Preface

This volume is the first of a series of books in which I plan to summarize and condense in a systematic and comprehensive way my observations and experiences during seventeen years of research with LSD and other psychedelic drugs.

1 General Introduction: The LSD Controversy

More than a quarter of a century has elapsed since the Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann accidentally discovered the potent psychoactive properties of diethylamide of d-lysergic acid, better known as LSD-25. Shortly afterward, this substance became the subject of considerable controversy, which over the years has
reached unprecedented dimensions. It seems pertinent to start the discussion of LSD by a brief review of its stormy history.