LSD treatment of alcoholism (historical)

Domain VII · Transpersonal, psychedelic & altered states · Humphry Osmond, Abram Hoffer, Colin Smith · 1950 · Weyburn and Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

What it is

HISTORICAL — NOT FOR USE. This is a historical treatment, not a current therapy. LSD is a Schedule I drug in the United States and was banned outright in Canada in 1968; no regulator has approved LSD for alcohol use disorder. This guide tells a practising clinician what was done, why, what was…

Format

• The model was organised as one long, intensively prepared drug session, with psychotherapy before and after. It was not a course of repeated sessions, though the Handbook notes that later work favoured repeated sessions for some patients. It differed from the European "psycholytic" model, which…
• Who was unlikely to do well: rigid, compulsive, suspicious or withdrawn people, at least on a first session. Schizophrenia was treated as an open question, with a warning that symptoms could intensify. Hostile patients were harder to help.

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• Content: honest explanation of the experience, an optional autobiography, a list of personal questions to bring, and breathing-based pre-training for apprehensive patients.
• A trial registered as "LSD Treatment for Persons With Alcohol Use Disorder" (NCT05474989) appears on ClinicalTrials.gov.
• HISTORICAL — NOT FOR USE. This is a historical treatment, not a current therapy. LSD is a Schedule I drug in the United States and was banned outright in Canada in 1968; no regulator has approved LSD for alcohol use disorder. This guide tells a practising clinician what was done, why, what was claimed and why it stopped, and then what to do with that knowledge today (assessment, accurate psychoeducation, harm…

Evidence status, as the guide reports it

• Controlled trials. In 1967–1971, six of seven controlled trials were negative. Spring Grove's positive effect was seen at 6 months but not at 12 or 18 months. Critics, including the Addiction Research Foundation in Ontario, called for controls. Defenders replied that many trials stripped out…

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Does it involve any substance, plant preparation, remedy or supplement? Has your doctor or prescriber been told, especially about any medication you take?
• Does it involve intense or unusual breathing? Have you been told about the medical conditions for which that is not advised?
• Does it involve fasting, a special diet or 'detox'? Have you discussed this with your doctor?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• shame, secrecy or withdrawing from support.
• unresolved feelings of having been experimented on. Recognise them without assuming harm.
• a client being disappointed by ineligibility; offer evidence-based alcohol treatment either way.
• grandiosity, spiritual crisis, fear, or the experience being used to justify going back to drinking.
• the client hearing the history as permission for unsupervised use, or as dismissal of their interest.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.