Editing LSD (section)

===Illicit supply chain===

====Production====
[[File:LSDLabGlassware.jpg|thumb|Glassware seized by the DEA.]]

An active dose of LSD is very minute, allowing a large number of doses to be synthesized from a comparatively small amount of raw material. Twenty-five kilograms of precursor [[ergotamine]] [[tartrate]] can produce 5–6&nbsp;kg of pure crystalline LSD; this corresponds to around 50–60&nbsp;million doses at 100&nbsp;μg. Because the masses involved are so small, concealing and transporting illicit LSD is much easier than smuggling [[cocaine]], [[cannabis (drug)|cannabis]], or other illegal drugs.<ref name="DEA-pub">{{cite web|author=DEA |year=2007 |title=LSD Manufacture – Illegal LSD Production |url=https://fas.org/irp/agency/doj/dea/product/lsd/lsd-5.htm |website=LSD in the United States |publisher=U.S. Department of Justice Drug Enforcement Administration |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070829023659/https://fas.org/irp/agency/doj/dea/product/lsd/lsd-5.htm|archive-date=August 29, 2007}}</ref>

Manufacturing LSD requires laboratory equipment and experience in the field of [[organic chemistry]]. It takes two to three days to produce 30 to 100 grams of pure compound. It is believed that LSD is not usually produced in large quantities, but rather in a series of small batches. This technique minimizes the loss of precursor chemicals in case a step does not work as expected.<ref name="DEA-pub"/> Ali Altaft, the lead chemist at the [[University of Okara]], in [[Punjab]], [[Pakistan]], performed the synthesis of LSD on video.<ref>{{Cite web | vauthors = Maravelias P |date=2024-12-18 |title=Willy Myco Just Released the First-Ever Video Demonstrating How to Synthesize LSD |url=https://doubleblindmag.com/willy-myco-lsd-synthesis-in-pakistan/ |access-date=2025-02-10 |website=DoubleBlind Mag |language=en-US}}</ref>

=====Forms=====
LSD is produced in crystalline form and is then mixed with [[excipient]]s or redissolved for production in ingestible forms. Liquid solution is either distributed in small vials or, more commonly, sprayed onto or soaked into a distribution medium. Historically, LSD solutions were first sold on sugar cubes, but practical considerations{{clarification needed|date=September 2024}} forced a change to [[Tablet (pharmacy)|tablet]] form. Appearing in 1968 as an orange tablet measuring about 6&nbsp;mm across, "Orange Sunshine" acid was the first largely available form of LSD after its possession was made illegal. [[Tim Scully]], a prominent chemist, made some of these tablets, but said that most "Sunshine" in the USA came by way of Ronald Stark, who imported approximately thirty-five million doses from Europe.<ref name=Stafford1992>{{cite book |vauthors=Stafford P |year=1992 |title=Psychedelics Encyclopaedia |chapter=Chapter 1 – The LSD Family |pages=62 |edition=3rd |publisher=Ronin Publishing |isbn=978-0-914171-51-5}}</ref>

Over some time, tablet dimensions, weight, shape and concentration of LSD evolved from large (4.5–8.1&nbsp;mm diameter), heavyweight (≥150&nbsp;μg), round, high concentration (90–350&nbsp;μg/tab) dosage units to small (2.0–3.5&nbsp;mm diameter) lightweight (as low as 4.7&nbsp;μg/tab), variously shaped, lower concentration (12–85&nbsp;μg/tab, average range 30–40&nbsp;μg/tab) dosage units. LSD tablet shapes have included cylinders, cones, stars, spacecraft, and heart shapes. The smallest tablets became known as "Microdots."<ref name=Laing2003>{{cite book |vauthors=Laing RR, Beyerstein BL, Siegel JA |year=2003 |title=Hallucinogens: A Forensic Drug Handbook |chapter=Chapter 2.2 – Forms of the Drug |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l1DrqgobbcwC |pages=39–41 |publisher=Academic Press |isbn=978-0-12-433951-4 |access-date=May 12, 2020 |archive-date=February 2, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210202134552/https://books.google.com/books?id=l1DrqgobbcwC |url-status=live}}</ref>

