Illicit use of LSD

There is reason to believe that the illicit use of LSD-25 s widespread and increasing, particularly in the young, well educated, and middle class, though to date only two studies have provided objective information about the situation. 

Panama seized 5 kg of ergotamine destined to Colombia. The Board calls on the Governments of all countries in the Americas to continue to closely monitor shipments of ergot alkaloids originating in Europe, in order to prevent their diversion for use in the illicit manufacture of LSD. 

Strychnine No clinical uses since it is lethal at low doses present as an impurity in some recreational drugs produced in illicit laboratories its presence as a low-dose impurity of LSD tablets may generate alertness. 

The phrases substance abuse and drug abuse are often applied to the use of an illegal or illicit chemical substance (e.g., LSD, heroin). However, these terms may be applied when a legally obtainable medication is used excessively and for unintended purposes or is diverted to someone else s use. Also, some legal substances (e.g., nicotine, alcohol) are used to the detriment of the individual. Inappropriate use, or abuse, is... 

In the past decade. Ecstasy use has exploded. In fact, although overall illicit drug use by teens markedly decreased in the past several years — including use of marijuana, inhalants, hallucinogens, LSD, cocaine, crack, heroin, tranquilizers, alcohol, cigarettes, and smokeless tobacco — Ecstasy use continued to rise, unabated (Figure 5.1). 

Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) is one of the most potent hallucinogens known to man. It was first synthesized in 1938 and was discovered to be psychoactive in 1943. It was initially used, experimentally, in the treatment of mental disorders but has not been used in this way for some 30 years. LSD encountered in the illicit drugs market of today is produced in clandestine laboratories. These are rarely detected because they make a large quantity of LSD, which lasts for an extremely long period of time, since only very small doses are administered and subsequent syntheses are not required [1]. LSD is, in the main, prepared from... 

Teenage use of illicit substances has fallen by 23% since the 1990s, and by 50% for LSD and Ecstasy. Of possible relationship is the fall in the birth rate by 35% for 15-19 year olds has since 1991. The high school dropout rate is at a 30-year low. 

To increase the window of detection for LSD use, because it is rapidly metabolized, recent methods target the metabolites that have longer half-lives. Half-life of nor-LSD is 10 h in urine, compared with that of LSD at about 5 h. The diastereomer iso-LSD is formed during the production of illicit LSD from lysergic acid but also if LSD is exposed to basic aqueous solution and high temperatures. 

Strychnine is a convulsant, used commercially as a rat poison. However, at low doses it can act as a CNS stimulant. Small amounts of strychnine are sometimes present in LSD tablets produced in illicit laboratories. It has been suggested that the degree to which an LSD tablet is alerting may reflect its strychnine content (Chapter 6). Khat... 

According to the DEA, as of October 2001, of the approximate 14 million Americans over age 12 who used illicit drugs, 22.3% used LSD. There is no mention of mescaline use in that survey. 

These authors reported high efficiency separations of heroin, heroin impurities, degradation products, and adulterants (Fig. 8.1). Also discriminated were acidic and neutral impurities present in heroin seized by law enforcement agencies, as well as in illicit cocaine samples, with resolution of benzoylecgon-ine, cocaine, cis- and frans-cinnamoylcocaine. MEKC was also used with a broad spectrum of other compounds of forensic interest, including psilocybin, morphine, phenobarbital, psilocin, codeine, methaqualone, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), amphetamine, chlordiazepoxide, methamphetamine, lora-zepam, diazepam, fentanyl, phencyclidine hydrochloride (PCP), cannabidiol, and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which were all separated with baseline resolution. 

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