uncircle 3 days ago

After the discovery of a psychedelic compound, there are two pipelines for release:

- the academic way, where it's studied in labs by "serious people", and after FDA approval a big pharma with worldwide licence sells it for one million $ per kg.

- the black market way, where it's manufactured in quantity by shady RC companies and sold on the internet, until someone tries too large a dose, gets it put in Schedule I and banned.

I guess this one went the first route, unlike LSD.

  • jampekka 3 days ago

    LSD was discovered in and extensively tested and produced by the giant medical company Sandoz for about 20 years. It was also extensively studied in academic settings.

    The black market production started a lot later, mostly due to the War on Drugs.

    • herbst 3 days ago

      Sandoz still produces LSD

      • krispyfi 2 days ago

        Source? Their patent expired, and Wikipedia says they stopped making it on the 60s. Occasionally a sealed bottle of Delysid will surface somewhere, but I think that they are all vintage.

fnord77 3 days ago

I feel like it overhyped it for being a treatment when that hasn't been validated yet

  • larrled 3 days ago

    The use of LSD in psychiatry is one of the less wacky things about the state of psychiatry at that time. Arguably psychiatry is still wacky, and still overhypes novel compounds without knowing how or why they work exactly. LSD was very rigorously studied compared to say today’s use of ketamine.

    • hx8 3 days ago

      Yes, there was a ton of psychiatric research on LSD. However the bar of required to perform pharmaceutical testing on humans is much higher now, and the quality of the data is much higher because of improved testing standards.

      • larrled 3 days ago

        For sure. But if you read some of that wacky stuff from way back, you can start to see how parts rhyme with aspects of contemporary psychiatry. They too had much better standards and data than their predecessors. The hype around LSD back then, and a bit of the kookiness, was similar to the current emphasis on trauma, ketamine therapy, etc… Stuff that works and is new gets overhyped.

fsckboy 3 days ago

>produces effects similar to the semisynthetic drug LSD, which is used to treat conditions like depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and addiction

yes, such incredible maturity, didn't even mention that these are not the reasons that most LSD is sold, bought, and consumed... although, "self-medication" probably does adhere pretty well.

  • worik 3 days ago

    >...these are not the reasons that most LSD is sold, bought, and consumed

    Yes

    To be clear most LSD users, who've done LSD for years, do it for fun.

    Once you've polished the windows, it is fun to go back and look at the view...

    • NewJazz 3 days ago

      For me the last time I took a trip I was alone for most of the trip and I cried a lot and my heart felt physically pained. I felt sorry for my heart that it had to keep beating and could not rest. It was a really challenging trip. I haven't been on another trip since.

      • hollerith 3 days ago

        That would be good subject matter for a poem.

      • worik 3 days ago

        > I haven't been on another trip since

        Good choice.

        It is not fun, unless it is

    • LoganDark 3 days ago

      I am a frequent LSD user and I do it for fun and healing.

      I don't know about PTSD (although it did help me after I got hit by a truck, and also after I hit my head and nearly died), but it helps me get through stressful times. It also helps me become productive again when I feel like I'm too burnt out to work. I don't know how exactly this happens, but I assume it's something like giving me enough tunnel vision to forget about background/subconscious anxieties.

      • balamatom 3 days ago

        >but I assume it's something like giving me enough tunnel vision to forget about background/subconscious anxieties

        counterpoint: it might be said that one's "tunnel vision" is made out of anxieties pushed to the background, disrupting the default mode network allows the person to consciously process them. ofc i can't say whether this tracks with your experience

    • gavinray 3 days ago

      > "Once you've polished the windows, it is fun to go back and look at the view..."

      On the other hand:

      "If you get the message, hang up the phone."

      - Alan Watts

    • nkrisc 3 days ago

      > Once you've polished the windows, it is fun to go back and look at the view...

      I spent a long time trying to decide if you were referencing licking the windows, or something more poetic. I decided to let both interpretations occupy my mind, as it seemed greater than the sum of its parts.