LSD chemist William Pickard to be released from prison
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Re: LSD chemist William Pickard to be released from prison
#2There was an article several years ago in Vice which mentioned him: https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/nndz9z/life-is-a-cosmic-g...
Re: LSD chemist William Pickard to be released from prison
#3Twenty years!? Assuming he was non violent that is an absolutely brutal sentence.
Re: LSD chemist William Pickard to be released from prison
#4Twenty years!? Assuming he was non violent that is an absolutely brutal sentence.
But drugs ruin lives!
Re: LSD chemist William Pickard to be released from prison
#5Pertaining to previous psychedelic prosecution:
The NYT OCR game is weak: https://www.nytimes.com/1971/12/30/archives/swiss-reject-ple...
In 1971 reaction GIFs had very few frames; I believe this is Leary after the decision: https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/EfA-aysZvcNpE84iYc8A...
Re: LSD chemist William Pickard to be released from prison
#6The Psychedelic Salon podcast did a long reading of Pickard's novel, The Rose of Paraselsus, which included an introduction which went in to Pickard's background.
It's well worth listening to.
The first episode of the series can be heard here: [1],[2]
[1] - https://psychedelicsalon.com/podcast-609-the-rose-garden-int...
[2] - Direct link to the mp3: https://media.blubrry.com/psychedelic_salon/archive.org/down...
Re: LSD chemist William Pickard to be released from prison
#7He got a raw deal. People around him who were pretty evil got off.
Re: LSD chemist William Pickard to be released from prison
#8For some reasons the feds in the 90s were unusually interested in prosecuting psychedelics. I'm of the opinion that all drugs should be legal, but even if I wasn't, I think I would still question why LSD manufacturers were getting such long sentences around that time. Never really made sense to me.
Re: LSD chemist William Pickard to be released from prison
#9Twenty years!? Assuming he was non violent that is an absolutely brutal sentence.
Under the Federal drug kingpin law[1], after certain thresholds[2] of business having been done, the minimum sentence is life. For example, the threshold for a life sentence for cocaine is 1500 kilograms, for LSD 300 grams. Doesn't matter if you were violent or not. No suspensed sentence, no probation, no parole (Pickard seems to have gotten an exception because of coronavirus like many others).
Re: LSD chemist William Pickard to be released from prison
#10For some reasons the feds in the 90s were unusually interested in prosecuting psychedelics. I'm of the opinion that all drugs should be legal, but even if I wasn't, I think I would still question why LSD manufacturers were getting such long sentences around that time. Never really made sense to me.
Friend of a friend got caught with two sheets in the 90s and I think he got 20 years for each one. Downstate Illinois.
My recollection was the weight of the blotter paper was considered as the drug itself and that easily increased the federal sentencing guidelines.