IMAX: HISTORY OF LSD 3 OF 4

IMAX DOCUMENTARY: THE HISTORY OF LSD PART 3 OF 4

LSD was evidently in limited recreational use in Australia in the early 1960s, but is believed to have been initially restricted to those with connections to the scientific and the medical communities. LSD overdose was suggested as a possible cause in the still-unsolved deaths of CSIRO scientists Dr Gilbert Bogle and his lover Dr Margaret Chandler, whose naked bodies were found beside the Lane Cove River in Sydney after a New Year's Eve party in on January 1, 1963.

Large quantities of LSD began to appear in Australia around 1967, and soon permated the music scene and youth culture in general, especially in the capital cities. The major source of supply during this period is believed to have been American servicemen visiting Australia (mainly Sydney) from Vietnam on 'rest and recreation' (R&R) leave, although the growing connections between American and Australian organized crime in the late 1960s may also have facilitated its importation. Recreational LSD use among young people was on a par with that in other countries in Australia by the early 1970s and continued until late in the decade. LSD is not believed to have been manufactured locally in a significant quantity (if at all) and most if not all supplies were sourced from overseas.

The availability of LSD had been drastically reduced by the late 1970s due to a combination of governmental controls and law enforcement. The supply of constituent chemicals (notably ergotamine tartrate) were placed under tight surveillance and government funding for LSD research was almost totally eliminated. These efforts were augmented by a series of major busts in England and Europe. One of the most famous was "Operation Julie" in Britain in 1978; it broke up one of the largest LSD manufacturing and distribution operations in the world at that time, headed by chemist Richard Kemp.