History of LSD

LSD stands for lysergic acid diethylamide. According to Encyclopaedia Britannica, it is a potent synthetic hallucinogenic drug. It affects perception of time and distance, thinking, mood and behavior. LSD is a very powerful drug. It can create many unpredictable and sometimes violent behaviors, they may even have many different emotions at once. Using can give rapid and dramatic sensation and feeling changes.In the Article "The LSD story", the author Judy Monroe states that these hallucinogens include many natural substances. The man that talks about his experience in the "LSD story" says how at first when he started taking this drug, it would keep him up all night and it felt like a bunch of electricity going through his body. But later, the feelings he started having weren't so positive anymore. He started not to be able to think as clearer and make decisions about anything. Duane also stated that he would always take just small doses of the drug but the effects of it would last up to 14 hours. Because of this drug, Monroe tells how it has caused many drownings, burns, falls, and even traffic accidents.
Monroe also notes in her article about LSD first being developed in 1938 by a chemist names Albert Hofmann. LSD was first used as an experiment in medicine to help those with psychotic diseases. Also she states that after WW2, scientists used it to study brain chemistry and to help figure out the effects on patients who weren't in the right mental state of mind. Also they used it to help alcohol addicts and cancer patients. But during the 1960's all research involving LSD was dropped.
In the article "LSD," they talk about how popular this drug was in the 60's with 'hippies'. And this drug spread very fast and widely in the mid 1960s and many of the users being young and in their early 20's. By early 1970s, the use of LSD was dropped dramatically. (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2009)
According to Monroe, LSD has been making a comeback with teens and has been increasing since 1990's. Apparently, there has been many numeral hospital visits due to LSD being in their system. The Drug Enforcement Administration has said that LSD is "the fastest-growing drug of abuse in the under 20 age group."
There are so many dangerous risks of using LSD. In the Article "The LSD Story" by Judy Monroe, she talks about them saying how there could possibly by damage done to the brain with the memory and attention span. There are many psychological and physical risks behind LSD. It can cause depression, anxiety or paranoi. There also may be flashbacks.



References

LSD. (2009). In Encylclopaedia Brittannica. Retrieved October 19, 2009, from Encylopaedia Britannica Online School Edition: http://school.eb.com/eb/article=9049184

Monroe, Judy. The LSD story. Retrieved October 19, 2009, from EBSCOhost: http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail.

War on Drugs

In the article, "The War on Drugs Reduces Drug Abuse," Asa Hutchingson makes some very good points. It is a continuous battle and has been a problem for many many years. She also makes a good point by talking about the myths of drugs. There are a lot of myths of drug abuse such as marijuana not being harmless. Like Hutchingson said, it can cause health problems and I also agree that younger people have a harder time then concentrating in school and class.
In the other Article, Sanho Tree makes some very interesting points to such as the whole thing about the law enforcement and getting those weaker while the "smart ones" get away with it. There are many people with war addictions not those who just seem like the ones that would have a drug abuse problem but what about the higher class? Tree points out how with these policies its easier for those drug operation to "'survive".
America definitely has a drug problem and no matter what I don't see us ever totally getting rid of this drug abuse problem. It may always be here because noone knows how to go about the situation the right way. In the end, I think both Tree and Hutchingson make had very good viewpoints and both seemed really accurate.