Beyond Zero and One (Andrew Smart) / quote 170 of 171
LSD is less harmful than alcohol
The law did not ban the use of LSD in research, but now researchers would be required to receive approval from the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs, which would later become the DEA. Following suit, the UN classified several mind-altering drugs as Schedule I in 1971. This essentially stopped worldwide research using LSD. As a Schedule I drug, LSD is said to have no medical purpose, to have the potential to lead to addiction, or to have the potential to cause harm. This is despite the fact that on a drug-harm score developed in the United Kingdom, which sought to assess whether a drug causes harm to self or others, LSD is ten times less harmful to users than alcohol. What’s more, LSD is fifty times less harmful to others—people not even using the drug—than alcohol. In other words, there is no evidence that people get high on LSD and beat their spouses or cause car accidents; the same cannot be said for alcohol.