Despite the contentions of Leary and other advocates of LSD use, the unpredictable nature of the drug’s effects means that not all LSD trips are filled with spiritual awakenings and entertaining hallucinations. According to LSD researchers, “The most common complaint [about LSD] was an overwhelming state of panic, sometimes involving terrifying hallucinations.” This type of panic attack, known among users as a bad trip, is a temporary condition, but for those who experience them, the consequences can be serious.

Occasionally, those suffering panic attacks can become aggressive, and on rare occasions violent. Even if the person experiencing the bad trip remains calm, confused behavior, fearfulness to the point of paranoid withdrawals, and even attempted suicide are possible. Bad trips can last as long as twenty-four hours, although there are undocumented reports of bad trips lasting much longer.

Experts believe that the principal cause of a bad trip is overdose. Most bad trips occur when people take more than 250 micrograms, which produces an overwhelming level of serotonin in the brain.

The second cause of a bad trip is environmental. Bad trips often occur if the drug is taken in unfamiliar or frightening surroundings in the company of strangers. If people on LSD begin to experience frightening hallucinations and cannot find a friend or familiar setting to calm them, the fear can escalate to a panic attack, in which the sufferer believes that the experience may never end or that he or she might suffer permanent insanity.

The third cause relates to the mental health of the user before the drug is ingested. Often, people who are mentally unstable or who have a history of psychiatric problems are at greater risk of having a bad trip. Even among supposedly “normal” individuals, those who are for some reason preoccupied with death or violence are prone to bad trips that focus on death and violent themes.

Occasionally, a bad trip escalates beyond the point where reasonable dialogue can help, and medical attention is necessary. Hospital staff members generally administer sedatives or tranquilizers such as valium or injections of antipsychotic drugs. In almost all circumstances, the person recovers without any long-lasting effects other than the bad memory, although sometimes psychiatric follow-up is required.

Sometimes, bad trips have been known to occur a second time without being induced by a drug. Known as “flashbacks,” this phenomenon has recently become the subject of a great deal of debate.

Timothy Leary

The most celebrated and flamboyant proponent of psychedelics from the 1960s was Timothy Leary. Born in 1920, Leary grew up with an interest in psychology and worked professionally as a psychologist, emphasizing the importance of human interaction in therapy. During the 1940s and ’50s, Leary tried to revolutionize psychology by proposing radical ideas for the time such as group therapy, which was later recognized as a significant achievement.

When Leary was introduced to psychedelics in 1960, he saw them as a new form of chemical therapy that could possibly change the functioning of the brain in a positive way. While on the faculty of Harvard University, he set out to explore the effects of LSD on the human nervous system. After experimenting with LSD on himself and with friends, he carefully designed and observed laboratory experiments studying the emotional, physical, and social effects on volunteer graduate students. With a large stack of positive results, he believed he was ready to experiment on prison inmates who volunteered to take the drug. However, before these experiments could be concluded, LSD made the headlines as a dangerous new drug and was declared illegal, forcing Leary to abandon his experiments.

Still believing that LSD had great potential, he continued to publicly advertise what he believed to be the beneficial aspects of LSD. As the ’60s began to take shape, Leary was cast by the mainstream media, and by himself, as the “LSD Guru,” the “High Priest of LSD,” and the “Pied Piper of LSD.” As the drug gained popularity, he was happy to tour college campuses providing encouragement and instruction manuals for safe usage. He replied to the criticism that LSD was used indiscriminately and for kicks by writing that it should be used indiscriminately and for kicks. As he encouraged people to try LSD, he coined one of the most famous slogans of the ’60s: ‘Turn on, tune in, and drop out,” meaning take LSD, experience its spiritual benefits, and drop out of the mainstream culture. In 1966, Leary was arrested on drug charges, and in 1968 Harvard University fired him. He remained in jail until 1976. Subsequently, he moved to California.

In 1996, Leary died of cancer in his Los Angeles home among close friends. According to the Timothy Leary website, Lear/s death was videotaped, but the tape has never been publicly broadcast. Surrounded by friends, his last spoken works were “Why not?” which he repeated many times with varying intonations.

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