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

Re: LSD chemist William Pickard to be released from prison

#151

Post by HenryKissinger » Sat, Jul 25, 2020, 3:17 PM UTC

worldsayshi wrote: post #103

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.

> 20 years for each one That is incredible. For a crime that harms noone.

I mean, the organized crime groups that sell these drugs do harm people, by way of murders, human trafficking, violent crimes and property crimes. Funding criminals and terrorists is surely worthy of punishment, do you not agree?

But I agree that twenty years is excessive. A week of prison or two would be enough.

Re: LSD chemist William Pickard to be released from prison

#152

Post by Nursie » Sat, Jul 25, 2020, 3:20 PM UTC

saul_goodman wrote: post #130

skissane wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A case report from 1974 says that massive LSD overdoses can cause bleeding and hyperthermia, symptoms which could potentially be fatal without medical attention (but, in this case, medical attention was received and all survived) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1129381/

Don't buy the hype, it's impossible to die from overdose of LSD. The one case I've read of it happening was highly suspect.

LSD is a stimulant as well as a psychedelic, and can cause some vasoconstriction.

It might take a lot but physical harm from overdose is likely possible, with determination.

Re: LSD chemist William Pickard to be released from prison

#153

Post by sushshshsh » Sat, Jul 25, 2020, 3:22 PM UTC

skissane wrote: post #143

saul_goodman wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't buy the hype, it's impossible to die from overdose of LSD. The one case I've read of it happening was highly suspect.

What hype? I think it is very likely that a sufficiently high dose of just about any drug, LSD included, will kill someone. If no one has died yet, that just means no one has ever taken a big enough overdose. We know the LD50 of LSD in rabbits, rats and mice [1]. Surely, there exists a human LD50 as well, it is just that hopefully nobody will ever be evil enough to do the necessary human experiments to determine it.…

Huxley did 200 micrograms intramuscularly and supposedly it was a nice 6 hour trip before he died of cancer

Re: LSD chemist William Pickard to be released from prison

#154

Post by jakemal » Sat, Jul 25, 2020, 3:23 PM UTC

HenryKissinger wrote: post #151

worldsayshi wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 20 years for each one That is incredible. For a crime that harms noone.

I mean, the organized crime groups that sell these drugs do harm people, by way of murders, human trafficking, violent crimes and property crimes. Funding criminals and terrorists is surely worthy of punishment, do you not agree? But I agree that twenty years is excessive. A week of prison or two would be enough.

The only reason such an inhumane black market can exist is because no one is allowed to produce it legally. I would argue regulators are responsible for the harm caused by the trade.

Re: LSD chemist William Pickard to be released from prison

#155

Post by tutuca » Sat, Jul 25, 2020, 3:25 PM UTC

Sargos wrote: post #148

peroporque wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

We're not okay with this but we have no way to change the laws that are made by our Lords.

Well to be fair. If more population were concerned an actively participating in democracy, by at the least get out and go to vote, some thing would change, for sure.

USA has the lowest participation on any democracy I know.

Universal obligatory vote is something that does wonders and produce actual change.

Re: LSD chemist William Pickard to be released from prison

#156

Post by twirlip » Sat, Jul 25, 2020, 3:26 PM UTC

_-___________-_ wrote: post #68

sybarita wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I urge you to look into Krystle's story more. She's an absolutely vile person who participated in the torture and attempted murder of her boyfriend, Brandon Green. https://thislandpress.com/2013/07/28/subterranean-psychonaut...

If that's true, surely there's a less rambling source available than that one?

The Caselaw link posted by masklinn provides a legal summary of the kidnapping and torture of Green by Skinner and Cole.

However, in contrast, I found the This Land article "Subterranean Psychonaut" by Mason, Sandel, and Chapman to be a fascinating and in-depth read. It's replete with endnotes and provides information about Cole's actions after the police picked up Green.

Re: LSD chemist William Pickard to be released from prison

#157

Post by defterGoose » Sat, Jul 25, 2020, 3:28 PM UTC

HenryKissinger wrote: post #151

worldsayshi wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 20 years for each one That is incredible. For a crime that harms noone.

I mean, the organized crime groups that sell these drugs do harm people, by way of murders, human trafficking, violent crimes and property crimes. Funding criminals and terrorists is surely worthy of punishment, do you not agree? But I agree that twenty years is excessive. A week of prison or two would be enough.

> Funding criminals and terrorists is surely worthy of punishment, do you not agree?

Greater society does. Unless, or course, those criminals and terrorists are the wealthy leadership of large private businesses and the crimes are committed either overseas upon marginalized people, or over a long enough timescale so as to be virtually "unprovable".

Re: LSD chemist William Pickard to be released from prison

#158

Post by ketzu » Sat, Jul 25, 2020, 3:28 PM UTC

Retric wrote: post #88

ketzu wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The reasons why tobacco and alcohol are legal are mostly historical and they are basically the only exceptions. There are many drugs that kill people but keep them subdued that are illegal. It seems to me that is not the reason for which are legal and which ones are not.

I agree with tobacco. However, alcohol is legal in part because it’s easy to make. Even prisoners often start making alcohol let alone the general public.

While I agree that this plays a part, as it's what made it so popular to begin with, drugs 'directly' derived from plants are quite easy to make, too.

Re: LSD chemist William Pickard to be released from prison

#159

Post by cheschire » Sat, Jul 25, 2020, 3:31 PM UTC

HenryKissinger wrote: post #151

worldsayshi wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 20 years for each one That is incredible. For a crime that harms noone.

I mean, the organized crime groups that sell these drugs do harm people, by way of murders, human trafficking, violent crimes and property crimes. Funding criminals and terrorists is surely worthy of punishment, do you not agree? But I agree that twenty years is excessive. A week of prison or two would be enough.

Ugh. Your post is a perfect example of a valid argument, and yet a bunch of people downvote you instead of just having a conversation.

Two sheets is at least a few hundred tabs and that is definitely within the realm of possession with intent to sell, legally speaking.

And your conclusion wasn't even harsh like "they earned 20" or anything. You clearly said the punishment was harsh for the crime.

Jeez people, learn to communicate without the arrows.

Re: LSD chemist William Pickard to be released from prison

#160

Post by Alex3917 » Sat, Jul 25, 2020, 3:31 PM UTC

pmoriarty wrote: post #6

The 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...

Thanks for the link. Haven't listen to that podcast in many years, but am excited for this. It's funny that his style of thinking and writing is clearly kind of similar to Nick Sand, if you've listened to the previous episodes with him.