The Acid test

[Gob]

LSD 'helps alcoholics to give up drinking'

One dose of the hallucinogenic drug LSD could help alcoholics give up drinking, according to an analysis of studies performed in the 1960s.

A study, presented in the Journal of Psychopharmacology, looked at data from six trials and more than 500 patients.

It said there was a "significant beneficial effect" on alcohol abuse, which lasted several months after the drug was taken.

An expert said this was "as good as anything we've got".

LSD is a class A drug in the UK and is one of the most powerful hallucinogens ever identified. It appears to work by blocking a chemical in the brain, serotonin, which controls functions including perception, behaviour, hunger and mood.

Researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology analysed earlier studies on the drug between 1966 and 1970.

Patients were all taking part in alcohol treatment programmes, but some were given a single dose of LSD of between 210 and 800 micrograms.

For the group of patients taking LSD, 59% showed reduced levels of alcohol misuse compared with 38% in the other group.

This effect was maintained six months after taking the hallucinogen, but it disappeared after a year. Those taking LSD also reported higher levels of abstinence.

The report's authors, Teri Krebs and Pal-Orjan Johansen, said: "A single dose of LSD has a significant beneficial effect on alcohol misuse."

They suggested that more regular doses might lead to a sustained benefit.

"Given the evidence for a beneficial effect of LSD on alcoholism, it is puzzling why this treatment approach has been largely overlooked," they added.

Prof David Nutt, who was sacked as the UK government's drugs adviser, has previously called for the laws around illegal drugs to be relaxed to enable more research.

He said: "Curing alcohol dependency requires huge changes in the way you see yourself. That's what LSD does.

"Overall there is a big effect, show me another treatment with results as good; we've missed a trick here.

"This is probably as good as anything we've got [for treating alcoholism]."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-17297714

[BoSoxGal]

I've heard great things about MDMA for PTSD, and Ibogaine for substance abuse. Powerful drugs that can create a profound effect in one treatment, with results lasting for months.

Not allowed in the USA, of course. We need our addicts and alcoholics to keep our law enforcement, social workers and chemical dependency industries going strong.

[dales]

From my limited understanding, research using LSD-25 was suspended in the early 1970's due to the unpredictability in the use of the drug. The most powerful hallucinogen known at the time, LSD-25 was simply not a reliable tool. There were too many variables. Results with one patient while satisfactory, might be all together different with another. Added to this fact were the underlying factors in each patient's individual psychologies (which manifested themselves on a grand scale while under the drug's influence) were next to impossible to forsee and to catagorize.

Fast-forward some 40+ years.

These impediments still exist- LSD-25 is still around to be sure- but the last I heard, many researchers believed using this substance was at a dead end, both due to govt restrictions and research funding has all but dried up.

What I did glean from the article was than the dosages administered were on the high side (500-800 micro-grams) and that the drug would have to be taken more than once. For how long and at the same dosage was not stated.

Until the DEA relaxes the restrictions on the use of LSD-25 (a near impossiblity) these questions will never be answered. All we are left with are more questions than answers.

[Joe Guy]

Of course it would work.

Why would anyone dropping acid all the time feel the need to drink alcohol?

[dales]

Both would be what one would call seeking a numinous experience as Carl Jung is to have said.

Many are unaware that the early foundations are based upon a portion of work done by Carl Jung with a "hopeless alcoholic" Roland H.

Dear Mr. W. [Bill Wilson-one of the founders of Alcohilics Anonymous]
Your letter has been very welcome indeed.

I had no news from Rowland H. anymore and often wondered what has been his fate. Our conversation which he has adequately reported to you had an aspect of which he did not know. The reason that I could not tell him everything was that those days I had to be exceedingly careful of what I said. I had found out that I was misunderstood in every possible way. Thus I was very careful when I talked to Rowland H. But what I really thought about was the result of many experiences with men of his kind.

His craving for alcohol was the equivalent, on a low level, of the spiritual thirst of our being for wholeness, expressed in medieval language: the union with God.*

How could one formulate such an insight in a language that is not misunderstood in our days?

