Erowid LSD Vault : Timeline

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LSD

Timeline

by Erowid

Jun 13-18, 1966		University of California LSD Conference held in San Francisco, CA. Details Late in the game due to its controversial topic, this conference was moved from the Berkeley campus to San Francisco. Originally scheduled as a speaker, Allen Ginsberg was removed from the bill in a compromise between the event producer and the university. Participants in this production included Richard Alpert (Ram Dass), Richard Baker, Frank Barron, Sidney Cohen, Rolf Von Ekartsberg, Michael Harner, Timothy Leary, Paul Lee, Claudio Naranjo, and Huston Smith.
Nov 16, 1938		Albert Hofmann, a chemist working for Sandoz Pharmaceutical in Basel, Switzerland, is the first to synthesize LSD-25. He discovered LSD, a semi-synthetic derivative of ergot alkaloids, while looking for a blood stimulant. 1
1943		Professor Ernst Rothlin was the second person to try LSD. Rothlin was Sandoz's chief pharmacologist at the time. Albert Hofmann gave Rothlin a small, 60 microgram, dose of LSD about 1/4 of the dose Hofmann had tried. 2 Details [More Info] "Professor Ernst Rothlin, head of the Sandoz pharmacological department at the time. Rothlin was dubious about LSD ; he claimed he had a strong will and could suppress the effects of drugs. But after he took 60 micrograms, one quarter of the dose I had taken earlier, he was convinced. I had to laugh as he described his fantastic visions." -- Michael Horowitz interview with Albert Hofmann, 1976.
Apr 16, 1943		Albert Hofmann accidentally experiences a small amount of LSD for the first time. This is the first human experience with pure LSD-25. He reports seeing "an uninterrupted stream of fantastic pictures, extraordinary shapes with intense, kaleidoscopelike play of colors." The experience lasted just over two hours.
Apr 19, 1943		Bicycle Day - Albert Hofmann intentionally takes 250 ug LSD for the first time. This is the first intentional use of LSD. 3
1947		First article on LSD's mental effects published by Werner Stoll in the Swiss Archives of Neurology.
1949		Dr. Max Rinkel brings LSD to the United States from Sandoz Pharmaceuticals in Switzerland and initiates work with LSD in Boston; Nick Bercel commences LSD study in Los Angeles. 4
1950 - 1960		Hundreds of papers published discussing LSD.
May 1950		First article about LSD appears in the American Psychiatric Journal. 4
1951		CIA becomes aware of and begins experimenting with LSD.
1951		Al Hubbard first tries LSD. 4
1952		Charles Savage publishes the first study on the use of LSD to treat depression.
1953		First LSD clinic opened to the public in England under Ronald Sandison. Separately, unwitting subjects in the United States were given LSD in the CIA funded Project MK-Ultra to test the effects of the drug.
1953		Dr. Humphrey Osmond begins treating alcoholics with LSD. 4
1955		First conferences focusing on LSD and mescaline take place in Atlantic City and Princeton, N.J.
1955		Aldous Huxley first takes LSD. The publication of Huxley's 'Heaven and Hell'. 4
1959		Josiah Macy Foundation sponsors major scientific congress on LSD. 4
1959		Allen Ginsberg tries LSD for the first time. 4
Apr 22-24, 1959		The First International Conference on LSD Therapy produced by the Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation Princeton, NJ. 5 Details Chaired by Paul H. Hoch, presenters included Harold A. Abramson, Gregory Bateson, Arthur L. Chandler, Sidney Cohen, Jonathan Cole, Keith S. Ditman, Betty Grover Eisner, Frank Fremont-Smith, Mortimer A. Hartman, Mollie P. Hewitt Hewitt, Abram Hoffer, Cecelia E.Jett-Jackson, Solomon Katzenelbogen, G.D. Klee, Humphry Osmond, Charles Savage, H. Lennard, S. Malitz, R.C. Murphy, Gwendolyn J.Neviackas, Cornelius H. van Rhijn, Ronald A. Sandison, Louis Joylon "Jolly" West, J.R.B. Whittlesey, and others.
1960		Harvard University's Timothy Leary establishes the Psychedelic Research Project.
1962		Congress passes new drug safety regulations and the FDA designates LSD an experimental drug and restricts research. The first LSD related arrests are made by the FDA. 4
1963		LSD first appears on the streets (liquid on sugar cubes). Articles about LSD first appear in mainstream media (Look, Saturday Evening Post). 6
May 1963		Richard Alpert is fired and Timothy Leary is dismissed from Harvard. 4
May 28, 1963		Weil and Russin write a scathing critique of Leary and Albert's work in the Harvard Crimson: Far from exercising the caution that characterizes the published statements of most scientists, Leary and Alpert, in their papers and speeches, have been given to making the kind of pronouncement about their work that one associates with quacks. 7 Details "The shoddiness of their work as scientists is the result less of incompetence than of a conscious rejection of scientific ways of looking at things. Leary and Alpert fancy themselves 'prophets' of a psychic revolution designed to free Western man from the limitations of consciousness as we know it." Note: "The Corporation" in the title of the article is Harvard.
