Clyde Apperson was arrested in 2000 for allegedly running the largest illicit LSD

LSD

Lysergic acid diethylamide, abbreviated LSD or LSD-25, also known as lysergide and colloquially as acid, is a semisynthetic psychedelic drug of the ergoline family, well known for its psychological effects which can include altered thinking processes, closed and open eye visuals, synaesthesia, an...

 manufacturing operation in the history of the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 with partner William Leonard Pickard

William Leonard Pickard

William Leonard Pickard is one of two people convicted in the largest lysergic acid diethylamide manufacturing case in history. In 2000, while moving the LSD laboratory, Pickard and Clyde Apperson were pulled over while driving a Ryder rental truck and a follow car...

. In 2003 Apperson was sentenced to 30 years of imprisonment without the possibility of parole

Parole

Parole may have different meanings depending on the field and judiciary system. All of the meanings originated from the French parole . Following its use in late-resurrected Anglo-French chivalric practice, the term became associated with the release of prisoners based on prisoners giving their...

. While his partner Pickard had an extensive criminal history dating back to 1964, for numerous charges ranging from forgery and false identification charges to arrests for manufacturing controlled substances and carrying a concealed weapon, Apperson had no criminal record prior to his conviction.

Allegedly Pickard and Apperson previously manufactured LSD in Mountain View, California

Mountain View, California

-Downtown:Mountain View has a pedestrian-friendly downtown centered on Castro Street. The downtown area consists of the seven blocks of Castro Street from the Downtown Mountain View Station transit center in the north to the intersection with El Camino Real in the south...

, in Oregon

Oregon

Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...

 and in Santa Fe, New Mexico

Santa Fe, New Mexico

Santa Fe is the capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico. It is the fourth-largest city in the state and is the seat of . Santa Fe had a population of 67,947 in the 2010 census...

. The DEA claims the Santa Fe lab typically produced about 2.2 pounds of LSD (about 10 million doses with a street value of $40 million) every five weeks.

The DEA believes that Apperson and Pickard were responsible for manufacturing a majority of the LSD sold in the United States and cites an estimated 90 percent reduction in the drug's availability as evidence of this.

External links

• Who's Got the Acid by Ryan Grim
  Ryan Grim
  Ryan Grim is an author and senior congressional correspondent for The Huffington Post. His writings have appeared in several publications, including Rolling Stone, The Washington Post, Politico, and C-SPAN Booktv. He is the author of "This Is Your Country on Drugs".-Professional overview:He has...
  
   on Slate.com
• Day-by-day reporting of the trial