LSD

Did you know…?

That LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide) was derived from the ergot fungi. Wikipedia has a full article about the details of this.  Very interesting check it out here:  Wikipedia link.

“LSD was first synthesized on November 16, 1938 by Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann at the Sandoz Laboratories in Basel, Switzerland as part of a large research program searching for medically useful ergot alkaloid derivatives. LSD’s psychedelic properties were discovered 5 years later when Hofmann himself accidentally ingested an unknown quantity of the chemical. The first intentional ingestion of LSD occurred on April 19, 1943, when Hofmann ingested 250 µg of LSD. He said this would be a threshold dose based on the dosages of other ergot alkaloids. Hofmann found the effects to be much stronger than he anticipated. Sandoz Laboratories introduced LSD as a psychiatric drug in 1947 and marketed LSD as a psychiatric panacea, hailing it “as a cure for everything from schizophrenia to criminal behavior, ‘sexual perversions,’ and alcoholism.” The abbreviation “LSD” is from the German “Lyserg Säure Diethylamid” “(quoted from Wikipedia article)