The Smoking Banana Peel

Myths About Marijuana

2009-03-10T19:04:00.002-04:00

"In all affairs it is a healthy thing now and then to hang a question mark

on the things you have long taken for granted."

-Bertrand Russell

Ah, the Devil's Weed.

Puff the Magic Dragon

2009-03-10T18:50:00.002-04:00

The Legend: The Peter, Paul & Mary song, "Puff the Magic Dragon," is about smoking marijuana.

Status: False

Analysis:

It can't be false! Puff = how you smoke pot. Jackie Paper = rolling papers. "Autumn mist" = clouds of smoke. "The Land of Hanah Lee" = Hanalei, Hawaii, where they grow marijuana. It's all there. It must be true!

Sorry. Despite what you heard in high school, "Puff the Magic Dragon" is not about smoking pot or any other type of drug. It is simply a song about the innocence of childhood lost, as its writers have always claimed.

The original poem, which later became the popular song, was written in 1959 by Leonard Lipton, a 19-year-old Cornell student. Lipton passed his work on to his friend Peter Yarrow, who put a melody to the words and created the song, "Puff the Magic Dragon." The song was recorded by Peter, Paul & Mary and reached Billboard charts in 1963.

The 1960's, being what they were, led us to believe that many songs with vague lyrics were "drug songs," Puff included. This was further fueled at the time by a 1967 Newsweek story about hidden drug messages in popular music. This Newsweek article, about songs with drug references in their lyrics, selected innocent songs to show that any song could be interpreted to be about drug use if you really made the effort. It was intended as a tongue-in-cheek analysis of harmless songs, but spawned the rumors that are now shared widely as "known facts." The puff rumor even resurfaced in the 2000 film Meet the Parents.

Smoking marijuana wasn't that popular in 1959, so why write a song about it? Besides, contrary to rumors about the 1960's being such a drug-soaked decade, the Monitoring the Future survey reports that lifetime marijuana use in this country peaked in 1979 at 60%, (Monitoring the Future Study, 1996), not during the 1960's. Sorry kids, Puff was just a dragon.

Seeing Red!

2009-03-10T18:37:00.002-04:00

The Legend: An allergic reaction to marijuana is what makes your eyes red when you smoke it.

Status: False

Analysis:

To really appreciate this particular legend you have to imagine a group of young people sitting around in someone's basement, in a circle, smoking pot. They become intoxicated and look across the circle at each other, noticing that some of them have bloodshot eyes.

"Whoa, dude, you should see your eyes, they're like SO bloodshot!"
"I know, dude, so are yours!"
"You know, I heard it's caused by an allergic reaction to the pot. Your eyes are red because you're both allergic, we all are!"
"No way!"
"Way!"

Riotous laughter ensues.

If you are a stoner reading this and are offended by the characterization of pot smokers saying lame things, it will be hard for you to mount a defense. A brief read through some online forums and chat rooms looking for answers explaining why marijuana causes bloodshot eyes yielded the following fascinating variations:

Marijuana increases your heart rate and that means your blood pumps more vigorously which causes red eyes.

Your brain calls for more blood because it heats up.

It's the coughing and laughing that leads to the bloodshot eyes, not the pot.

Marijuana dries out your eyes like a decongestant.

It's because you're forgetting to blink.

When you smoke marijuana your tear ducts relax and produce lubricants at a slower rate.

Weed gets into your bloodstream and when it goes through the blood vessels in your eyes it irritates them which turns them red.

Smoke makes them dry and stings them.

"Because pot messes with the nerves of your bran and that triggers your eyes."

What really happens is not nearly as interesting as these theories. Marijuana has a mild vasodilating effect. That means that it relaxes the smooth muscles within the walls of the blood vessel. This widens the blood vessel making it more visible. As a result, the eyes appear bloodshot.

You may have heard the rumor that marijuana is used to treat glaucoma, a condition where the fluid pressure in the eye increases and causes damage to the optic nerve. This is true, there has been some experimental activity in this area, (Tomida, et. al. 2006). When blood vessels relax and expand one of the results is reduced vascular pressure.

Getting Lucky

2009-03-10T18:26:00.002-04:00

The Legend: Some packs of Lucky Strike cigarettes contain a marijuana cigarette.

Status: False

Analysis:

It's been said that every so often in a pack of Lucky Strike cigarettes, the consumer would find a marijuana cigarette as a little bonus. In fact, they were called Lucky Strikes because the smoker would "strike it lucky" by finding this marijuana cigarette.

Rumors of the frequency vary. Were they stashed one per pack, one per every hundred, or one per carton? Lore also says that it was legal to do this since marijuana had not yet been criminalized.

In 1942, five years after marijuana was criminalized through the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937, Lucky Strike changed its packaging from green to red and white. They said that the green ink they were using required copper that was being diverted to the war effort. By discontinuing the green color they were supporting the war effort. The resulting white pack with the red circular logo was rumored to be in honor of the US bombing of Japan - a red circle on a white background being the pattern on the Japanese flag. One variation of this rumor claimed that the marijuana cigarette was hidden in the Luckies as a boost for US soldiers during World War II.

As is often the case, there is a grain of truth to this rumor. In 1952, a seaman aboard the SS Hibueras, Maguel Angel Pina, was found in possession of a pack of Luckies that contained 18 hand-rolled cigarettes. Later analysis determined that they were all marijuana. Obviously this had nothing to do with Lucky Strike manufacturing protocol and was simply Seaman Pina's way of transporting his marijuana, a method still used with great frequency today.

Packs of Lucky Strike cigarettes do not contain a marijuana cigarette and never have. If this had ever been true we would be hearing this rumor from sources other than school kids and chat rooms. We'd be hearing about it from our fathers and grandfathers who served in World War II.

420 is the Number of Chemicals in Marijuana

2009-03-05T14:52:00.006-05:00

The Legend: There are 420 chemicals in marijuana.

Status: False

Variations:

'420' in drugspeak is the time to light up a joint.

'420' is the penal code section for marijuana use in California. (Nope. Section 420 of the California Penal Code refers to obstructing entry onto public land.)

'420' is the Los Angeles and New York police radio code for marijuana smoking in progress. (Nope, again.)

'420' is the number of chemical compounds in marijuana. (The number of chemical compounds in marijuana is around 315.)

April 20 is the date that Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix or Janis Joplin died. (Nope once more. Morrison died on July 3, Hendrix on September 18, and Joplin on October 4.)

The 20th of April is the best time to plant marijuana.

Albert Hofmann took the first LSD trip at 4:20 or on April 20, 1943. (Actually, Hofmann's first LSD trip, which was accidental, took place on April 16, 1943. Coincidentally, his lab notes from that day say it was at 4:20 p.m.)

'420' is the code you send to your drug dealer's pager.

When the Grateful Dead toured, they always stayed in Room 420. (Untrue, says Grateful Dead Productions spokesman Dennis McNally.)

Analysis:

Just about everyone has heard that '420' (said "four-twenty") has something to do with pot smoking, but they never seem to know what the term actually signifies.

It is said that '420' originated in 1971 as a slang term used by a small group of high school kids, reminding each other of the time they planned to meet after school to get high, 4:20 p.m. This was supposedly started at San Rafael High School in California, but there is no way to verity this.

'420' is now widely accepted pot-smoking lexicon. Cities celebrate "hemp fests" on April 20. There's a 4:20 record label, a band called 4:20, a snowboard company called Four 20, and texting '420' means marijuana. Atlanta's Sweetwater Brewing Co. sells its 420 Pale Ale in supermarkets and opens its doors to the public at 4:20 p.m. New York's 420 Tours sells low-cost travel packages to the Netherlands and Jamaica. Highway 420 Radio broadcasts "music for the chemically enhanced," and so on. 420s are also routinely slipped into popular movies and television shows, and can probably be found in your local graffiti, so keep your eyes peeled. It's everywhere.

As amusing as it is to tie 420 to pot smoking and hunt for it in popular movies, the number has its dark side. Hitler was born on April 20, 1889, and the massacre of 13 victims at Columbine High School in Colorado took place on April 20, 1999.

Pot Smoking Males May Grow Breasts

2009-03-05T14:45:00.002-05:00

The Legend: Men who smoke a lot of marijuana may grow breasts.

Status: False

Variations:

Smoking marijuana will reduce a man's testosterone levels.

Smoking marijuana will reduce sperm count.

Analysis:

Where did this information come from? Back in the olden days, before we had such resources as chat rooms and message boards, one of the ways for people to share ideas was by writing letters to newspapers and magazines. That way many people would see their letters and could respond.

This is just what happened in this case. Two anecdotal case history letters to reputable medical journals, a 1972 letter to the New England Journal of Medicine (Harmon, 1972) and a 1980 letter to the Journal of Pediatrics (Copeland, 1980) discussed patients who were young males with breast enlargement or delayed puberty who were also marijuana smokers. The intent of the letter was to see if other doctors had seen this pattern. Instead, the story that "smoking pot grows breasts" began and has floated around for 30 years.

Breast enlargement caused by marijuana smoking has never been confirmed through research. If a marijuana user grows breasts it is likely a result of inactivity and a high calorie diet.

Rope-a-Dope

2009-03-05T14:27:00.002-05:00

The Legend: By legalizing hemp cultivation we could solve many environmental problems, such as deforestation.

Status: False

Variations:

Growing hemp will yield more cash per acre for farmers growing other crops.

Hemp is easier to grow than cotton because it is very low maintenance and requires fewer pesticides.

Big businesses like DuPont lobby to keep hemp illegal because it threatens their synthetic fiber market.

Hemp is a weed that can be grown anywhere.

George Bush was saved by a hemp parachute.

Analysis:

Earlier in U.S. history, Americans cultivated hemp for its fiber content, producing hemp-based products such as rope, paper and cloth. During the 1930's an anti-hemp movement led to passage of the Marijuana Tax Act (1937) effectively ending the U.S. hemp industry.

Is hemp marijuana? Is marijuana hemp? Hemp is made from the cannabis sativa plant, the same plant that gives us smokable marijuana. There are many different varieties of this plant. The psychoactive cannabis sativa that gives us smokable marijuana is a bushy plant with THC content between 3% - 15%. Industrial cannabis sativa is a tall, spindly plant with almost no THC, less than .5%, which makes it useless as a recreational drug.

It is illegal to grow hemp in the U.S. the reasons given by the government for this is that by legalizing hemp we are one step closer to legalizing marijuana. They fear the two varieties of hemp will be grown side by side which would be undetectable by air-based enforcement. Marijuana growers say they would never plant industrial hemp near their marijuana plants because it would cross-pollinate and lower the THC content, and therefore the value of their marijuana.

Funny thing is, at the height of hemp production in the U.S. there were only a few thousand acres being cultivated. It just wasn't that profitable or desirable of a crop when legal, so what do proponents think has changed? Yes, hemp can be used to make paper and cloth, but not great paper or great cloth. Hempseed and hempseed oil are nutritious, but so are many other seeds and seed oils.

Re-legalizing hemp will not end deforestation, which is more about lumber and agricultural land, two things unrelated to hemp or hemp-based products. Hemp is also not a threat to synthetic fiber manufacturers as the two materials are used for different things.

The Canadian ban on hemp cultivation was lifted in 1998, so let's watch and see what happens there.

One Will Get You Twenty

2009-03-05T14:15:00.002-05:00

The Legend: Smoking just one marijuana cigarette, or joint, does the same amount of damage to the respiratory system as smoking an entire pack of cigarettes.

Status: False

Variations:

The number of cigarettes equal to one joint has been reported from 4 to 20.

Analysis:

This is a widespread piece of misinformation. You might have even heard it in health class when you were in school. Marijuana critics have been known, on occasion, to exaggerate or misuse statistics to support their "evil weed" agenda. That is the case with this rumor.

In 1980, Dr. Donald Tashkin of UCLA, one of the leading experts on the health effects of marijuana, published an article that described large airway damage in marijuana smokers greater than that seen in persons smoking 16 cigarettes a day, (Tashkin, 1980). You can see how this rumor started.

Dr. Tashkin's point was that marijuana smoke was more damaging to large airways while tobacco smoke was more damaging to smaller airways. Largely ignored the same study was information that suggested 1) marijuana smokers had overall better lung health than cigarette smokers, 2) that unlike tobacco, pot does not appear to cause emphysema, and, 3) that hand-rolled joints can have significant variation in size and weight when compared to standard sized tobacco cigarettes.

Additional research has observed that marijuana smokers tend to smoke their product differently, inhaling deeper and holding smoke in their lungs longer. They also smoke less on a daily basis, (Tashkin, 2005; Wu et. al., 1988). All of this additional, and conveniently overlooked, information makes comparing joints to cigarettes difficult.

Dr Tashkin, whose research is always sited to support this one-to-sixteen ratio rumor has rejected the idea that smoking one joint is equal to smoking 16 cigarettes.

It's Not Your Daddy's Pot

2009-03-02T21:16:00.003-05:00

The Legend: The marijuana that kids are smoking today is 20-40 times stronger than the marijuana that was smoked just 20 years ago.

Status: False

Analysis:

Claims of escalating marijuana potency, intended to scare the public, go back to the mid-1970's, and they are always started and fueled by the federal government. It is a sad truth that our own government's drug policy is so agenda-heavy that press releases lack accuracy to the point of becoming urban legend material.

The most recent Annual Press Release on this, notable because it is now an annual news event, came from the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) on June 12, 2008. Their message, as it always is, was, "Oh no! Pot is getting stronger! Danger! Danger!"

The DEA, basing their information on research conducted at the University of Mississippi Potency Monitoring Project, reports that THC content for commercial grade marijuana increased from 3.7% in 1983 to 5.57% in 1998, and is now at 9.6% in 2007. Is 9.6% 20 to 40 times greater than 3.7%? You do that math.

The next question is just how accurate are these potency numbers and how were they determined? There is some discussion in the research that earlier marijuana seizures of the 70's and 80's were improperly stored so those samples had lost their potency more than a decade later when they were analyzed. This suggests the low potency numbers of the 70's and 80's were inaccurate and more about stale pot, not weak pot. A more careful analysis of marijuana seizures indicates that marijuana potency increased during the 1970's by a factor of two, not 40, (Mikuriya & Aldrich, 1988).

Now let's break down these numbers and have a look at U.S. pot on the international stage. In 2004 the average THC content in homegrown Dutch marijuana was 20.4%, (Pijlman et. al., 2005). In England in 2005 the potency of local indoor grown cannabis averaged 13.9% (Potter, Clark & Brown, 2008). Interestingly, in Amsterdam, where medical marijuana is legal, a minimum THC level of 12% was established for medical marijuana because higher potency meant the patient would smoke less.

U.S. pot might be getting stronger, but we still lag behind other countries in potency. It is safe to say that there is no teen in Amsterdam sitting in a basement saying to his buddies, "Wow, that is some great New Jersey bud!" Which brings us back to the teens, which is what all this hoopla is supposed to be about. Stronger pot is dangerous because it hurts kids. That is the message.

"Proof" of this claim is also included in the ONDCP report and the follow-up report released by the The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University. Their press release is even more alarming with headlines claiming "175% increase in THC since 1992!" And, "492% rise in treatment admissions!" 492%, now there is a number that gets my attention.

It make sense that if teens are being hurt by something that we would see increases in admissions for treatment, hospital stays or ER visits. So what is this 492% increase in teen treatment admissions really about? Were that many more kids really hurt by marijuana between 1992 - 2006, or does this number reflect something else? Maybe there was a change in the way numbers were collected, or a change in the way the treatment system is used.

In fact, the way adolescent substance abuse treatment programs have been used for the past 15 years seems to be partially responsible for this inflated number. Prior to 1992, if a student was caught with a joint, or failed a urine test at the probation office, he was sent on to jail, or fined, or probation was extended, or he went to a "residential school" affectionately called "juvie."

But the 80's and 90's brought us a growing and humane industry designed to help rather than punish kids who where involved with drugs. Rather than get sent to jail, kids were sent to treatment. Everyone liked this option because it was helping kids with a medical problem and giving them a real second chance. Sending kids to treatment or rehab was the right thing to do, so we did it, and the resulting numbers are staggering. We did it 492% more than we did it in the 1980's. Good for us and good for kids. But is this really proof of more potent pot hurting kids?

