AL-LAD

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AL-LAD is a psychedelic in the lysergamide class. It has a short history of human use. It’s been in the scientific literature for decades, but it only entered the research chemical market in the 2010s.

It appears to produce LSD-like effects, perhaps with less intense mental activity and equal or greater visual activity at common doses. These qualities have led to people calling it a more “recreational” psychedelic.


AL-LAD = 6-allyl-6-nor-lysergic acid diethylamide; Aladdin; N-allyl-nor-LSD; N-allyl-nor-lysergic acid N,N-diethylamide

PubChem: 15227511

Molecular formula: C22H27N3O

Molecular weight: 349.478 g/mol

IUPAC: (6aR,9R)-N,N-diethyl-7-prop-2-enyl-6,6a,8,9-tetrahydro-4H-indolo[4,3-fg]quinoline-9-carboxamide


Dose

Oral/Sublingual/Buccal

Light: 50 – 100 μg

Common: 100 – 200 μg

Strong: 200 – 300 μg


Timeline

Oral/Sublingual/Buccal

Total: 6 – 9 hours

Onset: 00:20 – 01:00


Experience Reports

Erowid



Effects

Positives

  • Stimulation
  • Euphoria
  • Open eye visuals
  • Closed eye visuals
  • Increased creativity
  • Insightful thinking
  • Music enhancement
  • Ego dissolution

Negatives

  • Anxiety
  • Confusion
  • Increased heart rate
  • Increased blood pressure
  • Muscle tension
  • Nausea

General

As with any psychedelic, the experiences involves a complex interplay between yourself and your environment. Changes in your visual perception (such as drifting, melting, fractals, patterns, and color changes) are common.

Your mental state will become less secure, so you’re more easily pushed in creative, anxious, or insightful/introspective directions. Your ability to control your headspace is also reduced, making it harder to move beyond a depressed or anxious state when one arises.

There’s a tendency to feel somewhat dissociated from your body and your sense of Self. The dissociation from your body is less intense than with actual dissociatives.

Compared to LSD

AL-LAD has a shorter duration and an easier headspace for most people. It seems somewhat less likely to produce anxiety, panic, or confusion. Because your mental state is more likely to be neutral or positive, the experience may be more consistently “enjoyable” or “recreational.”

Clearer thinking is also common. Despite all of this, AL-LAD is certainly capable of producing anxiety, dysphoria, negative thought loops, and confusion. Problematic mental activity becomes more likely with strong+ doses.

The visual effects appear to remain at least as significant as with LSD dose-for-dose.

Because the mental activity is often less intense at common doses, some users find it’s not a very interesting psychedelic and it may not produce what they consider a “complete” experience. Just as it appears less likely to produce confusion, it may also be less likely to produce introspection and insightful thinking. This has led to people recommending either alternative psychedelics or higher doses of AL-LAD, such as 300+ μg.

Not all users are looking for intense psychological effects, so even common doses of AL-LAD may be fine in those cases. Further, the dose-response relationship with the substance isn’t entirely clear. Some users get pretty significant effects at ~150 μg, while others need over 250 μg. You should start with low/common doses before attempting larger amounts.

It has a similar level of stimulation to LSD, so it produces wakefulness in a way that psychedelics like psilocin don’t.

Because the headspace may be lighter at common doses, communication and social interactions could be less impaired.

Quite a few users have reported a dream-like feel at higher doses and some have reported periods of amnesia.


Chemistry & Pharmacology

Chemistry

AL-LAD is a member of the lysergamide class. Instead of a methyl group at the 6 position, like LSD has, an allyl group is present. This is somewhat similar to the substitutions found on ETH-LAD and PRO-LAD.

The substitution is distinct from what’s seen on ALD-52 and 1P-LSD, which differ from LSD due to substitutions at the 1 position.

Pharmacology

Only a limited amount of formal pharmacology information is available. What exists so far supports binding at 5-HT2A receptors and agonism at 5-HT2A. Other serotonin receptors could potentially be affected.

Papers

(Hashimoto, 1977)

  • It induced hyperthermia in rabbits.

(Hashimoto, 1977)

  • Based on testing with an isolated rat uterus preparation, AL-LAD had a more potent contractile effect than LSD. This effect supports a role at serotonin receptors.

(Hoffman, 1985)

  • AL-LAD produced full substitution in rats trained to discriminate 0.08 mg/kg LSD. And the potency in the drug discrimination paradigm (ED50 of 0.013 μM/kg) was greater than LSD’s (ED50 of 0.046 μM/kg).

(Hoffman, 1987)

  • Displayed a high affinity for 5-HT2A receptors labeled with ketanserin (Ki of 8.1 nM) and DOI (Ki of 3.4 nM) in rat frontal cortex homogenates.

(Watts, 1995)

  • Slightly lower affinity for D1 (K0.5 of 189 nM) and D2 (K0.5 of 12.3 nM) compared to LSD.

(Brandt, 2016)

  • Head-twitch response
    • Both AL-LAD and LSZ induced the HTR.
    • They had nearly identical u-shaped dose-dependent effects, with the maximal responses occurring at 200 ug/kg (IP).
    • LSZ was equipotent to LSD in mice, while AL-LAD was slightly less potent.
    • The magnitude of the max response to AL-LAD was greater than LSZ’s max, though lower than LSD.
      • When normalizing the responses as % of baseline, AL-LAD was confirmed to have a significantly larger response than LSZ.
  • Interpretation
    • AL-LAD could be producing differential effects via 5-HT2A or by exhibiting a different level of activity at 5-HT1A or 5-HT2C, which could attenuate the HTR.

History

1976

The synthesis of AL-LAD was first described.

1984

David Nichols and Andrew Hoffman investigated the drug using an alternative synthesis.

They were looking at a series of LSD analogs, including PRO-LAD and ETH-LAD.

1997

It was discussed in Alexander Shulgin’s book TiHKAL. The entry for AL-LAD gave a dose range of 80 – 160 ug and a duration of 6 – 8 hours.

2013

AL-LAD entered the research chemical market around this time.

2015

The EMCDDA reported its presence in the European drug market for the first time.

As of 2017

It’s still being sold alongside other lysergamide research chemicals.


Legal Status

US

Unscheduled. It could be considered an analog.

International (As of October 2017)

Australia – Likely covered by analog laws.

Canada – Unscheduled.

UK – Class A


Safety

Because we don’t know much about the drug’s safety, especially with long-term use, it’s best to use common doses, infrequently, and without combinations.

Some potential contraindications include preexisting cardiovascular and seizure disorders. If you have either, you should avoid AL-LAD.

Risky Combos (list may not be complete)

Tramadol, stimulants.


Test Results

 

 


References

(2017) Return of the lysergamides. Part II: Analytical and behavioural characterization of N6 -allyl-6-norlysergic acid diethylamide (AL-LAD) and (2’S,4’S)-lysergic acid 2,4-dimethylazetidide (LSZ).

(1985) Synthesis and LSD-like discriminative stimulus properties in a series of N(6)-alkyl norlysergic acid N,N-diethylamide derivatives.

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