> The short version is the scientist leading the team who first synthesized it was also the person who first attempted to popularize its use, and is pretty muc

> The short version is the scientist leading the team who first synthesized it was also the person who first attempted to popularize its use, and is pretty much a poster-child for "sex- and drug-crazed hippy". You seem to have missed some history. LSD was first synthesized in 1938 by Albert Hoffman and first accidentally ingested in 1943 by the same. He was not a 'sex- and drug-crazed hippy'. You are certainly thinking of Timothy Leary, a clinical psychologist, had a mushroom experience in 1960 and spun that into a bunch of research into uses of psychedelics in psychology. He was eventually fired by Harvard in 1963. He then kinda goes off the rails, eventually he went to and escaped from prison along with many other exploits.