No. This is simply a correlation. One number changes up at the same time and in the same direction as another number. That does not mean that one thing caused the other thing. Between 1992-2006 the price of gas increased over 200%, did that cause the rise in marijuana potency? Or did the potent marijuana cause that increase in gas prices? No and no, obviously. But when you compare two numbers that seem like they should be related, like potent pot and adolescent treatment admissions, then it is not so obvious.

What the media, and our government, would like us to believe is that potent pot caused increases in treatment admissions. What they are not saying is that this was a relatively new option for courts and local law enforcement to use during this same 15-year period. They're not saying what percentage of that 492% increase in referrals were voluntary referrals and what percentage were attending treatment because they had to, because they were caught in possession, because they passed dirty urine, because it was required to avoid expulsion from an academic program or dismissal from a job, because it was an alternative to incarceration, or because they were otherwise court-ordered. If all of that court coercion could be separated out and we could look just at voluntary admissions for treatment with a primary drug problem of marijuana, and then compare that number alongside the increasing potency numbers, then we might have a correlation worth examining more closely.

The rise in treatment admissions doesn't support the argument that stronger pot is more dangerous. In fact, no one has even explained how potent pot can be dangerous. The standard answer is that strong pot will lead to more people becoming addicted to marijuana, as proved by increased treatment admissions. This is circular reasoning.

The other argument about why potent pot is more dangerous is that stronger pot is more addictive. The problem with that argument is that a physical addiction to marijuana has never been proven, at least not at the time of this writing. Current research on marijuana addiction is focused on finding a physiological, measurable, withdrawal syndrome. If physiological symptoms of withdrawal can be identified and measured then it can finally be said that marijuana is addictive. Without a withdrawal syndrome of some type, then there is no addiction.

With other addictive drugs there is a clear symptom pattern of withdrawal. Alcohol withdrawal includes vomiting, sweating, tremors and shakes, even seizures and is often called "The DTs." Heroin withdrawal includes vomiting and diarrhea, body pain and misery that can go on for days, and is often called being "Dope Sick." But with pot all we have so far is a condition called Stems and Seeds Blues, or being out of weed.

The most recent piece of research on this (Milin et. al., 2008) identified symptoms experienced by most regular pot smokers when they quit cold turkey. Those symptoms included restlessness, appetite change, thoughts if cannabis, cravings for cannabis, irritability, depression, twitches and perspiration. These symptoms peaked during the first week of withdrawal, tapering off to nothing after 30 days.

Now don't get me wrong, it's very important that we study and identify any type of withdrawal syndrome that might exist with pot smokers so that we can provide the best types of treatment for those who want to quit. But honestly, irritability? Thoughts of cannabis? If I were without my computer for a week I would have thoughts of computer, cravings for computer, irritability and restlessness caused by computer withdrawal. I would feel the same if I were separated from my dog. The point being, those symptoms aren't really proof of physiological addiction or withdrawal, are they? With no proof of addiction, the whole argument that stronger pot will cause more addiction seems silly.

One point that remains absent from these potent pot claims is that high THC pot is expensive, much more expensive than locally grown weed. So expensive, in fact, that few high school students can afford to buy it. High quality marijuana, female unpollinated, can cost more than $8,000 a pound. Most students don't have that type of case. $500 for an ounce of this potent pot is too high a price. Potent pot is cost-prohibitive for most young people.

There is no good evidence that pot today is 40-times stronger than it used to be. No one has shown that potent pot has hurt anyone. It has not been proven that potent pot is addictive. Our potent pot isn't even up to par with the average pot found in other civilized societies, so things will most assuredly become more potent in the next 5-10 years. Marijuana smokers are saying that if they have stronger pot they self-regulate, inhale less deeply and smoke less of it, and this has been supported by research, (Korf, Benschop & Waters, 2007). They argue that the stronger the pot the less they have to smoke and the better it is for their health.

Despite the popularity of this potent pot claim, the average potency of marijuana that is seized today is around 5%, the same as that seized 20 years ago. Bottom line, stronger marijuana products like sinsemilla, hash or hash oil may be more available now that 20 years ago, but average ditchweed, or whatever they call it in your neighborhood, is just as it ever was.

New York White

2009-03-02T21:08:00.002-05:00

The Legend: An especially potent strain of pure white marijuana is growing in the New York sewers.

Status: False

Analysis:

In America in Legend, folklorist Richard Dorson tells about an especially potent strain of pure white "albino" marijuana growing in the New York City sewer system. Where did this come from? Why, all those seeds in all those baggies of all that pot that was hastily flushed down toilets during drug raids of course!

New York White is also mentioned in The Anarchist Cookbook, (Powell & Bergman, 1971), and is described as being 12 feet tall and white due to the lack of sunlight.

Has anyone ever seen this albino marijuana? Of course not. No one can find or harvest it due to the danger from all the alligators in the NYC sewer system.

This is one of those stories where it helps to know a little about botany. And I mean just a little, like what you learned in 6th grade. Green plants require sunlight. Without sunlight they do not simply morph into a fungus so that they can live in the darkness. No matter how passionately your friend insists that this can and does happen, it does not.

Smoking Seeds Makes You Sterile

2009-03-02T20:59:00.002-05:00

The Legend: Marijuana seeds contain some substance that, when smoked, will leave a man sterile.

Status: False

Analysis:

Exactly what is it in those seeds that would leave a man sterile? According to Michael Tierra in his book Planetary Herbology, marijuana seeds are 19% protein, 31% lipids, choline, trigunelline, zylose, inositol, phytin and various enzymes. There is virtually no THC in cannabis seeds, which is why they remain legal to buy and sell. Lipids are fats and oils. Choline and inositol are part of the B Vitamin complex, they're nutrients. Zylose is a sugar. Trigunelline and phytin are types of salt. There doesn't seem to be anything there that would inhibit sperm production or health.

There seem to be many pot-smoking cultures with healthy birthrates, including our own here in the U.S. As marijuana use, and presumably the practice of smoking seeds, steadily increased in this country, peaking in 1979, there was a concomitant rise in the rate of teen pregnancy, (U.S. Teen Pregnancy Statistics, 2006). We would not see that trend if marijuana seed smoking was reducing fertility in males.

There is some research that suggests that sperm motility can be temporarily affected by the THC content of smoked marijuana, (Whan et. al., 2006), but other research shows that sperm motility is effected just as much by the tightness of a man's underwear, (Sanger & Friman, 1990).

Smoking Pot Kills Brain Cells

2009-03-02T20:54:00.001-05:00

The Legend: The active ingredient in marijuana, tetrahydrocannabinol, kills brain cells.

Status: False

Analysis:

As discussed earlier in this blog, this myth came from a poorly done piece of research in which brain changes were observed in Rhesus monkeys who had been exposed to high doses of marijuana smoke, (Heath et al, 1980).

Subsequent research done on animals and humans has found no evidence of physiological changes in brains exposed to daily marijuana smoke, and further, no evidence of mental decline or lowered IQ in these regular users, (Castle & Ames, 1997).

Heavy users report a pattern of short-term memory impairment that can persist for months into abstinence, but this does not appear to be caused by physical damage to the brain.

In order to kill brain cells you have to use legal drugs, such as alcohol.

That's Why They Call It Locoweed

2009-03-02T20:30:00.002-05:00

The Legend: Smoking marijuana increases the risk for developing schizophrenia or other mental illnesses.

Status: False

Analysis:

Research connecting marijuana use to mental illnesses such as schizophrenia is a good example of how media reports confuse correlation with causation. Correlation means observing that two variables seem to occur together. Causation means that changing one variable always causes changes in the other variable. A correlation would be noticing that there seems to be a higher rate of schizophrenia among marijuana smokers. Causation would be saying that marijuana smoking causes schizophrenia. Correlation is where research begins; causation is where you hope your research will end.

In the late 1980's, a piece of research published in the medical journal Lancet observed that chronic marijuana smokers were twice as likely to be schizophrenic - a correlation, (Andreasson et al, 1987). The study did not suggest that smoking marijuana had caused the schizophrenia. In fact, scientists have pointed out that there has been no increase in the rates of schizophrenia in those areas where there is heavy marijuana use, an increase you would expect to see if marijuana smoking did cause schizophrenia.

It is now believed that marijuana use may trigger an earlier onset of schizophrenic symptoms in those individuals that are already predisposed. It has also been reported, by the users themselves, that in some cases marijuana can ease their psychotic symptoms. This could account for the higher rate of marijuana use among people with schizophrenia. The marijuana didn't cause their schizophrenia, the schizophrenia is what led to their self-medication of symptoms with marijuana, (Warner, 1994). big difference.

The greatest risk factor for schizophrenia is family genetics. If this type of mental illness is in your family you might want to reconsider your marijuana usage.

Myths About Hallucinogens

2009-02-06T12:10:00.004-05:00

" A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes."

- Mark Twain [Attributed]

Hallucinogens are drugs that distort the information you get from your peripheral nervous system, creating visual, tactile, and aural hallucinations. They can also create synesthesia, or the mixing of senses. Drugs in this category include not only chemicals like LSD, but magic mushrooms (psilocybin) and ecstasy as well.

Our basic fears of losing control seem to be played out in these legends about hallucinogens. We're warned that we might lose control by unwittingly dosing ourselves with a lollipop, interacting with the wrong person, or using a contaminated pay phone - or so these legends would have us believe.

While there aren't a whole lot of deaths associated with the use of hallucinogenic drugs, use can precipitate depression, paranoia or a prolonged psychotic reaction resembling schizophrenia. Newer research has shown that hallucinogen use may trigger schizophrenia in predisposed individuals.

Per Veritatum Vis - Strength through truth.

Banana Bonanza!

2009-02-06T12:03:00.003-05:00

The Legend: You can get high from smoking banana peels.

Status: False

Analysis:

Rumor has it, and just about every kid entering high school in this country has heard this rumor, that you can get high smoking dried banana peels. What a huge financial savings over more traditional drugs, like marijuana. And so easy to buy, too. Bummer that it's not true.

Even though the word bananadine has been created (sometimes spelled banadine"), and there are recipes floating around, there are no psychoactive components in bananas, banana peels or banana extracts. While the online recipe for this extraction was intended to be funny, with rips into current folklore, "Bananas are 30x stronger now than they were just 10 years ago," people have actually gone through all the steps in these spoof recipes and guess what? They didn't get high.

This rumor seems to have its origin's back in March 1967 with a prank letter that was published in the Berkeley Barb. It has been said that Donovan's song, "Mellow Yellow" is about smoking banana peels. There is a recipe for this extraction in the Anarchist Cookbook, (Powell, 1968). You can find recipes for preparing bananas for smoking in the humor sections of some of the better drug websites.

Here's an interesting factoid for the geeks amongst us. While they can't be smoked, there are legitimate uses for banana peels outside of slapstick comedy. Banana peels can be used to remove trace metals from water, (Annadural et. al., 2003).

Getting High on Catnip

2009-02-06T11:55:00.002-05:00

The Legend: Catnip contains psychoactive oils and smoking it can get you high.

Status: False

Analysis:

Catnip, Nepeta cataria L., is a very interesting plant. It is a flowering herb that grows in North America and is probably most well known for its effects on cats. Catnip's power comes from nepetalactone, a volatile oil.

Nepetalactone has been used medicinally for thousands of years as an antispasmodic, a sedative and a treatment for diarrhea, colic, the common cold, leprosy and even cancer. It can be brewed into a tea, powdered, or cooked into soups and stews. Some references on this plant say that smoking catnip can produce euphoria and visual hallucinations, others say just the opposite.

Perhaps the most talked about reference to smoking catnip was a 1969 article in the Journal of the American Medical Association that suggested that smoking catnip would get you high, (Jackson, 1969). A few hundred readers responded to this article, pointing out that the accompanying photograph was actually a marijuana plant. It seems the author had confused catnip with marijuana. Ooops.

It is now generally accepted that catnip has no hallucinogenic properties when smoked. Message boards are full of accounts of disappointed catnip smokers.

As for the other medicinal benefits, there is no harm in brewing yourself a cup of catnip tea and seeing if it settles your stomach.

Interesting factoid: Nepetalactone has shown itself to be an incredibly effective, non-toxic insect repellent, (Amer & Mehlhorn, 2006).

Ecstasy Makes Holes in the Brain

2009-02-06T11:40:00.003-05:00

The Legend: Use of Ecstasy, even in small amounts, will leave permanent holes in your brain.

Status: False

Analysis:

False? No way! I've seen the pictures! There is photographic proof that this is true.

Or is there? You've seen pictures, but were they really pictures of a brain damaged by ecstasy? Maybe they were interesting pictures that showed areas of inactivity that simply looked like physical holes, which encouraged people to draw the erroneous, inaccurate and false conclusion that ecstasy had caused those "holes."

Most of us have seen the "Plain Brain/Brain on Ecstasy" photos. It was a drug prevention campaign designed by the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA). The photo was a split image; on the left was a healthy looking intact brain, on the right was a smaller brain that appeared to have holes in it. This campaign used these photos to imply that users had shrunken brains with holes in them as a result of their ecstasy use. NIDA promoted these "holes in the brain" photos on postcards, bookmarks and other educational materials.

These now legendary photos were taken by a NIDA funded scientist, Dr. George Ricaurte, at John's Hopkins University. Dr. Ricaurte himself says that the photos are of poor quality and that he had nothing to say about their use, that this was strictly a NIDA project. That would be the politically correct answer from a researcher who has already been found to have falsified data and research results. NIDA was eventually pressured by the scientific community to discontinue this misleading ad campaign.

All the current research being published on the neurotoxicity of ecstasy recognizes that it is nearly impossible to attribute the brain changes they might be observing to the use of a single drug, ecstasy. That's because people who use ecstasy might also use alcohol and other drugs, which themselves might be neurotoxic, (Gouzoulis-Mayfran & Daumann, 2006).

As for ecstasy causing holes in your brain, the most consistent research findings are showing cognitive, memory and mood changes with heavy ecstasy use, but no physical brain damage, (Gouzoulis-Mayfrink & Daumann, 2006; Morton, 2005). To kill brain cells in a large enough quantity for it to show up on a brain scan you would have to use the legal drug, alcohol.

Drug-Laced Suckers and Lollipops

2009-02-06T11:22:00.003-05:00

The Legend: A flier warns parents that drug-laced candy in the form of suckers and lollipops poses a hazard to children and teenagers.

Status: Mostly False

Example:

[Taken from the Internet]

North Little Rock Police Department put out a warning. Someone is giving middle school and high school kids suckers that look like: Maple Leafs; Pumpkins & Santa Claus that are laced with three different TYPES OF VERY STRONG DRUGS THAT ARE HALLUCINOGENIC, and this is STRONG ENOUGH TO KILL a child or teenager.

The police station received a tip from the Memphis, TN police. Some arrests in Memphis have been made. These suckers have turned up in Blytheville. Officials' fear that these suckers will begin to show up throughout the state.

If you have children, or know anyone with children, PLEASE inform them of this possible threat to our children.

Analysis:

All the earmarks of a hoax are here. We have capitol letters, a fear-inducing tone that tells us that drug users are after our children again. There is a drug mentioned that is hallucinogenic and deadly, but it is never actually named. People have been arrested in Memphis, but no details are given, including what they were arrested for and if anyone was hurt. Suckers have turned up in another town, but were they being given to children? How were they found? Where were they? And naturally you are encouraged to forward this to everyone you know with children.

For the most part this is just another "LSD will kill you" rumor. The North Little Rock Police Department denies issuing this warning.

What is true is that authorities in different parts of the country have reportedly confiscated chocolates that contained psilocybin mushrooms, and lollipops that contained THC or heroin. There are no reports of LSD-laced candy. In no cases were these confiscations made on school playgrounds or in situations where a drug dealer was trying to entice a child.

While these drug-laced candies really are being found, they are not being given to children and the likelihood that children would end up with them is close to zero. Sometimes dealers put drugs into candy, like chocolate, for their buyers [See 'Nothing to Snicker About']. This is not done for reasons of selling or giving the product to children.

This email has taken a small truth and expanded it to fictional claims of deliberately harming children, with death resulting from the consumption of these adulterated candies. It just isn't happening.

Rare With a Side of PCP Please

2009-02-06T11:06:00.002-05:00

The Legend: Use of PCP can turn people into cannibals.

