Hofmann’s Potion is a documentary about the discovery and effects of LSD, a powerful psychedelic drug first synthesized by Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann in 1938. The film explores Hofmann’s groundbreaking research and the subsequent cultural and scientific impact of LSD. It delves into the drug’s therapeutic potential, as well as its controversial history and the role it played in the counterculture movement of the 1960s. Through interviews with experts, archival footage and animation, the film gives a comprehensive look at the fascinating and complex story of Hofmann’s Potion.
Published:
2002
Type: Documentary
Director(s): Connie Littlefield
Runtime: 56min
Type: Documentary
Director(s): Connie Littlefield
Runtime: 56min
People
Ram DassRam Dass
Albert Hofmann
Albert Hofmann was a chemist who worked for Sandoz, he is the discoverer of LSD (isolated from ergot), and the first person to synthesize psilocybin and psilocin. His short book LSD: My Problem Child is well worth a read.
Aldous Huxley
Aldous Leonard Huxley was an English writer and philosopher. Within the psychedelics community, he is best known for writing two books about his experience with mescaline. In his most well-known work, Brave New World, Huxley wrote of a dystopian future wherein psychoactive drugs (Soma) are used as a means of pacification and self-medication. In his later years, Huxley wrote its utopian counterpart which introduced the fictional island of Pala, a society that integrates entheogenic (moksha) medicine for enlightenment and social bonding.
Timothy Leary
Timothy Leary was a clinical psychologist at Harvard, his advocacy for psychedelics (mainly LSD) got him both famous and fired. He is most well-known for the phrase "turn on, tune in, drop out."
Humphry Osmond
Humphy Osmond is an English psychiatrist who originally coined the word psychedelic.