LSD, a powerful hallucinogen, was developed at the Sandoz Laboratories (now Novartis) in Switzerland from research on chemicals found in the ergot fungus, which had several traditional uses in European herblore. In the 1950s, LSD was manufactured under the trade name Delysid by Sandoz, and widely promoted as a psychiatric cure-all, useful for treating schizophrenia, criminal behavior, sexual deviancy, alcoholism, and a wide variety of other mental ailments. Sandoz suggested in its literature that psychiatrists should take LSD themselves, to gain a better subjective understanding of the schizophrenic experience. Early results seemed very positive, indicating that if LSD was taken under the guidance of a caring professional, dramatic improvement in mental state and behaviour could be induced after just a single "trip", or drug use session. People who had come into contact with LSD in a professional capacity began using the drug recreationally and sharing it with friends and accquaintences.
Many users of LSD report profoundly positive life-transforming experiences, often incorporating mysticism and religious elements, while others have experienced intensely negative "bad trips", and a few have devolved into states of LSD psychosis.
Scientific research into the effects and potential uses of LSD was common in the 1950s, but it gradually declined as LSD became increasingly associated with spiritual experiences, recreational use, and the hippie counterculture during the 1960s. Several researchers, most prominently erstwhile Harvard psychology professor Dr. Timothy Leary, dissociated themselves from the mainstream mental health research establishment as its support for LSD research declined, and transitioned to roles as spiritual gurus. Leary believed that the state of mind LSD induces is that which is described in Buddhism as bodhi, or "enlightenment". He advocated the use of LSD for personal spiritual growth, and as a tool for socially overthrowing "the establishment". LSD was prohibited in the United States in 1967, listed by the DEA as a Schedule I drug with no medical uses and no possibility for safe use in research under medical supervision. Many researchers blame Leary and his anti-establishment proselytizing among the hippies for the prohibition. Systematic research since that time has been uncommon.
LSD was central to experiments conducted as part of the CIA's MKULTRA program, which was focused on finding reproducible methods to program and control human minds. Subjects included military personnel and private citizens, the vast majority of whom had no knowledge of the nature of the experimentation throughout their participation. Most MKULTRA experiments constituted significant breaches of human rights, and have since been openly denounced by the United States government. LSD itself proved ineffective as a means of controlling subjects, but reports indicate that many of the people involved suffered significant psychological trauma as a result. See MKULTRA.
