Albert Hofmann is not Matt Hoffman’s father. He’s not into BMX racing, but rather another 3-letter acronym, LSD. Albert Hofman is the creator of LSD, and today, he turned 100 years old.
Picture yourself in a boat on a river,
With tangerine trees and marmalade skies
Somebody calls you, you answer quite slowly,
A girl with kaleidoscope eyes.
Cellophane flowers of yellow and green,
Towering over your head.
Look for the girl with the sun in her eyes,
And she’s gone.
Lucy in the sky with diamonds.
Follow her down to a bridge by a fountain
Where rocking horse people eat marshmellow pies,
Everyone smiles as you drift past the flowers,
That grow so incredibly high.
Newspaper taxis appear on the shore,
Waiting to take you away.
Climb in the back with your head in the clouds,
And you’re gone.
Lucy in the sky with diamonds,
Picture yourself on a train in a station,
With plasticine porters with looking glass ties,
Suddenly someone is there at the turnstyle,
The girl with the kaleidoscope eyes.
While a young Swiss chemist, he discovered LSD in 1938 while studying fungi at what is now known as Novartis Pharmaceuticals. (In an obviously PC direct move, Novartis declined to comment on Hofmann or LSD.)
What’s great about this guy – other than the medicinal value of his 1938 discovery – is that he still researches, still speaks, and still tries to get U.S. and other countries laws changed in order for LSD to be legalized once again, as it was before 1966.
Even more impressive than being 100 years young today (and a very happy birthday to him), he’s still married to his wife of 70 years. Seventy years, my god.
While I don’t doubt that any drug can be abused in a recreational environment, I do believe that all illegal drugs (especially ecstacy and LSD) do have legitimate medicinal value, either for PTSD or Schitzophrenia. While in college, I did spend time with many people who were on LSD while I drank a few beers. Every single time they were perfectly happy, perfectly content, and completely non-violent. Only one time did I ever witness a “bad trip” that someone had. (A girl from my dorm in 1994 had ran outside in the middle of the night, started screaming that she was being raped. Naturally, we all ran out to find her outside by herself, fighting off invisible rapists. Needless to say, she was taken away in a straight jacket, and I hope she learned to take a break from LSD for a while.)
Click on this CNN article for more information on Mr. Hofmann, and his current plans.