Pubdate: Tue, 07 Dec 2010 Source: Brown and White, The (Lehigh U, PA Edu) Copyright: 2010 The Brown and White Contact: http://www.thebrownandwhite.com/home/lettertotheeditor/ Website: http://www.thebrownandwhite.com Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2715 Authors: Vincent Walsh, and Signe Hoover RISK OF LSD ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES By Vincent Walsh and Signe Hoover The essay below derives from recent discussions in my English 1 class, otherwise known as "The Fam Jam," about the unfortunate incident on campus several weeks ago when a male student, tripping on LSD, burst into a dorm room and allegedly engaged in extremely offensive, highly aggressive behavior, which resulted in his being arrested and confined in a local jail on half a million dollars bond. I went through college during the psychedelic frenzy of the '60s. I witnessed the deterioration of several truly great minds among my peers, brilliant young people who fell unwitting victim to contaminated versions of this brain-bending substance; the fact is, one never really knows the actual ingredients or size of dose with any street drug. Such ignorance can lead to tragedy, as I believe it has with this recent event in our community: a young man's promising future in ruins, several young women badly traumatized, all of us left deeply troubled - and, yes, profoundly embarrassed by having a story like this splashed all over local news outlets. This is not the image of Lehigh any of us wants to convey. Even more important, Lehigh students may be tempted to conclude that this was just a freak incident, and criticize this particular, sad young man, without ever considering the serious dangers associated with "recreational" use of a very powerful, often quite unpredictable mind-altering (and potentially mind-shattering) chemical substance. This tantalizing bit of brightly colored blotter paper may provide a "trip" to fantasy land, where one may get to see "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds," but one cannot always be so sure of being able to return to reality and write a catchy song about the experience. I hope all members of our university community will examine Signe Hoover's findings, and ponder, as well as discuss with friends and colleagues. After all, the biggest danger we face, as with many other issues that directly affect us, is ignorance itself. Vincent Walsh Teaching Fellow, English Department - --------------------------- LSD, or "acid," first appeared on the streets in the 1960s, and is still popular among teenagers today. LSD produces euphoria as it propels awareness beyond normal modes of consciousness. People's reactions to LSD vary greatly; some claim they become more aware of their surroundings; others describe the experience as spiritual. Users commonly report feeling separated from the body, or visual effects such as intensified colors, distorted shapes and sizes, and bizarre movements in normally stationary objects. During the "trip," users also experience several different emotions at once, or rapid swings from one emotion to another. If the drug is taken in large enough doses, the user experiences delusions and visual hallucinations, including distorted perceptions of time and self. LSD distorts electrical messages sent to and from various parts of the brain, primarily those pertaining to visual information. Messages from the senses can be perceived as merging together, creating a sensation known as "synesthesia;" one begins "hearing" colors and "seeing" sounds. LSD also suppresses memory centers and other higher cerebral functions such as judgment, behavior control, and self-awareness. An experience with LSD is referred to as a "trip;" sometimes the effects are terribly upsetting: users often become frightened and extremely anxious, which often leads to states of utter panic. Negative reactions like this are referred to as a "bad trip." Terrifying thoughts and feelings, fear of losing control, fear of insanity, fear of dying, and feelings of profound despair can occur. Users may become completely paranoid - particularly in unfamiliar, intense, or chaotic environments. Although an LSD trip might appear harmless, it actually entails severe psychological risks, such as recurring flashbacks, chronic schizophrenia, and intractable depression. Such reactions usually occur in people who already have emotional or mental problems, but there is still a significant risk for anyone who uses the drug. With repeated use, a tolerance gradually develops, prompting one to take progressively higher doses to achieve the same state of intoxication. Increasing the dosage like this can be very dangerous, due to the unpredictability of the drug. One of the main drawbacks of using LSD is "flashbacks;" the "trip" is re-experienced days, weeks, or even years later. Flashbacks arise spontaneously, without warning; they can last from a few seconds to several hours. A bad trip can be traumatic; here is how one man describes an experience with LSD: "It was at a festival. I was anxious anyway, especially as I'd already had one bad experience with acid. It started to rain and suddenly I was really scared of drowning. I got dead paranoid. I suspected everyone around me of being out to get me. Luckily, my brother found me and calmed me down, but it was horrible." Despite potential adverse effects, physicians have recently obtained permission to study the LSD's potential for treating mental illness and for illuminating the nature of consciousness. This past April an article describing the use of LSD for treating people with depression was published in The New York Times. A man named Clark Martin, who had been struggling through chemotherapy and other grueling regimens for kidney cancer, and was dealing with chronic depression, had tried every other treatment option, including counseling and antidepressants. However, nothing produced any lasting beneficial effect until he had his first psychedelic experience. After taking the hallucinogen, Martin put on an eye mask and headphones, and lay on a couch listening to classical music as he contemplated the universe. When looking back at this six-hour experience now, he feels it helped him overcome his depression and transformed his life. Researchers are currently conducting studies of psychedelics for possible use in treating obsessive-compulsive disorder, end-of-life anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, and drugs and alcohol addiction. So far, the results are encouraging, but researchers are cautioning against reading too much into preliminary findings; they point out that therapeutic benefits can only be achieved when there is strict quality control for purity of the drug, and careful monitoring by trained medical professionals: "Because reactions to hallucinogens can vary so much depending on the setting, experimenters and review boards have developed guidelines to set up a comfortable environment with expert monitors in the room to deal with adverse reactions. They have established standard protocols so that the drug's effects can be gauged more accurately, and they have also directly observed the drug's effects by scanning the brains of people under the influence of hallucinogens." Many precautions are taken to ensure a positive experience for the patient. People who have participated in these experiments claim they achieved an improved outlook on life. They also describe the experience as a personality shift. Martin says, "I could see that really good things in life will happen if you just show up and share your natural enthusiasms with people." While all this sounds promising, it is important to consider the way LSD is currently being misused. College students take LSD recreationally to achieve altered state of consciousness, or simply to escape academic pressure. During medical experiments, patients take hallucinogens under carefully controlled circumstances. When college students experiment with LSD, they can never be sure whether what they are taking actually is LSD, or something entirely different; they can never be sure whether other, possibly toxic chemicals have been added to the mix. Moreover, the user can never be one hundred percent sure of the exact dosage. Additionally, when taking LSD, no one can promise that it will be a good trip. If it's a bad trip, one just has to deal with it for several hours, which can lead to very frightening experiences. Few see the flashbacks as enjoyable; most people become scared when they are suddenly overwhelmed with bizarre memories from a previous trip. One is definitely taking a huge chance every time he or she ingests LSD; one's whole life could be turned upside down forever. While taking LSD may be relaxing for college students who sometimes want to "space out" and escape from reality, it is important that they realize the possible consequences of using LSD. Having flashbacks, or developing schizophrenia or serious depression for the rest of one's life is not a risk anyone should take lightly. Signe Hoover, '14 - --- MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart