LSD chemist William Pickard to be released from prison • Hacker News Board

Re: LSD chemist William Pickard to be released from prison

#131

Post by tonyarkles » Sat, Jul 25, 2020, 2:20 PM UTC

Enginerrrd wrote: post #113

andrepd wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reminder that leaded gas is still in use.

In the US? Not really. Its sale is banned for use in cars. Wikipedia says there are a few exceptions for aircraft, farm equipment, and marine engines, but even in those fields I've never heard of it being used. It's also been pretty much phased out worldwide with a few tiny exceptions. What exactly are you referring to?

100LL is still a super common aviation fuel. It has a relatively low amount of tetra-ethyl lead, it it’s there.

Re: LSD chemist William Pickard to be released from prison

#132

Post by hnlurker » Sat, Jul 25, 2020, 2:20 PM UTC

masklinn wrote: post #87

smabie wrote: post #8

For 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.

> For some reasons the feds in the 90s were unusually interested in prosecuting psychedelics. Psychedelics = hippies = anti-war left. A well-known and somewhat similar "unusual interest" was in prosecuting crack versus coke.

Crack and cocaine aren't really all that similar. Crack and meth are tho. Guess what, they both have the same mandatory mins too.

When you look for racism everywhere, you find it everywhere. Let's be more objective, eh?

Re: LSD chemist William Pickard to be released from prison

#133

Post by mudita » Sat, Jul 25, 2020, 2:23 PM UTC

CivBase wrote: post #105

tazjin wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The common miscommunication here is that people perceive the statement as saying "psychedelics are the ONLY way of learning certain things", whereas what they should perceive is "psychedelics are ONE (very efficient) way of learning certain things". The thing is that for people whose normal life does not include pursuing knowledge and understanding just for the sake of it (and I think this might be most people), it's…

Is there any credible evidence that psychedelics reliably and "efficiently" help people learn things?

There is for example research showing that psychedelics have a lasting effect on the Big 5 personality trait "openness to experience": https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/unique-everybody-els...

Which is quite remarkable given the stability these personality traits usually have.

Overall while it seems to be clear that people who take psychedelics don't become saints spreading love for the rest of their lives, there's some solid evidence accumulated by psychologists that psychedelics have some real effect.

Re: LSD chemist William Pickard to be released from prison

#134

Post by carlmr » Sat, Jul 25, 2020, 2:24 PM UTC

tazjin wrote: post #95

CivBase wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You might sounds less like a 'hippie' if you avoid the phrase 'open your mind'. It implies that psychodelics provide users with some kind of enlightenment rather than just hallucinations and euphorea. Makes it seem like anti-drug politicians are trying to hide some sort of dark secret which can only be unlocked by taking LSD.

The common miscommunication here is that people perceive the statement as saying "psychedelics are the ONLY way of learning certain things", whereas what they should perceive is "psychedelics are ONE (very efficient) way of learning certain things". The thing is that for people whose normal life does not include pursuing knowledge and understanding just for the sake of it (and I think this might be most people), it's…

What exactly do they learn from it?

Re: LSD chemist William Pickard to be released from prison

#135

Post by dspearson » Sat, Jul 25, 2020, 2:25 PM UTC

hnlurker wrote: post #132

masklinn wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> For some reasons the feds in the 90s were unusually interested in prosecuting psychedelics. Psychedelics = hippies = anti-war left. A well-known and somewhat similar "unusual interest" was in prosecuting crack versus coke.

Crack and cocaine aren't really all that similar. Crack and meth are tho. Guess what, they both have the same mandatory mins too. When you look for racism everywhere, you find it everywhere. Let's be more objective, eh?

"Crack" and cocaine are literally the same drug.

Re: LSD chemist William Pickard to be released from prison

#136

Post by DanBC » Sat, Jul 25, 2020, 2:26 PM UTC

CivBase wrote: post #105

tazjin wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The common miscommunication here is that people perceive the statement as saying "psychedelics are the ONLY way of learning certain things", whereas what they should perceive is "psychedelics are ONE (very efficient) way of learning certain things". The thing is that for people whose normal life does not include pursuing knowledge and understanding just for the sake of it (and I think this might be most people), it's…

Is there any credible evidence that psychedelics reliably and "efficiently" help people learn things?

Depends how you define "learn", but there's lots of (actually quite exciting) research into psychadelics to treat mental illness.

Re: LSD chemist William Pickard to be released from prison

#137

Post by vikramkr » Sat, Jul 25, 2020, 2:31 PM UTC

peroporque wrote: post #126

kitteh wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I will never understand how people in the US are okay with this. Don't people care about justice at all over there?

You see giant protests occupying cities for weeks and your first thought is that americans are totally OK with the state of things? All those folks on the street in Hong kong - they must just be out there celebrating their loss of liberties! It's a big party!

Re: LSD chemist William Pickard to be released from prison

#138

Post by kitteh » Sat, Jul 25, 2020, 2:31 PM UTC

totony wrote: post #66

jrimbault wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google "lsd paper sheet". It looks like a paper sheet.

Bottler usually has drawings and cutoff that make if very easy to recognize though.

There is a famous story of how the album from Plastikman (Richie Hawtin) had a blotter paper album cover that was perforated landed someone in jail because they thought it was LSD. The father of the son arrested contacted the label (novamute I think?) and they shipped another copy to the law enforcement agency to explain.

Sheet One is the title of it, not in a position to share the URL but please take a look. Great album and artist too.

Re: LSD chemist William Pickard to be released from prison

#139

Post by matsemann » Sat, Jul 25, 2020, 2:33 PM UTC

stormdennis wrote: post #11

People like the DEA and the FBI can just make up statistics to make themselves look good and they're reported as fact. The drugs seized had a street value of N million dollars, the supply of LSD went down 95% after his arrest. Good job DEA

> The drugs seized had a street value of N million dollars

In the words of Ali G: You're probably getting ripped off if you have to pay that much.

[0]: https://youtu.be/B6Sg8D2Ci0Q?t=15

Re: LSD chemist William Pickard to be released from prison

#140

Post by Dumblydorr » Sat, Jul 25, 2020, 2:35 PM UTC

zelly wrote: post #13

smabie wrote: post #8

For 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.

To make an example out of them and discourage others, prevent a cottage industry from forming. LSD manufacturing scales immensely. One lone wolf could create enough LSD to serve the whole United States demand, maybe even the global demand. LSD is also harder to manufacture. You generally need at least a MS degree and lab experience. The people who fit that profile tend to think about the future enough to respond to t…

Do criminals actually respond to deterrents though? Sam Harris argues otherwise in a couple of podcasts and I tend to agree...people break the law constantly without thought of the penalties. People text while driving when that could kill someone else.