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Nicholas Sand, creator of famous Orange Sunshine LSD, dies


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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Swiss scientist Albert Hofmann may have invented LSD in the 1930s, and Timothy Leary was clearly its most prominent frontman in the 1960s.

But it was an obscure, self-taught chemist named Nicholas Sand who was the true wizard behind the curtain.

Sand, who died April 24 at age 75, launched tens of millions of acid trips across generations by producing arguably the most pure LSD, known as Orange Sunshine.

The Marin County coroner's office says Sands died at his home in Lagunitas, north of San Francisco.

Sands and a partner flooded San Francisco in the late 1960s with millions of hits of acid before they were arrested.

He fled to Canada where, for 20 years, he produced millions more doses.

His story is told in the documentary "The Sunshine Makers."

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