Research on the medicinal benefits of LSD continues to grow, despite the barriers of psychedelic therapy limiting its accessibility. More and more people are curious how to get LSD safely, beyond their own social networks. In the last year alone, amidst the global coronavirus, more people have sought out psychedelic substances, including LSD, as a form of relief of pandemic PTSD and escape from the grim circumstances of the current world. It is important to take into account the legal risks when seeking out how to get LSD as well as the potential for dangerous knockoffs.
What is LSD?
Lysergic acid diethylamide, commonly referred to as LSD or acid, is one of many psychedelic substances. LSD’s cultural and social impact cannot be overstated. The accessibility and popularity of LSD during the 1960s counterculture movement brought a swift end to the stifling conformism of the 1950s. People from all walks of life, especially young people, headed the call to ‘turn on, tune in, drop out’, by participating in LSD rituals and experiment with new ways of being.
In this way, LSD — so powerful that doses of LSD are measured in micrograms — shook the foundations of society. Reactionaries and powerful interest groups, set on maintaining the status quo, pushed hard to wipe LSD from the public consciousness, and the substance was ultimately criminalized in 1968. Despite its illegal status, LSD’s ineffable alterations to the human psyche continue to astonish and inspire those who subvert the law and experiment with its power.
People consume LSD in a variety of forms: as a liquid, in tablets or gummies, or saturated LSD blotter paper referred to as tabs. LSD is so potent that it can be effectively absorbed through the skin. The only recorded LSD fatality and the first recorded LSD trip occurred in this way. Where doses of other common mind-altering substances are measured in milligrams, LSD doses are measured in micrograms. An average dose of LSD found on a tab is around 50 to 150 micrograms.
History of LSD
Though LSD is now sought out for its vivid hallucinations, dissociative effects and potential therapeutic uses, it was originally discovered by accident. In 1938, Swiss chemist Albert Hoffman synthesized lysergic acid diethylamide during his research on the potential pharmaceutical uses of the ergot fungus, a common bread mold. His goal was to isolate the active alkaloids, referred to as lysergamides, from the fungus and use them as a treatment for headaches.
During his research, he unintentionally ingested LSD through his skin while handling it in the lab. The psychedelic effects interested him so greatly that he ingested it again, on April 19th, 1943, and Hoffman proceeded to have the first-ever intentional LSD trip. Psychonauts now celebrate this day as Bicycle Day, a nod to Hoffman’s mode of transportation during his inaugural acid trip.
How LSD Works
Although LSD affects several types of neural receptors: dopamine, adrenergic, glutamate and serotonin, to name a few. It is LSD’s effects on serotonin receptors, specifically the serotonin receptor 5H2TA, that is the subject of most academic research. When LSD enters the neural network, it attaches itself to the 5H2TA receptor, and strangely, causes the receptor to fold over itself, creating a bubble-like formation.
The bubble-like formation traps the LSD, causing the receptor to continuously fire. This continuous firing is thought to produce hallucinations and altered mind states common to an LSD trip. Eventually, the brain absorbs the 5H2TA receptor back into the neural cell network and degrades the LSD. This process can take over twelve hours or the duration of the LSD trip.
How to Get LSD
The US federal government lists LSD as a schedule one drug, maintaining that it has a high potential for abuse and no apparent medical value. This classification severely limits LSD’s availability for domestic research and flies in the face of both the growing international clinical research and popular consensus on the real medicinal and spiritual benefits of knowing how to get LSD.
The Deep Dark Web
There are currently 4.66 billion internet users worldwide. While most users browse a curated internet with surface-level clients such as safari, internet explorer, chrome and firefox, others are driven to explore what is known as the ‘dark web’. As of 2019, ten percent of internet users have the tools to access the dark web. The dark web is an area of the internet that is only accessible through an overlay network that requires specific software and authorizations to access it.
The dark web allows users to communicate and perform business transactions anonymously, creating fertile ground for illegal activity. With everyone in their home for the last year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, more people than ever are seeking out psychedelic substances, like LSD via the dark web.
Pay in Bitcoin
Due to the inherent criminality of purchasing substances from the dark web, users take steps towards protecting themselves. Most transactions taking place on the dark web utilize cryptocurrencies, like bitcoin, to add another layer of anonymity to their purchases. Bitcoin uses peer-to-peer networks and open-source code allowing users to avoid the regulations and tracking associated with typical banking.
LSD Testing and Safety
One of the challenges people searching for LSD online face is the growing market for fake products. The chemicals needed to make LSD in a lab are carefully regulated, for good reason. For example, chloroform is a common solvent used in LSD production with a myriad of risks and potential for abuse.
The legal boundaries in place around the ingredients needed to make LSD create an environment that pushes underground LSD production toward chemical loopholes. Chemically, knockoff LSD is vastly different from authentic LSD and comes with many dangerous side effects. In 2013 alone, fake LSD caused nineteen recorded deaths.
Fake LSD produces psychedelic effects in a completely different way than legitimate LSD. It often utilizes a NBOMe derivative, 25I-NBOMe, which acts on serotonin receptors in the brain producing vivid hallucinations— at the expense of a rising death toll.
For the safety of people attempting to learn how to get LSD, online or in person, testing kits are available online. These kits are relatively cheap and can identify if 25I-NBOMe is present. Some bootleg LSD manufacturers go as far as to include substances to trick these tests but currently, they are the only chemical LSD tests available.
A Lab
How LSD is made in a lab is a complicated chemical process deterring many from making their own. Chemists can produce lysergic acid diethylamide through either a full chemical synthesis or a semisynthesis. Full chemical synthesis involves combining multiple chemical reactants, followed by a purification process to isolate the desired compound.
Semisynthesis starts with natural sources and chemical compounds are extracted out of plants or fungi for further processing. Both of these processes require extensive knowledge of organic chemistry, access to very specific lab equipment and highly regulated ingredients.
In order to make LSD, chemists need lysergic acid which is currently a schedule three drug. Lysergic acid is synthesized from alkaloids often found in the ergot fungus. By adding a base and then neutralizing the alkaloids with an acid, chemists cause a compound of lysergic acid, lysergic acid hydrazide, to break off from the alkaloid structure.
Lysergic acid can also be produced from Morning Glory or Hawaiian Baby Woodrose seeds, though the flowers have poor final yields. Lysergic acid hydrazide undergoes extensive chemical treatment before finally isolating active lysergic acid diethylamide.
When seeking out how to get LSD it is essential to weigh the risk and illegality of buying, manufacturing and possessing LSD. As laws change, both nationally and internationally, the landscape around LSD use and production is evolving. For now, those curious to know how to get LSD must do their own research and apply caution surrounding their use of this powerful psychedelic.
Disclaimer: LSD is potentially categorized as an illegal drug. Reality Sandwich is not encouraging the use of these drugs where prohibited. However, we believe that providing information is imperative for the safety of those who choose to explore these substances. This guide is intended to give educational content and should in no way be viewed as medical recommendations.
