The Father of LSD, Albert Hofmann, has died at age 102. TimesOnline: Albert Hofmann, the Swiss chemist who discovered the mind-altering drug LSD seventy years ago, has died at his home at the age of 102.In the 50s and 60s, Hofmann's creation became associated with Timothy Leary and "turn on, tune in, drop out." If that wasn't enough of a clue for Hofmann to realize LSD is a negative, he is a certifiable loon.
Hofmann died yesterday in Burg im Leimental, the village near Basel where he moved following his retirement in 1971, said Doris Stuker, a municipal clerk.
The hallucinogen inspired, and arguably corrupted, millions in the 1960s hippie generation. For decades after it was banned in the late 1960s, Hofmann defended his invention.
“I produced the substance as a medicine. ... It’s not my fault if people abused it,” he once said.
LSD was elevated to international fame in the late 1950s and 1960s thanks to Harvard professor Timothy Leary, who embraced the drug under the slogan “turn on, tune in, drop out”. The film star Cary Grant and numerous rock musicians extolled its virtues in achieving true self-discovery and enlightenment.
But away from the psychedelic trips and flower children, horror stories emerged about people going on murder sprees or jumping out of windows while hallucinating. Heavy users suffered permanent psychological damage.
The US government banned LSD in 1966 and other countries followed suit. Hofmann maintained that this was unfair, arguing that the drug was not addictive. He repeatedly maintained the ban should be lifted to allow LSD to be used in medical research.
He himself took the drug, purportedly on an occasional basis and out of scientific interest, for several decades.
“LSD can help open your eyes,” he once said. “But there are other ways - meditation, dance, music, fasting.”
Even so, the self-described “father" of LSD readily agreed that the drug was dangerous if in the wrong hands.
This was reflected by the title of his 1979 book: “LSD - my problem child”.
Did this guy accomplish anything with his life beyond unleashing LSD on the world? If so the article doesn't mention it. What a waste.
