An anecdote like that is extremely terrifying. It connects with us emotionally.
It blows our perception of risk out of proportion. I recommend you read the Wikipedia entry. LSD is incredibly safe, particularly when compared to caffeine and alcohol.
I am very sorry for the person you knew because LSD clearly interacted with something.
>There have been no documented human deaths from an LSD overdose. It is physiologically well tolerated and there is no evidence for long-lasting physiological effects on the brain or other parts of the human organism.
It may be "incredibly safe" physically, but it is known to trigger mental disorders in people who may have had a predisposition or not.
I don't think something that has that powerful of an effect on someone's mind should be taken lightly, or casually paraded around as being safer than caffeine or alcohol. We are not talking about an LD50 or death. We are talking about mental health.
There are severe significant and potentially long term consequences if you don't do your research or don't know your family's mental health history. The same applies for alcohol and other addictive drugs for similar reasons.
I say this as a person who had a familial predisposition to mental health issues that were triggered by psychedelic and other drug use.
OTOH, there is a (rarely accounted for) opportunity cost to not taking hallucinogens. Many folks are plagued by unfortunate mental health, which could possibly be remedied by psychedelic experiences.
It's a tricky situation, but important to acknowledge both the good and the bad possible outcomes in a rational, scientific manner.
Just as you say we should not parade powerful drugs around as safe, we should also not casually dismiss the therapeutic and spiritual effects because of negative anecdotes or (seemingly) rare negative outcomes.
You're right. We should all be cautious with what we put in our body.
I find it interesting that you would choose to respond to a post warning about the risks of anecdotal evidence with your own personal anecdote. The impact to you was real, and incredibly rare. I am very sorry for what happened to you. Lots of people die in plane crashes; that doesn't make planes unsafe.
>Estimates of the prevalence of LSD-induced prolonged psychosis lasting over 48 hours have been made by surveying researchers and therapists who had administered LSD:
Cohen (1960) estimated 0.8 per 1,000 volunteers (the single case among approximately 1250 study volunteers was the identical twin of a person with schizophrenia, and he recovered within 5 days) and 1.8 per 1,000 psychiatric patients
It is riskier for people with pre-existing conditions. There is some value in finding those conditions. There's some fledgling research that LSD can help with some conditions.
It blows our perception of risk out of proportion. I recommend you read the Wikipedia entry. LSD is incredibly safe, particularly when compared to caffeine and alcohol.
I am very sorry for the person you knew because LSD clearly interacted with something.
>There have been no documented human deaths from an LSD overdose. It is physiologically well tolerated and there is no evidence for long-lasting physiological effects on the brain or other parts of the human organism.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lysergic_acid_diethylamide?oldf...