and effervescent colors. Since then, hallucinogenic drugs have widely spread across the drug market. Why are hallucinogenic drugs used so much across the United States, as well as the rest of the World? What is it about these drugs that alter people’s decisions and consciousness? Why is it that some people would rather spend their nights buying and using these drugs than any other alternative? It is simply for the astounding effects that these drugs can offer one’s mind and alter their moods. The popularity and strength of hallucinogenic drugs have created a cultural phenomenon across the United States. How have the effects of hallucinogenic drugs, such as mushrooms, acid, and ecstasy, affected the American population?

Hallucinogenic drugs have been a problem in North America since 1970’s. Starting that time the government has organized several programs to increase drug awareness. The education of the effects of drug use during the 1970’s to the late 1980’s has reduced the flow of drugs across the United States. Then, in the early 1990’s the anti-drug influence had decreases, and a new surge of drug use was reborn. An annual survey was performed at the University of Michigan, which showed the percentage of drug use amongst the senior class of 15,000 students. The amount that believed that there was “great risk” in the use of marijuana, which is considered a mild hallucinogenic drug, rose from 35 percent in 1978 to 79 percent in 1991, then dramatically reduced to 57 percent in 1999 (Myers, 2002).

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...drugs (Degracia, 1993). One would think that the side-effects, such as dehydration and extreme panic, would entice people to find alternative activities, but it seems that the effects, like enhanced sensations and sensory mixing, outweigh the side-effects. If this is true, one must wonder what the how the atmosphere of the will change in World in a few years, and how much of an influence will drugs have several decades from now.

Work Cited

Degracia, Donald D. A Short Guide to Hallucinogenic Drugs for the Explorers of Inner Space. 1993

http://www.deoxy.org/psyguide.htm

Ebbitt, Alicia. The Effects of Hallucinogenic Drugs on the Brain. 1998

http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/neuro98/202s98-paper1/Ebbitt.html

Myers, David G. Exploring Psychology: Fifth Edition: Holland, Michigan, 2002

Personal Interview. University of Denver Student. October 9, 2003