LSD in San Francisco

Charlie Reis was one of those unique characters on the California landscape so hard to define. He was over 80 when I met him at UMAX. Our Taiwanese President was so impressed with his knowledge and activity level that he called me in to meet Charlie, who was finishing a brochure for us entitled “The Practical Guide To Scanning.”
I figured Charlie might have a good network of contacts; beyond that, I looked for general insights in the older crowd. Charlie provided many. I introduced the white haired gent to Fukuhara-san. Charlie stuck his head through the doorway and said, “I worked for a little computer company in Palo Alto for 12 years … CALLED H-P!”
Armed with my expense account, we went out for a few rather economical lunches. Climbing into his old Toyota one day, we headed to his favorite “all you can eat” sushi place. “Oh good!” he told the hostess. “We’re here early so we can get all the good stuff!” Finding a table upon which to consume our booty, we fell into a conversation about his days at H-P and earlier tales about drugs in the Haight-Ashbury. As somewhat of a “late to the party” hippie myself, I was mesmerized by his stories.
In one, he told how he had gone to a pharmaceutical company in Switzerland, Sandoz Labs, in the Sixties. Scientists there introduced him to their work on lysergic acid diethylamide, commonly known as LSD. Soon Charlie had learned how to mix up batches of the drug. Back in the Bay Area, he in turn educated his engineering associates.
Somehow or other, the government got wind of this. They told Charlie they were doing some experiments on the effect of drugs on large urban populations and asked him to spread his knowledge around San Francisco. This he did, and soon homebrew labs were popping up in the City. The rest, as they say, is history.
I retained some skepticism that Charlie was the father, or at least first lieutenant, of acid in the Sixties. Later I asked him about it. His reply was simply, “I’m not proud of everything I’ve done.” I sensed he didn’t like being used by government agencies for experimental purposes. Not wishing to push an uncomfortable issue, I let it go. Yet I believed Charlie; for he was a straightforward man with no reason to lie, and I, an interested observer with no reason to doubt him.
One thing was clear: from well-heeled VCs on Sand Hill Road to a fascinating eccentric in a Santa Clara trailer park, I was meeting an entertaining array of characters.