[THS] Did LSD change Britain?

[Peter Webster]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7377041.stm

Did LSD change Britain?

Blotter LSD (Picture: DEA) (at url above)


By Finlo Rohrer
BBC News Magazine

Sixty-three years ago the first acid trip was taken by an unwitting research
chemist, Albert Hofmann, who has died at the age of 102. To its detractors
LSD is perhaps the most dangerous drug in the world, but did its advent
really change society in Britain and even the way we eat?

In 1965 something lurking under the meniscus of British society punctured
the surface.

A man named Michael Hollingshead opened an office of the World
Psychedelic Centre in Chelsea in central London. Having helped turn soon-
to-be hippie guru Timothy Leary on to LSD, Hollingshead came on a mission
of hallucinogenic proselytisation.

Soon musicians and artists were coming into regular contact with LSD. The
rock historians still argue long and hard about the full extent of the effect
LSD had on the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, Britain's biggest musical
exports.

But it's hard to dispute the evidence of its impact in terms of psychedelic-
inspired music, record covers, and even the commercial art of the time.

Before then LSD had been in Britain, but only in the hands of tiny groups of
psychiatrists and military scientists. From 1965 onwards it suddenly came
into the pockets and mouths of students, drop-outs, and "free thinkers".

And soon it drew the attention of the authorities. By the summer of 1966,
the home secretary had moved to ban it. It cropped up in court cases and
four decades of newspaper opprobrium commenced. Over the years it has
been blamed for poor mental health and numerous suicides and accidental
deaths.

Today the government advice warns of the possibility of terrifying trips, vivid
flashbacks and triggers for those susceptible to mental health problems.

But there were those in the 1960s and 1970s who felt that rather than
being a mere dangerous recreational drug it was the spark for dramatic
changes in British society.

'Strait-laced culture'

This was the time of seismic shifts in sexual behaviour, the legalisation of
homosexuality and abortion, the genesis of modern feminism and the green
movement. To its defenders, LSD was part of the reason why the old ways
of thinking could be challenged.

"British culture was extremely strait-laced in the 1950s - it was rigid and
confined and everybody went to church. LSD blasted a hole right through
the middle of that," says Sue Hall, who was a student at Watford Art
College when she first encountered LSD on a visit to London in 1966. Hall
last took the drug at the 100th birthday celebrations for Hofmann in
Switzerland.

Gregory Sams: 'LSD changed my life' [video at url]

For Gregory Sams and his brother Craig an LSD trip at Berkeley in California
in 1967 provided an epiphanal moment that led them to London to spark a
major change in British eating habits.

"It was as a direct consequence of my brother and myself taking LSD that
we introduced natural and organic foods in the UK. At that point people
were looking forward to the day we all live on vitamin pills. Today you can't
open a newspaper without reading about organic foods."

After the trip Gregory and Craig thought long and hard about what people
were eating. They decided they were fed up with a Western diet big on
garish food dyes, additives and cheap meat. It changed their thoughts on a
career.

"My brother said he would have been a US navy fighter pilot, I was thinking
of being an oceanographer. LSD clarified you. It gives you that primeval
uncluttered vision.

In 1968, Gregory and Craig set up the Seed restaurant in London and
started trying to source organic food. Together they founded Whole Earth
Foods.

'Wider horizons'

Craig went on to be head of the Soil Association and to set up the chocolate
company Green and Blacks. In 1982, Gregory is credited with inventing the
vegeburger. Since then he has moved on to other projects including design
and distribution of posters and T-shirts featuring fractal patterns and
writing political works such as Uncommon Sense - the State is Out of Date.
He continues to use LSD.

"So many people made their breakthrough as a result of seeing wider
horizons," Sams explains.

For John "Hoppy" Hopkins LSD was enough to take him out of his world as
a Fleet Street photographer into the orbit of stars like Mick Jagger and Paul
McCartney.

"The effect of acid is to kick your frame of reference and give it a good old
shake. People are never quite the same again.

"The effect of acid on me was to cause me to question the whole business
framework. It caused me in the parlance of the time to drop out. I was
making the press barons richer by working for them without being able to
set my own agenda."

To him there is a path to be traced from the sense of community generated
by LSD to the social networking that is such a feature of today's internet.

"One of the things that acid enabled was for us all to recognise we were
part of the same tribe.

"Acid was like a tin opener or a Pandora's box. Hofmann was as important
as Oppenheimer and those other scientists who invented the atomic bomb."

Death knell

In 1966 LSD was big enough for two national tabloids to strain every sinew
to get it made illegal.

Fast forward 40 years and seizures are few and far between. According to
the British Crime Survey, by 1996 only 1% of 16-59-year-olds reported
using LSD in the past 12 months. By 2007 the figure was 0.2%. In the
same period the figure for those using cocaine has risen more than fourfold
to 2.6%.

The Beatles

Some think LSD changed the course of the Beatles

The death knell for LSD started to sound in 1977. More than 800 police
officers were involved in Operation Julie, conducting raids across the
country. It transpired that a secret laboratory in sleepy Tregaron in mid-
Wales was turning out vast volumes of LSD.

"They had been making some of the highest quality ever known and
supplying most of the world," says Andy Roberts, author of the forthcoming
book Albion Dreaming: A Popular History of LSD in Britain. "When this drug
ring was smashed it effectively meant LSD started to fade away."

Operation Julie proved a seminal moment in drugs enforcement in Britain,
involving hundreds of officers across a number of forces, extensive
surveillance, undercover work, management of informants and lengthy
sentences for the main players.