Feb 1965		Owsley "Bear" Stanley first succeeded in synthesizing crystalline LSD. Earliest distribution was March 1965. 8
May 8-10, 1965		The Second International Conference on the Use of LSD in Psychotherapy and Alcoholism held at South Oaks Hospital, Amityville, NY 9 Details Presenters included Harold A. Abramson, Arendsen Hein, Edward F.W. Baker, Antonio Balestrieri, Donald Blair, John Buckman, John Chiasson, Sidney Cohen, Charles Clay Dahlberg, Betty Grover Eisner, Ruth Fox, Daniel X. Freedman, Frank Fremont-Smith, Kenneth Godfrey, Stanislav Grof, William Hausman, Mogens Hertz, Abram Hoffer, Gordon H. Johnsen, James S. Ketchum, Sol Kramer, Leonard W. Krinsky, Albert A. Kurland, Hanscarl Leuner, Jerome Levine, John C. Lilly, Thomas M. Ling, Arnold M. Ludwig, Donald C. MacDonald, J. Ross MacLean, Pauline McCricick, William H. McGlothlin, A. Joyce Martin, Robert E. Mogar, Robert C. Murphy, Humphry Osmond, Walter Pahnke, Andre Rolo, Max Rinkel, Charles Savage, Emilio Servadio, Sanford Unger, Cornelius H. van Rhijn, Jack L. Ward, E.S. Weber, and Mary S. Wicks.
1966		Leary founds the League of Spiritual Development, with LSD as the sacrement. 10
Mar 25, 1966		Life publishes cover article on LSD. "LSD: The Exploding Threat of the Mind Drug that Got Out of Control".
Apr 1966		Sandoz Pharmaceutical recalled the LSD it had previously distributed and withdrew its sponsorship for work with LSD. 10
Oct 6, 1966		LSD becomes illegal in California. 11
Oct 6, 1966		The Love Pageant Rally produced by Michael Bowen and Allen Cohen in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, CA. Details Creators of The San Francisco Oracle threw a big party for thousands of hippies on the date that LSD was first made illegal in California, inviting Ken Kesey & The Merry Pranksters, Janis Joplin, the Grateful Dead, and others. Retrospectively considered to have been a "warm up" event for the Human Be-In that happened on January 14, 1967.
1967		Summer of Love in San Francisco. First human be-in.
Oct 24, 1968		Possession of LSD is banned federally in the U.S. after the passage of the Staggers-Dodd Bill (Public Law 90-639) which amended the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.
Summer 1969		Orange sunshine acid first appears. 6
1970		An estimated 1-2 million Americans have used LSD.
Jun 1970		Windowpane acid (gelatin squares) first reported by the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs in the U.S. 12 Details While Acid Dreams by Martin Lee and Bruce Shlain reports that Windowpane first appeared in 1972, the BNDD's Microgram publication reports an analysis of 3-6 mm square and .38 mm thick gelatin "flakes" in June 1970.
Oct 27, 1970		The Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act is passed. Part II of this is the Controlled Substance Act (CSA) which defines a scheduling system for drugs. It places most of the known hallucinogens (LSD, psilocybin, psilocin, mescaline, peyote, cannabis, & MDA) in Schedule I. It places coca, cocaine and injectable methamphetamine in Schedule II. Other amphetamines and stimulants, including non-injectable methamphetamine are placed in Schedule III.
Sep 3, 1971		Albert Hofmann meets Timothy Leary for the first time. 13 Details [More Info] The father of LSD, Albert Hofmann, and LSD's most vocal prophet, Timothy Leary, meet in Lausanne, Switzerland, while Leary was there in exile from the United States, where he was facing a possible ten years in prison for charges related to possession of a small amount of cannabis.
Early 1970s		LSD impregnated paper ("blotter") first hit the streets. Very quickly the paper began being printed with colorful art.
mid 1970's		Blotter paper begins to emerge as the most common form of LSD sold on the street. Previously it had been tablets and powder, but blotter and gel-tabs proved more consistent in purity and potency. 14
1979		Albert Hofmann publishes "LSD: My Problem Child." 3
May 2006		Survey results published in Neurology show that both psilocybin-containing mushrooms and LSD may reduce severity and frequency of cluster headaches. 15 Details Erowid participated in this research by working with Clusterbusters.com to publish and solicit responses to a survey about the use of psilocybin to treat cluster headaches. Some of the participants in the later Sewell survey were found through Erowid's earlier online survey.
Apr 29, 2008		Albert Hofmann dies. 16 Details [More Info] Swiss inventor of LSD, and discoverer of the active principles of magic mushrooms and morning glory seeds, Albert Hofmann, passes away from heart failure. He was 102 years old.

