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From the Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can change

LSD is the shorter name for a drug called Lysergic acid diethylamide. LSD is often called by the slang name acid. LSD is a psychedelic drug which causes people who take it to have hallucinations. It also affects their thought processes strongly.

LSD is sometimes used for certain therapies. Most often, it is taken outside any medical context, as an illegal drug.

LSD is made in a laboratory by chemists. It was invented in 1938 by a Swiss chemist named Dr. Albert Hofmann at the Sandoz Laboratories in Switzerland. Dr. Hofmann was trying to find new drugs, including one that could remedy the common cold.

One day in 1943, Hofmann accidentally ingested a small amount of LSD, and noticed strange light patterns in the sky as he went home. Believing what he saw to be the effects of the drug, he next tried a larger amount. He ended up having a much stronger reaction to the drug than he ever expected. Hofmann lay on a couch, afraid he had made himself insane for life. When a neighbor came, found him in trouble, and stayed to look after Hofmann, he was able to calm down, and felt better the next day.