LSD comes in several different forms. The most common is paper blotter. Other forms include gell caps, liquid, and gelatin. Each form will contain different quantities and purities of lysergic acid diethylamide. The chart below shows dosages for pure LSD measured in micrograms (ug). Micrograms are 1/1,000,000 of a gram.

Oral LSD Dosages Threshold 20 ug Light 25 - 75 ug Common 50 - 150 ug Strong 150 - 400 ug Heavy 400 + ug LD50 (Lethal Dose*) 12,000 ug

Onset : 30 - 120 minutes (usually about 1 hr) Duration : 6 - 14 hours Normal After Effects : up to 24 hours

* LD50 = dose which will kill 50% of the tested animals.

Every individual reacts differently to every chemical. Know your Body - Know your Mind - Know your Substance - Know your Source. Erowid's dosage information is a summary of data gathered from users, research, and other resources and should not be construed as recommendations. Individuals can respond differently to the same dosage. What is safe for one can be deadly for another.

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The most common form of LSD is paper blotter divided into about 1/4" squares called tabs. A single tab usually contains between 30 - 100 ug of LSD. Paper blotters are created by taking a sheet of absorbant paper (usually decorated and perforated) and soaking it in a dilution of lysergic acid diethylamide. The dilution can vary greatly from one batch to another, or one chemist to another. Because of the method used to make blotter tabs, there is no practical way to know the exact dosage of a particular tab without either trying it or knowing the chemist. Adjacent tabs on a sheet will usually contain very similar levels of LSD. Because a blotter tab is so small, only extremely potent chemicals such as LSD can fit at active levels. See the Strychnine myth

LSD is soluble in water and other solvents, though liquid LSD is usually water based. Liquid LSD is used in the creation of blotter tabs. A single drop of potent liquid LSD could be 50 times a normal dose, although it is generally diluted to the point where a single drop is equal to approximately one dose. This varies greatly from batch to batch, and is sometimes a weak dose while othertimes a very strong dose. Liquid LSD is uncommon. Be extremely careful when dealing with it as there is no way to gauge it's potency. It is frequently stored in small dropper bottles, one precaution...when you reach the end of the bottle, don't rinse it out and assume that what remains is a small dose. There can still be many doses left along the inside surfaces and taking them all at once can lead to some unexpectedly strong and possibly very uncomfortable experiences.

Also known as "window panes". Gelatin LSD is made by mixing liquid LSD with gelatin and forming it into small, thin squares. The benefit of this method is that less of the LSD is exposed to sun and air which break down lysergic acid diethylamide. A single square of gelatin is commonly stronger than a single blotter tab of LSD. (Rough estimate 50 - 150 ug per square).

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LD50 SOURCES
Clinical Management of Poisoning and Drug Overdose
by Haddad Winchester
page 459:
"No well-documented human deaths resulting directly from the toxic effects of LSD itself have occurred, though LSD has been implicated in accidental deaths, suicides, and homicides. LD50 (That's lethal dose in 50% of those who ingest this much) determinations vary widely with species, begin 46 mg/kg in mice, 16.5 mg/kg in rats, 0.3 mg/kg in rabbits and 0.1 mg/kg in elephants. In monkeys, the LD100 is 5 mg/kg. Death in these animals is the result of respiratory failure, preceded in the rabbit by marked hyperthermia. Human data are manifestly lacking, and predictions of the average lethal dose for humans have ranged from 0.2 mg/kg to more than 1 mg/kg, administered orally.

Pharmacotheon by Ott
by Jonathon Ott
p.139
"I must emphasize that there is no danger of death or injury from overdose of LSD, which must have about the highest therapeutic index of any drug known (the ratio of fatal dose to effective dose is unknown since no human being has ever died from an overdose of LSD, but must be very high, as individuals have mistakenly ingested hundreds of doses at a sitting; this is a way of saying that the drug is not at all toxic)."

Psychedelics Encyclopedia
Peter Stafford
p.70
"For those concerned about immediate medical hazards in ingesting LSD...Abram Hoffer has estimated, on the basis of animal studies, that the half-lethal human dose--meaning half would die--would be about 14,000 [ug]. But one person who took 40,000 ug survived. In the only case of death reportedly caused by overdose (Journal of the Kentucky Medical Association), the quantity of LSD in the blood indicated that 320,000 ug had been injected intravenously."

