Does Acid Show Up on a Drug Test? Detection Windows for LSD

Acid, or lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), is a hallucinogenic drug that once had medical uses in psychotherapy. It’s not widely used anymore, but it has grown in popularity as an illicit party drug for its mood-altering effects.[1]

Compared to opioids, stimulants, and other drugs of abuse, acid is not as common and isn’t part of standard drug testing. Specialized tests can detect LSD in urine, blood, and hair samples.

What Is Acid?

Acid is a hallucinogenic drug that was developed by a chemist in Switzerland, Albert Hoffman, in 1936.[2] “Acid” is a slang term for lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), which may be known as dots, yellow sunshine, or other street names. While it had use in psychotherapy in the past as a means to enhance antipsychotic drugs, it’s primarily used recreationally for its mood-altering effects.

Unlike other drugs, LSD use doesn’t cause physical addiction. However, it’s a potent psychedelic that can alter thoughts, emotions, and sensory perception, leading to its use for religious or spiritual rituals. The effects of LSD can be unpredictable and may cause hallucinations, anxiety, delusions, and paranoia.

How Long Does Acid Stay in Your System?

The length of time that acid stays in the body can vary based on several factors. It only takes a small amount of acid to have psychedelic effects, so the detection methods for drug testing have to be extremely sensitive. It’s also absorbed and metabolized quickly by the liver, so it has a limited detection window.

Urine

The liver metabolizes acid when it’s taken orally, converting it into inactive compounds. Only about 1% of acid is excreted in the urine within 24 hours, so it can only be detected by specialized drug tests. Standard urine tests, such as those used for pre-employment screenings, are not sensitive enough to detect acid.

The urine tests for acid use liquid-liquid extraction and ultra high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectroscopy (UHPLC-MS/MS). Studies show that some inactive byproducts of acid are present in urine at 16 to 43 times higher concentrations than LSD, but more research is needed to understand how this can improve drug testing for acid.[3]

Blood

Liquid-liquid extraction and UHPLC-MS/MS can detect LSD in blood samples. One study analyzed 13 blood samples that were administered LSD within 24 hours and kept at below-freezing temperatures. After 12 months, the researchers were able to detect LSD in samples taken up to 16 hours after administration, but only for participants that received 200 micrograms of LSD.[4] The group that received 100 micrograms of LSD did not have detectable levels in blood test samples taken up to 8 hours after administration. Both groups had a decrease in the amount of detectable LSD in the samples. Only 9 out of 24 samples were detectable after 16 hours in the group that received 100 micrograms.[5]

Hair

Hair tests have a longer detection window than other types of drug tests, including for LSD detection, because they detect drugs using evidence found on the hair shaft, the hair follicle, and the hair growth rate. A study from 2015 used three documented cases of LSD traces on human hair samples at a concentration between 1 and 17 picograms per milligram.[6] These results aren’t reliable, however, because the hair was treated with LSD instead of being harvested from people who used LSD.

 

What Factors Affect Acid Detection?

Several factors influence how long LSD is detectable, including age, health, and the dosage of the drug used. As the previous studies indicated, the timing of the sample is an important factor because LSD doesn’t last long in the body. Tests that usually have detection windows of a few days, such as urine tests, can’t detect acid after 72 hours. Some drugs can cause false positive tests or interfere with the detection of LSD, leading to unreliable results.

How Long Do Acid Effects Last?

The effects of acid and the dosage needs can vary for each individual, but a dose of 1 to 3 micrograms per kilogram can cause effects like altered awareness of feelings, thoughts, conditions, and objects.

Acid’s effects and the nature of the experience (the “trip”) can vary widely, even with the same dose of LSD. You can experience enjoyable euphoria and “happy” hallucinations with a good trip or fear-inducing or depressing hallucinations with a bad trip. Flashbacks also occur with acid and can occur while taking the drug or long after, even if you’re not currently using it. Mixing acid with other drugs increases the likelihood of flashbacks.

Other effects of acid may include:[8]

• Increased heart rate, respiration, and blood pressure
• Restlessness
• Shaking
• Sweating
• Loss of appetite

Risks of Acid Trips

The biggest risk of taking acid is dangerous behavior caused by the altered perception. Some people may lose inhibitions or experience altered reality that can make them feel invincible, or in the case of bad trips, act violently toward themselves or others.

There are physical and psychological risks to acid, but they are rare. Even at high doses, acid doesn’t have an extreme toxic effect on the organs like drugs of abuse, but rare reports of prolonged psychosis or other psychological effects can occur.

Acid Addiction Potential

Acid isn’t believed to cause physical addiction or physical dependence. While you can develop a tolerance to the drug and may need higher doses to get the same effects, physical withdrawal symptoms don’t occur when you stop the drug. People don’t typically have cravings for acid, either.

It is possible to become psychologically addicted to acid, however, which means you have a compulsive need to use the drug, no matter how many problems it causes. In this case, you may need addiction treatment to overcome psychological dependence and develop healthier habits.

Treatment for acid abuse or addiction often includes a comprehensive addiction treatment program in an inpatient or outpatient setting. This can help with the psychological addiction and the possible mental health effects that may arise from its use, such as psychosis or hallucinogen persisting perception disorder. Treatment plans are individualized but may include individual therapy, group therapy, and behavioral therapies like cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) or dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT).

Understand the Effects of Acid

Acid is an intense psychedelic drug that can have unpredictable mood-altering effects. While some drug tests can detect LSD and its inactive compounds long after use, it has a short detection window and isn’t part of standard drug testing.

Frequently Asked Questions About Acid Effects and Drug Testing