Dr. Albert Hofmann is dead

I realize we are in the heat of a political clusterfuck, but perhaps we could all take a minute to honor the memory of a man who changed the word for the better.

I realize the death of this eminent Swiss chemist will have no effect on the election. However, as I fret over the ebbs and flows of this election I was saddened to read about Dr. Hofmann's death today at Talking Points Memo.

It is hard to separate my own socialization from the consumption of LSD or forget that it provided one of the great moments of American political theater, when Mayor Daley put the Chicago water system under police protection to stop those pesky Yippies from flooding the Chicago Water system with gallons of LSD. Thinking about what i would say, I do not think it is possible to pay a better tribute to the good doctor than Country Joe and the Fish's LSD Commercial:

If you're tired or a bit run down

Can't seem to get your feet off the ground

Why not try a little bit of LSD

Only if you want to

It'll shake your head and rattle your brains

maybe even make you a little bit insane

Eat flowers and kiss babies

LSD, For YOU AND MEEE!!!!!

Good night Dr. Hofmann, you left the world a better place than you found it when you came in.

James

•  Don't kill me - I enjoyed lsd.

  Can I say that?  Last time I did was 15 years ago.

  by ObamaManiac2008 on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 08:37:59 PM PDT

  •  Can you say that?

    Far as I know.  We'll know soon enough!

    by The Termite on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 08:55:33 PM PDT

•  Which word did he leave for the better?

  :)  Peace

  by palantir on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 08:38:14 PM PDT

  •  Typonazi ;) n/t

    by Trix on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 08:40:16 PM PDT

  •  have you heard?

    the word is love

    by Shahryar on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 09:38:48 PM PDT

•  I heart LSD

  Oh, yeah.  Sweet memories.  And a tip of the hat for Abby.

  by crazyshirley2100 on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 08:39:04 PM PDT

  •  I loved LSD

    But I haven't done it in like over 30 years.  And I have no desire.  It was fun but it made me too crazy.

    And I had friends who just kind of faded away to nothing.  Not just from LSD, but from the times.

    We are living in interesting times, but they are not the sixties.  In some ways worse, and some ways better. Much better.  

    Dr. Hoffman was a scientist, a real scientist, God bless him.  He took a little of his own medicine, but not too much.  And he lived to be 102.  We should all be so lucky.

    by MadScientist on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 09:08:51 PM PDT

    •  I did ex a few years ago

      My husband loved it, but me....not so much.  Felt like badly cut acid.  If someone handed me the real deal, I'd chomp it down like a road runner eating a grasshopper.  

      by crazyshirley2100 on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 11:53:52 PM PDT

•  What a long strange trip it was

  He lived to be 102.

  by Trix on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 08:39:33 PM PDT

  •  What a Long Strange Trip It's Still To Be...

    Thanks Albert..

    by Losty on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 08:41:06 PM PDT

•  Have a nice trip

  So many prominent people are departing lately. May the good doctor RIP.

  by pdrap on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 08:40:30 PM PDT

•  Got me through high school.

  Best 7 years of my life.

  by civil wingnut on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 08:41:44 PM PDT

•  Changed my life.

  I cannot begin to express my gratitude, Doctor you will be sorely missed.

  Thank you.

  by BrandonM on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 08:45:41 PM PDT

•  He was a brilliant man

  he lived to be 102.

  Ergotomine intoxication has a long history.

  LSD got a bad rap, it was fun and it didn't change the world.

  by mariachi mama on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 08:46:28 PM PDT

  •  How do you know it didn't change the world?

    Changed mine.

    by The Termite on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 08:52:00 PM PDT

    •  I just had fun

      I am happy that you had an enlightening experience, I just enjoyed the pretty colors. I had fun taking acid and working in the garden.  

      by mariachi mama on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 09:02:16 PM PDT

      •  I know, just playing with you

        Most people feel the way you do.  Which is more than enough!

        by The Termite on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 09:05:25 PM PDT

        •  But the damn

          "GRINS" got painful.

          by mariachi mama on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 09:11:05 PM PDT

•  err, he wasn't a stoner

  people.

  by mariachi mama on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 08:47:28 PM PDT

•  THANK YOU Dr. Hofmann

  For what you gave so many of us!

  by The Termite on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 08:51:31 PM PDT

•  LSD was discovered by "Big Pharma"

  before it was known as Big Pharma

  by science first on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 08:54:23 PM PDT

  •  sandoz ftw

    by Jimmy Crackcorn on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 09:00:33 PM PDT

•  RIP

  I actually took acid the first time when it was still legal and we had pharmaceutical grade. It was just flat out wonderful and did change the way I see the world. I would love to take one more trip before my final one. (sigh)

  by Kewalo on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 08:55:20 PM PDT

•  If it wasn't for acid

  I wouldn't know what everyone's always thinking.

  by Mahnkenstein on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 08:55:24 PM PDT

•  LSD therapy...

  Reduced prison recidivism substantially in a single trail (Leary et. al.)

  Was proven effective in immediately ending addictive behavior (alcohol)

  Kept Cary Grant sane.

  What would be interesting is a presidential debate with all of the candidates tripping. Politics is the antithesis of all that LSD taught. And was a terrific BS detector.
  Thanks Dr. Hoffmann  

  by dyttocs on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 08:56:42 PM PDT

  •  Cary Grant was not sane

    C'mon.

