When the Impossible Happens Read Online Free Page B

lysergic acid, or LSD-25, a then—new experimental substance with extraordinary psychoactive properties.

    The astonishing effects of this compound on the human psyche had been discovered in April 1943 by the leading chemist at Sandoz, Dr. Albert Hofmann, who accidentally intoxicated himself when he was synthesizing it in his lab. When it happened, he was forced to interrupt his work in the laboratory in the middle of the afternoon, because he felt remarkable restlessness and dizziness. This developed into a dreamlike state with a stream of fantastic images and a kaleidoscopic play of colors that lasted approximately two hours.

    Three days later, Dr. Hofmann decided to take a measured dose of LSD to confirm his suspicion that his abnormal mental state was due to intoxication by LSD-25. Although this was a reasonable assumption, he could not imagine how the drug would have gotten into his system. In this planned self-experiment, he ingested 250 micrograms or gammas (millionths of a gram) of LSD which, “being a conservative man,” he considered to be a “miniscule dose.” This assessment was based on the fact that ergot alkaloids are usually taken in milligram dosages. He had no way of knowing that he ingested a sub stance of unprecedented efficacy, the most powerful psychoactive drug ever discovered. In clinical work conducted in the 1950s and 1960s, the dose Albert Hofmann had taken was considered a high dose, requiring hours of preparation, supervision by two guides, overnight stay in the treatment center, and subsequent follow-up interviews.

    Because many of the stories in this book describe events associated with LSD, I will give here a brief description of this historical experiment. Within an hour after ingesting 250 micrograms of LSD-25, Albert Hofmann was unable to work and asked his assistant to accompany him home. Because of war restrictions imposed on the use of automobiles, a car was not available, and they had to use bicycles. Hofmann’s account of what it was like to cycle through the streets of Basel under the influence of a high dose of LSD has since become legendary. After arriving home, he felt possessed by demonic forces that had taken control of his mind and body and was afraid that he was going insane. His friendly neighbor, who brought him some milk, had the appearance of a dangerous witch and seemed to be hexing him. His physical distress was so extreme that he was sure he was dying, and he asked his assistant to call a doctor.

    By the time the doctor arrived on the scene, the peak of the crisis had already passed, and Hofmann’s condition had radically changed. He was not dying any longer. He had experienced his own birth and felt reborn, revitalized, and rejuvenated. On the day after the LSD experiment, he was in excellent physical and mental condition. He wrote a report about his extraordinary experience to his boss, Dr. Arthur Stoll. It just happened that Dr. Stoll’s son Werner A. Stoll was a psychiatrist practicing in Zurich and was very interested in exploring the effects of LSD in a clinical trial. His pioneering report about the effects of LSD-25 in a group of “normal volunteers” and psychiatric patients was published in 1947 and became overnight a sensation in the scientific world.

    Werner Stoll’s early LSD study showed that minuscule dosages of this extraordinary substance—in the order of millionths of a gram—were able to profoundly change the consciousness of his experimental subjects for a period of six to ten hours. Sandoz representatives now made samples of LSD available to researchers and therapists all over the world and requested feedback about its effects and its potential. They wanted to know if there was legitimate use for this substance in psychology and psychiatry. Dr. Stoll’s pilot study suggested some interesting similarities between the LSD experience and the symptomatology of naturally occurring psychoses. It seemed, therefore, that the study of such