Status: False

Analysis:

This is a good example of how make-believe crime shows are shaping the minds of our youth. You know that CSI isn't real, right? You know that West Wing is fiction, that Jimmy Smits isn't a politician in Washington and that Buffy the Vampire Slayer doesn't go to your school, right? Right?

Well, not everyone is as smart as you are. They see something on TV and assume it is real. It doesn't help that some of the current crime shows will have disclaimers suggesting that story lines are based on real or true events but names have been changed to protect the innocent. This is the case with a 2002 episode of CSI where a cheerleader, high on PCP, ends up killing and snacking on another cheerleader.

There was one real PCP/cannibalism case in 2002 where rapper Big Lurch (Antron Singleton) was found to have eviscerated and then chewed on his roommate's organs. At the trial, the defense claimed that Mr. Lurch was insane from PCP use at the time of the flesh smorgasbord. The jury didn't buy it and he is currently serving a life sentence.

There are many stories about PCP causing violence, often gory violence like eye-gouging and fetus killing. All of these stories make one think that there must be some truth behind the notion that PCP can trigger horribly violent acts, including cannibalism. A review of the research shows that there is one drug connected to more violent acts than any other, but that drug is alcohol, not PCP, (Hoakin & Stewart, 2003).

Can PCP use trigger violent acts? At this time, the best research says no, that there is no association between PCP and violence, (Fauman & Fauman, 1979). A person's response to PCP, or any drug, may differ as a function of personality characteristics rather than the physiological effects of the drug. (McCardle & Fishbein, 1989).

As for cannibalism, it seems to be acceptable if it's spiders or chickens eating their own, or even plane crash survivors, but it is one of the most intolerable things we can imagine one human being doing to another. Medical literature includes cases of cannibalism, but all instances were associated with mental illness, not drug use, (Medina, et. al. 2006). The common denominator in each case of human cannibalism seems to be people who were unstable to begin with and didn't need much of a push to lose control of their eating habits.

There's a Fungus Among Us

2009-02-06T10:56:00.002-05:00

The Legend: If you smoke psilocybin mushrooms, the spores will get into your lungs and grow there.

Status: False

Analysis:

Recently there has been discussion in chat rooms about smoking psilocybin mushrooms rather than eating them. It is said this may produce faster but milder effects. However, it is not clear whether psilocybin or psilocin mushrooms can produce psychoactive effects at all when smoked. User reports vary widely, and there is the constant worry about planting mushroom spores in your lungs.

A spore is the seed of the fungi. Spores are designed to survive for extended periods in unfavorable conditions to ensure perpetuation of the species. Knowing that, it would be easy to jump to the conclusion that mushroom spores are quite hardy and can certainly survive inhalation from their dark and moist breeding ground to the new dark and moist environment inside your lungs.

It turns out that there really is a definite danger from inhalation of mushroom spores. Medical literature has coined the term "mushroom worker's lung" to describe the symptom pattern seen in people who are over-exposed to mushroom spores through the cultivation, picking and packing of the mushroom crop, (Moore et. al. 2005).

But the mushroom spoor has a weakness, something that can hurt it like Kryptonite hurts Superman. A close reading of the directions that come with the apparatus for growing magic mushrooms warns that when growing fungi like mushrooms it is important to keep the spores away from anything hot. Heat is an efficient killer of spores and bacteria. Single celled organisms like spores and bacteria can be killed by boiling, pasteurization or even the small rise in temperature from a fever. What this means is spores from a mushroom will not survive the heat needed to light and burn them for smoking.

A review of the National Library of Medicine and the National Institute of Health medical research databases show no articles published on the effects, either acute or long-term, from smoking psilocybin mushrooms.

Nothing to Snicker About

2009-02-06T10:48:00.002-05:00

The Legend: Powdered psychedelic mushrooms have been found in chocolate candy.

Status: True

Analysis:

The DEA began reporting powdered or grated psychedelic mushrooms in chocolates in 2003. Psilocybin mushrooms can be dried and powdered without losing their psychedelic properties. The powder can then be put into capsules, which is far easier and neater to transport.

Powdered mushrooms are nothing new. In The Teachings of Don Juan: The Yaqui Way of Knowledge, Carlos Castaneda describes experiences using hallucinogenic drugs including the mention of powdered mushrooms.

The mushroom-containing chocolates that were confiscated by the DEA were described as being "homemade." It appears that the sellers of psilocybin mushrooms were covering them in chocolate in an attempt to disguise them from DEA agents. The chocolate also doubled as a cover for the foul taste for those who purchased them in this sugary form.

There are recipes online for how to make mushroom-laced chocolates. It's not rocket science and simply requires melting chocolate and stirring in the mushrooms, whole, dried, grated, powdered, any form will work. It's best to do this in a double boiler so you don't burn your chocolate.

Chocolate covered psychedelic mushrooms are made by dealers and purchased by users who know exactly what it is they are buying. This rumor is not about magic mushrooms showing up in your Snicker's bar or box of Godiva truffles. That has never happened.

Wee Willie Winkie

2009-02-06T10:42:00.003-05:00

The Legend: Magic mushrooms will stunt penis growth.

Status: False

Analysis:

There are a number of rumors connecting the use of various products, both legal and illegal, to penis shrinkage or impotence. In the case of magic mushrooms, no evidence exists to support this rumor.

There are drugs, both medical and recreational, that count impotence as a side effect. The most well known being diuretics, beta-blockers, alcohol, and amphetamines.

If you are tripping on psilocybin mushrooms it's a given that your perception will be changed, and you may look down at yourself and perceive that your penis is small, is getting smaller or has even disappeared. Those are hallucinations and are the reason you ate the mushrooms in the first place. If you are prone to insecurities, don't look at your penis while you're tripping, watch TV instead. That's why they make the Cartoon Network.

Cheesing in South Park

2009-02-06T10:30:00.002-05:00

The Legend: "Cheesing" is the act of deliberately inhaling cat urine to get high.

Status: False

Analysis:

South Park, an award-winning animated TV show created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, is the source of this legend. The show's success lies in awesome graphics and writing, and the unparalleled satirical presentation of current events.

In 2007, Newsweek reported on a new drug phenomenon in Dallas, Texas called Cheese Heroin. Cheese is a small amount of heroin mixed with a larger amount of crushed acetaminophen (Tylenol) and diphenhydramine (Benadryl). Generally, cheese heroin, so named for it's shared appearance with parmesan cheese, is only 2-8% heroin, compared to 30% found in the more common black tar heroin. It was called "starter heroin" because it was being used by adolescents as young as 9-years-old. Cheese heroin is serious stuff. 40 users under the age of 18 have died.

Critics were all over the Newsweek article saying that there were no scientists used as sources for what was being described as an emerging drug epidemic. Others complained that the media was reporting unsubstantiated numbers, sensationalizing this new drug, and giving too much detail on how to make it. There was fear that media irresponsibility would cause a spread of this drug which for two years had only been found in a very localized area of Texas.

Given the funny name and the media mishandling of the news, it became prime fodder for Parker and Stone, and the practice of "cheesing" in South Park, Colorado was born, (Episode 170, "Major Boobage" Aired 3-26-08). "Cheeesing" involved attaching a male cat to a specialized apparatus and stimulating him to spray his urine into the user's face. Inhaling the male cat urine created an intense high.

Is it real? No. You cannot get high on cat urine. Ammonia inhalation can cause irritation to the eyes, nose and respiratory tract. In some cases cat urine can contain bacteria, such as Coxiella burnetii, which when inhaled through airborne exposure can result in Q fever, pneumonia, and even endocarditis and death, (Bartelink et. al. 2000).

Inhaling cat urine can make you a little sick or a lot sick, but not high. Cheesing is a parody, made to show drug use as ridiculous. I mean, to do it you need a special harness for your cat. 'Nuff said.

The Red Worm

2009-02-06T10:23:00.003-05:00

The Legend: The worm in the Tequila bottle is hallucinogenic.

Status: False

Variations:

The worm indicates the alcohol content.

The worm is an aphrodisiac.

Analysis:

Mayahuel was the Aztec Goddess of fertility. After a complicated marriage that involved being turned into a tree and eaten by the stars, her remains were buried. The first agave plant grew on her grave. Angry gods struck it down with lightening, creating the fermented sap. The Aztecs named the plant "Metl" in her honor, which is where we get the word "Mezcal."

The story of Mayahuel is an interesting piece of history, the worm is not. Despite what you've been told, the worm is not an ancient Indian tradition, but one started in 1950. The legendary worm is specific to Mezcal. Mezcal is made from distilled sap from the Espadin variety of the agave plant. The agave worm is actually the caterpillar of the Hypopta Agavis moth. It bores into the center of the agave plant. It is virtually impossible to make Mezcal without killing a few worms.

And it turns out you wouldn't want to filter out the worms since they add a distinctive flavor to the liquor. Rather than try to remove them, a whole worm was added to each bottle as a marketing gimmick. The worms are now farm-raised for this specific and peculiar use. They can be red to white in color. The purists prefer the red worm.

Let It Bleed

2009-02-02T15:08:00.002-05:00

The Legend: Using hallucinogenic mushrooms will cause your brain to bleed.

Status: False

Examples:

[Gathered from the Internet message boards]

Did you know that 'shrooms make your brain bleed? When you see the walls breath it's really the blood running behind your eyes.

I heard that LSD can cause blood to drip down from the base of your skull so if you do LSD a lot, you will get this blood drip in the back of your head.

Some people around here think 'shrooms make your stomach bleed and then the blood from your stomach bleeding is sent to your brain and that's how it makes you trip.

Psylocylobin [sic] (mushrooms) is a poison that clots the blood in the back of your brain and blocks the serotonin in your brain from transferring at the correct speed, which is why some people get depressed afterwards.

Somebody I know who has very strange ideas about drugs believes that mushrooms actually cause your brain to bleed and then you get high from that.

LSD makes your brain bleed and clogs your veins so certain organs don't get blood circulation.

LSD causes your brain to bleed, and then it scabs over, then when the scab falls off you have a flashback.

I thought acid made my brain bleed down my spine and like others say burns your spine and leaves scarring.

Ecstasy can make your brain bleed.

Analysis:

When your brain bleeds it is called a stroke, intra-cranial hemorrhage, brain aneurysm or a cerebral-vascular accident (CVA). This urban legend is suggesting that using LSD will cause one of these things to happen to your brain.

This is not a new idea. Intra-cranial hemorrhage has been linked to illicit drug use for decades. You can still find "stroke" or "brain hemorrhage" listed as a possible side effect of illicit drug use in some drug prevention materials. Not all illicit drugs contribute to these brain-based bleeds, but that is never made clear in the older, scare-based drug education materials.

If your brain bleeds, chances are very good that you'll know it is happening and will seek emergency medical treatment. The Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) is a system for emergency room (ER) data collection. In 2005, the most recent year for which we have data, there were 1,864 ER mentions of LSD, (National Estimates of Drug-Related Emergency Department Visits, 2005). The next question is, were all these LSD users in the emergency room because their brains were bleeding?

20% of young people, age 49 or younger, who suffered stroke had abused drugs. The dominant drugs of abuse were cocaine and amphetamines. LSD isn't mentioned. The real risk factors for stroke are cigarette smoking, high blood pressure, low body-mass index, cocaine use and family history.

In fact, it is possible that just the opposite of a brain hemorrhage will happen when a person uses LSD. Ergotomine, a chemical similar to LSD, has been used in the treatment of migraine headache, as has LSD, because it really does effect the blood flow in the brain. Not by causing a hemorrhage, but by actually constricting the blood flow (Saper & Silberstein, 2006).

Research on stroke, aneurysm or other types of brain bleeds suggest that the only illicit drugs that are connected to brain hemorrhage are cocaine and amphetamines. LSD use is not a risk factor for brain-bleeding events, (Broderick et. al. 2003).

Gimme Some Skin

2009-02-02T15:04:00.002-05:00

The Legend: Smoking peanut skins will make you hallucinate.

Status: False

Analysis:

The Anarchists Cookbook (Powell, 1971) is full of handy, dandy, notoriously unreliable recipes like this one. The instructions say to remove the skins from unsalted raw peanuts, crush them, pack them into a bowl and smoke. Preparing and smoking them in this way will allegedly cause hallucinations.

Many people have tried this. After all, it's cheap, legal and available. If only it worked, right?

It doesn't. There is nothing psychoactive in peanut skins whether they are dry, raw, cooked or burned. However, smoking anything can make a person lightheaded, so don't rule out the placebo effect.

Recommended by 9 Out of 10 Dentists

2009-02-02T14:54:00.002-05:00

The Legend: Spreading toothpaste on orange peels and smoking it will create hallucinogenic effects.

Status: False

Variations:

Spreading toothpaste on cigarettes and smoking will make you high.

Spreading toothpaste on orange peels, storing them until they mold (one source says to store them "under a rug"), then smoking or eating the mold will get you high.

Taking some ABC gum (already been chewed) and wrapping it in an orange peel with some toothpaste until it molds, then smoking or eating the mold will get you high.

Analysis:

Here we go again with the oranges! Oranges and their peels have been appearing in drug-themed rumors for decades. Despite the rumors, there is nothing in oranges or their peels that will cause psychoactive effects.

Toothpaste is made from a mild abrasive, a foaming agent (generally sodium lauryl sulfate) and sodium flouride. There is nothing in toothpaste that is psychoactive. Flouride in high concentrations is toxic and can cause gastrointestinal symptoms, even death, but not hallucinations. It is doubtful that combining toothpaste with an orange would create a psychoactive compound.

There was a movie in 2002 called "Shuang Tong" in which a murderer is planting a hallucinogenic mold into the brains of victims. This is fiction people, fiction! Eating moldy organic material may make you feel different, but in an I-feel-like-I'm-gonna-puke sort of way.

The exception to this would be mold that grows from an already psychoactive host (mycillia) or the mold that grows on rye (ergot) from which LSD was synthesized.

The only trip a moldy orange will give you is to the bathroom.

Rise and Shine and Give God That Glory, Glory!

2009-02-02T14:47:00.001-05:00

The Legend: You can get high eating Morning Glory seeds.

Status: True

Analysis:

The seeds of the Heavenly Blue, Pearly Gate and Flying Saucer Morning Glory plant contain a naturally occurring hallucinogen called lysergic acid amide (LSA) which, not surprisingly, is similar to lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD).

LSA is currently a Schedule III substance in the United States, which means possessing LSA as a pure chemical, as extracted from the Morning Glory seeds, is illegal. However, the raw seeds are sold at most garden stores and purchase and possession of them is not illegal.

High on Visine

2009-02-02T14:17:00.009-05:00

The Legend: Visine eye drops are a hallucinogen and drinking them will get you high.

Status: False

Example:

[Taken from the Internet]

"I've tasted it, and, so far as know, I'm the only person to taste it at high levels. It gives an itchy, uncomfortable dizziness that I wouldn't characterize as a "high" and certainly not a psychedelic one. Effects were intense, and culminated in me retching the shit back up."

Variations:

Putting a few drops of Visine into a drink will cause diarrhea.

Analysis:

Visine actually does contain some pretty interesting chemicals, oxymetazoline, and tetrahydrozoline among them. Neither is a psychoactive drug, neither will get you high, and both can make you pretty damn sick.

As for adding Visine to someone's drink, it's said that this is an age-old barmaid trick for dealing with difficult customers. Most of us have heard this one and have been told about a friend of a friend that this happened to. Seems like a harmless enough prank, except that it isn't harmless.

Ingesting the active ingredient in Visine, tetrahydrozoline, can be quite dangerous, causing blurred vision, difficulty breathing, nausea, vomiting, seizures, tremors , coma and respiratory arrest. Diarrhea is nowhere on this list. Pfizer, the manufacturer, warns that if this product is swallowed that emergency medical help or help from a poison control center is recommended. And it doesn't take much to bring on these deadly symptoms, (Tobias, 1996).

Unfortunately, revenge-seekers don't always research their methods before implementing their plan. In a highly publicized incident in 1995, a clerk at Whole Foods Market spiked a customer's drink with a bottle of Visine thinking she was playing a practical joke. The victim became violently ill and was hospitalized for days. He survived to bring a $1 million lawsuit against Whole Foods Market.

In January of 2009 a Missouri woman tried to kill her husband by putting Visine into his tea. A statement of probable cause said the husband had been having stomach problems for the past two months. He lived, she was arrested and charged with first degree assault.

