The Effects of LSD
Short term effects
LSD is an hallucinogenic drug and therefore changes the way the mind perceives things. The effects of LSD are felt about half an hour after consuming the drug and peaks after two to six hours, fading after twelve hours, depending upon the amount consumed. Experiences vary depending upon the individual and the dose and are difficult to describe because of their often huge variance to the ways we are used to seeing and understanding the world.
Users often report visual effects of intensified colours, distorted images and movement in stationary objects. Distortions of hearing occur as well as changes in the users' sense of time and place. The user generally realises the unreal nature of these effects and true hallucinations are fairly rare. Once the 'trip' has started, it is not possible to stop it or control it. If the user is unstable, anxious or depressed then he or she may experience an unpleasant reaction, for example the user's emotive state may be exaggerated, the user may feel dizzy and disorientated and can experience a short-lived psychotic episode including hallucinations and paranoia. A user may experience 'good' and 'bad' trips and sometimes both within the same trip.
Deaths due to LSD are very rare, although accidents are more likely to happen while users are hallucinating. There is little danger of fatal overdose.
Long term effects
LSD produces some tolerance, so some users who take the drug repeatedly need to take progressively higher doses to achieve the same effects. This is an extremely dangerous practice, given the unpredictability of the drug. Tolerance to LSD is very easily avoided by limiting trip sessions. This also ensures that the trip experience remains potent.
An incredibly small proportion of users becomes psychologically dependent. Users do not become physically dependent on LSD.
It is possible for adverse psychological reactions to occur after one trip but are more common in regular users. Although prolonged serious psychological problems are rare, some have been reported. Users may manifest long-lasting psychoses, such as schizophrenia or severe depression. It is difficult to determine the extent and mechanism of the LSD involvement in these illnesses. They usually occur in people with existing or latent mental illness, there is no conclusive evidence to state that LSD actually causes mental illness.
A substantial amount of LSD users report short-lived, vivid re-experiences of part of a previous trip (flashback), especially after frequent use. This tends to leave the person feeling disorientated, anxious and distressed (although recognising and understanding this phenomenon will reduce, if not eliminate, any stress factor involved) but is rarely dangerous.
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