Albert Hofmann, father of LSD, dies at age 102
Albert Hofmann, father of LSD, dies at age 102
The Associated Press wrote:NEW YORK -- Albert Hofmann, the father of the mind-altering drug LSD whose medical discovery grew into a notorious "problem child,'' died Tuesday. He was 102.
Hofmann died of a heart attack at his home in Basel, Switzerland, according to Rick Doblin, president of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, in a statement posted on the association's website.
Hofmann's hallucinogen inspired -- and arguably corrupted -- millions in the 1960's hippie generation. For decades after LSD 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.
The Swiss chemist discovered lysergic acid diethylamide-25 in 1938 while studying the medicinal uses of a fungus found on wheat and other grains at the Sandoz pharmaceuticals firm in Basel.
He became the first human guinea pig of the drug when a tiny amount of the substance seeped on to his finger during a repeat of the laboratory experiment April 16, 1943.
"I had to leave work for home because I was suddenly hit by a sudden feeling of unease and mild dizziness,'' he subsequently wrote in a memo to company bosses.
CTV.ca | Albert Hofmann, father of LSD, dies at age 102
Comments
No, you just don't know you've died