“Hofmann’s Potion” – Albert Hofmann LSD Documentary
LSD has a lot of stigma attached to it, but before it became the drug that defined a generation of hippies and makes people act really, really strange at music festivals, it was used for scientific research in the 1950s treating conditions like alcoholism, various drug addictions and used in psychotherapy. But then the Controlled Substances Act of 1970 came and ruined everyone’s trip, meaning scientists could no longer conduct research (at least not without breaking the law). Scientists still aren’t allowed to use psychoactive drugs for research, though some are calling for the ban to end.
In this documentary, Hofmann’s Potion from 2002, director Connie Littlefield explores the groundbreaking work of the early pioneers—biochemists, chemists, psychiatrists, psychologists—showing the benefits these early experimenters uncovered and talks to the people who carried out the research. People like Albert Hoffman, the Swiss chemist who discovered the drug in 1943.
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