References

Hofmann A. "Die Geschichte des LSD-25". Triangel Sandoz Zeitschrift fur Medizinische Wissenschaften. 1955;2(3):117-24. (as cited in Ott J. Pharmacotheon. 1993. pg 123.)
Horowitz M. "Interview with Albert Hofmann". High Times. 11. 1976.
Hofmann A. LSD: My Problem Child. J.P. Tarcher, 1979.
Lee MA, Shlain B. Acid Dreams: The CIA, LSD and the Sixties Rebellion. Grove, 1985.
Proceedings were published as The Use of LSD in Psychotherapy, edited by H.A. Abramson (1960).
Lee MA, Shlain B. Acid Dreams: The CIA, LSD and the Sixties Rebellion. Grove, 1985.
Russin JM, Weil AT. "Corporation Fires Richard Alpert for Giving Undergraduates Drugs: First Dismissal Under Pusey"Harvard Crimson. May 28, 1963
Eisner B. Interview with an Alchemist: Bear: Owsley, LSD Chemist Extraordinaire. BruceEisner.com
Proceedings were published as The Use of LSD in Psychotherapy and Alcoholism, edited by H.A. Abramson (1967).
Ray O, Ksir C. Drugs, Society, and Human Behavior. Mosby, 1996.
'Getting High: The History of LSD', The History Channel, 1999.
Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs. Microgram. Jun 1970;3(4):2.
Horowitz, Michael. "Interview: Albert Hofmann", High Times 11:24-31,81 (1976)
Stafford P. Psychedelics Encyclopedia. Ronin, 1992.
Sewell RA, Halpern JH, Pope HG Jr. "Response of cluster headache to psilocybin and LSD". Neurology. 2006;66(12):1920-2.
Erowid. "In Memoriam: Albert Hofmann". Erowid Extracts. Jun 2008; 14:21.

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