Since they don’t specify the ‘synthetic drug’ I have to wonder if it wasn’t perfectly natural ergot giving a false positive for LSD?
Edit 1/19: It was not Ergot.
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Hmm.
It’s possible, but I’d need way more information.
The Three Kings Bread seems to be a sweet, fruity type of bread (from a brief recipe search), rather than the heavier rye-based loaves more associated with ergotism. Ergot would produce a red tinge to the flour when milled, easily spotted in white flour.
Playing armchair toxicologist, I’d also be looking for mercury compounds, which produce similar symptoms. Wouldn’t rule out ergot though. Or a few other mould and spore related possibilities.
And just for fun an account of ergot poisoning in Manchester from 1929
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I’m literally a toxicologist in an armchair, and I’m impressed with your grasp of it.
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Thanks. 
If I ever manage to get some real education, it’s a subject that would be pretty high on my list to study. Fascinating stuff.
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I’ll never cease to be amazed at the number of bizarrely specialized professionals showing up at Boing Boing. I used to work at a major research hospital. I have friends and family in medicine and law enforcement. Noone I know could point me towards a toxicologist. And yet here you are.
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Damn, you got a superhero origin story to boot.
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Well after I got the degree, strangely. A case of life imitating science, I suspect?
I’m sure I’ve poisoned myself a few times, as have most of us!
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