Keep in mind that secretly putting something into someone else's food or drink with the intention of harming them is called poisoning, and it is a crime.

Adrenochrome

2009-02-02T09:54:00.003-05:00

The Legend: Adrenochrome, a powerfully psychedelic drug, can only be acquired from the adrenal glands of a live human donor. Once harvested, the donor dies.

Status: Somewhat true, but no one dies.

Analysis:

Adrenochrome, C9H9NO3, was represented as a recreational drug by author Hunter S. Thompson in the book Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. In this book, and subsequent film, it is presented as a powerful hallucinogen that is acquired from a living donor's adrenal gland. Removing this gland kills the donor, as a dead person's adrenal gland doesn't contain the right juice. The high is shown to be like a hallucinatory amphetamine rush. This is supported by a similar mention in The Doors of Perception by Aldous Huxley, where adrenochrome is likened to LSD.

This is a case where the myth is far more interesting than the facts. Adrenochrome is real. It is synthesized by oxidation of adrenaline (epinephrine) in the adrenal glands. Medically, adrenochrome is used to reduce capillary bleeding. It may create mild euphoria, but there really are no psychoactive effects documented from this drug.

Dr. Abram Hoffer and Humphry Osmond (1954, 1959) first presented the adrenochrome model of schizophrenia, claiming that adrenolutin, one of the metabolites, combined with adrenochrome to create the hallucinatory symptoms we see in schizophrenia. This hypothesis was abandoned decades ago.

The true, boring nature of this chemical has not stopped popular culture from running with it. There are bands and songs by this name as well as mentions in many song lyrics and movies. This chemical is available for purchase in powdered form, something to remember before you cut the adrenal glands out of your neighbor.

Human Placenta Contains Hallucinogens

2009-02-02T09:47:00.004-05:00

The Legend: The human placenta contains the hallucinogen dimethyltriptamine (DMT).

Status: False

Analysis:

What is most interesting about this particular rumor is how it most likely began. You can picture the eager high school student doing a search on DMT when he stumbles on all these articles about human placenta and DMT. Whoa!

You'll find the same thing if you do a search, hundreds of website and articles about placentas containing DMT. Imagine a young, drug-involved student skimming through these and seeing phrases like, "...DMT in the human placenta...". Could be an exciting discovery, and probably was. So exciting that the young internet surfer didn't bother to read further to find out that the DMT in these articles was not the DMT being sold by his local dealer.

The DMT being written about in relation to human placentas is divalent metal transporter-1 (DMT-1), not dimethyltriptamine. There haven't been rumors about drug users stealing, drying and smoking human placentas. At least not yet.

Again fact being more interesting than fiction - minute quantities of DMT are made by the pineal gland in the human brain. No one really knows what this is for. Perhaps it is tied to our sleep-wake cycle, or to some component of dreaming. What we do know is that it is made in quantities too small to cause hallucinations.

Hallucinogens in the Bible

2009-02-02T09:44:00.003-05:00

The Legend: The Samson tale in the Bible, of foxes running through the weeds with torches on their tails, is a veiled reference to hallucinogen use.

Status: This one is up to you.

Analysis:

This passage can be found in Judges 15:4. Rather than 300 actual foxes tethered together with torches, it is believed, by some, to be a concealed reference to a battalion of 300 men made fearless after ingestion of amanita muscaria - hallucinogenic mushrooms that, when dried, are fox colored.

Divine Toad Sweat

2009-02-02T09:23:00.003-05:00

The Legend: You can get high by licking toads.

Status: False

Analysis:

We've all heard the stories, seen the Simpson's episode and made the jokes. Toad-licking was just so bizarre that it was destined to become a contemporary legend. Never mind that it's not true, it's still a great story.

The toad in question is the Bufo alvarius or Cane Toad. Cane toads have sacs behind their head that will release highly poisonous venom and quickly kill animals that prey on them. They are so toxic that dogs, snakes and even crocodiles will only survive minutes after eating one.

Despite the stories and jokes, you can't get high licking the venom off of this toad. Besides, would you really want to try after watching it kill a crocodile? There is a hallucinogen in the toad's venom, but the venom has to be processed to extract the hallucinogen into a form that is safe to use.

Some said that the hallucinogenic chemical was bufotinine, 5-OH-DMT, found in all Bufo toad venom. In 1967 the FDA even made bufotenine a Schedule I drug, which means it has no potential for medical use and is too dangerous for human consumption. They were wrong. Bufotenine is not the active hallucinogen in toad venom.

The psychoactive chemical in toad venom is actually 5-MeO-DMT. 5-methoxy-dimethyltryptamine is a powerful hallucinogen. This drug is present in only one of the more than 200 species of the Bufo toad; Bufo alvarius. 5-MeO-DMT is inactive when taken orally. To get high on toad, the venom must be collected, dried and then smoked or snorted, which will get you high for about 15 minutes.

Bufo toad venom shows up in the strangest places. Even though banned by the FDA, bufanolides are still imported and sold illegally as aphrodisiacs in products such as Love Stone, Chinese Rock and Black Stone. When ingested they can be uncomfortable, unpleasant and fatal.

The Bufo Toad has it's admirers and worshipers. LSD evangelist Art Kleps, founder of the psychedelic Neo-American church, has a newsletter called, "Divine Toad Sweat." And Bufo toad evangelist Albert Most founded the "Church of the Toad of Light." While many people have used hallucinogens to achieve spiritual insights, remember that this particular hallucinogen can kill a crocodile.

LSD's Final Gift

2009-01-16T21:27:00.002-05:00

The Legend: When you die, all the LSD you've ever taken is released at once so you have the best trip of all

Status: False

Analysis:

We can only hope this is true. Unfortunately, since LSD does not remain in your body after 8-10 hours, it's not there to be "released" at the moment you die. Sorry.

LSD Briefly Made Legal

2009-01-16T21:22:00.003-05:00

The Legend: LSD was legal for awhile in the 1960's due to testing with psychiatric patients.

Status: False

Analysis:

LSD and other hallucinogens have indeed been researched as therapeutic agents with psychiatric patients. It was even explored as a treatment for alcoholism (with remarkable success). But the legal status of this drug was not changed to accommodate research during this time.

In 1965 Congress passed the Drug Abuse Control Amendment that made the manufacture and sale of LSD a misdemeanor. In 1968, the sale of LSD become a felony. Under Nixon's watch, in 1970, the Controlled Substance Act was passed and LSD became a Schedule I controlled substance.

During the 1970's and 1980's there was a strong political climate against hallucinogens. Most LSD research was done outside of the U.S. during this time. Since the 1980's, the FDA has granted IND (Investigational New Drug) status to several hallucinogenic drugs, including LSD and Ecstasy, so that research in this country can resume.

Secret Government LSD Testing

2009-01-16T21:01:00.003-05:00

The Legend: The U.S. government has done secret testing of LSD for use in warfare.

Status: True

Variations:

LSD has been used by the government to treat combat fatigue or as an interrogation aid.

LSD was tested on marines in Vietnam by putting it in the water supply. They were deceived, being led to believe they were testing a new sleep aid. One guy went crazy and killed his own men.

Analysis:

Both of these claims are largely true, except for the part about killing people. But then it wouldn't be a cool story to repeat without some insanity or homicide.

The U.S government did research on LSD most extensively between 1942 and 1963. Beginning in 1942, the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the precursor to the CIA, was looking for a speech-inducing drug to be used when interrogating prisoners. General William Donovan, then chief of the OSS, challenged scientists to:

"... create a substance that could break down the psychological defenses of enemy spies and POWs, thereby causing an uninhibited disclosure of classified information. Such a drug would also be useful for screening OSS personnel in order to identify German sympathizers, double agents, and potential misfits."

The government did indeed test on military personal. Between 1947-1953 the research, initiated by the Navy, was supposedly called "Project Chatter," and similar research conducted by the CIA was called "Project Bluebird." All with the goals of extracting classified information from the enemy.

In 1953, Dr. Gottleib headed a project called "MKULTRA," (later renamed "MKSEARCH"). This was the CIA's effort to find the perfect mind control drug.

In 1972, most of the MKULTRA records were deliberately destroyed by order of then CIA director Richard Helms. It was estimated that there were more than 150 individually funded research projects sponsored by MKULTRA and MKSEARCH.

Many experiments involved dosing subjects with LSD without their knowledge and then observing their reactions. Subjects were often agency and other government employees, but they also experimented on mental patients and members of the general public. Some have described these experiments as cruel and sadistic.

Example:

[Taken from the Internet]

"The Deputy Director of the CIA revealed that over 30 universities and institutions were involved in an 'extensive testing and experimentation' program which included covert drug tests on unwitting citizens 'at all social levels, high and low, native Americans and foreign.' Several of these tests involved the administration of LSD to 'unwitting subjects in social situations.' At least one death, that of Dr. Olson, resulted from these activities. The Agency itself acknowledged that these tests made little scientific sense. The agents doing the monitoring were not qualified scientific observers."

U.S. Senate Wednesday, August 3, 1977

Select Committee on Intelligence

And Subcommittee on Health

And Scientific Research

Of the Committee on Human Resources

It is estimated that 1500 soldiers were dosed with LSD during these years of experimentation, some unknowingly. The government abandoned LSD research in 1963 in favor of other less erratic and more effective hallucinogens. Read more about this at:

http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/history/e1950/mkultra/index.htm

Which Witch is Which?

2009-01-16T20:44:00.003-05:00

The Legend: The Salem Witch Trials were the result of Puritans inadvertently tripping on LSD

Status: Quite Possible

Analysis:

The Salem Witch Trials are an intriguing piece of American history, taking place between 1692-1693 in Salem, Massachusetts. What happened to cause townspeople to suspect each other of being witches has been debated for centuries. One of the most logical explanations is ergotism.

Ergotism is the result of eating baked goods that have been made with flour that has been contaminated with ergot. The ergot fungus grows on rye and can create compounds that are very similar to LSD. In fact, LSD was discovered by a chemist who was researching ergot chemicals.

At this time in history, no one suspected that the bread was causing these bizarre affects. After all, bread? What could be more benign than bread? Yet, when people ate the ergot-infected rye it was possible for entire villages to experience ergotism, or LSD-like trips. The symptoms of ergotism are paranoia, hallucinations, spasms and twitching. The spasms suffered are involuntary, irregular, jerking and twitching movements that came to be called St. Vita's Dance.

Beyond the hallucinations, paranoia and involuntary movements there was also an intensely painful burning sensation in the arms and legs that was called St. Anthony's Fire. In severe cases, constriction of the blood supply to the extremities would be so profound that it would cause gangrene or the hands and feet. In less severe cases, it would cause a person to feel uncomfortably hot, maybe even hot enough to take off their clothes and appear to be dancing.

During the 16th and 17th centuries, ergot poisoning symptoms were blamed on the devil. People with ergotism were described as being bewitched and it was thought that they could see the devil and whoever was with him. In these visions, people who were seen consorting with the devil were obviously witches. By naming names, based on their hallucinations, the accused were labeled as witches and sentenced to death.

In the end, 19 "witches" had been executed; 14 women, 5 men, and one dog.

Don't Take the Brown Acid

2009-01-16T20:32:00.002-05:00

The Legend: There was a brown-colored LSD at Woodstock that caused many people to have bad trips.

Status: Most likely false

Analysis:

Drug use was prolific in 1969. As the Woodstock story goes, in the midst of the 3-day music festival, the medical tent was overwhelmed with concert goers having adverse drug reactions. It has been reported that nearly 800 Woodstock attendees sought medical attention for drug-related problems, and one person even died from their drug use. The problem was traced to a specific drug and announcements were made from the stage to "not take the brown acid."

What is brown acid? LSD is often put onto blotter paper that is adorned with colors and sometimes extravagant artwork, everything from Disney characters to psychedelic patterns. Long before Woodstock, myth had developed about the quality of the LSD based on the color or artwork of the blotter paper. For example, the blue acid might give you more of a body trip, while the red might give you more of a head trip.

In reality, acid is acid. There is little variation in the actual chemical properties between batches of LSD. However, user expectation is a significant determining factor when predicting the quality of the trip.

Was there really bad LSD at Woodstock? There may have been a bad batch of blotter treated with something other than LSD. There also might have been people happily tripping on brown acid until they heard the warning, and then their trip became a bummer. But the LSD was probably all just about the same, no matter what color blotter paper it was on.

In the end, there were three documented deaths at Woodstock. One from a heroin overdose, one person was run over by a tractor while he slept in a sleeping bag, and a third person fell from some scaffolding. No one died from the brown acid.

The LSD Spinal Tap

2009-01-16T13:24:00.002-05:00

The Legend: You can never work for the federal government because they can take a spinal tap to see if you've ever used LSD.

Status: False

Variations:

You can ever work for NASA because they perform a pre-employment spinal tap to make sure you've never done LSD.

A spinal tap is required before you can become a pilot.

Analysis:

I can see it now. One line of applicants for urine testing, a second group lined up for a pre-employment spinal tap. Not gonna happen. For starters, LSD does not remain in your spinal fluid, as discussed earlier, so there is nothing there to test for.

Additionally, spinal taps are not a minor, non-invasive procedure like a urinalysis. You might be given a hair or urine test before employment, but it's a pretty safe bet that you will not ever be given a pre-employment spinal tap.

Many employers, including the federal government, have guidelines and policies prohibiting them from hiring anyone who has used certain illegal drugs a specified number of years before applying for the job. Many employers also have Drug Free Workplace policies that prohibit current use. However, no one is administering spinal taps as a method of screening employees.

The Man With Two Brains

2009-01-16T13:18:00.003-05:00

The Legend: When you use LSD the right and left hemispheres of your brain separate.

Status: False

Analysis:

The brain is separated into two halves, the right and left cerebral hemispheres, which are connected by a thick bundle of nerves called the corpus callosum. This nerve bundle bridges the two sides of your brain and allows the two halves of your brain to communicate with each other. In cases of extreme epilepsy, the corpus callosum has been severed surgically. There are also a few cases where the corpus callosum has been severed by trauma. There is not a single case of the brain "splitting" or the corpus callosum being severed due to LSD use.

The brain also cannot separate and then reconnect 8 hours later when the LSD is gone, it just doesn't have that kind of rejuvenative abilities. And no, severing the corpus callosum isn't something that "might" have happened to you but you're not sure. Believe me, if it happened you would know it.

Liquid LSD - The Final Solution

2009-01-16T12:49:00.010-05:00

The Legend: LSD can be used in solution as either a drink or a spray, and given to unsuspecting people.

Status: False, but it's been tried.

Variations:

A police officer pulled over a speeding motorist and took a swallow of an unidentified liquid found in the glove compartment to determine if it was alcohol. It turned out to be LSD in solution.

A police officer borrowed a water bottle from a motorist he's pulled over. He took a few swallows of what turned out to be LSD in solution.

There is a trouper who has a brother in the Adirondacks. He found a bottle that used to contain LSD, swished some water around in it, put it into his eyes, and now he's tripping for life.

LSD in solution is sprayed into the faces of police or customs agents by drug smugglers.

The CIA is spraying LSD on citizens in San Francisco.

LSD in solution is sprayed into the faces of girls at rock concerts.

Analysis:

This is one of those urban legends that portrays authority figures, in this case police officers, as stupid or irresponsible, or show the common man somehow getting one over on their boss, or the police. No police officer is going to drink an unknown liquid from a jar that is found in the glove compartment of a motorist. Would you? And no police officer is going to accept a drink from an open container from someone they are in the process of ticketing or arresting. As for the trooper's brother, human nature would probably not lead a person to rinse their eyes with contaminated water.

Spray LSD stories prey on our fears that there are very bad people out there who will hurt us. We also have a fear of losing control, so spray LSD fits nicely into this particular paranoia. The message to not trust people who listen to rock music is an old one.

If you were a predator who wanted to disable girls at a concert, there are many other, quicker and more effective methods for doing that. LSD would not be a logical choice. LSD doesn't work instantaneously, so using this on police or customs agents won't disorient them and allow the bad guys to get away.

LSD can be dissolved in water, so theoretically it can be put into solution and absorbed and ingested in that way. While there are no reports of troopers or rock concert attendees being victimized by spray LSD, there is an unflattering chapter of U.S. History in which federal intelligence agents experimented with LSD in just this way.

