The National Archives catalogue search page is at:

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/search.asp?j=1

This enables you to enter a key search word, or combination of words, which will bring up the holdings and brief details about them. Typeing LSD will bring up a wide variety of files, not all of them related to the drug, as LSD stands for a variety of other things too!

The files can be consulted (and copied, if you choose) by visiting TNA in person. Alternately you can order copies over the internet. Either way they are not cheap. As an example, the Victor Kapur file listed below cost me somewhere in the region of £240.

Nor are all the files relating to LSD listed under 'LSD', there are others under other keywords and there may still be some I haven't located yet.

There seems to be no rhyme nor reason as to which files make it into TNA. It depends what they are sent, and that depends on what the various government agencies either haven't thrown away or what they consider suitable for p[ublic consumption. The Freedom of Information Act now in force means it is becoming harder for government departments to keep files hidden from the public. But as is they way of these things the powers that be will always restrict access if they believe it compromises national security (and all the things packed into those two words) or individual confidentiality. The Freedom of Information Act can work to the researcher's advantage though once you know your way round it and realise you can apply direct to many agencies without waiting for them to put files in TNA.

Anyone who is seriously interested in government file research is advised to read:

Your Right To Know by Heather Brooke (Pluto Press, 2007) - It's indispensible.

The National Archives also hold files on matters which related to LSD culture in Britain but which are not mentioned in the file description. For instance there are several hefty files on the Windsor Free Festivals. It's a matter of spending the time and effort to search, find and then go and look at the files in person.

Anyway, to the obvious ones. The set of tables below give:

*   The file number

*   The file title

*   The time period covered by the file

Clicking on the file title will take you to a brief - and I mean brief - description of the file.

Firsly, the WO, or War Office files on the matter. As you would imagine they deal with early work on LSD and the results of some of the early Sixties field trials at Porton Down.

WO 195/16228	Applied Biology Committee: the estimation of LSD	1966
WO 195/16269	Biology Committee: note on pharmocological studies with LSD 25	1966
WO 195/16270	Biology Committee: note on estimation of LSD 25 in body fluid	1966
WO 195/16524	Biology Committee: note on biological actions of LSD 25	1967
WO 195/16213	Summary of work on lysergic acid diethylamide [LSD]	1966
WO 195/16214	Proposals for future work on LSD 25	1966
WO 195/16215	Paper on first-aid in poisoning by LSD	1966
WO 195/16216	Paper on assessment of effects of LSD	1966
WO 195/16312	Exercise RECOUNT: preliminary report on field experiment (trials involving use of LSD)	1966

The Medical Research Council's files next.

FD 9/2516	University of London, St Mary's Hospital Medical School, Department of Biochemistry; study of the metabolism of LSD (Professor R T Williams): notes and correspondence; details of proposed research program and tables of expenditure	1971-1976
FD 23/375	Possible effects of LSD on chromosomes: correspondence: paper issued from the Department of Medical Genetics, Columbia University, USA	1968
FD 23/1943	Problems associated with the misuse of LSD and cannabis: report by the Advisory Committee on Drug Dependence, LSD and Cannabis Sub Committee; notes and correspondence; newspaper cuttings and journal articles; details of arrangements and some papers for forthcoming conference	1967
FD 23/1944	Problems associated with the misuse of LSD and cannabis: minutes and papers of conference on research into drug dependence held on 15th December 1967; report of a visit to Sweden in January 1968 and newspaper cuttings	1967-1972
FD 23/1947	Distribution of LSD: notes and correspondence; notes of meetings and newspaper cuttings; papers and journal extracts	1966--1969
FD 23/1948	Distribution of LSD: office note and correspondence; journal article	1969-1974

Ministry of Health and related files:

Subsubseries within MH 148	LSD and Cannabis Sub-Committee
MH 148/405	Clinical and pharmocological aspects of LSD: detection in body fluids; evidence of medical effects	01/01/1966 - 31/12/1968
MH 149/220	Control of LSD-25	1966-1971

The Metropolitan Police Files (MEPO) also hold a couple of LSD related files. The first is of most interest, being an extensive file which deals with the first person to be convicted on manufacturing LSD in Britain. This case is dealt with, along with additional relvant information in Albion Dreaming (Chapters 8 &9)

MEPO 2/11080	Investigation into large scale manufacture of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) which was being distributed in England and the United States: subsequent arrest and conviction of Victor James KAPUR and others	1967-1968
MEPO 26/92	BROUGHTON, GJ (aged 17): killed after falling from a fourth floor window at 28 Bramham Gardens, SW5 on 8 November 1970, whilst under the influence of LSD. PAA LINDSELL and RR BURNHAM convicted of possession of the drug	1970 Jan 01-1971 Dec 31

Customs file at:

CUST 49/5590	Home Office proposed importation control: lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and other hallucinogenic substances	01/01/1964 - 31/12/1970

 Now to some less obvious ones. Typeing Lysergic Acid, for instance, brings up:

WO 195/12243	Enzyme Panel : D - lysergic acid diethylamide	1953
WO 195/12778	Enzyme Panel: studies with lysergic acid diethylamide	1954

And here's an example of the sort of searching anomaly you face. Because one Victor Kapur file had emerged I thought it reasonable there might be others, generated by other departments, yet Victor Kapur or Victor James Kapur only gave the MEPO file. But type in Kapur and all of a sudden:

CRIM 1/4810	KAPUR , Victor James Conspiracy to contravene the Drugs ( Prevention of Misuse ) Act 1964 and unlawful possession of drugs	1954 Jan 01-1975 Dec 31

See what I mean?

It's also worth checking the search engine regularly with certain key words. As an example, for years I had been typeing in Operation Julie, with no result. Then in early 2007 up came:

HO 319/315	Illicit manufacture of drugs: 'Operation Julie' (1977 Police operation); minutes of meetings; dissemination of intelligence; HOCRE (Home Office Central Research Establishment) Report No 272, April 1978	1977 Jan 01 - 1981 Dec 31
HO 319/332	Misuse of Drugs Act 1971: appeal against Order for Forfeiture made under Section 27 (Operation Julie case)	1980 Jan 01 - 1985 Dec 31

Quite why these two files appeared when they did is impossible to say. Equally clearly they don't represent anywhere near the totality of files the police, customs and other government agencies would have generated on this huge case.

There are other, more direct, ways of acquiring files - by simply writing to the correct department and requesting them. If you are entitled then under the FOIA you have the right to see them. On this basis I acquired the Home Office files on Tim Leary and on David Solomon, among other treasures.

Often government agencies will try and put you off. This is done by saying they don't hold the files, you are not entitled to them, or the file you are asking for doesn't exist. They don't do this out of an desire to keep things secret, they do it because they are civil servants and the last thing a civil servant wants is a member of the public giving them work to do!

So if you apply somewhere and are fobbed off, be persistent, be precise in your requirements and if that doesn't work appeal against the decsion and ask to speak to the next person up the management chain. But remember, agencies such as MI5 and MI6 are not covered by FOIA and their holdings will remain secret for the forseeable future.

Personally I think there are vast numbers of government agencies holding interesting files on all aspects of LSD use and culture. It's just a matter of locating them. Happy hunting!