On June 12, 1943, 22-year-old Susi Ramstein became the first woman to take LSD. Although she was also the youngest person yet to have tried it, she took 100 micrograms, a larger dose than Dr. Hofmann’s male colleagues.
She found the experience enjoyable, and the effects pleasant. After her first experiment in the lab, she took the tram home, finding the appearance of the passengers and the long-nosed conductor to be comical. Susi discussed her ideas about the experience with her colleagues at Sandoz. Her insights helped to determine dosage levels for the medical use of LSD. She also took some of the LSD variants that Dr. Hofmann synthesized, dihydro-LSD and d-Iso-LSD, which seemed to be less psychoactive. About a year after her last LSD experience, she left Sandoz to marry, but she had already left her mark on the history of psychedelics.
Thinking about Susi’s experiences at the advent of LSD takes a little guess work, piecing together details from Dr. Hofmann and a few other close-hand accounts of that time. It is fascinating what a young Susi Ramstein might have thought as she pedaled beside her tripping boss; as it is, we know that she was an extremely helpful and observant companion/attendant. It is regrettable that we do not have a fuller first-hand account of Susi’s own LSD experiences or of her subsequent experiments with other substances. Even with the few available details, we can catch a slight glimpse of this highly curious, intelligent, and courageous young woman.
Susi Ramstein Weber, the first psychedelic guide, and the first woman to take LSD, died in the fall of 2011, several years after the death of Dr. Hofmann. As is true of much of the earliest history of LSD, accidents of timing and circumstance played a role in the way that her participation and her contributions are remembered and valued. Now that April 19, “Bicycle Day” has become a well-known and joyously celebrated holiday for psychonauts, let us also remember and celebrate June 12, the date when the courage, heart, and brains of this young woman entered the annals of psychedelic history.