As well as this hammer blow to the production of the drug, culture was also
changing and new drugs were arriving.

"In the 1980s, Thatcher effectively smashed the free festival culture and
then ecstasy started to come in. People wanted a more manageable drug,"
says Roberts.

But whatever the arguments about LSD's influence or the harm it can do, it
has had one indisputable lasting legacy.

The phrase "[something] is like [something] on acid" has become a classic
piece of verbal shorthand - typically employed by those who have never
taken the drug - to indicate that something is a bit wacky or exaggerated.

Whether it's the "the Lord Of The Rings on acid", "a giraffe on acid",
"Aspen on acid" or even "Charles Rennie Mackintosh on acid" the linguistic
influence lives on.

Below is a selction of your comments.

Are we honestly suggesting that if someone hadn't taken LSD the idea of
not putting additives in food and growing food naturally would never have
been thought of? Taking LSD to change your thought processes isn't a very
organic or natural approach now is it? LSD curtailed the careers of Peter
Green, Syd Barrett and probably a good few other people whose brains
never made it out of the sixties. Sounds like if you are lucky the pattern on
your curtains swirls about a bit, and if you are unlucky you spend the rest
of your life as a child. I'll give it a miss thanks.
Jonathan, Brentwood, Essex, UK

Whilst your list of LSD effects is accurate it is also biased. If you wish to use
the subjective lines like "can provoke terror in users", and "some users
report fears over mental state", why not balance them with "can cause
euphoria and joy in users", or "some users report a more balanced and
creative mental state"? All those statements are true and it would be nice to
see a truly balanced list of potential effects rather than a focus on the
negative. I'm not an LSD user myself nor have I any desire to take any
drugs but I am intelligent enough to recognise that this drug has both
positive and negative effects.
Mark, London

My best friend became schizophrenic on a bad LSD trip, and I developed
post-traumatic stress disorder after a bad one, which left me with an
anxiety disorder for about five years. I still think LSD and mushrooms are an
amazing experience... but we need to learn to respect them and think
about the environment in which we take them. My advice - only take it
among people you know and trust, not among strangers.
Jezza, London

Its actually quite funny when you look at the people quoted saying LSD
changed their lives. They claim that they wouldn't have made their lifestyle
choices without LSD experimentation and claim it helped them to be free
from the mainstream culture of the time. But in giving LSD so much credit
in "freeing" themselves, they seem to be denying themselves their own
liberty as human beings and the power to change their lives. I really doubt
that the drug freed them.
Michael, Nottingham, UK

I took LSD several times 20 odd years ago, it changes your perception of
things forever I think, and it's not all good, I thought all was well but have
since developed perception issues and problems with depression, memory,
concentration and mental health issues. So yes, a positive mind
altering/opening drug that is very positive but take it and as with any drug
you will have to pay the price. The best advice is probably don't as there is
nothing worse than being stuck in a mental playground from which there is
no escape. Be warned.
Planet Gaz, Bham

It seems to be a common misconception that people who take LSD are the
only people to experience "free thinking", creativity and the ability to
question the 'buisness framework' of the world. Many people like myself
have been brought up and educated in a way to have all these things
without having to resort to chemically altering our minds, maybe it is only
those missing something in the first place that need LSD or other drugs to
enable them to experience their true being.
Charlie, Banes

I had a great time with some great people experimenting (heavily) with acid
and mushrooms etc for a few years. I also had some absolutely nightmarish
trips too. I think it helped lead me to a more conscious and empathic life.
I'm lucky to have found expression in an artistic industry and have no need
of any chemical triggers 20 years later, not even alcohol.
Raindog, Oxford

LSD25 is a powerful tool. As an old 'acidhead' myself, I am convinced that it
should be used in the treatment of certain mental ill health - and it's use in
treating those dependant on alcohol showed it was the most effective
treatment. Yes, there were some - like Peter Green - who seemed to suffer
from its use. I believe they were already ill and LSD25 did not help, and
may have amplified their ill health, but prescribed drugs do not have
positive benefit for all users either. As for myself, I am glad I experienced
the high quality acid produced in the early 70s. It altered my perception of
myself and the world around me. It took an unemployed council estate kid,
woke him up, and gave him the vision to return to education and eventually
become a graduate.
AKF, London UK

How sad is a human being when they need artificial influences to make
their life better or different? The repercussions of having an alternative
thought process is disasterous. And having a chemical replace common
sense and reason is unfathomably foolish.
A Booyse, Stevenage

Consider the fate of Peter Green, founder of Fleetwood Mac. His
experimentations with LSD resulted in quite stunning musical
experimentation that formed the blueprint for hard rock and even dance
music, but resulted in "never coming back" from the trips he took.
Rich Stock, Southampton, Hampshire

As an ex-LSD tripper it made a significant impact, both positive and
negative on my self. This impact veered from an increased sense of self
awareness and creativity on the positive side to a short lived bout of
extreme paranoia and problems concentrating related to hallucinogen
persisting perception disorder on the negative.

It's true that if I hadn't had bad trips whilst on LSD I would still love to take
it today if only to re-experience that wonderful sense of cathexis and
increased creativity. Whilst LSD has received a large amount of bad press, I
still strongly believe that LSD can be an important tool in treating mental
illness, and should be studied free from this negative stigma. Having said
that, it's clear that LSD isn't a drug for everyone.
Jez, London

Well, I was a "child of the 60's". Now I am 60. Back then I refused the
strawberry stamp petrified at the thought of dying young. Now when I read
"Albert Hofmann, the Swiss chemist who discovered LSD has died aged
102", I wonder at my choices.
The Suze, South Wales