George White, a federal narcotics officer, was charged with finding a chemical method that could be used as a truth serum to turn enemy agents. White chose LSD as the focus of his research. Most of White's experiments were performed on unwitting subjects who had no idea they were going to be dosed with LSD. It is even documented that Agent White threw parties where he would spray the air with aerosol LSD, then sit back to observe what happened, (Marks, 1979). In most cases nothing happened, the LSD was eventually abandoned by the U.S. government for use as a truth serum.

Then, in 1995, Japan's Supreme Truth doomsday cult, the group that was responsible for the nerve gas attack in the Tokyo Subway that claimed 12 lives and made thousands sick, is reported to have studied LSD as a chemical weapon. Their plan was to spray it from the sky. Since LSD itself is fairly non-lethal, it's hard to imagine what outcome the Supreme Truth was looking for, (CNN; 10/95).

I Can See Clearly Now

2009-01-16T12:45:00.003-05:00

The Legend: If you put LSD in your eyes you'll have better hallucinations.

Status: False

Analysis:

The theory is that you will have better visual hallucinations if there is a high concentration of LSD in the eyes. However, the mechanics of action for LSD take place in the brain, not the eyeballs. Hallucinations are caused by a change in neurochemistry, not any specific stimulus to the eye, so logic suggests this is not true. There is no research on this at this time.

Tripping for Life

2009-01-16T12:29:00.003-05:00

The Legend: There was a guy who had LSD in his pocket and got caught in the rain, now he's tripping for life.

Status: False

Analysis:

This rumor warns that residues of LSD will remain in your body forever, suggesting that you might be one of the unfortunate few who will actually hallucinate forever. During the 1970's and 1980's, one of the methods for teaching drug prevention was the use of scarelore, telling drug stories that would scare the crap out of kids, and hopefully keep them scared long enough that that they wouldn't use drugs. Tripping for life was one of those scare stories that was told not just between kids, but by teachers as well.

Over the years students have insisted that this particular legend was true, even saying that they had seen it on TV. And if it's on TV, it must be real, right?

So, is it possible to trip for life?

Hallucinogen Persisting Perception Disorder (HPPD)

The jury is still out on whether or not LSD causes flashbacks, or the recurrence of the LSD experience in the absence of the drug. Both users and professionals disagree within their ranks. Considering the number of people who have used LSD over the past 50 years one would think that there would be some more definitive science surrounding the flashback phenomenon, but there isn't.

Some say that flashbacks are simply a manifestation of schizophrenia. Others argue that it is a type of biochemical post-traumatic stress reaction. The accepted theory in the 1970's was that flashback-like experiences were not caused by any biophysiology, but by user expectation and a selective attention to naturally occurring alterations in consciousness. Bright flashes, halos, and trails are all visual phenomenon that happen, generally unnoticed, in most people. After you've used LSD, you now have a way to label them, (Heaton, 1975).

What we do know for sure is that a very few people who use LSD will develop lasting visual problems. This has been labeled Hallucinogen Persisting Perception Disorder (HPPD) (Halpern & Pope, 2003). Unlike flashbacks, HPPD tends to be a fairly continuous experience of visual interference rather than a series of acute episodes.

HPPD is a condition where one or more of the perceptual disturbances associated with LSD use occur without taking the drug. The American Psychiatric Association recognizes this disorder, but also reminds us that such visual disturbances can be symptoms of other medical conditions. For many, the visual problems resolve on their own after a few months, for others the visual disturbances can last five or more years.

HPPD is strictly a visual disorder. Symptoms can range from mild to so severe that they interfere with work or school. People with these symptoms know that what they are seeing is not reality. There are no concurrent symptoms of depression, confusion or panic attacks, though people with HPPD often report anxiety, (Halpern & Pope, 2003).

The good news is that for people who suffer from HPPD, benzodiazepines, such as Clonidine, can significantly reduce symptoms, (Lerner et al, 1998; 2003).

LSD Leaves Crystals in Your Spine

2009-01-16T12:13:00.003-05:00

The Legend: Using LSD leaves crystals in your spine, which can reactivate and cause the user to experience flashbacks.

Status: False

Variations:

LSD leaves bubbles in your spine.

Analysis:

This is one of many, many LSD legends that pop up with some regularity. As has been discussed elsewhere, LSD, a water-soluble hallucinogen taken in microgram quantities, has a half-life of about 4 hours. There is no research that indicates that any is left behind in the body, or that the residue will form semi-permanent "crystals" in a user's body, or spine.

The most interesting thing about this particular rumor is its connection to the Church of Scientology. One of L. Ron Hubbard's programs was Narconon and the New Life Detoxification Program. This program has undergone recent scrutiny and the few doctors that support it are, themselves, Scientologists. Narconon and the New Life Detoxification Program have no real credibility in the medical or scientific community. That has not slowed the celebrity endorsements.

In his book, Purification: An Illustrated Answer to Drugs, Hubbard claims that he has made the discovery that LSD flashbacks, themselves hotly debated in the drug using and treatment communities, are caused by LSD that has been trapped in the body as crystals and can be restimulated at a later date. In fact, according to Hubbard, it's not just LSD that is trapped and restimulated, it's all illegal drugs, medicines, chemicals, preservatives, pesticides and even radiation and x-rays. He never says how he made this discovery. Naturally there is no scientific evidence to support his claims. While it is true that some things, like dioxins, metals some medication and vitamins, really will build up in the body over time, LSD is not on that list.

The New Life Detoxification Program involves weeks of extended sauna sessions that are supposed to release all of these stored toxins as patients sweat them out. Certainly this is good for your pores, but the "sweating it out" process has no basis in real science as a detoxification procedure for drug users.

So, are L. Ron Hubbard and the Church of Scientology's New Life Detoxification Program responsible for the widely held belief that LSD crystals remain in the body indefinitely, posing a risk of being restimulated at a later date? If not responsible for starting this rumor, they certainly are embracing it and making $15,000 from each person who believes it and seeks out their program for treatment.

Snap, Crackle Pop - I'm Tripping!

2009-01-15T23:29:00.003-05:00

The Legend: LSD remains in your spinal fluid for a lifetime.

Status: False

Variations:

LSD can stay in your spine for up to 30 years.

LSD sticks to your spine and weakens it.

LSD is in your spine, travels up to your brain stem to your brain and makes you instantly insane.

LSD robs spinal fluid from the spinal cord.

LSD is stored in the spinal cord and if you crack your back you can have a flashback.

Chiropractic adjustments can release LSD and can cause flashbacks.

Because LSD is stored in your spine if you crack your neck while on acid it sends you into a never ending rip and you eventually die.

LSD is stored in the bottom of your spine, which is why right before you start to trip you feel a tingling up your spine.

When you take LSD your spine will move upward, releasing chemicals that cause you to trip.

LSD is stored in your spine and once it reaches a critical level you will die.

LSD forms a mucus layer around your brain, then drains spinal fluid from your back.

Analysis:

So, once it's in your body it stays in your body forever, working in your spine to become active again, on and off throughout the rest of your life? These rumors persist as a way of possibly explaining why some people (very few) have experienced flashbacks. "I'm hallucinating, therefore it must be those drugs I took back in 1978," Um, no, more likely something else is going on and you need to get yourself to a doctor.

This spinal fluid belief is so widely held that message boards on the topic are full of pregnant women afraid to get epidurals for fear of triggering a flashback, and pain patients refusing spinal injections as a course of treatment for the same reason.

Ask yourself what the phrase "robs/drains spinal fluid" means. How is it robbed and where does it go? How does the spine "move upwards" independently of everything that's attached to it? Doesn't make much sense, does it.

For starters, let's take a look at the physiology involved. Your brain, spinal cord and cerebro-spinal fluid is a closed system. That means that spinal fluid is not going to drain or flood your bloodstream without a massive trauma, and cracking your back, getting an injection, or visiting a chiropractor is not a massive trauma.

There are dormant viruses, like chicken pox, that really do stay in your body throughout your lifetime, making occasional reappearances. LSD is not a virus, nor does it hang around in your spinal fluid for years after use - especially considering that your spinal fluid replaces itself on a very regular basis.

LSD is a water-soluble chemical that is metabolized and excreted from the body rapidly. The metabolic half-life of LSD in the human body is 3-5 hours. After 5 hours, most of what remains are water-soluble metabolites that have no neurological effects. Because of its high solubility in water, LSD does not form deposits in your body.

Since the trippy effects of LSD can last up to 12 hours, it has been suggested that LSD triggers some type of neurochemical chain reaction that creates experiential changes that persist long after the drug has left your body.

And how about those flashbacks being caused by dormant LSD that is stored in your spine? Flashbacks have spotty science behind them. The term "flashback" has been used in so many ways to mean so many things that it is virtually meaningless now. Some believe they are a purely psychological phenomenon, where the brain responds to a stimulus that reminds a person subconsciously of the LSD experience, and they re-experience some of those sensations all over again. Sort of like when you smell your lover's cologne on a stranger and feel a wave of warmth for this person even though you don't know him. Another explanation for flashbacks is that the user is schizophrenic, which explains the hallucinations in the absence of the chemical.

Since we've already determined that LSD is not being stored in spinal fluid, chances are pretty good that it's not weakening your spine either. What is more likely is that all those LSD users from the 60's and 70's are getting older and developing age-related spine and back problems. Is there some residual paranoia that makes us attribute back pain to LSD use that took place 30-40 years ago? Maybe, but we'd be wrong. Do aging LSD users develop back pain? Yes. Do aging LSD non-users develop back pain? Yes.

There is mention of this myth in popular culture as well. You will hear reference to this in the Eminem song, Drug Ballad, "Let the X destroy your spinal cord." It is also mentioned in the 1998 movie SLC Punk, where it is said that once LSD stored in your spine reaches a critical level you will die.

Here's what's next...

There seems to be a recent expansion of this idea of linking other drugs to spinal fluid or spinal problems. The following material came from some "ask the experts" type of Internet forums, mostly on college websites.

Is it true that MDMA (ecstasy) drains the fluid from your spinal cord, and if it does, can that happen after about 3 uses?

Can taking DXM (dextromethorphan) cause problems with your spinal cord later on after use? For example, draining spinal fluid?

[Insert eye-roll here]

LSD Makes You Insane

2009-01-15T23:03:00.004-05:00

The Legend: Use of LSD in specific quantities or frequencies can render a person "legally insane."

Status: False

Variations:

You can take no more than 7 hits or you will become "legally insane."

The number of times you have to take it to be considered "legally insane" varies from 5 to 25.

If you use LSD more than two times in a month you are considered "legally insane."

In NY there is a law on the books that you will be considered "legally insane" after 25 hits.

You can take no more than 1 hit every three days or you will be considered "legally insane."

Once you are determined, through your pattern of LSD use, to be "legally insane," you can be committed involuntarily.

If you've taken LSD more than 3 times you can't testify in court.

Analysis:

It's always good to see drug users concerned about their quantity/frequency choices. However, these limits seem rather arbitrary, making one wonder where they came from. For starters, when you see a phrase like "on the books" or "legally insane" you've got to ask - Which books? Insane by what definition?

If "on the books" means Penal Law, there is nothing there that defines legal insanity.

The professional, medical and psychiatric community does not use the term "insane." They use more descriptive diagnostic terms like "schizophrenic" or "psychotic episode." The term "insane" is not used in the psychiatric bible, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV (DSM IV).

The words "sane" and "insane" are more likely to be used as legal terms. "Insanity" will show up in legal arenas such as, "He pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity." Despite what you see on TV, this defense is rare. A typical test of competency in criminal cases is whether the accused knows the difference between right and wrong, or has a mental disorder that renders him out of touch with reality or out of control of his impulses. Past use of LSD, no matter how much was used, is not a mental disorder, does not leave you incompetent to stand trial, and will not qualify a person for an insanity plea.

The connection between LSD and insanity may have been made by a few high-profile court cases that involved LSD. In 1966, medical student Stephen Kessler, dubbed by the media as the "LSD Slayer," admitted he had killed his mother-in-law while under the influence of LSD. It turned out he was not under the influence of LSD at the time of the murder, he was drunk and suffered from schizophrenia, and was eventually found not guilty by reason of insanity.

The second major LSD-related trial was that of the Manson Family in 1969. When Linda Kasabian was cross-examined, Manson's lawyer repeatedly objected to her testimony on the grounds that she was "insane" because of previous and frequent LSD use. He was overruled.

There is a rumor that during the Vietnam draft there was a limit to how much LSD a draftee was allowed to have used before they could enlist, but I've never found written proof of this. Rumor said if you you had used seven or more times you would be labeled 4F - unfit for military service. If true, this may be the source of the quantity limits suggested in all the variations listed above. If you know anything definitive about this, please contact me.

And finally, it is possible for anyone to be committed against his or her will, not just LSD users. In order to be subjected to a mental health arrest, also known as involuntary civil commitment, which is done by the police, a physician or the county's Director of Mental Health, you have to engage in behavior that could constitute a danger to yourself (suicide) or others (homicide) right at that minute. You can't be involuntarily committed for things you did in the 60's or 70's or even last year. The drug most often associated with suicide and homicide is alcohol, not LSD.

Microdot Brewery

2009-01-15T22:55:00.002-05:00

The Legend: LSD can be made from Foster's Beer

Status: False

Variations:

DMT (dimethyltriptamine, a hallucinogen) can be made from bar soap and balsamic vinegar.

Analysis:

There is a chain mail story going around that tells of a guy who was down on his luck and hounded by creditors. He managed to turn his life around by somehow turning a distillation of Foster's Beer into tens of thousands of dollars worth of LSD.

Let's look at this logically, shall we? First, if the guy was so poor, how was he buying Foster's Beer? If he did scrape some scratch together for the higher end beer, would he then waste it by doing beer experiments in his kitchen? And if he was dumb enough to do those two things, would he be smart enough to know that he had made LSD? And if you could turn beer into LSD, wouldn't everyone be doing it?

We love the idea of dumb luck, get rich quick stories and being victorious over The Man, in this case the creditors. But the reality is that LSD is a very complicated compound to make. Any suggestion that it can be synthesized from household products is not true.

This story was intended as humor. Read it here:

www.erowid.org/psychoactives/humor/humor_joke5.shtml

As for making DMT out of soap and vinegar, there will be people who will swear they tried it and it worked. Remember that smoking anything will change how you feel, but smoking soap? Good luck with that.

Burn Baby, Burn!

2009-01-15T15:44:00.002-05:00

The Legend: LSD can burn a hole in your skin.

Status: False

Variations:

LSD burns holes in your brain, that's what causes the hallucinations.

There was a guy who had a few hundred hits of LSD in his pocket. He got caught in the rain, the LSD got soaked and actually burned a hole in his leg.

Analysis:

Most acid is corrosive, like hydrochloric acid or sulphuric acid. LSD, even though it is called lysergic acid, is not really an acid. It falls into a category of compounds known as amids, which are not corrosive or caustic to your skin. LSD can be used transdermally without causing burns.

Fly Like An Eagle

2009-01-15T15:23:00.003-05:00

The Legend: People who take LSD jump from windows believing they can fly.

Status: False

Analysis:

This is largely false if you're thinking it means numerous people have jumped from windows, ledges and balconies and flown to their deaths while tripping on LSD. However, we know where this rumor might have started.

In November, 1953, Dr. Frank Olsen, an employee of the federal government, was unknowingly dosed with LSD during a 3-day CIA working retreat. At this time, the CIA was routinely dosing it's employees believing that having this experience would make them better prepared if they fell into enemy hands and the enemy used LSD during interrogation.

Dr. Olsen was understandably angry that he had been given this drug without his consent, so he refused to be cooperative for experimental purposes. Three weeks later Dr. Olsen jumped through a closed window, falling 10 stories to his death.

Dr. Olsen's death wasn't a big news item at the time as the government experiments were quite secret. It wasn't until the late 1960's when the government's LSD research came to an end, followed by Senate hearings and investigations that the LSD connection to Dr. Olsen's death was made. It wasn't long after this that Diane Linkletter's similar jump from her 6th story kitchen window took place and was also linked to LSD use. The public was left with the connection that users of LSD leap from windows.

It is important to know that neither Diane Linkletter nor Dr. Olsen were using LSD at the time of their deaths so they most likely jumped without any belief that they could fly.

Art Linkletter's Daughter Jumped to Her Death While Tripping

2009-01-15T15:16:00.003-05:00

The Legend: Art Linkletter, well-known TV personality, lost his daughter when she jumped out of a window thinking she could fly while on an LSD trip.

