Then (1979), LSD: My Problem Child
LSD and the Law: Hofmann's Hope for Rescheduling
Hofmann argued throughout My Problem Child (1979) and in subsequent interviews and letters that LSD's Schedule I classification, 'no accepted medical use, high potential for abuse', was scientifically unjustified. He believed that rescheduling, or at minimum a restored research exemption, would come in his lifetime as the evidence accumulated. He continued making this argument publicly until his death in 2008 at age 102. He did not live to see any rescheduling of LSD.
partially-confirmed
As of June 2026, LSD remains Schedule I under the US Controlled Substances Act and under equivalent international scheduling under the 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances. The WHO Expert Committee on Drug Dependence conducted a critical review of LSD in 2019 and found no evidence supporting its current scheduling level (Source not found; under review). No international rescheduling recommendation was implemented. A drug company's synthetic psilocybin, not LSD, is the compound approaching FDA approval for treatment-resistant depression. LSD clinical research has resumed in Switzerland, Canada, and the UK with promising Phase 2 results (Holze et al., Biological Psychiatry, 2023), but no commercial sponsor has committed to the Phase 3 trials required for NDA submission. The scientific case Hofmann made for rescheduling has been strengthened by fifty years of evidence. The legal structure remains unchanged. He was right about the science. He was wrong about the timeline.
Sources
- Hofmann, LSD: My Problem Child (1979)
- WHO ECDD Critical Review of LSD (2019) [Source not found; under review]
- Holze et al., Biological Psychiatry (2023)
- DEA Scheduling Database (2026)