On 16 April 1943, Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann decided to take a second look at one of his creations. It was LSD-25, a lysergic acid compound he had created in his research attempts to synthesise the active compounds in ergot, a fungus that attacks the grain rye. In the process, he spilled a bit on his hand – and opened his eyes to a brave new world.
It had all started five years earlier, in 1938. Hofman’s employer, Sandoz Laboratories in Basel, was looking to use the synthesized ergot compound to create a marketable circulatory stimulant. Poisoning from ergot-infected rye had been known since antiquity to cause spasms and burning pain (known as St. Anthony’s Fire) which, science later discovered, could be attributed to constricted blood vessels, as well as hallucinations and spontaneous abortions. But in small, controlled doses, ergot had also been medically administered by midwives to stop postpartum bleeding. With these known effects on the circulatory system, Sandoz and Hofmann hoped they were heading in the right direction; after dozens of inconclusive attempts, however, institutional interest waned, the ergot project was shelved, and Hofmann moved on to other research.
But something kept nagging the chemist about LSD-25. For five years Hofmann wondered if the compound had some potential he just wasn’t seeing. So, one day in April he decided to resynthesize LSD-25 (Lysergic acid diethylamide). When a small amount of the compound absorbed into his skin, Hofmann began feeling restless and dizzy, but pleasantly intoxicated. When he sat down and closed his eyes, for the next two hours he experienced “an uninterrupted stream of fantastic pictures, extraordinary shapes with intense, kaleidoscopic play of colours”.
Impressed by the experience, a few days later Hofmann intentionally ingested 250mg of LSD and sat down to record his experience. It was, he thought, a small dose; little did he know that such a quantity would soon come to be called “heroic”. Within no time he was in a rush to get home, on his bicycle, escorted by his lab assistant, as the effects overpowered him. 19 April has come to be celebrated as Bicycle Day, the date of the world’s first acid trip, even though Hofmann felt he had little to celebrate at the time – throughout the next few hours he experienced overwhelming anxiety, bouts of paranoia and terror, and feared he was going insane. But a few hours later, the anxiety subsided, the colourful visions of the first accident returned, and he relaxed into the experience to once again enjoy the ride.
Though nobody knew exactly what it did, for the next two decades the world opened its mind to the possibilities of LSD, thanks in no small part to Hofmann’s employer, Sandoz Laboratories. The Swiss pharmaceutical company began sending out free LSD-25 – then marketed as Delysid – to any researcher interested in experimenting with it. Many literally did, taking the drug themselves (in those days it was considered good ethical practice for doctors to test on themselves, as Hofmann had done) before offering Delysid to their schizophrenic, alcoholic or depressed patients.
Research blossomed, one hypothesis was discarded in favour of another, and LSD came to be recognized as a potential aid in treating many of the modern world’s ills, including anxiety, depression, alcoholism and more. But when in the early 1960s LSD “escaped the laboratory” at the insistence of Harvard scientist turned counterculture revolutionary Timothy Leary, and Western governments shut down research and made LSD illegal, Sandoz Laboratories ceased production of what Hofmann, in his autobiography, aptly called his “problem child”.
Inspired by the world’s first acid trip, Hofmann remained a believer in the power of psychedelics to help us experience a “deeper, comprehensive reality”. He lived to the ripe old age of 102 and has proved to be something of a prophet. After years of criminalization in the West, LSD and psilocybin (the compound found in “magic” mushrooms that Hofmann was also the first to synthesize) are once again finding their way into research and therapy. Their use in treating depression, addiction and mitigating end-of-life anxiety may yet hold incredible promise – as long as, like Hofmann, we’re willing to give them a second look.