LSD
Sir, —I am shocked to hear that the drug LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide) has been “used extensively” at Calvary Day Hospital. “Time” magazine (March 11, 1966) in an article on the dangerous effects of the hallucinogenic drugs, states that the only legal supply of LSD goes to “selected psychiatrists” as a research tool and for the treatment of certain patients. The restrained use by qualified psychiatrists at Sunnyside and Christchurch Hospitals seems more in line with overseas practice, but, with the deplorable shortage of trained psychotherapists, playing around with early childhood memories by any means is a waste of time. Particularly, disturbed children can stay on a waiting list until they are beyond help, passing in the meantime, from the field of psychiatry into the hands of the police.—Yours, VARIAN J. WILSON. June 8, 1966.
Sir,—-We have recently been reading a lot about the controversial LSD drug, and it is interesting to note in your article of June 8, that Dr. Hall, of Sunnyside Hospital, has stated that in two years this particular drug has been used on fewer than 10 patients. He also mentioned that when LSD is used the doctors liked their patients to stay overnight in hospital. Dr. J. R. E. Dobson, psychotherapist at Christchurch Hospital, is reported as having used LSD on two patients for more than 30 interviews and states it is certainly a drug with hazards. Finally Dr. H. D. Livingstone is reported as having used LSD extensively at Calvary Day Hospital. Dr. Livingstone is not reported as having commented on the effects he has observed in his extensive use of this drug. Could he be asked to comment? —Yours etc., EX-NURSE. June 8,1966.
[Dr. A. C. Sandston, the newspaper liaison officer for the Canterbury division of the British Medical • Association, replies: “The possible hazards of hallucinatory drugs such as LSD 25 are well appreciated by the medical profession in New Zealand, but in spite of these it is still considered a very useful drug. Only psychiatrists approved by the Director-General of Health and the Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists may use it, and there have been no reports of misuse or irresponsible use of LSD in either New Zealand or Australia, where there are similar controls. As with any medical treatment, the psychiatrist in charge of the case must decide which treatment is indicated, and clearly some will use LSD more than others. One of the reasons why LSD is used so little in our under-staffed psychiatric
hospitals is that its use is very time-consuming. Any patient who is treated in the psychiatric clinic at Calvary Hospital with LSD must undertake to stay that night in the hospital and remain under the supervision of the doctor or their trained psychiatric nurses until all effects of the drug have worn off.”]
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19660613.2.127.1
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31084, 13 June 1966, Page 12
Word count
Tapeke kupu
470LSD Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31084, 13 June 1966, Page 12
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Press. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
Acknowledgements
Ngā mihi
This newspaper was digitised in partnership with Christchurch City Libraries.