In a shocking and ultimately tragic case from the past, two psychiatrists at the University of Oklahoma subjected a massive elephant to what is believed to be the largest single dose of LSD ever administered to an animal. The experiment was conducted on August 3rd, 1962, at Lincoln Park Zoo in Oklahoma City.
The researchers, Dr Louis Jolyon West and Dr Chester M. Pierce, had hoped to induce a state of 'madness' akin to 'musth', a period of heightened aggression in male elephants, by giving the elephant, Tusko, an exceptionally high dose of 297mg of LSD via rifle-powered dart.
Tusko, a 14-year-old, 3,200kg Asiatic elephant, collapsed within five minutes of receiving the injection and entered a state of continuous seizures, known as status epilepticus. His mate, Judy, approached him in an attempt to offer support before he succumbed to the effects of the drug.
Despite initial hopes of observing an 'elephant in a frenzied state', Tusko did not rampage, but instead slowly died 1 hour and 40 minutes after receiving the injection. The outcome highlighted the profound sensitivity of elephants to LSD.
The research paper, published in the peer-reviewed journal Science, concluded that 'it appears that the elephant is highly sensitive to the effects of LSD' – a finding which may have seemed detached from the tragedy at the time but underscores the importance of careful dosage and ethics in drug research, particularly when involving large animals.
The study, titled 'Lysergic Acid Diethylamide: Its effect on a Male Asiatic Elephant', remains a significant and disputed footnote in the history of pharmacology and animal experimentation, serving as a cautionary tale about the unpredictable potency of LSD.