Acid Dreams

[LOT64 at aol.com]

Anyone interested in the origins of LSD should check out  Albert Hoffman's
book about his discovery of acid.  Its called LSD: MY PROBLEM CHILD.
 Published by McGraw-Hill in 1980.  The German title is LSD-MEIN SORGENKIND.
 Its a short memoir about his discovery and his first trip while bicycling
home for lunch.  Its probably a difficult book to find since I don't think it
sold very well.  1980 was probably the nadir of interest in LSD.  If only he
could have published around 1965.  Oh well, timing is everything.

Hoffman's book, however, does not touch on what I think is the most
fascinating theory about LSD.  This is the one that the CIA deliberately
introduced it into the youth culture to neutralize it politically.  I've
never seen this theory well substantiated but the links through the research
departments of Harvard and Stanford to government funding are interesting.
 Leary touches on this briefly in his memoir and adds some weird speculation
about Cord Meyer and his wife's mysterious death in Washington DC.  If I
recall correctly he speculates about Meyer's wife turning JFK on to acid, but
don't quote me on this, it may be a mismemory.  Of course if the
popularization of acid through LIFE magazine and Tim Leary are a CIA plot
then Leary's memoir must be taken with a 50 pound bag of salt.

Anyway, if you really start looking into the strange linkages and Kute
Koincidences from this era its enough to make anyone really paranoid.


Ron Churgin