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Using LSD

References and Further Reading

This project is a second year undergraduate chemistry project by myself, Daniel Subramaniam. Please feel free to e-mail me at ds200@ic.ac.uk with your comments and criticisms. Hope that you enjoyed the site.

Below are the references that were used in compiling the project. There is a brief discription of what was obtained and how much use each site was.

There is also a section for further reading should you still have a general interest for, or around the subject. However, it is worth noting that many of these resources were not obtained and so may be hard to come by.

Research and References:
[10] Beilstein (The huge database does contain the molecule with the 'Beilstein Registry Number: 94178' it gave useful references for the synthesis. However the amount of thermodynamic and spectroscopic information was rather limited).
[8] NIST (Again a very useful site, it provided the Mass Spec and also the majority of the thermodynamic information).
SciFinder (LSD was found, although with very little information. It was very easy to use and did provide the structure and CAS number).
Web Of Science (What looked very promising did not appear to throw up much relevant information. The site could hold more use for specific resurch on a very narrow topic)

The other suggested databases did not show any references to LSD.

The following three search engines were used to throw up an enormous number of sites containing LSD. Most of these gave only brief and general information of the usage and history of LSD. However there were a handful of useful sites with more in depth chemical and biological information.
Yahoo (http://www.yahoo.com)
Altavista, (http://www.altavista.com)
Google (http://google.com)

[5] http://www.drugs.gov.uk (The government's official site on drugs; a general site for information, but unfortunately not especially detailed).
http://www.drugscope.org.uk: DrugsCope (A charity that helps with drug abuse and lobbying for alterations to certain drugs laws, such as the relaxations on the laws regarding marijuana and certain 'clubbing' drugs. They do not deal directly with drug cases, but would be a useful reference point, they were able to provide several other resources websites that were used).
http://www.d-2k.co.uk
http://www.trashed.co.uk
http://www.nida.nih.gov/NIDAHome.html: National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), (Contains much useful information, including survey statistics on illicit drug use and usage trends coming from the 'National Household Survey on Drug Abuse' which they conducts annually. It gave a good general background, covering most issues and also references and advice for help).
http://www.who.org: The World Health Organisation (WHO), (Despite having little having little information directly on LSD, it was a good background read, and did show a couple of legal psychoactive drugs).
http://www.health.org: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration (the clearing house for drug and alcohol information)
http://www.csdp.org: Common Sense For Drug Policy (Interesting look at problems with current drug laws, including topical papers on drug laws and minorities).
http://www.lyceaum.org, The Lyceaum
http://www.hyperreal.org, Hyperreal
http://druglibrary.org Schaffer Library
[6] http://www.maps.org Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies
http://www.egodeath.com (synthesis)
http://www.erowid.org/chemicals/lsd/lsd.shtml
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Oracle/9487/heinylsd.htm
http://www.rsc.co.uk/zebidee/links.htm
[3] https://www.usdoj.gov/dea (The US governments official page on drugs)

Forbidden drugs by
(very useful for the background, with limited information on both the preparation and biological effect of LSD)
Drugs in Perspective by
(Excellent for the biological effects and pictures of the synapse.)
[2] Pharmacology (Fourth edition) by Rang, Dale and Ritter, (Provided general pharmacological information for the effects of LSD)

[11] Tet Let 1977,19,1627 (The synthesis of LSD with a substantial yield- for the first time, by T-,C. Choong et al.)

[12] J. Org. Chem 1973,38, 2249 (also interesting for the synthesis)

[13] J. Amer. Chem. Soc. 1968,90,5616 (again necessary useful for the synthesis)

[1] Modern Drugs by Hunts (1997)

[4] SANDOZ LTD., BASLE, SWITZERLAND

[7] A pharmacology paper prepared at Orange Coast College, Costa Mesa, California on The Pineal Gland, LSD, and Serotonin by Russ McClay (March 19, 1976), (a useful article on building the biological actions of LSD).

