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