>He also bought Hofmann's book with all the formulas and started cooking himself. Making drugs is extremely hard, even for people who know lots of chemistry. I

>He also bought Hofmann's book with all the formulas and started cooking himself. Making drugs is extremely hard, even for people who know lots of chemistry. It also exposes you to a lot of nasty volatile chemicals that, believe me, are waaaaay worse for your brain than any psychedelic. For example, chloroform is a standard solvent used in the synthesis of LSD. In a proper research laboratory, the risks are minimized; in your garage, they aren't: bromomethane doesn't care if you're a genius. I have the unusual luck to have known several drug chemists. They're not an ordinary bunch of people, not by a long shot. Whether working with things like chlorine on improvised equipment is partially responsible for this pattern I'm not sure, but I think it suffices to say that your friend's case is at the zenith of psycho-chemical recklessness. (Also, the book[s] -- PiHKAL/TiHKAL -- are by Alexander Shulgin) That isn't a pattern that carries over to typical LSD users -- consider e.g.: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0063972 http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.... It's also worth noting that people with schizophrenia may be drawn toward euphoric/stimulating drugs: http://journals.lww.com/jonmd/Abstract/1987/11000/A_Review_of_Psychoactive_Substance_Use_and_Abuse.1.aspx http://journals.lww.com/jonmd/Abstract/1987/11000/A_Review_o... Of course, one possibility is that all of these drugs cause schizophrenia; the other, that schizophrenia causes people to enjoy certain kinds of stimulation.