    My favorite Cary Grant quote, on the difference between perception and reality.  "Everybody wants to be Cary Grant.  Even me.  I would love to be Cary Grant."

    by MadScientist on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 09:12:26 PM PDT

  •  An article on its medical use and potential

    It may interest you:

    LSD prescriptions and use

    by Nihilvor on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 09:12:51 PM PDT

•  Thank you Dr. Hofmann!!!! eom

  by lsd saint on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 08:58:45 PM PDT

•  Garcia has been wait Patiently!

  Say hi to Jerry!

  by Jimmy Crackcorn on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 08:59:56 PM PDT

•  But I never ever ever take acid

  . . . except for the weekends ;=}

  by trashablanca on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 09:04:46 PM PDT

•  We don't need LSD any more.

  We have Obama.

  by Rich in PA on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 09:14:20 PM PDT

  •  Yikes! Be careful what you admit...

    they'll make him illegal.

    by Nihilvor on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 09:16:07 PM PDT

•  I can't say that it changed my world,

  but it was lot of fun and nothing at all like the scary films they showed us in junior high health class.

  I won't say it is for everyone, though. One of the young women in my dormitory had a rough time of it on her first trip. I stayed tight to her during it and suggested maybe LSD wasn't a very good idea for her.

  by Over the Edge on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 09:16:53 PM PDT

•  Grateful Dead Concert

  At Shoreline Amphitheater in the Bay Area, all of us on the lawn, hugging and tripping--and then Mickey Hart launches into a drum solo and golden light appears and the scene is presided over by a serene, smiling Buddha reigning over the intense rhythm of the drumming and we're all together suffused by the sound.
  How much more wonderful, how much more beautiful was a moment like that to the corporate shit we are fed today  and fed a diet of fear and separation.
  I lived the 60s and for all the supposed negatives you hear about from the pundits of today, that time was infinitely more desirable and meaningful and loving and fulfilling than the empty consumerism we now face and the repeat of the war culture we then thought we could overcome.
  We must struggle on, but we must revive the culture of  LSD--not as a mode of living, but as a reminder and a guide to how we can be.

  by Cardshark on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 09:20:22 PM PDT

•  got my chips cashed in

  by shpilk on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 09:20:48 PM PDT

•  Dr. Hoffman was not working on hallucinogens when

  he discovered LSD.

  He was working on a drug to induce labor as I recall.

  He was doing what medicinal chemists do, varying the structure of known agents to find improvements.

  This class of compounds has well known effects on uterine contractions.

  His discovery of the hallucinogenic properties of this compound was accidental and was the result of contaminating himself inadvertantly.

  The discovery has lead to new insights into brain chemistry, but the discovery was, again, serendipitous.   I'm not sure that Hoffman was anything but ambivalent about the whole thing.

  by NNadir on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 09:24:18 PM PDT

  •  He wasn't ambivalent

    He loved the experience.  At first he took it out of the loop (knowing that the usual testers wouldn't know what to do with it) and did dozens upon dozens of trips with a select group of scientists.  Then he presented his findings.  He then went on to synthesize a version of psyclobin.

    Although he cautioned about using the drug without being informed on its effects, he was a big proponent of its value--of its effects on the self.

    by Nihilvor on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 09:28:53 PM PDT

  •  Well He was feted at many psychedelic events

    He was celebrated by the psychedelic culture and seemed to be accepting of it.

    He stayed involved in psychedelic research all the time after his discovery, although he had to hedge to remain "respectable" in the "scientific" community.

    One of the enduring stories is that JFK was introduced to LSD but Judith Exener and was about to launch into a much more major peace effort when the powers--the ones that plotted against FDR (Prescott Bush) and later hit MLK and Bobby Kennedy and are behind our imperial folly to this day, decided to take out Kennedy.

    LSD is about peace and unity and the propagand against it is always pushed by the authoritarian "power over" crowd that always wants control over those who want freedom.

    by Cardshark on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 09:34:08 PM PDT

    •  "Our Kennedy?"

      "Take out?"

      I'm not much of a Kennedy fan, to tell the truth.

      He was, as best as I can tell, a sybartic lightweight who was playing nuclear brinkmanship while partying.

      Not my kind of guy.

      It seems pretty clear to me why Eleanor Roosevelt despised him.

      Of course, Mrs. Roosevelt was everything Mr. Kennedy was not.   She was, quite simply, the greatest Democrat of the 20th century.

      As for the conspiracy theory, I'd say, "Lay off the hard stuff."

      by NNadir on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 09:58:30 PM PDT

•  He will be missed

  What an intelligent and gentle soul. Thanks for posting, James.

  by Oregon Bear on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 09:47:03 PM PDT

•  My hero, only second to Alexander Shulgin

  Err mum's the word, but utilizing Hofmann's masterpiece and Shulgin's masterpiece together is pretty much the ultimate state of being. =)

  by typo ink on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 09:51:58 PM PDT

•  if anyone saved our species

  it's Dr. Hofmann.  So many many people first became attuned to the overarching reality of the connection between all living things, thus saving them from the isolation of consciousness and the nihilism of provinciality that eats at so many of us still, through the portal of acid.

  I know because I'm one of them, and I don't think I'd have made it this far otherwise, honestly, even though it's been 17 years since I last did it.

  Last night I said a non-denominational prayer of thanks that this man was born and did what he did.

  by emperor nobody on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 11:05:12 PM PDT