Substance use – LSD
LSD stands for lysergic acid diethylamide. It is an illegal street drug that comes as a white powder or clear colorless liquid. It is available in powder, liquid, tablet, or capsule form. LSD is usually taken by mouth. Some people inhale it through the nose (snort) or inject it into a vein (shooting up).
Street names for LSD include acid, blotter, blotter acid, blue cheer, electric Kool-Aid, hits, Lucy in the sky with diamonds, mellow yellow, microdots, purple haze, sugar cubes, sunshine tabs, and window pane.
LSD’s Effects on Your Brain
LSD is a mind-altering drug. This means it acts on your brain (central nervous system) and changes your mood, behavior, and the way you relate to the world around you. LSD affects the action of a brain chemical called serotonin. Serotonin helps control behavior, mood, the senses, and thinking.
LSD is in a class of drugs called hallucinogens. These are substances that cause hallucinations. These are things that you see, hear, or feel while awake that appear to be real, but instead of being real, they have been created by the mind. LSD is a very strong hallucinogen. Only a tiny amount is needed to cause hallucinations.
LSD users call their hallucinogenic experiences “trips.” Depending on how much you take and how your brain responds, a trip may be “good” or “bad.”
A good trip may be stimulating and pleasurable. A bad trip can be very unpleasant and frightening.
The danger of LSD is that its effects are unpredictable. This means when you use it, you do not know if you will have a good trip or a bad trip. There is no way to know how it will affect you:
- You may feel as if you are floating and disconnected from reality.
- You may feel joy (euphoria, or “rush”) and less inhibition, similar to being drunk from alcohol use.
- You may feel as if your thinking is extremely clear and that you have superhuman strength and are not afraid of anything.
- Your senses may become distorted. Shapes and sizes of objects may be altered. Or your senses may “cross over.” You may feel or hear colors or see sounds.
- You may have many emotions at once or move quickly from feeling one emotion to feeling another.
- You may have terrifying thoughts.
- Fears that you normally can control may become out of control. For example, you may have doom and gloom thoughts, such as thoughts that you will soon die, or that you want to harm yourself or others.
How fast you feel the effects of LSD depends on how you use it:
- Taken by mouth: Effects usually start in 20 to 30 minutes. The effects peak in about 2 to 4 hours and last up to 12 hours.
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