Acid Reflux: Psychedelics Making A Middle Tennessee Comeback?

NASHVILLE, TN — What's next? Quaaludes? Ether? Henbane?

The use of LSD — the psychedelic acid typically associated with the 1960s, excessively noodly music, turning on, tuning in and dropping out — is on the rise once again and Middle Tennessee is not immune.

A 35-year-old Clarksville man was arrested last week after police allegedly found 6.37 pounds of LSD in his home with a street value of more than $5 million. The man also reportedly had precursors for LSD manufacture in his house, as well.

Also last week, a 20-year-old was found naked in a parking lot in Murfreesboro after taking acid. He allegedly told police "we are all molecules that are going to fly away."

LSD use spiked 40 percent between 2013 and 2015 nationwide, with almost all the gains coming in college-aged Americans, according to the National Institutes of Health. Overdose deaths, however, have remained steady — and statistically insignificant — for nearly two decades, in part because today's LSD is far less potent than what was around 50 years ago and because there's an increase in so-called "microdosing," the use of the drug in tiny amounts.

Some researchers also believe the increase — particularly in low doses — may be attributable to publicized research about therapeutic uses for psychedelics. The Food and Drug Administration recently gave initial testing approvals for scientists to test the effects of MDMA — the active ingredient in ecstasy — on people with post-traumatic stress disorder. LSD itself was originally synthesized for therapeutic reasons and the researchers in the MDMA study mimicked that early acid research.

In a May 14, 2014 photo, the reincarnation of author Ken Kesey's psychedelic bus Further stops along a road in Eugene, Ore. Zane Kesey, son of the late author, is on Kickstarter raising money for a cross-country trip commemorating the 1964 LSD-fueled bus trip that became a touchstone of the 1960s. The orginal bus is not road-wrothy, but this newer version bought by Ken Kesey to keep the spirit of the bus alive is still rolling, though in need of repairs. (AP Photo/Jeff Barnard)