DRCNet Response to the
Drug Enforcement Administration

The LSD "Blue Star" Hoax

DRCNet Response:  This particular hoax shows the general folly and hysteria which occurs behind the drug issue.  Sadly, this is the only such misinformation the DEA has chosen to correct.  For further information on this particular hoax, see the Fortean Times web site.

June 1996

A false rumor, which is believed to have originated in 1981, warns parents that LSD is being sold in the form of children's washable transfer tattoos. This rumor, which is usually referred to as the "Blue Star Hoax," warns parents that the LSD can be absorbed through the skin. Warning letters supposedly sponsored by police officials or parents groups have appeaared often; however, no LSD-laden "tattoo" incidents have ever been documented.

LSD is sold on various forms of paper, usually known as "blotter paper," "stamps," or "blotter acid." This form is the most common form of distribution and it is intended for oral ingestion. In the past, LSD manufacturers have placed (and continue to do so) pictures of Disney and other cartoon characters, as well as television characters, on the blotter paper. However, no evidence of a child being injured by touching an LSD-laden "tattoo" has been recorded, though hundreds of incidents of the "Blue Star Hoax" have been documented.

(This article was reprinted from the DEA LSD Situation Report, February 1992.)

Questions regarding the data should be directed to the:

Drug Enforcement Administration
Information Services Section
700 Army-Navy Drive
Arlington, VA 22202