What Are the Effects of LSD on Younger Children?

LSD (D-lysergic acid diethylamide) is a powerful synthetic chemical drug that changes a user’s emotional state and causes hallucinations. LSD originated in 1938, when a chemist first synthesized it from a grain fungus. Commonly known as “acid,” LSD users take the drug in tablet, capsule, liquid or absorbent paper form. Because of its high potential for abuse and lack of any accepted medical use, LSD is illegal. The physical and emotional effects of LSD make the drug especially dangerous in younger children, whose bodies are still developing.

Short-Term Effects

• Physical short-term effects of LSD in younger children can include dilated pupils, rapid heartbeat, high blood pressure, nausea, weakness, dizziness, tremors, increased perspiration, sleeplessness and seizures. Emotional short-term effects can include feelings of confusion, panic, anxiety, fear, happiness and sadness. Children who have ingested LSD may scream and have crying up to 20 minutes, or they may enter 15- to 20-minute silent periods in which they remain motionless and unresponsive.

Long-Term Effects

• Because their brains are still developing, younger children under the influence of LSD may be more at risk of developing life-changing long-term effects of the drug. Some LSD users develop drug-induced psychosis, a condition characterized by the inability to grasp reality, think clearly, and/or interact with others. The Journal of Pediatrics reported about one child who accidentally ingested LSD experienced a drop in IQ and still exhibited abnormal behavior during a psychiatric examination administered days after the initial ingestion.

The "Bad Trip"

• Adverse reactions to LSD can be especially frightening in younger children. The intense visual hallucinations users experience range from seeing vivid colors to entering a state of synesthesia, a condition where the senses blend and a user might “see” sounds or “taste” colors. The Journal of Pediatrics indicates that younger children under the influence of LSD may enter a disturbing state of hallucinatory terror in which they “see” their own bodies being cut in half, experience multiple personality disorder, and enter hysterical states as a result of lacking the emotional maturity necessary to separate fantasy from reality.

LSD and Youth Culture Today

• According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, in 2009 more than 775,000 people age 12 and older had used LSD at least once in the previous year. LSD has also gained popularity on the club scene in recent years, making it a club drug that young people need to be educated about, says California State University Long Beach Health Resource Center. Besides acid, additional street names for LSD include Blotter, Boomers, Dots, Electric Kool-Aid, Hits, Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds, Mellow Yellow, Microdots, Sugar Cubes, Tabs, White lightning, and Windowpane.