After tablets came "computer acid" or "blotter paper LSD," typically made by dipping a preprinted sheet of [[blotting paper]] into an LSD/water/alcohol solution.<ref name=Stafford1992/><ref name=Laing2003/> More than 200 types of LSD tablets have been encountered since 1969 and more than 350 blotter paper designs have been observed since 1975.<ref name=Laing2003/> About the same time as blotter paper LSD came "Windowpane" (AKA "Clearlight"), which contained LSD inside a thin [[gelatin]] square a quarter of an inch (6&nbsp;mm) across.<ref name=Stafford1992/> <!-- Please do not add any street names here unless you can provide evidence for their notability and importance! Additions not referenced to a reliable source will be removed immediately. The goal of an encyclopedia is to provide a "ready reference" of key concepts, not give an exhaustive list of every detail.--> LSD has been sold under a wide variety of often short-lived and regionally restricted street names including Acid, Trips, Uncle Sid, Blotter, [[Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds|Lucy]], Alice and doses, as well as names that reflect the designs on the sheets of blotter paper.<ref name="erowid-faq"/><ref>{{cite web| title=Street Terms: Drugs and the Drug Trade| date=April 5, 2005| url=http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/streetterms/ByType.asp?intTypeID=6| publisher=[[Office of National Drug Control Policy]]| access-date=January 31, 2007| url-status=live| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090418031446/http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/streetTerms/ByType.asp?intTypeID=6| archive-date=April 18, 2009}}</ref> Authorities have encountered the drug in other forms—including powder or crystal, and capsule.<ref>{{cite web |author=DEA |year=2008 |title=Photo Library (page 2) |publisher=US Drug Enforcement Administration |url=http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/photo_library2.html#lsd |access-date=June 27, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080623111640/http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/photo_library2.html |archive-date=June 23, 2008}}</ref>

======Blotters======
[[Blotter art]] designs printed on blotter paper can serve to identify dosage strengths, different batches, or makers.<ref name="Sfetcu">{{cite book |last1=Sfetcu |first1=Nicolae |title=Health & Drugs: Disease, Prescription & Medication |date=2014 |publisher=Nicolae Sfetcu |page=1958 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8jF-AwAAQBAJ&dq=acid+blotter+art&pg=PA1958 |language=en |access-date=2023-07-14 |archive-date=2023-07-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230714011256/https://books.google.com.ar/books?id=8jF-AwAAQBAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&lpg=PA1958&dq=acid%20blotter%20art&pg=PA1958#v=onepage&q=acid%20blotter%20art&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref>

On the other hand, blotters without art may be considered safer by some, since there is no guarantee that the [[ink cartridge|printer ink]] used in clandestine production is edible or non-toxic for long-term exposure, and it is also possible for unscrupulous dealers to mimic reputable blotter art designs in order to boost sales.

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=====Distribution=====
LSD manufacturers and traffickers in the United States can be categorized into two groups: A few large-scale producers, and an equally limited number of small, clandestine chemists, consisting of independent producers who, operating on a comparatively limited scale, can be found throughout the country.<ref>{{cite book |vauthors=MacLean JR, Macdonald DC, Ogden F, Wilby E |chapter=LSD-25 and mescaline as therapeutic adjuvants. |veditors=Abramson H |title=The Use of LSD in Psychotherapy and Alcoholism |publisher=Bobbs-Merrill |location=New York |date=1967 |pages=407–426}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |vauthors=Ditman KS, Bailey JJ |chapter=Evaluating LSD as a psychotherapeutic agent |veditors=Hoffer A |title=A program for the treatment of alcoholism: LSD, malvaria, and nicotinic acid |pages=353–402}}</ref>

As a group, independent producers are of less concern to the [[Drug Enforcement Administration]] than the large-scale groups because their product reaches only local markets.<ref name="LSD: The Drug"/>

Many LSD dealers and chemists describe a religious or humanitarian purpose that motivates their illicit activity. Nicholas Schou's book ''Orange Sunshine: The Brotherhood of Eternal Love and Its Quest to Spread Peace, Love, and Acid to the World'' describes one such group, [[the Brotherhood of Eternal Love]]. The group was a major American LSD trafficking group in the late 1960s and early 1970s.<ref>{{cite book| vauthors=Schou N |title=Orange Sunshine: The Brotherhood of Eternal Love and Its Quest to Spread Peace, Love, and Acid to the World |date=2010 |publisher=Thomas Dunne Books |url=https://archive.org/details/orangesunshinebr00scho_0 |url-access=registration |isbn=9780312551834}}</ref>

In the second half of the 20th century, dealers and chemists loosely associated with the [[Grateful Dead]] like [[Owsley Stanley]], [[Nicholas Sand]], Karen Horning, Sarah Maltzer, "Dealer McDope," and [[Leonard Pickard]] played an essential role in distributing LSD.<ref name=Jarnow>{{cite book| vauthors=Jarnow J |title=Heads: A Biography of Psychedelic America |date=2016 |publisher=Da Capo Press |isbn=9780306822551}}</ref>