The Substance: Albert Hofmann's LSD

The Substance: Albert Hofmann's LSD

2012-05-171h 30m
DocumentaryBiographyHistory
IMDb7.0/10

In 1943, the year in which the first A-bomb was built, Albert Hofmann discovered LSD, a substance that was to become an A-bomb of the mind. Fractions of a milligram are enough to turn our framework of time and space upside down. The story of a drug - its discovery in the Basel chemistry lab, the first experiments by Albert Hofmann on himself, the 1950s experiments of the psychiatrists, the consciousness researchers, the artists. Could it actually be possible to find a path to the core of our human existence by means of a chemical? Spirituality at the flick of a switch? Do the enigmatic effects of this drug really help us to better understand the human soul? Could LSD be an instrument of contemporary psychiatry? Of modern brain research?

Cast & Crew

M

Martin Witz

Director

Hanspeter Müller

Hanspeter Müller

narrator in German version

Franz X. Vollenweider

Franz X. Vollenweider

Self - neuroscientist, University of Zürich

Ken Kesey

Ken Kesey

Self

C

Carolyn Garcia

Self - Merry Pranksters

Timothy Leary

Timothy Leary

Self

Ralph Metzner

Ralph Metzner

Self - psychologist

N

Nick Sand

Self - Millbrook Mansion

Ronald Reagan

Ronald Reagan

Self

John Lennon

John Lennon

Self

Paul McCartney

Paul McCartney

Self

Mick Jagger

Mick Jagger

Self

Grateful Dead

Grateful Dead

Themselves

Stanislav Grof

Stanislav Grof

Self - psychiatrist

T

Trevor J. Roling

narrator in English version

Mario Scarabelli

Mario Scarabelli

narrator in Italian version

Albert Hofmann

Albert Hofmann

Self

M

Martin A. Lee

Self - author

J

James S. Ketchum

Self - U.S. Army Colonel (Retired), Medical Corps

M

Martin Witz

Writer