Bath Salts

History

Origin

Albert Hofmann first synthesized LSD on November 16, 1938 at the Sandoz Laboratories in Basel, Switzerland. The research program was searching for a medically useful ergot alkaloid derivative, and it wasn’t until 5 years later, when Albert accidently ingested the chemical, that it’s psychedelic properties were discovered. In 1947, Sandoz Laboratories introduced LSD as a psychiatric drug. Their patent on LSD expired in 1963.

In America

Three years after its introduction, the US Central Intelligence Agency began their own research program code named Project MKULTRA. Experiments included administering LSD to CIA employees, military personnel, doctors, other government agents, prostitutes, mentally ill patients, and members of the public to study their reactions, usually without the subjects’ knowledge. Figures like Aldous Huxley, Timothy Leary, and Al Hubbard soon began to advocate the use of LSD making it central to the counter culture of the 1960’s. These figures highlighted the proponents of conscious expansion, and influenced the thinking of the new generation of youth.

Research

Several organizations, including the Beckley Foundation, MAPS, Heffter Research Institute, and the Albert Hofmann Foundation, participate in funding, encouraging, and coordinating research into the medicinal and spiritual uses of LSD and related psychedelics.
In the 1950s and 60s, therapists used psychedelic therapy to help patients unblock repressed, subconscious material through the consumption of LSD. One study concluded, “The root of the therapeutic value of the LSD experience is its potential for producing self-acceptance and self-surrender, presumably by forcing the user to face issues and problems in the individual’s psyche. Reviews of these studies today concluded that the early trials were unreliable due to inadequate control groups, lack of follow-up, and vague criteria for therapeutic outcome. Overall, these first studies failed to convincingly demonstrate whether the drug or the therapeutic interaction was responsible for any beneficial effects.
Also during this time from, psychiatrists (such as Oscar Janiger) explored the potential effect of LSD on creativity. The first studies attempted to measure the effect of LSD on creative activity and aesthetic appreciation.
In 2001, the United States Drug Enforcement Administration stated that LSD “produces no aphrodisiac effects, does not increase creativity, has no lasting positive effect in treating alcoholics or criminals, does not produce a model psychosis, and does not generate immediate personality taste. Experimental uses of LSD, including the treatment of alcoholism and pain and cluster headache relief, continue to be researched today. In some small studies, the treatment for cluster headaches using LSD have received positive results.
Research using LSD to alleviate anxiety for terminally ill cancer patients coping with impending death began in 2008.