The following 9 drawings were drawn by an artist under the influence of LSD, as part of a test conducted by the US Government during their experiments with the drug in the 1950s (before declaring it illegal in the early 60s). The artist was given two healthy doses of the drug (50ug each), and was then given complete access to an activity box full of crayons and pencils. Behold, the effects the mighty drug has on the artist.
1st Drawing – 20 minutes after first LSD dose
An attending doctor observes, the patient decides to start drawing with charcoal.
The subject of the experiment reports – ‘Condition normal… no effect from the drug yet’.
2nd Drawing – 85 minutes after first LSD Dose and 20 minutes after second dose
The patient seems euphoric.
‘I can see you clearly, so clearly. This… you… it’s all … I’m having a little trouble controlling this pencil. It seems to want to keep going.’
3rd Drawing – 2 hours and 30 minutes after first dose
Patient seems very focused on the task of drawing.
‘Outlines seem normal, but very vivid – everything is changing colour. My hand must follow the bold sweep of the lines. I feel as if my consciousness is situated in the part of my body that’s now active – my hand, my elbow… my tongue’.
4th Drawing – 2 hours and 32 minutes after first dose
Patient seems gripped by his pad of paper
‘I’m trying another drawing. The outlines of the model are normal, but now those of my drawing are not. The outline of my hand is going weird too. It’s not a very good drawing is it? I give up – I’ll try again…’
5th Drawing – 2 hours and 35 minutes after first dose
Patient follows quickly with another drawing
‘I’ll do a drawing in one flourish… without stopping… one line, no break!’
Upon completing the drawing the patient starts laughing, then becomes startled by something on the floor.
6th Drawing – 2 hours and 45 minutes after first dose
Patient tries to climb into the activity box and is generally agitated – responds slowly to the suggestion that he might like to draw some more. He has become largely non-verbal.
‘I am… everything is… changed… they’re calling… your face… interwoven… who is…’ Patient mumbles inaudibly to a tune (sounds like ‘Thanks for the memory).
Patient changes medium to tempera.
7th Drawing – 4 hours and 25 minutes after first dose
Patient retreated to the bunk, spending approximately 2 hours lying and waving his hands in the air. His return to the activity box is sudden and deliberate, changing medium to pen and watercolour.
‘This will be the best drawing, like the first one, only better. If I’m not careful I’ll lose control of my movements, but I won’t, because I know. I know’ – (this saying is then repeated many times).
Patient makes the last half a dozen strokes of the drawing while running back and forth across the room.
8th Drawing – 5 hours and 45 minutes after first dose
Patient continues to move about the room, intersecting the space in complex variations. It’s an hour and a half before he settles down to draw again – he appears over the effects of the drug.
‘I can feel my knees again, I think it’s starting to wear off. This is a pretty good drawing – this pencil is mighty hard to hold’ – (he is holding a crayon).
9th Drawing – 8 hours after first dose
Patient sits on bunk bed. He reports the intoxication has worn off except for the occasional distorting of our faces. We ask for a final drawing which he performs with little enthusiasm.
‘I have nothing to say about this last drawing, it is bad and uninteresting, I want to go home now.’
WOW! This is so fascinating!! Where did you find out about this? I wonder what other experiments they’ve done on people on LSD??
It sure is! I found these drawings years ago; I can’t put my finger on how exactly I found them, but I did!
I also remember doing a history project on LSD experiments in high school, I found out that the CIA did a lot of tests on the drug to see if it could be used for mind control – Ken Kesey was a subject of these experiments and he wrote the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest about his experience – look up ‘project MKULTRA’ if you’re interested in reading about it. They also tested LSD on the military, to see if it could be used as a weapon during warfare, due to it’s disorientating effects and the fact that a droplet of the stuff can absorb through the skin and make you trip for hours.
Here are some vids you might want to check out!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDTsZn-eM5g
Craziness!! .. I’m really interested in addictions (I work in the criminal justice sector) and have been doing some research for self-interest on how cocaine works on the brain. Think I need to look into LSD too, gee. Anyways, thanks for the interesting info! :)
Pretty cool stuff. I don’t know much about LSD or any drugs for that matter. There are a lot of people out there that take psychedelics that swear they’re portals to another world. Who knows?
I think the reason most people do drugs is ultimately to escape from reality, so in that sense they are portals to another world. Behind many addicted or drug-dependent people is a lot of trauma (like physical or sexual abuse, or parental abandonment) and/or mental health issues like depression, anxiety, PTSD etc. Living life with those issues is a lot for some people to bear — I’ve spoken with a few people going through this and the story is usually that they get introduced to a drug for the first time and all of a sudden the world is a better place, their issues and burdens instantly disappear. From then on, it’s easy to get addicted …
That’s certainly true for a lot of drugs (weed, cocaine, heroin, alcohol, meth etc) but not so much for psychedelics. These drugs have a very low addiction rate as they are quite hard to ‘look forward to’ taking. Unlike with other addictive drugs, psychedelics are never consistent in their effects and are usually too long lasting or unpredictable to take often. There are of course, always exceptions to this. You should try it, might give you a new perspective!
Good point, psychedelics aren’t as addictive. Maybe they are portals to another world, as Mooselicker talked about, in another sense .. I was reading more about the effects of LSD and it sounds pretty nuts – as you say, might give you a new perspective!! I won’t be trying it though =P
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