Produced in clandestine laboratories across the United States, LSD is a potent hallucinogen that boasts high potential for abuse. Called on the streets by the names Acid, Blotter, Dots, Mellow Yellow and Window Pane, LSD comes in tablets, capsules, and occasionally in liquid forms. The colorless substance has a slightly bitter taste and is often added to absorbent paper and divided into small decorative squares with each constituting a dose.Taken orally, LSD is odorless, but it often produces visual and mood-altering experiences within the first hour of ingestion.From then on, a user can expect to hallucinate and have impaired and distorted perceptions of time, depth, shapes and sizes, movements, colors, sound, and touch.This departure from reality hinders an individual’s ability to make sound judgments and sense common threats, which, in turn, raises the risk of personal injury and to that of others.Tripping on acid can be frightening, often contributing to severe anxiety and depression and, days and months after the last dose, even flashbacks.Those psychological setbacks are typically combined with physical effects, such as:
Dilated pupils
Elevated body temperature
Increased heart rate and blood pressure
Sweating
Appetite loss
Difficulty sleeping
Dehydration
Tremors
Symptoms of LSD overdose are similar but are distinguished by more intense episodes, psychosis, and even death. While lethal overdoses are unlikely, the delayed onset of effects can encourage individuals to take more LSD and create further dangers to themselves.