The National Drugs Help line: 0800 776600 (free advice and help with drugs. They Provided the short and long term effects of using the drug).
Release: 02076 038654 (Free advice on drugs and the associated legal problems. Although interesting they provided little relevant information).
National Addiction Centre: 02078 365454 (Will give help or guidance to those with drug and addiction problems, again of little use for the project).

Further reading:
http://www.leary.com (The homepage of Timothy Leary, although uncompleted, it does show many interesting pictures and also an interesting biography).

LSD - A Total Study. By Sankar, D. V. Siva. (1975), (Westbury, NY: PJD Publications).
(What looks like a generally comprehensive text on all details surrounding LSD-960 pages! Including; Psychological, Neurological, Physiological Genetic Biochemical and Psychiatric Investigations, history and religion).
Doors of Perception by Aldous Huxley (Written after research with Humphrey Osmond and after his own experiences with LSD and Mascaline)
LSD-My problem child By Albert HofmannLSD Flashbacks (Leary's autobiography)

Psychotherapy by Dr. Stan Grof
Electric Koolaid Acid Test

Psychedelic drugs Reconsidered, by Lester Grinspoon & James B. Bakalar, 1979, 1981, Inc. (a book that was recommended to me it covers all aspects of psychedelic drugs, written by two Harvard professors).
Indole Alkaloids In Plant Hallucinogens" Richard Evans Schultes, PhD. Journal of Psychedelic Drugs Vol.8(No.1) Jan-Mar 1976
"Ethnopharmacology and Taxonomy of Mexican Psychodysleptic Plants" Jose Luis Diaz M.D. Journal of Psychedelic Drugs Vol. 11(1-2) Jan-Jun 1979
Adverse Reactions to Psychedelic Drugs by Rick Strassman's (a Review of the Literature in J. Nerv and Mental Disease 172(10):577-595)
Licit and Illicit Drugs, written by Edward M. Brecher and the editors of Consumer Reports. ISBN: 0-316-15340-0
One flew Over The Cockoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
LSD: Still With Us After All These Years. By Henderson, Leigh A., and Glass, William J. (1994), (York: Lexington-Macmillan: ISBN: 0-02-914395-0)
LSD, Man & Society. By DeBold, Richard C., and Leaf, Russell C. (1967),(Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press).
50 Years of LSD: Current Status and Perspectives of Hallucinogens. By Pletscher, A., and Ladewig, D. (1994). (York: Parthenon: ISBN: 1-85070-569-0)
Birth and Rebirth: LSD, Psychoanalysis, and Spiritual Enlightenment. By Tarnas, Richard T. (1976), (Unpublished doctoral dissertation from the Saybrook Institute (formerly Humanistic Psychology Institute) San Francisco.)
The Beyond Within: The LSD Story. By Cohen, Sidney. (1964), (New York: Atheneum.)

[9] Helv Chem Acla 1943,26,944 and 1955,38,421 (These are the original refferences from Hofmann and Stoll, but they are not in English! It did however provide the UV spectra)

Leary, T (1964) The Religious Experience: Its production and interpretation, in Psychedelic Revelations, 1,324-346, 1964.

Grob, C S (1994) Psychiatric Research with Hallucinogens: What have we learned?, in Yearbook for Ethnomedicine and the Study of Consciousness, Issue 3, 1994

Grof, S (1994) LSD Psychotherapy, 1994

Various albums by the Warlords
Various albums by the Beetles: especially Sergeant Peppers Lonely Heart Club Band.

Generally I found it hard to find specific information on the molecule searches with various, different names, chemical formula and smile string were not generally forthcoming, despite multiple references to 'numerous research papers' very little along these lines were found, those that were tended to be from the late 1960's and early 1970's, were hard to obtain and also were of little use.
There appears to be little research into this are, with the bulk of programs into recreational drugs tending towards MDMA- Ecstasy. Part of the reason being the decreased use of LSD, and increased use of this 'club' drug.