LSD

LSD or Lysergic Acid Diethylamide is a hallucinogenic drug originally derived from ergot, a fungus found growing wild on rye and other grasses. It's commonly called acid. The experience is known as a trip and these trips can be good or bad. A good trip can be a lot of fun. A bad trip is your worst nightmare come to life.

This isn't the drug for people who like to stay in control of their environment.

ID: Acid, blotter, cheer, dots, drop, flash, hawk, L, lightening flash, liquid acid, Lucy, micro dot, paper mushrooms, rainbows, smilies, stars, tab, trips, tripper, window. Sometimes LSD is known by the pictures on them e.g strawberries.

Appearance and use

As a street drug it's usually sold as tiny squares of paper, usually with pictures on them. But it can be found as a liquid or as tiny pellets.

A trip can take from 20 minutes to an hour to start and usually lasts about 12 hours. Once it's started you can't stop it. And until you take a tab of acid you can't tell how strong it is or how it's going to affect you.

Cost

£1 - £5 a tab

Purity

It's rare to get duff acid. The mistake some people make is that they think it hasn't worked so they take more and find it's too much for them to handle. Some acid can take up to two hours to make itself known.

The effects

Acid has very random and sometimes very frightening effects. Trips feed off a person's imagination. One person can spend 12 hours in a very happy place while someone else who's bought the same stuff can spend 12 hours lost in their own fears and paranoia.

How the trip goes has everything to do with who you are, how you're feeling and how comfortable you are with the people you are with.

• A trip can speed up and slow down time.
• Trips can speed up and slow down movement.
• Colour, sound and objects can get distorted. Think dancing wallpaper, angry traffic cones and double vision.
• Trips can make a happy person happier and a freaked out person more panicky and confused.

There is a flip side:

• If panic sets in the experience can be scary and confusing.
• Bad trips can be terrifying.
• Flashbacks sometimes happen. This is when part of the trip is re-lived way after the trip was taken. This is usually weeks or months after taking the LSD but can be longer.

Chances of getting hooked

Not addictive.

The risks

• There's no evidence to suggest LSD does any long-term damage to the body or long-term psychological damage.
• However, if you have mental health issues, acid can make them worse.
• If you have a history of serious mental health problems in your family it may be a bad idea to take acid as it can bring underlying problems to the surface.
• Avoid taking acid if you're in a bad mood. People have been known to harm themselves during a bad trip.

The law

LSD is a Class A drug - illegal to have, give away or sell. Possession can get you up to seven years in jail. Supplying someone else with LSD can get you life and an unlimited fine.

Fact: Passing drugs among friends is supplying in the eyes of the law.

Fact: Some countries refuse visas to people with drug convictions..

Fact: A drug conviction could stand between you and your ideal job.