If you aren't aware, William Leonard Pickard is (was?) serving a double life sentence for the production and trafficking of LSD. He has been in prison for the last 20 years and spent some time in jail earlier in his life as well. He wrote an amazing book 'The rose of Paracelsus' while in prison. I'm still making my way through it.

Just today I saw a video pop up on my feed claiming he has been released from his double life sentence due to an accumulation of reasons in tandem with COVID-19 conerns. I have no idea how to attempt to verify this information, so I'm not sure if it is accurate, or some kind of hoax altogether, but I hope in the next few days this claim turns out to be accurate.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2x6kSzI7gN4

Wow, this is incredible, bless him. Normally when I am reminded of Pickard and his situation, it always was accompanied with it anger and hopelessness. Today all of that can change, this is really good news. He has served far more than enough time, as a free man humanity is better off. Can't say the same for the man responsible for putting him there.

His story was a tragic one indeed. The failure of any person in power to acknowledge his 20+ year old predictions of the fentanyl epidemic given it's pharmacology and socioeconomic conditions surrounding opiate abuse is truly baffling. I'm happy for him to be able to have more time with his family.

This site lists developments in his case. It looks like you need to have some kind of authorized access to view the actual court document.

https://www.courtlistene...united-states-v-pickard/

It looks like the news is true!

Double life sentence. The government really, really doesn't want people taking LSD.

Good news indeed. He's now 74 Years Young. May he enjoy his life outside after those too long years behind the bars. thats another good side effect the covid had, it released some poeple that had nothing to do there in the first place. he could have served few months for the trafficking. but like double life sentence for a substance that never killed anyone and tremendously enhance the life of thousands of poeple ....

Wow! this is incredible news, thanks vibesurfer.

Have read the book "Lysergic" by Krystle Cole (former Goth stripper who fell in love with Todd Skinner, another LSD chemist associated with Pickard at the time). Give a recollection of heavy duty "ergot wine" trip report from Krystle Cole here (1/2 the way down on page 1 from the book):

https://www.dmt-nexus.me...aspx?g=posts&t=94737

The LSD chemists had prepared 6 jugs of the "ergot wine" and stored them in the underground bunker they were living in. It was so potent, they would say a prayer before they took it the book said.

"Potent LSH & penniclavine fresh from morning glory vine & relation to Eleusis in ancient Greece".

Again, great news!!! Been following his story closely for years...and knew about the book he wrote you mention (I need to get it). Their acid was everywhere, esp on all the college campus in the mid 1990's. Remember groups of college students all getting their acid from one guy who got it direct from Pickard and Skinner---KILLER ACID. I give a trip report in dreams with 10 hits of it in mid 1990's in post #5, several pages down, of the same thread linked to above.

That's the only thing Covid is good for--helping to get people out of prison sooner. Just like the 2016 Polish morning glory study--it give us new breakthru information about the high levels of LSH & penniclavine in the (fresher) seeds--but the study was only done because Poland has very harsh penalties for people caught using drugs--so many of the teens had turned to mg seeds--so this prompted the scientist to study the seeds in turn.

As of 7/27/20 he is still showing to be an inmate at the U.S. Prison facility in Tuscon Arizona. I hope the news that he will be released is true.

website: https://www.bop.gov/inmateloc/index.jsp

Alright! I'll take any good news I can get!

The war on drugs is a catastrophe. It is well past time to end the nightmare.

100% seconded tgo. I have a feeling the end of the “war on drugs” is coming soon. Nowadays information is readily available to anyone willing to look for it, because of that I feel people will start to realize that the nazi “ lets eradicate all drugs” attitude is not a feasible option. You don’t fix a drug problem with punishment, you fix it by offering a way out... hopefully they realize that soon and stop turning normal people into convict slaves.

I'm sorry to say, but this appears to be the goal for a significant, powerful minority. The use of incarcerated labour forms a kingpin of fascism. Drugs have been a very useful tool towards that end.

This is just the beginning. We must continue to shine the light of awareness upon the lie, until the citadel crumbles and the drug prisoners have been freed.

We will win in the end. That is for sure.

As of July 27, he is out of prison.
https://mobile.twitter.com/lucid...atus/1287865528413954048

This is truly great news , LSd chemists should never have been there in the first place , but it is the society we live in

A wee bit more on Pickard...



More to come

I'm not sure how close we are to ending it, but we are definitely making progress. I try to remain as optimistic as I can, but living in a backward-thinking society can be a bit exhausting at times.

I live in the US. Drug use/addiction and related stigmas are labeled as something criminal, instead of looking at it as an issue related to the health and well-being of the individual. I would really love to see the opposite become true. That way, people can be free to make their own educated choices without fear of receiving a prison sentence. And, ideally, there would be more treatment centers created that were dedicated to anyone struggling with addiction or related issues. A safe space to get clean, for anyone who wants it.

Then again, this highlights the fact that the US healthcare system is also a joke, so we would have to tackle that problem at the same time in order to make some real change, IMHO.

Slowly but surely, we can win this fight.

tgo. i live on the southeastern side of merica.... you dont gotta explain backwards thinking to me. as much as i love dixie we are the heart of backwards thinking lol.