Misc References*
by K Trout
Based on the real world murder of lab animals the following results HAVE been published for LD50 studies of LSD-25:
(Please bear in mind that an oral LD50 is commonly 2 or 3X an intravenous LD50)

Mouse (intravenous)

46 mg/ kg (citing Rothlin & Cerletti (1957) Ann. NY Acad. Sci. 66: 668)

65 mg/ kg (citing information provided by Sandoz Pharmaceuticals)

Rat (intravenous)

16.5 mg/ kg (citing Rothlin & Cerletti (1957) above)

I omitted the rabbit figures as rabbits are extremely overly sensitive to all the major hallucinogens except for mescaline and similar. Source for the above was Usdin & Efron (1979) Psychotropic Drugs and Related Compounds (2nd Edition).

Please also note the values above are given as mg/kg of body weight not as simple mg doses. They suggest a human dose, regardless of the route of administration, would be radically greater than 14 mg.

If averaging the low and high values above, the value obtained is ~41 mg/ kg of body weight. Since this is an IV value (& assuming people respond like rodents)an oral LD50 would likely be in excess of 80 mg/kg (Meaning it would take just over 5 grams for someone of my body weight).

Even taking the lowest figure (16 mg/kg) we still wind up with an LD50 of more than a gram of acid for a 65 kg human; even if using the IV figure as an oral one!

If anyone knows where Hoffer derived his figures, we'd love to know.

Related references (taken from p 70 of Stafford's Psychedelics Encyclopedia):

For the 320 mg of LSD injected intravenously under the mistaken idea it was speed (this killed the user and appears to be the only instance of death by LSD overdose), the reference is: Journal of the Kentucky Medical Association 75: 172-173.

For the dinner party where a bindle of pure crystalline LSD was confused with another one of cocaine and this case of mistaken identity resulted in two fat lines being chopped out and snorted by the 8 people attending: Klock et al. (1975) Clinical Toxicology Volume #8 Issue #2.

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"A fatal poisoning with LSD" .
Forensic Sci Int 1985 Jun-Jul;28(2):109-13
Fysh RR, Oon MC, Robinson KN, Smith RN, White PC, Whitehouse MJ.
[ Abstract ]

"Radioimmunoassay, high-performance liquid chromatography and capillary gas chromatography-mass spectrometry were used to detect and measure LSD in the first reported case of fatal poisoning by LSD. The levels found in ante-mortem serum and plasma and in post-mortem blood, liver blood and stomach contents are given."

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LSD Toxicity : a suspected cause of death
Griggs EA, Ward M
J Ky Med Assoc 1977 Apr; 75(4):172-3
[ Abstract ]

An extremely high liver tissue level of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) was measured in a 34-year-old male in whom autopsy showed no anatomic cause of death. Death from LSD overdose apparently has not been previously confirmed toxicologically. The possibility that this case represents death due to toxic effect of LSD is discussed.

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Extreme hyperthermia after LSD ingestion.
Friedman SA, Hirsch SE.
JAMA 1971 Sep 13;217(11):1549-50
[ Abstract ]

Hyperthermia is a known effect of lysergic acid diethyiamide (LSD). This is, to our knowledge, the first recorded instance of life-threatening hyperthermia (106.4 F [41.3 C] axillary) in man, following the use of LSD, and may have been dose-related. The hyperthermia was rapidly reversed by alcoholic-ice soaks, hallucinations ended about 18 hours later, and the patient recovered without obvious mental or physical injury.

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Coma, hyperthermia, and bleeding associated with massive LSD overdose, a report of eight cases.
Klock JC, Boerner U, Becker CE.
Clin Toxicol 1975;8(2):191-203
[ Abstract ]

Eight patients were seen within 15 min of intranasal self-administration of large amounts of pure D-lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) tartrate powder. Emesis and collapse occurred along with sign of sympathetic overactivity, hyperthermia, coma, and respiratory arrest. Mild generalized bleeding occurred in several patients and evidence of platelet dysfunction was present in all. Serum and gastric concentrations of LSD tartrate ranged from 2.1 to 26 ng/ml and 1000 to 7000 mug/100 ml, respectively. With supportive care, all patients recovered. Massive LSD overdose in humans is life-threatening and produces striking and distinctive manifestations.

RELATED INFORMATION
Low Dose LSD References