drugnerd | consciousness inhibitor

Long before Timothy Leary urged a generation to “tune in, turn on and drop out,” D-lysergic acid diethylamide (or LSD) was being used by researchers to understand the human mind. Discovered in 1943 by Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann, LSD was hailed as a powerful tool to treat alcoholism and drug addiction and to provide a window into schizophrenia and other mental illnesses. Much of that pioneering research was done by the team of Humphry Osmond, Abram Hoffer and Duncan Blewett, all working in Saskatchewan. While researchers were establishing the medical benefits of LSD, others — like author Aldous Huxley — promoted the drug as a powerful tool for mental exploration and self-understanding. At Harvard, Timothy Leary, Ralph Metzner and Ram Dass (then known as Richard Alpert) became popular heroes after the university cancelled their research project into psychedelics. Featuring interviews with many LSD pioneers, documentary filmmaker Connie Littlefield delves into the little-known early history of the world’s most notorious psychedelic concoction.

This is a 10 minute documentary that I made for Channel 4 Docs. The film is based around my grandfather who suffered with Dementia for ten years (1996-2006) the film will take you through his journey from when he was diagnosed, up until his passing in August 2006.

Underneath the personal touch that this film provides is the argument over medical care for people with dementia. The Aricept drug is close to being stopped altogether for people with Dementia, be it the early stages or the later stages of the disease. Why take it away when it only costs £2.50 a day? When we have all these people taking drugs and providing them morphine and durgs for seriously obese people and not to mention all the other treatments for smokers.

When will the world open their eyes.. – localhero83