Status: False

Analysis:

It is true that Diane Linkletter died October 4, 1969, after jumping from her sixth-floor kitchen window. Art Linkletter himself made public statements that, "A bad LSD trip," led to his daughter's fatal jump. He later became an activist in the war against drugs. All of this would lead most people to believe that LSD was the cause of Diane's fatal plunge, but it's not that simple.

There were no witnesses to the alleged drug-taking, and postmortem toxicology reports show that there was nothing unusual in Diane's blood at the time of her death. This means Diane was not on drugs at the time of her jump, and most likely had not taken drugs within 24 hours of her suicide.

This is a very interesting and complex story. For an excellent accounting, go to:

http://www.snopes.com/horrors/drugs/linklttr.htm

LSD Damages Chromosomes

2009-01-15T14:45:00.003-05:00

The Legend: LSD breaks chromosomes and that can cause birth defects in your future offspring.

Status: False

Analysis:

This one has been circulating for over 40 years. The story goes like this. If you use LSD, your chromosomes will "break" and when you have children of your own they are likely to be deformed.

This rumor started back in the 1960's, largely fueled by Dr. Cohen, a geneticist, who published research claiming to have found an unusually high number of "broken chromosomes" in a 57-year-old patient who had previously used LSD, (Cohen, Marinello & Back, 1967). He also said that human tissue, when exposed to LSD in a test tube, was damaged.

Naturally, this research, with a sample size of only one, got huge media attention. When colleagues tried to replicate Dr. Cohen's research they found that just about anything put into a test tube with human tissues will cause damage at the chromosomal level, including milk and water. Naturally, this was not picked up by the media. Researchers also found that while chromosomal damage might be done to white cells, that did not translate to passing on birth defects to offspring.

They also found that many LSD users have chromosomal damage, but that it might not have been caused by the LSD. That's right, news flash here - people who use LSD might also use other drugs and toxic agents - like alcohol, nicotine, and amphetamines. All that chemical soup might have been what caused the chromosomal damage, but it couldn't be traced back to the LSD with any accuracy.

Most of that LSD-using generation have become parents by now. Do you see an alarming number of teenagers with birth defects? Have you read anything about an upswing in the number of children with birth defects? Has your local school district asked for a tax hike to cover services for this growing population of children?

LSD is no longer considered a toxin that can do genetic damage to you or your progeny. The LSD you took 20 years ago isn't the problem. The real problem with birth defects is alcohol and other illegal drugs ingested by pregnant women leading to often profound fetal damage. The research on this is conclusive.

Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds

2009-01-15T14:35:00.003-05:00

The Legend: The Beatles song, "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" is about tripping on LSD.

Status: John says False, Paul says True

Analysis:

For decades the Beatles denied it, but the public held fast to the idea that the song's title must be more than mere coincidence, especially at a time when LSD was popular and on an album featuring psychedelic designs. What else could they mean by "marmalade skies" and "Kaleidoscope eyes" unless they were singing about tripping?

John Lennon explained that the title was just a coincidence. It was taken, verbatim, from the name John's four-year-old son Julian had given to a painting he made of his friend Lucy, a classmate of Julian's at Heath House School. (You can see the watercolor at www.julianlennon.com/Earth/bio/yby/index.html) Lennon claimed he had no idea that the title formed the acrostic L-S-D until it was pointed out to him after the album's release. Lennon never changed his story.

Ron Shaumburg, author of Growing Up With The Beatles, agreed that it was a coincidence, saying that Lennon had always been quite honest about his own drug use, so why would he lie about a song? Additionally, Bill Harry's Encyclopedia of Beatles People (1997) says the Lucy in question was Lucy the classmate and not LSD.

Then, in June 2004, in an interview with Uncut magazine, Paul McCartney admitted that Lucy in the Sky was indeed about LSD, obviously.

It's no secret that John and Paul had their differences over the years, so with John gone, you'll need to make up your own mind about who is telling the truth on this one.

Ellis Pitches No-Hitter While High on LSD

2009-01-15T14:26:00.003-05:00

The Legend: Dock Ellis of the Pittsburgh Pirates, pitched a no-hitter while tripping on LSD.

Status: True

Analysis:

It happened on June 12, 1970. Ellis was home in LA, relaxing. Thinking this was an "off" day for the Pirates, he took some LSD around noon. About an hour later, his girlfriend saw in the paper that the Pirates had a double-header that night in San Diego and Ellis was the scheduled pitcher. He caught a flight and was on the field with his team by 6:00 p.m.

In that game against the Padres, Ellis pitched a no-hitter. News accounts described his pitching as wild and out of control. More than a decade later, Ellis revealed that he had taken LSD earlier in the day and was still under the effects of the drug while pitching that night in the game. "Sometimes the ball was big, and sometimes the ball was small," he said.

Dock Ellis may very well have taken LSD before pitching a no-hitter. However, no accounts from that day, from people who were close to him, suggested that he was high. He took the LSD six hours before the game, so most likely the effects of the drug had peaked hours before he took the field. And now we know that steroids aren't the only drugs being used by professional athletes.

Whoops! We Cooked the Baby!

2009-01-14T15:40:00.003-05:00

The Legend: Hippie-type babysitter uses LSD and then accidentally cooks the infant thinking it is a turkey.

Status: Mostly False

Example:

[Taken from the Internet]

(This story isn't generally emailed, but told orally. This is how it often goes...) This story was told to me by a friend who heard it on the news on the radio about a year or so ago. It is a factual account. A couple left their infant at home with a teenage, hippie-type babysitter so they could go out for the evening. Later in the evening, the mother phones home to check up on things. The babysitter says everything is fine and that she's put the turkey in the oven. Shortly, the couple realized that they didn't leave a turkey at home, so they better go home to see exactly what's going on. They arrive to find the babysitter, high on LSD, has cooked their baby in the oven.

Variations:

The babysitter thinks she's cooked a roast instead of a turkey.

Sometimes there are other drugs besides LSD involved, including marijuana and alcohol.

Some versions have no drugs at all, the babysitter is just frustrated that the baby won't stop crying so she puts him in the oven.

In one variation the babysitter is driven insane by the baby's crying and puts him in the oven.

Sometimes the parents get home in time to save the baby.

Analysis:

This legend feeds on some very basic fears, especially the vulnerability all parents feel surrounding the safety of their children. There is the reminder that strangers and teenagers are not to be trusted, especially "hippie-type" teenagers. Innocent children once again fall victim to evil drug users. The "LSD makes you crazy" message is loud and clear as well.

This is an old rumor started as early as the 1960's. At that time there were no documented cases of this ever having happened. That all changed in 1999.

While there are no documented cases of an LSD-using baby-sitter mistaking the baby for dinner, there is record of a baby being cooked by his caregiver. In 1999, the body of 1-month-old Joseph Lewis Martinez was found in the microwave of his parent's home. His 19-year-old mother, apparently in a state of confusion, (no drugs or alcohol involved), had put him into the microwave and turned it on, killing him. She pled no contest to involuntary manslaughter and was sentenced to five years in prison. This is a mental health tragedy, not an LSD tragedy.

Sunkist by LSD

2009-01-13T22:24:00.002-05:00

The Legend: Excessive LSD use left a young man in a psychiatric hospital, believing himself to be a glass of orange juice.

Status: False

Example:

[Taken from the Internet]

This guy goes down to the States from Canada. He comes across this amazing deal on acid, so he buys a hundredlot. He figures that it's not likely they'll strip search him, so he tapes the whole sheet to his stomach when he goes back. At the border he's ordered to get out of his car and wait in a room while they search the car. He gets so freaked out, thinking that they're going to strip search him after all, that he starts sweating. The sweat soaks the sheet taped to his body and he absorbs a hundred hits of acid through his skin. Pretty soon he thinks he's an orange and decides he'll have to peel himself, so he starts peeling off his clothes. To this day he's confined to a psychiatric ward, still convinced that he's an orange.

Variations:

A guy was running from the cops and had a sheet of LSD in his pocket. He knew he was going to get busted so he ate the whole sheet. Now he thinks he's a glass of orange juice and his biggest fear is that someone will drink him.

In some versions the victim believes himself to be an orange (rather than a glass of orange juice), although he may also harbor fears that he will turn into orange juice if anyone touches him.

The patient is sometimes said to be afraid to lie down (lest he spill), go to sleep (because someone might drink him), or allow anyone to approach him (for fear he might be peeled).

Often this story is told about a guy "right here in our town." You remember Dave, I think he graduated with your brother...

Drinking orange juice will intensify the effects of LSD.

Drinking orange juice can help a person come down from a bad trip.

Analysis:

What I really want to know is why are there so many urban legends and myths that connect LSD to oranges?

This rumor shows up in a few places, including a book called Storming Heaven, by Jay Stevens, and a book called Mind Drugs, by Margaret Hyde. Despite these scholarly references, a search of medical literature using the terms "LSD" and "orange" together turns up exactly zero articles.

These rumors are classic LSD scarelore. As improbable as it may seem, this tale and similar others about the "LSD psychotic" were taken quite seriously by the anti-drug community of the mid-1970's, when the long-term effects of LSD use were still unknown.

This "orange juice man" story is repeated as if it were a case study, by health care professionals who should know better.

As for the rumor that drinking orange juice, or some other specified type of fruit juice, will intensify an LSD trip, there is no science, research or physical evidence to support this claim, and no biochemical reason for this to be true. However, if a person tripping on LSD thinks that a glass of OJ is going to enhance their experience, it probably will.

LSD Users Go Blind

2009-01-11T20:59:00.003-05:00

The Legend: Several students tripping on LSD stared at the sun until they were blind.

Status: Some Truth

Example: [Taken from the Internet]

Here is how the story was written up by the Los Angeles Times, 1967:

FROM SUN GAZING

WHILE ON 'TRIP'

Four LSD Users Suffer Serious Eye Damage

Exclusive to The Times from a Staff Writer

SANTA BARBARA -- Four college students have suffered permanent impairment of vision as a result of staring at the sun while under the influence of LSD, according to a spokesman for the Santa Barbara Ophthalmological Society.

One of the youths told his doctor he was "holding a religious conversation with the sun." Another said he had gazed at the sun "to produce unusual visual displays." The students, all male, suffered damage to the retina, the sensory membrane which receives the image formed by the lens.

In the same way that a piece of paper will burn when bright light is beamed through a magnifying glass, a pinhead-sized hole was burned into the retina of each eye of the students as sunlight passed through the lens.

What this has left the students with is not total blindness but a blind spot in the center of their vision. As a result, the victims have lost their reading vision completely and forever, the ophthalmological spokesman said. [snip]

Analysis

A Staff Writer? A spokesman? The students? We want names! What medical facility treated them? Who rescued them? What school did they attend? Even worse, this particular LSD horror story was picked up by the Associated Press and quickly spread all over the U.S., appearing in The New York Times and Time magazine. Does no one learn to fact-check in journalism school anymore?

This story showed up a second time in the news, 8 months later, only this time it supposedly happened in Pennsylvania. The PA version of the story, which eventually appeared in Newsweek, was planted by Dr. Norman Yoder who admitted he had made the whole thing up because of his concern over illegal LSD use by children. He was suspended from his post and checked himself into the Philadelphia Psychiatric Center. See, sometimes the truth is far more interesting than the legend.

A review of current medical literature finds two cases of solar retinopathy associated with LSD use. The earliest article appeared in 1973 (Schatz & Mendelblatt, 1973), 6 years after the California and Pennsylvania incidents were reported. The second article appeared in 1976, (Fuller, 1976).

There are a few articles about solar retinopathy acquired after sun-gazing in prayer or as the result of mental illness, (Mwanza et. al., 2000). However, the bulk of research on solar retinopathy focuses on "Eclipse Burns," or eye damage resulting from watching a solar eclipse, (Hallmark & Ygge, 2005).

So is it true that people tripping on LSD stared at the sun until they were blind? We don't know if the California report of this taking place is true because there is no way to fact-check an article that contains no facts. What we do know is that it is possible to cause permanent damage to your eyes if you stare at the sun, and there is reliable record of a few LSD users doing this.

Road Tripping

2009-01-11T20:43:00.005-05:00

The Legend: Two friends are under the influence of LSD and get pulled over for going too slow.

Status: Probable

Example: [Taken from the Internet]

"Two buddies are road-tripping to a Grateful Dead show, and to make the drive more interesting, they each eat a dose of LSD. They're rolling along the interstate and start to trip out, they're laughing and having fun driving along. Suddenly, they notice a cop car with its lights on in the rear-view mirror, and start freaking out. The driver repeatedly says, "OK I'll just admit to speeding, I'll get a ticket, and it will be OK." He rehearses this plan over and over until the cop knocks on his window, and then he says to the cop, "I'm really sorry officer, I know I was speeding, I know I was wrong. I'm sorry I was going too fast." The befuddled cop then says, "Well, that's all well and good, but you were doing 10 mph."

Analysis

There are a few things about this emailed gem that make it more of a story and less of a true account. It is littered with puns. "Road tripping," is an LSD reference. "Rolling along," is an ecstasy reference. Of course they are going to a Grateful Dead show, right? Never mind that Jerry Garcia, leader of that band, died in 1995 and this email started circulating in 2001.

This email is also similar to a scene in a 1996 Chris Farley/David Spade movie called Black Sheep. In that movie the driver and passenger become high on a nitrous oxide leak while driving. When they're pulled over by the police they think they were speeding when it turns out they were only going 7 mph.

Even though this particular emailed account is just a story, there are many instances of drivers being ticketed for going too slow, some of them stoned. Being under the influence of a hallucinogen, whether it is a mild one like marijuana or a stronger one like LSD, is going to change your perception of your environment. That is the reason you did the drug to begin with. One of the outcomes of that changed perception is going to be that you become a lousy driver, so let someone sober drive.

Gnome Sweet Gnome

2009-01-11T20:35:00.004-05:00

The Legend: Teens high on LSD steal a talking garden gnome that turns out to be a small child.

Status: False

Variations

They believe they've caught a goblin, which turns out to be a small child.

Analysis

The story goes like this. A group of friends are high on LSD and driving around the countryside when they think they see something run across the road in front of their car. One of them declares it was a goblin, and because they are high, this makes perfect sense to everyone. They get out of the car, find the goblin, bring it home with them, and eventually shut it into the closet so it can't get away.

The next morning in the sober light of day, they open the closet to find a small boy cowering in fear in the back of the closet. Some versions say the child is a girl too scared to speak, others say the child is an autistic boy. One ending has the boys recognized as heroes for finding a lost child, another has the boys arrested for child abduction.

It seems reasonable that teenagers tripping on LSD might see a garden gnome as animated and talking to them. But there are no news stories of small children ever having been mistaken for a goblin, abducted and hidden away in a closet overnight. Garden gnomes have been stolen and taken on vacations and any manner of silliness, but not by tripping teenagers who thought it was Yoda.

This is another scare story about LSD, similar to the babysitter who accidentally cooks the baby thinking it is a turkey. The message is that drug users can hurt our children, and that using illegal drugs can lead to horribly tragic events.

LSD and Strychnine

2009-01-11T20:19:00.004-05:00

The Legend: Most LSD contains strychnine and can poison the user.

Status: False

Variations:

Strychnine is cheaper so unscrupulous drug dealers sell it as a substitute for LSD.

Strychnine is a byproduct of LSD synthesis, so it's in all real LSD.

Strychnine is necessary to bind the LSD to the blotter paper.

For you to be able to get high from the LSD there has to be some strychnine in it.

The body produces strychnine as a result of LSD metabolism.

Body aches and fatigue after LSD use are caused by the strychnine.

Analysis

None of these statements are true, but that hasn't stopped well-meaning drug educators and health teachers from repeating them for the past 20 years. Even drug users repeat these rumors, as evidenced by browsing through online chat rooms and message boards.

If this were true, if there was strychnine in LSD, it would follow that people would die from using LSD. Conversely, if people were dying from using just LSD there would be some backward logic in saying that there must have been a poison involved. In fact, while there are a few cases of LSD overdoses and massive ingestions, there are few if any deaths reported to have been absolutely caused by LSD.

