Celebrating the First Psychedelic Explorers
Move over Bicycle Day, Tram Day is coming
As we move into an era of psychedelic-assisted therapy, it is time to honor the contribution of Susi Ramstein, the first trip sitter.
Bicycle Day, celebrated by the MAPS crowd, is an annual event that honors the first ingestion of LSD by Albert Hoffman, its discoverer, at Sandoz Labs in Basel, Switzerland, on April 19, 1943. Experiencing profound effects from a dose he thought too low to have any, Hoffman decided to bicycle home where he’d feel safer.
Hence, Bicycle Day every April 19.
Hoffman did not ride home alone. He was accompanied by his lab assistant, Ms Ramstein, who coached him on his progress. She then stayed with him until his wife could be summoned and return from a trip to her parents in Lucerne. During that time, Ramstein helped talk him down as the expression goes. Hoffman was afraid he had somehow permanently damaged himself. Ramstein called in a physician who assured him his vital signs were all fine. By the time Hoffman’s wife returned, he was in a positive frame of mind and enjoying the experience.
Everyone in Hoffman’s team took part in subsequent experiments with lower doses of LSD. Ramstein took part in three. On June 12, 1943, Ramstein became the first woman to take LSD…
