419, International LSD Day

LSD is a synthetic form of ergot, a fungus that appears naturally on damp grain.
A researcher, Albert Hoffman, who had synthesized ergot to find something to kill it, accidentally ingested some through his fingertips 1 day back in 1943. 3 days later he purposely ingested some, and became the first man to take the first acid trip.
The date (which is also called Bicycle Day)?
April 19.
419.
Trippy huh?

More on ergot:
There have been many outbreaks of public hysteria throught history.
The Salem Witch Trials for example. Many historians now believe that many out these outbreaks of hysteria was due to ingesting grain infected with ergot.
In it's natural form, ergot can put you on a trip almost exactly like LSD, but, unlike LSD there are many health risks associated with ergot consumption. Ingestion of too much ergot can cause organ failure and death.

More on Albert Hoffman:
After discovering the effects of LSD, Mr, Hoffman went on to experiment with many other naturally-occuring psychdelic substances such as Baby Woodrose seeds, Morning Glory seeds and magic mushrooms.
Mr. Hoffman celebrated his 100th birthday earlier this year (Jan. 11).

 

very interesting

 

ergot is deadly poisonous, and ingesting ergot, while likely to alter your consciousness due to lysergic substances RELATED to LSD is not at all likely to be close to being "almost exactly like an acid trip"

if anything the effects will be almost like morning glories, but a good bit more toxic. people often take things like woodrose and morning glory seeds to try and trip, and indeed you can get some strong altering effects from these plants....but you often get quite sick, as well, even though its not likely to be life-threatening. in fact, they are considered holy sacraments of sorts by some peoples of the world.


ergot, on the otherhand, contains a number of more dangerous chemicals than do HBWR and morning glory seeds. symptoms of ergotism can include convulsions, a type of gangrene, and severe burning pains in the limbs (earning ergotism such nicknames as "saint anthony's fire" during the olden days when ergot-contaminated crops posed severe health risks as the cause remained unknown).

LSD is not exactly a synthetic version of ergot. ergot contains a number of active alkaloids, but not just any of them are used in the manufacture of LSD. LSD is not known to be present in ANY natural material. LSD is related to, but significantly chemically different from any alkaloids found in mentionable quantities in things like ergot and morning glories.

consuming ergot is extremely dangerous and likely to cause serious problems before enough has been ingested to cause any "desirable" effects. to suggest that eating it will be comparable to taking acid is flat out irresponsible, especially considering some of the people that frequent these forums. i know the post wasn't likely to be MEANT to encourage consuming ergot, but the wording of it could put that idea in some people's heads. while its unlikely anyone who got that idea would also find a quantity of real ergot, i think its worth mentioning that ergot and LSD have very little in common in terms of effects after ingestion.


for any impressionable stoners thinking they may want to try ergot.....


FORGET IT!

anyone who wants a "natural" alternative to LSD, please, try morning glories or mushrooms instead of ergot.

rangerdanger mentioned health risks but also made it sound like it will give you a good trip in small doses (though this wording was not used, i'm not trying to put words in his mouth)

i just thought i'd expand a bit on the health risks.

i can't say it enough: this stuff is dangerous and is only useful to scientists.

ergot most often grows on rye (and is a fungus, which is why people claim eating mold from rye bread will make you trip...but it wont, its the same as any other bread mold. ergot grows on grain plants, not on processed bread) and other cereals. contaminated crops may have caused outbreaks of ergotism among communities in days gone by. a town being struck by a mysterious sickness could easily be misidentified as an attack from witches or other mysterious causes, and may well have led to hysteria, such as the salem trials mentioned. since ergotism wasn't understood by westerners in those days, let alone much of anything medical, records are sketchy at best though.

for more information on these topics you can do searches at erowid, wikipedia and google on ergot, ergotism, st. anthony's fire, ergolines, lysergic acid amide, albert hofmann, and lysergic acid diethylamide

 

so what r u sayin that 419 is national acid dropping day

 

Nesta, I didn't say people who ingest ergot WILL expereience an LSD-like trip, I said it's possible.

I DID warn people of the dangers (organ failure and death, is that not a serious enouigh warning?),in addition very few people have access to ergot, and I bet most of those who do know the possible effects/side effects.
Contrary to your insinuations I WAS NOT encouraging people to go out and scarf down moldy grain.
The main point of my post was that the day before Int'l MJ day could rightly be referred to as Int'l LSD day.

In addition: with the exception of marijuana, most substances that people ingest for intoxication can and do kill in higher doses (maybe not shrooms I don't know).
Dozens of people a week die from ingesting too much alcohol too quickly.
About 15 years ago a company started marketing fortified wine (20% alcohol) like a wine cooler (usually like 3%--4% alcohol). Kids who were used to chugging 3 or 4 wine coolers to get a buzz were dying.
Small amt's of opiates are used medicinally, larger doses produce intoxication and even larger doses can result in death.
Eating a lot of wild carrots (the source of hemlock) can kill.

After my initial post I did some additional research on ergot. Some historians believe that consumption of contaminated grain has had more of an impact on human history that many might think.

 

ehhhh... i dont think so...

I think that the afflicted girls purposely began blaming people for political and social reasons... u've got to understand that young girls in the Puritan colonies were among the lowest of the low as far as social rank was concerned. But as soon as they began accusing citizens of being witches *BAM*... they were basically celebrities. Everyone in the colony hung on their every word and took it for gospel. Also, it was thought that Thomas Putnam used his daughter Anne by having her accuse his neighbors of witchcraft, thus allowing him to usurp property and climb a notch higher on the social ladder, so to speak...


but this isnt history class, now is it? (written by me, who is stoned :jester

 

thc
diving act

 

pear

 

That's very interesting. My personal LSD Day though is this Saturday coz I'm gonna eat some high quality cid. Can't wait.

 

Bicycle day because as he was coming up on the insanely large dose of acid he consumed he was riding his bicycle home from the lab (or so the legend goes).
Hence the blotter print like these:

I hadn't seen them in a very long time but came across fuckin hundreds in Portugal this year and damn good they were too.

If you have an hour or two spare I'd recommend watching this documentary about LSD that was shown over here on the BBC in the 80's (so it does have some cheesy special effects hehe) video here: http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=5904240612788659431&q=lsd

Peace

 

Very good info Ranger. I'm going to pass this info around.