The active does of LSD for a human is 50-200 micrograms. A microgram is a millionth of a gram. It takes over 12,000 micrograms, or "mikes," of LSD to kill a lab rat. Do the math. If it takes 120 hits of acid to kill a 1 lb. lab rat, and a human weighs about 150 lbs., a lethal dose for a human would be, well, a whole lot of LSD. Something like 18,000 hits. Considering the extremely low potential for overdose deaths, it seems odd that rumors about poison-laced LSD would originate and persist, but they have.

If you consider our culture's ingrained message that illegal drugs are deadly and to be feared, then add the belief that drug dealers are unscrupulous people who would think nothing of selling strychnine as LSD, then this rumor makes a little more sense. Or at least it is understandable why it has persisted.

LSD is commonly absorbed into blotter paper, the user then consumes the small square of paper. A dose of blotter is not big enough to hold enough strychnine to harm a human. You just can't get enough poison on a tiny square of paper.

Strychnine is an odorless white powder. However, it is very bitter and can be detected in miniscule quantities way below a toxic dose. Since most LSD in ingested orally, the user would notice this adulterant.

There have been a few murder investigations where one person tried to poison another person by mixing strychnine with LSD or other drugs, but it has never been associated with recreational LSD sale or use.

Human strychnine poisoning is rare with less than 100 cases a year being reported. That does not stop the rumors, though.

LSD on Pay Phone Buttons

2009-01-11T19:58:00.003-05:00

The Legend: Gang members apply a deadly mixture of LSD and strychnine to the buttons of pay phones.

Status: False

Email example: [Taken from the Internet]

Subject line: FW: Please be careful using payphones!

Text: "Hello, this is to warn everyone of a new thing happening in communities as a gang initiation and such. If you care about anyone, please forward this to them immediately so they can learn of the possible harm. Even if you don't read this, at last forward it to people.

My name is Tina Strongman and I work at a police station as a phone operator for 911. Lately, we've received many phone calls pertaining to a new sort of problem that has arisen in the inner cities, and is now working its way to smaller towns. It seems that a new form of gang initiation is to go find as many pay phones as possible and put a mixture of LSD and Strychnine onto the buttons. This mixture is deadly to the human touch, and apparently this has killed some people on the east coast. Strychnine is a chemical used in rat poison and is easily separated from the rest of the chemicals. When mixed with LSD, it creates a substance that is easily absorbed into the human flesh, and highly fatal.

Please be careful if you are using a pay phone anywhere. You may want to wipe it off, or just not use one at all. Please be very careful. Let your friends and family know about this potential hazard."

Analysis

OK, public telephones can be pretty disgusting, but chances are that you won't get an unexpected LSD trip from using one. The Centers for Disease Control has debunked this rumor. There is no proof that anything like this has ever happened. This is just another "death by LSD" scare story.

The rumors about strychnine being found on surfaces like buttons of pay phones and killing people through transdermal absorption also aren't true. Strychnine absorption does not occur easily through intact skin. Dermal absorption is possible and can make you sick but it takes a large amount, much more than what could be put onto pay phone buttons, (Greene & Meatherall, 2001).

This email has all the earmarks of a hoax. You are told to forward this to everyone you know, even if you don't read it yourself. The information is being given to you by a pseudo-authority. We are told that this gang/drug problem has originated in the inner city, because you know that is the only place where there are drugs and gangs. [insert eye-roll here] Be afraid of touching things in the city. Cities are dirty. There is some inaccurate science about how these immoral gang members are getting the strychnine, and then you are reminded again to forward this to everyone, that is "if you care about anyone."

Some versions of this email are signed by a military official and contain a phone number to the Pentagon. The Pentagon denies any connection to this rumor. Some versions contain a hotmail address that is supposed to belong to Tina Strongman. No such hotmail account exists.

Bottom Feeders

2009-01-11T19:27:00.003-05:00

The Legend: Blotter LSD doses on the bottom of the sheet are stronger.

Status: False

Analysis

This one is interesting. It is said that when LSD is manufactured, the sheet of perforated blotter paper is soaked in a pan of LSD solution. After the LSD is absorbed the sheet is hung to dry, presumably clipped to a line like how you would dry photographs. While hanging, the LSD solution is pulled to the bottom of the blotter paper, leaving the doses along the bottom significantly stronger and the doses along the top weaker.

This makes sense, if LSD were actually manufactured in this way. The definitive text on LSD manufacture is an underground book called Practical LSD Manufacture (1995) written by the pseudonymous Uncle Fester. In this book it is explained in great detail that manufacturing LSD involves delivering a single carefully measured droplet from the tip of a burette onto each sugar cube or perforated square of blotter paper. No wetting pans or clotheslines are involved.

To support this manufacturing process, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) reports that virtually all of the LSD that they have seized and tested has been of relatively uniform dosages. Assuming the DEA's LSD seizures have included doses from both the top and bottom of sheets of blotter, if the hits at the bottom were indeed stronger then there would be greater disparity in their reported dosage levels, and there isn't.

'Blue Star' LSD Tattoos

2009-01-11T19:14:00.005-05:00

The Legend: LSD-laced tattoos with a blue star or Mickey Mouse design are being given to young children on playgrounds.

Status: False

Analysis

This legend is most often seen as a flyer sent home from school or church, an article in the local paper or school newsletter, or a warning from local police department. It is not often circulated as an email.

It often reads: [Taken from the Internet] "A form of Tattoo called "Blue Star" is being sold to school children. It is a small piece of paper containing a blue star. They are the size of a pencil eraser and each star is soaked with LSD. The drug is absorbed through the skin simply by handling the paper. There are also brightly colored paper tattoos resembling postage stamps that have the pictures of Superman, Mickey Mouse, Clowns, Disney characters, Bart Simpson and Butterflies. Each one is wrapped in foil. This is a new way of selling acid by appealing to young children. These are laced with drugs. If your child gets any of the above, do not handle them. These are known to react quickly and some are laced with Strychnine."

Supposedly, this is a scheme to get the kids "hooked" on LSD so they become regular customers, a doubtful notion since LSD is not physically addictive.

This particular rumor persists because well-meaning teachers, parents and police officers duplicate and distribute the flyers. The flyer often has a heading such as "Warning to Parents." There is enough true information included that even reasonable people may believe it. For example, some LSD does indeed have cartoon characters on it, and handling LSD really can be dangerous as it can penetrate your skin and enter your bloodstream that way.

During the mid-1980's when this legend was in full swing, New York State conducted a systematic examination of all police departments to determine if there had ever been even one case of children mistaking blotter acid for tattoos and accidentally getting high. There were no documented cases.

The greatest danger to children is exposure to drug use by the adults around them, high levels of availability of drugs and alcohol in their environment, and misinformation like this.

January is LSD Myth Month!

2009-01-11T18:58:00.004-05:00

"The public will believe anything, so long as it is not founded on the truth."

-Edith Sitwell

LSD Myth Month!

LSD month! Woohoo! The rumors about this particular drug are endless, so that's why we're starting here.

LSD is the one drug that seems to evoke more legends, myths and folk tales than any other. It might even be safe to say that most of the "common" information average people know about this drug is inaccurate. Many of these little gems were collected over the years by asking the college students in my classes just what they had heard about LSD. Many said they heard these things from friends and siblings. Others said this misinformation came to them from the newspaper, teachers, and even textbooks. This is by no means an exhaustive listing of LSD misinformation, certainly there is much more, or there will be.

LSD is a hallucinogenic drug. Its primary action is to create visual, auditory and tactile distortions for the user. It is a Schedule I drug which means it currently has no recognized medical uses. There is some limited research being conducted on the efficacy of using hallucinogens to treat post-traumatic stress and other anxiety and fear disorders. There is also research that explores the use of LSD and similar chemicals to treat migraine headaches. Conclusive results have not yet been published.

LSD is inexpensive, costing less that $10 a hit, or trip. It is generally manufactured as a liquid and then put onto blotter paper that the user then sucks on or eats. In the past, LSD was put onto sugar cubes - an image that still sometimes shows up in the movies.

There are a few themes that occur throughout the vast misinformation about LSD. "Accidentally" ingesting LSD seems high on our list of fears, as does the belief that LSD users are interested in recruiting newbies into their ranks.

"Tripping forever" is also a common theme in many of the myths and general misinformation surrounding hallucinogens. I've heard this from students for years. They told me that they had actually seen the eternal tripper interviewed on 60 Minutes or 20/20. As luck would have it, I eventually saw the eternal tripper on a news show with my own eyes. He is an unfortunate soul who appears to have triggered some schizophrenic or otherwise psychotic condition through his use of hallucinogens. He is not tripping forever, he has a mental illness.

Hopefully, after reading through all of these LSD horror stories, you will have a better idea of what this drug is really about, and what it is not about as well.

Why Do Drug Rumors Persist?

2009-01-11T15:00:00.003-05:00

The easy answer is because we need them. These stories are a type of folklore that provide us with warnings and lessons. As an oral history of societal dangers they tell us whom we should and should not trust and they provide a moral compass. They also provide us with humor and a way of connecting to other people. They give us a way of sharing deeply held fears in a brief and often entertaining way.

There is a particularly persistent group of rumors and legends surrounding the field of drugs and alcohol. Because contemporary legends and rumors reflect everyday life, it is only natural that a large subset would be related to drugs. People love telling these stories even though they are generally full of misinformation. They speak to some basic, primal fears and concerns that we all have as parents, consumers and citizens. Represented in drug-related contemporary legend is both our mistrust of the large corporations that produce our alcohol and other legal drugs, as well as our fears of the dark and sometimes crazy side of illegal drug use.

Demonizing illegal drugs is not a new phenomenon. As a society, this is a technique we have used for centuries. It may have started with the Temperance Movement's "Demon Rum" in the 18th century and moved on to Harry Anslinger's "Evil Weed" of the 1940's, Nancy Reagan's "Just Say No" of the 1980's, and current challenges to your children in school to DARE to stay drug free. In order to emphasize the potential dangers inherent in drugs and alcohol we have exaggerated their effects and consequences to the point of lying. But considering how "evil" the weed is, lying has been seen as acceptable if it works to keep kids away from drugs.

As a result of these well-intentioned but inaccurate drug prevention efforts, we now have a veritable library of misinformation, exaggerations and untruths about drugs. In fact, in getting materials organized to write this blog it was often difficult to find accurate, scientifically grounded information with which to affirm or refute the stores.

At the very least, these legends and rumors can be tremendously entertaining. Sitting around with friends and sharing all the stories you've heard about LSD can make for an interesting afternoon. At their worst, these legends and rumors support the agendas of questionable groups.

An agenda is the collection of beliefs and goals held by a person or group. When it comes to drug education, drug policy and what sort of drug-related research is funded, it's important to be aware of the agenda of the teacher, policy writer, research funder or current government administration. The information they produce will sometimes reflect their agenda instead of the truth.

To promote their agenda, agencies and institutions will place like-thinkers in policy making positions, or only fund research that will ultimately support their beliefs or goals. Sometimes research or information that doesn't fit their agenda will be ignored or suppressed, even if it is accurate. Sometimes the information will be oversimplified into slogans or sayings (Just Say NO!) or couched in scare tactics (Speed Kills!), both of which will feed the rumor mill of misinformation. All of this has lead to more and more misinformation about drugs being reported everywhere from mainstream media to conversations with your neighbor over the back fence.

Dr. Heath's Monkeys

Let's take a close look at what is perhaps the most well known piece of drug misinformation out there and examine where it came from, and why and how it supported a particular national agenda.

Have you ever heard that smoking marijuana kills brain cells? Sure, everyone has heard that, and most people believe it because they heard it in mainstream media, read it in textbooks, heard it from teachers, counselors, or even while in rehab. from professionals in the field. Problem is, marijuana does not kill brain cells. How this piece of misinformation got started is a fascinating glimpse into our country's often questionable drug policies.

Over the past century there have been a number of anti-marijuana crusaders who have been highly invested in "proving" that marijuana was dangerous, an evil weed that threatened not just our health, but the very fabric of American society. Their work is legendary and can be enjoyed in films such as Reefer Madness.

Harry Anslinger was Assistant Commissioner in the U.S. Bureau of Prohibition before he was named First Commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Narcotics in 1930, (McWilliams, 1990). He was this country's first Drug Czar and has been called "The Father of the Drug War," serving in this position until 1962. He is best remembered for his racism and extreme anti-marijuana position, which he supported with exaggerations and misinformation. His articles describe how even one-time use of marijuana can lead to insanity and death. He was instrumental in getting the 1937 Marijuana Tax Act passed, which essentially made marijuana illegal. Perhaps most interesting, Anslinger is notably absent from government historical records, even though he served in his position as Drug Czar for over 30 years, (Inciarda, 1992).

The drug misinformation campaign that Harry Anslinger started in the 1930's and 1940's, Richard Nixon continued into the 1970's. Nixon was a brilliant, paranoid man who was determined to prove, once and for all, that marijuana killed brain cells so that he could enact more legislation against this drug.

To that end, the federal government funded research to be conducted by Dr. Robert Heath, (Heath 1976). Dr. Heath was expected to prove that marijuana was every bit as dangerous as the federal government hoped it would be. He got down to the business of supplying his pot-smoking monkeys with endless weed, then autopsied their brains. When the smoke cleared, to no one's surprise, Dr. Heath concluded that his monkeys showed signs of brain damage that were caused by smoking marijuana.

When the funders of this research, the federal government, heard these results, they were elated and started the media machine. Most major media outlets printed the news that marijuana smoking caused brain damage, and soon it was common knowledge. This single piece of research was the foundation upon which decisions about marijuana scheduling and medical marijuana research were made for decades to follow. Only problem is, it wasn't true.

Colleagues of Dr. Heath's reviewed his work, his laboratory methods and his results. A number of them tried to replicate those results yet none were ever able to show that marijuana killed brain cells. When other scientists are unable to replicate the results of a previous study, something is amiss, and the original study is generally suspect. All subsequent studies have repudiated all of Dr. Heaths findings. No accepted evidence exists to support the idea that marijuana smoking kills brain cells.

While the scientific community quietly discredited Dr. Heath's work, the media machine could not be stopped and continued to report that marijuana smoking killed brain cells. Today that piece of misinformation continues to land in drug prevention curriculums, textbooks and college lectures worldwide, and still doesn't seem ready to die. The misinformation is what the public remembers.

This couldn't happen today, right? We have far more checks and balances in place to protect the integrity of our research and government spending. Unfortunately, researchers, eager for prestigious grants and publication opportunities can still fall victim to political pressure.

It Happened in Florida...

You know that using Ecstasy will kill you, right? Where did you hear that? Best guess is you heard it about 10 years ago, something on the news maybe, or a piece in the newspaper. Want to know where that information came from?

This piece of misinformation about raves and Ecstasy was born in Florida at the end of 1999. During the previous summer, authorities across Florida had begun an enforcement initiative aimed at raiding raves and dance parties. This was followed by an attempt to count the actual number of deaths that had been caused by club drugs. So far, so good.

In a shocking piece of drug war publicity, James McDonough, the "Drug Czar" for the state of Florida and former U.S. Army Colonel and Assistant to Barry McCaffery, the Director of the Office of the National Drug Control Policy, announced that club drugs had been responsible for 254 deaths statewide. This number far surpassed club drug deaths anywhere else in the world. The number was so shocking that it spurred an independent investigation by the Orlando Sentinel into the sources and collection methods to reach this number. Not surprisingly, the Sentinel found the number of deaths to be nowhere near accurate.

It seems that numbers were collected from autopsies that named any one of 20 drugs as present in the body at the time of death. Larry Bedore, the Director of Operations for the State Medical Examiner's Commission, had significant concerns about the collection of these data. One hundred fifty pages of memos and other correspondence show that Bedore and the Medical Examiner's Office tried to limit the number of drugs being counted as club drugs. After all, some of the drugs on the list had accepted medical uses and might be present in a body at the time of death while being completely unrelated to the actual cause of death. He also advised that deaths of the very old and very young that appeared on the list were clearly not club drug deaths. He said, "I spent weeks trying to educate them about what they were really looking for. I talked until I was blue in the face."

Office of Drug Control Chief of Staff Steve Lauer responded to the inaccurate results of the investigation by saying that he didn't know that certain drugs on the list were used in hospitals. When he was asked why he included the deaths of very old and very young people on a list of supposed club drug deaths, he claimed he simply, "forgot" not to include these.

