Key points
Past-year use of cannabis and hallucinogens stayed at historically high levels in 2023 among young adults.
Hallucinogen use is now at 9% for adults aged 19-30 and 4% for adults 35-50.
Researchers found a 100-microgram dose of pharmaceutical LSD may improve severe anxiety.
People should never self-treat with hallucinogenic drugs like LSD.
LSD was first synthesized by Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann in 1938, working for Sandoz Pharmaceuticals (now part of Novartis) in Basel, Switzerland. He discovered its powerful psychoactive effects in 1943 after accidentally ingesting a small amount and experiencing vivid hallucinations and consciousness shifts.
On April 19, 1943, Hofmann intentionally took a larger dose, riding a bicycle home while “tripping.” The date is still marked as Bicycle Day by LSD fans.
Recognizing its potential, Sandoz marketed LSD in 1947 as Delysid, promoting it for treating schizophrenia and depression , as well as as a tool for exploring consciousness.
Rise of Recreational Use By the mid-1960s, LSD had gained popularity outside the clinical setting, becoming a symbol of the countercultural movement. Figures like Harvard psychologist Timothy Leary promoted its use for personal enlightenment but came under fire for unscientific and unethical experiments. The unregulated and often irresponsible drug usage attracted negative attention from governments and the media, associating LSD with dangerous behavior and social upheaval.In the 1960s and 1970s, many musicians experimented with LSD and other psychedelics, including the Grateful Dead, Pink Floyd, and the Beatles, often integrating the experience into their music. The Beatles’ “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” is one iconic track inspired by the psychedelic experience, though the group denied it was directly about LSD. Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead was an advocate of the drug and a close friend of Owsley Stanley, the Dead’s sound engineer and a notorious clandestine LSD chemist. Stanley manufactured some of the highest-quality LSD of that era, which he distributed at concerts.In 1967, Paul McCartney became one of the first public figures to openly admit using LSD, causing a media stir. Pink Floyd’s original frontman, Syd Barrett, used LSD extensively, which many believe led to his mental […]
More Americans turn to legal marijuana, fewer anti-anxiety meds
By Ashley Bradford, Georgia Institute of Technology In states where
