🫠 Psychonaut POV

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Welcome to Tricycle Day. Anything can be a sacred ceremony if you want it to be. Even reading this newsletter. So light up your smudge sticks and douse the Florida water, Cyclists, and let’s dive in. 🕯️

Leonard Pickard has lived more lives than most could imagine. The Princeton student turned underground chemist spent decades producing ~90% of America's LSD supply. After serving 20 years in federal prison on double life sentences, he emerged with new perspective and an updated mission.

We asked Leonard about his life-changing first LSD experience, what it takes to manufacture “planetary-scale” quantities of psychedelics, and why he sees AI-generated analogs as a double-edged sword in today's psychedelic renaissance.

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Take us back to how it all started. How did you get drawn into underground psychedelic chemistry?

My first awareness of psychedelics came when I was 12, sitting in a barbershop in Georgia. I was reading a newspaper that talked about a drug called LSD that produced profound philosophical changes in the mind. I thought, "How can this be?". My only experience with mind-altering substances was observing adults drinking alcohol. How could a substance change the mind? I found this idea entrancing but thought no more about it.

All that changed when I was around 21 during the great countercultural revolution of the '60s. People were indulging in this almost cult-like experience of smoking cannabis, but it was accompanied by constant fear because things were very illegal. You'd be pulling down shades, peeking out blinds, and stuffing towels under doors so no one smelled anything.

The actual beginning happened when I was working at the Retina Foundation for Experimental Biology in Boston, preparing mitochondria from beef heart. I'd known about the LSD phenomenon in San Francisco and heard extraordinary stories of revelations and altered consciousness. So on the Retina Foundation letterhead, we ordered 10 grams of lysergic acid, a precursor of LSD, from a supplier in England. When it appeared in the mail room, we snatched it immediately and spent the weekend doing an archaic synthesis. By six in the morning we had this liquid, though we had no way to verify it was indeed LSD or its potency. So I took what I thought was 250 micrograms, the same amount Hofmann took.

I got on a bus to Harvard Square and saw this girl about my age with a pixie haircut. I'm looking at her thinking: “We are part of a new generation. We're at a pivotal evolutionary moment in the history of our species and cognitive advancement. With our new minds we will disavow materialism, stop war, end hatred, increase tolerance for all beings, and cherish the forest and the oceans and each other.” At that moment I realized, “my God, this LSD is taking effect.” I promptly left my job and moved to San Francisco.

You've said LSD manufacturing requires "requisite spirit" and "diamond morality." What did that actually look like when you were producing what some say was 90% of America's supply?

If you're going to assume responsibility for planetary-scale quantities of the most potent neurochemical known, you must do it as a sacrament with great reverence. You can't approach it casually. You're responsible for hundreds of millions of minds having quite an experience, and you're the target of 170 countries' law enforcement agencies working upstream to find where this stuff comes from.

You need security as though you’re babysitting an atomic bomb. (We're speaking about a mega love bomb, but the security procedures might be the same.) You leave no electronic trail and work in remote areas with no visitors ever. My personal practices included meditation and yoga in preparation for synthesis. Then throughout the process, I would light votive candles, keep a fire burning, and play Gregorian chants or South American jungle songs to cultivate an environment of peace and reverence.

You're risking your life every second for decades. But my favorite moment is when you're standing before 10 million doses about to be made. Reactants are swirling under argon at three in the morning, and everything is bathed in red light because white light damages the fragile molecule. Suddenly from nothingness come 10 million doses of this stunning neurochemical.

At that moment, I’d put my hand on the reactor and call out: "Dear God, may this substance be a sacrament in the world. May it do no harm. May it lift the human spirit. May it induce compassion. May it help us remember the majesty of nature, the glory of our existence, the love that permeates the universe and each other." With that prayer, it goes through purification and out into the world.

Twenty years in federal prison is a long time to think. What was the biggest change in how you see yourself and this work?

Until my arrest, life was in the fast lane. I was living an extreme lifestyle like being a spy in a foreign land, always outside society. What I learned in prison—though I wouldn’t recommend anyone go to prison just to learn this—was what really means anything in life.

When you lose everything—freedom, possessions, friends, family, dignity, income, status—you become the worst person in the world, not worthy of being listened to or cared for. There you are in shower shoes and a jumpsuit, penniless, never ever going to be allowed to walk free again.

At that point of ultimate desperation, what really means anything is the love of one's family and a few friends. When all is stripped away, you still have the most precious gift: someone loves you, and you love them. That's what sustained me through the whole thing. I believed I would be home one day because I'm not an evil being, and that proved to be true.

You famously predicted the fentanyl epidemic in 1996. What's the biggest threat you see in today's psychedelic renaissance that people are missing?

I think we're going to see an explosion of analogs through artificial intelligence for drug development. We’ll go from a few hundred compounds to millions of new variations. I think 99% will be of little consequence. Some may be marvelous healers, but some will be lethal, addictive, deleterious.

I think of one example evolving from a compound Sasha Shulgin gave me in 1988—2C-B, which went on to become a worldwide rave drug. At the Free University of Berlin, a postdoc took 2C-B and 2C-E and began to develop analogs out of curiosity. One of them, called N-BOMe, was active at microgram doses similar to LSD. It started going out on blotters because it was easier to manufacture than LSD. But what people didn't realize is that the 2C's have a very narrow range of safety. One or two doses might be all right, but three or four and you're in real trouble. This resulted in quite a number of deaths.

Mistakes like that can increasingly happen because of the myriad AI-generated analogs forthcoming. It's the responsibility of people distributing to be extraordinarily careful about novel compounds without safety profiles. The same AI can help us understand risk profiles before human testing, but we need that responsibility and caution.

What would you tell your younger self about how this has all played out?

I would say don't miss class. I dropped out of Princeton when I was 17 because I was more interested in jazz bands in New York City. I sort of winged it, but I learned very quickly I wasn't as smart as I thought I was.

I would also say don't be afraid. Young people are often afraid of older people, of saying the wrong thing, of being awkward. Youth is a great blessing. Old people actually love young people, especially students. You have the world in your hands. Be brave.

Just make sure you search your heart to be sure it’s on the right track. Know that your intention is to help people, not to seek indulgence or act in any negative way, or to self-aggrandize, but to be a blessing during this lifetime. Hold that thought close to your heart and have courage.

Want more from Leonard?

Read his memoir, The Rose of Paracelsus, which Leonard wrote by hand from prison, join his Patreon channel, or invest with JLS Fund, a neuromedicine fund he advises.

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DISCLAIMER: This newsletter is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice. The use, possession, and distribution of psychedelic drugs are illegal in most countries and may result in criminal prosecution.