The public take-away from this irresponsible data collection and reporting is that Ecstasy use will kill you, even though no accepted evidence exists to support this claim.

And It Continues

How does misinformation of this magnitude spread and persist?

1. Often, as has been the case with the misinformation about marijuana killing brain cells, the lie has been repeated so often and for so long that it is just accepted as truth.

2. There is inadequate fact-checking by people spreading the rumor or misinformation. Teachers today heard it from their own teachers, who they believed to be accurate and reliable sources of information, so it doesn't occur to them to fact-check the information.

3. It's printed right in the textbook; something we assume was fact-checked by someone else.

4. The media doesn't exactly jump on printing corrections. In the case of Dr. Heath's brain damaged monkeys there was probably a correction printed, but not on the front page or under a big headline. Just a little, "Oh, by the way..." piece tucked away on a back page somewhere.

Historically, the field of drugs and drug education has been more about politics than science. Research has been skewed to support various agendas, not necessarily what was true. Dr. Heath and the State of Florida's data, while done decades apart, are classic examples of politics over science. They "proved" what they were expected to prove. Never mind that their research methods were faulty or that their results were inaccurate, or that subsequent studies have repudiated their findings.

My 11-year-old son came home last week and guess what he learned in health class? Yup, that marijuana kills brain cells.

Considering the history of the field of substance abuse, questioning authority is a very good thing. It forces everyone to take a more critical look at the information being shared. With that in mind, I hope this blog helps you to quickly find the proof you need to refute the rumors you hear.

How to Know What's True

2009-01-11T14:07:00.003-05:00

"Repetition does not transform a lie into the truth."

-Franklin D. Roosevelt

Features common to contemporary legends, myths, rumors and Internet hoaxes

The Roman Historian, Tacitus, said, "Rumor is not always wrong." He's right. Rumor often contains anywhere from a grain of truth to the entire truth. You, the recipient must remember that as interesting or disturbing as this rumor might be, the content is secondary to the presence or absence of verification. How do you verify the accuracy of the information you've just received?

This post focuses on how to become a more critical thinker; how to know if what your friend's friend just told you is true or not. There are a few telltale signs that the story you just heard, or the email you just received, could be a legend, rumor or hoax.

You are one of 50 people that this was sent to. Or the email has come from someone you don't even know.

The letter uses an urgent, fear-inducing tone with CAPITOL LETTERS or lots of punctuation!!!!!! to create a sense of urgency.

There are no verifiable sources. Instead, there is a reference to an unnamed authority figure. Ex: "My best friend's mom." "A friend of a friend." "This happened to someone I work with."

References that are provided sound good but they are uncheckable and can't be verified. "A prominent researcher." "A local university." "As seen on Oprah!"

Reference is made to a medical, research or government institution that doesn't exist. (You can easily Google these to check.)

There is technical or biological jargon that sounds scholarly and real - or is it?

They insist that it's true, honest, or real. "This is not a scam!" "This really happened!" "This is not a hoax!"

There is a plea for you to forward the message to everyone you know and sometimes there is a threat that something bad will happen if you don't.

Most legends and rumors will contain recurring themes of the things we most fear, like losing our children or becoming victims of ruthless criminals. Often these fears are those for which there are no easy remedies.

Legends and rumors always have a moral message; that something, someone, some business or some group is bad, that people are evil, and that you should never let your guard down or let your children out of your sight. Legends and rumors speak to our general mistrust of:

Large corporations like food and beverage companies. It's often suggested that we shouldn't count on them to be all that careful about what goes into whatever they're preparing because, to them, profit, or the bottom line, is more important than consumer safety.

Foreigners, including their pets, food and any other products of foreign countries. These are often seen as suspicious. Often the country mentioned is one with which we have had a recent military conflict.

Other populations of people who we have decided, either consciously or subconsciously, are "bad" people, such as men, teenagers or drug users.

Technology. Who among us hasn't cursed the ghost in the machine?

This might be a hoax, what should I do?

Start by applying the six elements of basic journalism and common sense: Who, What, Where, When, How and Why. Almost all legends, rumors, myths and hoaxes lack one or more of these elements and won't stand the test.

Who: Most contemporary legends rely on "a friend" or "a local expert" or "a spokesperson" as the authority. Ask yourself: Who is the friend? How do they know about this? Is there an eyewitness?

What: Some legends and rumors have an element of unbelievability to them. Ask yourself: Is this how people would really behave or react in this situation? Does this make sense? Remember that one individual's personal story is not scientific evidence.

Where: Some legends are told as something that happened, "Right here in this town." Ask yourself: Exactly where did this happen? Are there dates? Did local media cover it?

When: Some stories sound very much like something you heard ten years ago. No way these things could be happening this often to this many people for so many years without your reading about it in a more legitimate place. Ask yourself: Did other media cover this story? Is there a written record of it anywhere that I can see for verification?

How: Does the rumor defy the laws of physics or stretch your sensibilities? Depending on the content of the rumor, knowing how factory assembly lines function, or knowing a little basic biology will easily invalidate the story. Ask yourself: Does this sound unbelievable? Is this really how a particular machine, or bodily system, works? Is it technically possible? Is it prohibitively expensive? Does it require exceptional skills of some type, like lock picking or tightrope walking?

Why: There is always a motive behind the deliberate spread of misinformation. This is called an agenda. Ask yourself: Who benefits if this is true? Who is hurt if this is true?

Search Engines

It's always a good idea to go to your favorite search engine and do a little research of your own before possibly passing along misinformation. However, it is also important to remember that search engines can be out-of-date and may connect to a high number of rogue or inactive sites. Search results are also not listed in order of accuracy, but in order by who gets the most hits, the computer's idea of "match relevance," and who paid the most to have their website pop up in the first 10 listed.

It is estimated that there are 3,800 new websites and 600,000 now pages added to the Internet every day. None of this information is peer reviewed or fact checked or in any way approved for publication. No organization currently rates or approves websites for accuracy. The Internet is totally self-regulated, pure free speech, including all the opinion, rumor spreading and misinformation that accompanies that freedom. Know this going in so you can remain critical of the content you're reading.

With that in mind, here's how to use your computer's search engines to verify information you just received. Go the start page of your preferred search engine. Start by typing the name of the organization or expert that is named (if there is one named) in the rumor you're trying to verify. Initially scan your search results by looking at the web addresses, not the colorful names and titles. Websites with .gov or .edu in their address are probably better places to start than commercial websites. A commercial website may simply reinforce the rumor as true, or offer to sell you a product that will protect you from the harm mentioned in the rumor. Oh, what a tangled web!

If the rumor mentions a specific health condition or product scare, search Internet sites of reputable health organizations or foundations that you've heard of that are devoted to this condition. Or find the website for the product manufacturer. For example, if you want to know if drinking red wine is good for the health of your heart, go to The American Heart Association's website before you go to Cheap Charlie's Wine Emporium.

You can also go straight to one of the excellent websites that catalog these hoaxes. There are many wonderful Internet sites that are devoted to researching these stories so that you don't have to. All good to know.

Is It an Urban Legend, Rumor or Hoax?

2009-01-10T13:58:00.002-05:00

"There is no harm in doubt and skepticism, for it is through these that new discoveries are made." -Richard Feynman

Legends

Sometimes it is a thin line that separates a true legend from a rumor. An urban legend is a story that may have started with a grain of truth, but then is retold, with embellishments, so often that it has become bigger than life, more fiction than fact. They are generally a narrative account set in the recent past, with characters, a plot and elements of caution, horror or morality. Urban legends, or contemporary legends as they are sometimes called, start as rumors before developing a life of their own.

Studying how these stories get retold and changed, and why they spread so fast, far and often, has become its own field of anthropology. These legends refuse to die, reappearing in emails, on message boards, around the lunch table and even in the news. Because of how they morph, it is often impossible to trace the legend back to where it started, and consequently, no way to verify the facts.

The content of urban legends is all over the map, yet several common elements do show up again and again. As most urban legends prey on our fears and insecurities they will contain some combination of horror, embarrassment, warning and even humor. They often have some unexpected twist that is outlandish but just plausible enough to be accepted as truth.

Rumors

Rumors are different from legends in that they are about a specific person, product, company or organization. These often start as misheard news stories, misunderstood information about a product or an event, or a journalistic error. They can even be a deliberate attempt to discredit a person or company.

Hoaxes

The difference between a legend and a hoax is that one is a story and the other is a promise that you'll get something if you follow the directions. A hoax will promise you a case of Coca Cola every week for a month, or maybe just an entertaining video clip that will appear after you forward that email on to a zillion of your closest friends. Maybe, if you have enough friends to forward this to, you'll even receive an answer to your most intimate wish or prayer. Hoaxes are similar to urban legends or rumors in that they enjoy heavy electronic circulation and are also not true.

Chain Letters

There are emails that ask you to forward them on to everyone in your address book. There is often a general yet catchy subject line like, "Danger!" You get drawn in by this hook and open the letter only to learn about all the terrible things that will happen to you if you break the chain, a chain that has apparently been unbroken for years or decades. Those unfortunate few who did break the chain, well, you don't even want to know what horrors befell them for this transgression.

Now, with information shared so quickly through electronic media, there seem to be more of these legends, rumors and hoaxes around than ever before, many in chain letter form with the plea to send it on. A day seldom goes by that we don't receive a warning from a friend about another friend's experience with unmarked police cars, a dying child's last wish, product safety or the promise of receiving something for free. And naturally, a request that you forward this information along to everyone you know.

Spam

Spam is bulk or unsolicited email. So numerous are these unwelcome letters that they have been known to slow mail servers down to a crawl and even cause them to crash. These are business solicitations promising low-priced pharmaceuticals, a great deal on a mortgage loan, or cheap Rolex watches. Just click through to their website and see for yourself.

Ever wondered how you got on this person's mailing list in the first place? If you've done business online it's possible that your email address was sold. There are also programs that generate random email addresses; a certain percentage of these are "live" and might get a response.

Finally it's been said that spammers take email addresses from the headers of forwarded hoaxes and chain letters. There really are people who forward chain letters to everyone in their address book, and by doing that they are passing along hundreds of "live" email addresses - just what spammers are looking for. It's even been suggested that spammers may start some of these rumor and hoax chain letters specifically for the purpose of harvesting live email addresses.

E-mail Tracking Programs

One common lie that runs through many Internet hoaxes is the claim of "email tracking programs" that will keep track of your forwards. You know, you'll receive $5 for every person you forward this to, $2 for every person they forward this to, and so on. This technology doesn't exist with the sophistication necessary to do what that spammed letter said it will do. You can test this one yourself. Instead of forwarding that email and annoying 20 friends in order to get a check from Bill Gates, just ask the person who sent you the letter if they received a check from Mr. Gates. They haven't, and neither will you.

Who spread this stuff?

There are many answers to this question. Generally, rumors and hoaxes are spread by intelligent, caring people motivated by a genuine interest in protecting others. They have misheard or misremembered something, or simply don't know the information contained in the email they just forwarded to you is not accurate. Often our family, friends and co-workers send us this misinformation. These are people who we know to be reliable. If they said it happened to a friend of their friend you don't doubt them.

Additionally, the culture of drug use is one perpetuated through oral tradition. Most of us learn a little about drugs and alcohol in school, but the richness of the culture, the subtleties and nuances, are all passed orally in stories told by your friend's brother or your college roommate. This method makes for some great stories, but as anyone who has played the "telephone game" knows, this method of information transfer is fertile breeding ground for misinformation.

Some legends and rumors started as simple jokes that someone personalized to make more interesting. Everyone who heard the embellished story repeated it as fact, or news. "Did you hear what happened to Bob on vacation last month?"

Many rumors about drugs have been perpetuated by ill-informed, anti-drug educators. In this case, misinformation is presented to serve as a warning or to scare kids away from drug use. Some know that what they're saying is inaccurate, others actually believe it to be true.

Some scary rumors about commercial products may have been started by competitors who wanted to turn people away from a popular product or company to hopefully increase their own sales. There are a few documented and prosecuted cases of this happening in the not-so-distant past. All that is required is a story with enough elements of truth to seem real. We've heard about product tampering so it's a small step to naming the company and the product that is being tempered with, even if it's not true.

On a smaller scale, some of these hoaxes and chain letters have been started as a way of harassing another person. For example, suppose that Jane is in the middle of a malicious divorce. In order to make her soon-to-be-ex-husband's life a little more miserable she sends out a letter to everyone she knows that says, "Send jokes to little Johnny Piper at [--insert ex-husband's email address here--] as he's trying to get into the Book of World Records. Forward this to everyone you know!!"

The Cost

Let's assume that everyone gets one hoax email at work each day and spends one minute reading it and deleting it. Based on an hourly wage of $15, multiplied by 1/60th of an hour and 50 million people, the cost to US business would be $12.5 million - for that single email.

Now let's guesstimate that 5% of the people that have read this hoax are going to pass it along to everyone in their address book. Again, being conservative, of the 50 million people who got the letter, 2.5 million will forward it to another 10 people and many of them will forward it on to another ten people and so on. With this type of geometric progression the letter will never die.

Now multiply this by the actual number of hoax or chain email you get, which is probably much higher than one per day. All of this has to be processed through our mail servers, which can be significantly slowed down by high volumes of mail and can even grind to a halt.

It's been estimated that from 40% - 60% of all mail traveling over the Internet is unsolicited bulk email (Berkeley School of Information Management and Systems, 2003) Another source estimates that there are 10.4 million spam emails sent every minute worldwide. (Business Week Online, 2003)

But the real cost, especially with misinformation about drugs and alcohol, is to our health and the health of our children. Because of the widespread nature of drug rumors and their incredible persistence, a large percentage of what we think we know about drugs and alcohol, legal beverages and illegal drug activity simply isn't correct. The urban legend gets such widespread acceptance that people stop questioning it.

Consider that right now, in this time where an amazing amount of accurate information is available to us, literally at our fingertips, we are also overwhelmed with what seems to be the same amount of misinformation. Maybe more. The key, then, is knowing how to discern one from the other. How to sift fact from fiction.

Why This Blog?

2009-01-08T23:50:00.001-05:00

Every day it seemed like the stories and questions coming through my in-box were more outrageous than the day before. A big part of my job is educating people about substance abuse and drugs in general. I really enjoy doing this because I like the history, science. just about everything connected to drug culture. I also like getting a question I can't answer because it means I get to spend a day searching and reading through the research to find the answer. That's a good day to me.

Then the questions started getting weird. Really weird. People were no longer asking me if smoking pot would kill their brain cells (it won't), or if using LSD would corrupt their chromosomes and cause them to have deformed babies (it won't). Now they were asking if the federal government really required a spinal tap to check for any history of LSD use before they could become a federal employee (they don't). Or if young children were really tripping on the playground, the victims of LSD-laced tattoos and lollipops (no, again). And speaking of young children, were they really being kidnapped, killed and eviscerated, then used to smuggle drugs?

Then there were the friends and colleagues who would read an alarming drug-related account and forward it to me with subject lines like, "Have you seen this?" "Is this true?" With the advent of email, and the ease with which we can now share information and misinformation across town and across states without the hassle of a photocopier and envelope, and with friends and colleagues who knew about my interest in these types of rumors and misinformation, my inbox quickly became a treasure trove of drug-related legends, myths, and hoaxes.

This blog is a collection of some of the most popular and outrageous drug-related legends, myths, rumors, misinformation, Internet hoaxes and outright lies. Chances are good that you've heard some of these, hopefully there will be a few new ones to shock or entertain you. I've even included some that are strange enough to sound like legends, but they're actually true!

As you read through my explanations for each rumor you'll see that sometimes others have already explained them or proven them true of false, most often David Emery at www. urbanlegends.about.com or Barbara Mikkelson at www.snopes.com. If my explanation is short it is because they've already done the work so I don't have to. If that's the case, try one of their websites to read a more detailed explanation.

In other cases I have found documentation or scientific research to prove or disprove a rumor. I'll site the research so that you can look it up for yourself and read the whole story. Or just in case you need the original research to win an argument or a bet.

In some cases there was no avenue to determine the accuracy of a rumor, at least none that I was about to follow without a staff and budget (I have neither) so I've relied on testing things out myself, or common sense.

And finally, if there are some rumors that you've heard that I haven't included here, please leave your information as a comment. This is a work in progress, I have over a hundred I'd like to add, with more always trickling in, so keep checking back, and enjoy!