The only right and legitimate way to such an experience is that it happens to you in reality and it can only happen to you when you walk on a path which leads you to higher understanding. You might be led to that goal by an act of grace or through a personal and honest contact with friends, or through a higher education of the mind beyond the confines of mere rationalism. I see from your letter that Rowland H. has chosen the second way, which was, under the circumstances, obviously the best one.

I am strongly convinced that the evil principle prevailing in this world leads the unrecognized spiritual need into perdition, if it is not counteracted either by real religious insight or by the protective wall of human community. An ordinary man, not protected by an action from above and isolated in society, cannot resist the power of evil, which is called very aptly the Devil. But the use of such words arouses so many mistakes that one can only keep aloof from them as much as possible.

These are the reasons why I could not give a full and sufficient explanation to Rowland H., but I am risking it with you because I conclude from your very decent and honest letter that you have acquired a point of view above the misleading platitudes one usually hears about alcoholism.


You see, "alcohol" in Latin is "spiritus" and you use the same word for the highest religious experience as well as for the most depraving poison. The helpful formula therefore is: spiritus contra spiritum.
Thanking you again for your kind letter

I remain

Yours sincerely

C. G. Jung*

"As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God." (Psalms 42:1)

I wrote my Masters Thesis on this very subject, hence my great interest.

[Sue U]

Why would anyone dropping acid all the time feel the need to drink alcohol?

Not much of a tripster, are/were you?

[Joe Guy]

Not much of a tripster, are/were you?

Actually, I did a lot of acid when I was a young adult.

Can't you tell? Right now your post looks like this to me...



I never even thought of mixing alcohol with LSD. They don't seem to go together although I'm sure many people did it. I would think all it would have done is give me a hangover the next day.

[Sue U]

It helps take the speedy edge off the trip. (Or so I'm told.)

[Lord Jim]

It helps take the speedy edge off the trip. (Or so I'm told.)

I've uh, heard that as well....

In fact as I recall was told it, it is possible to consume large quantities of alcohol while on acid, and barely notice the affects generally associated with drinking...

Except of course for the hangover affects later...

[dales]

An excellent documentary on LSD-25 produced by the Film Board of Canada:



Shows early work done in Saskatchewan in the 1950's with alcoholics.

[Gob]

Alcoholics will be given a prescription drug currently used to treat anxiety and heart conditions in the hope that it will help them quit drinking for good.


Scientists at Cambridge University believe that propranolol may block some of the cravings that addicts have for alcohol, and will reportedly begin a world-first clinical trial later this year to test their theory. The researchers apparently hope the drug may help prevent what they call 'cue-drug memory' – when recollections of certain people and places that are closely linked to alcohol create a subconscious impulse to drink.

The clinical trial follows studies on rats that showed the drug could erase a stimulus in the animal's brains when they had a craving for a drink. Propranolol is a beta-blocker that was originally used to treat heart and circulatory conditions, including tremors and high blood pressure, and is also in use to reduce the symptoms of anxiety such as a rapid heart rate or sweating.

It targets the beta-adrenergic receptors in the brain which help to create a strong emotional memory. Scientists believe the drug may work by stripping emotion from the memory. Lead researchers Dr Amy Milton, from Cambridge's Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, told The Independent: 'Traditionally, memory was viewed as similar to a book, which can be shelved but never changed once printed. We now think that memory is more like a word processing document – you can save it and then recall it, at which point you can adapt or even delete its contents.'

Dr Milton will be presenting the team's initial findings at this week's Cambridge Science Festival. The clinical trial - funded by the Medical Research Council as part of a £2.7m five-year programme investigating the drug - is expected to recruit dozens of alcoholics later this year. If successful, it could revolutionise approaches to the treatment of chronic alcoholism.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z1oqkap9xM

[dales]

I'd prefer Delysid.

[Sue U]

Propranolol is ... also in use to reduce the symptoms of anxiety such as a rapid heart rate or sweating.

That's very interesting. A friend of mine was on propranolol (for hypertension) when he began his career as a stand-up comic. He said he thought it was responsible for allowing him to go on stage in total calm.

In fact as I recall was told it, it is possible to consume large quantities of alcohol while on acid, and barely notice the affects generally associated with drinking...

Except of course for the hangover affects later...

I heard that could be avoided by substituting Quaaludes for the alcohol.