War on Drugs
Through the 1950s and 1960s, more than 1,000 research papers were written about LSD, psilocybin, and other psychedelic drugs. Some 40,000 people were given these mind-expanding agents, and great progress was made in the understanding of how they might help people suffering from depression, alcoholism, and the psychospiritual distress. However, due to a series of unfortunate events psychedelics were mired in taboo due to a political agenda ultimately starting the War on Drugs.
This witch hunt which persists even today, started on October 24, 1968 by the US government outlawing psychedelics. This caused a domino effect globally, leading to a 1971 UN resolution criminalising the medicines worldwide. To illustrate this timeline, the table below charts out notable landmarks leading up to worldwide psychedelic criminalisation.
| Year | Landmark | References |
|---|---|---|
| 3000 ce | Es Càrritx cave in Spain contains hair samples with traces of the alkaloids atropine, scopolamine, and ephedrine | E. Guerra-Doce, C. Rihuete-Herrada, R. Micó, R. Risch[1] |
| 1943 | LSD’s psychoactive effects discovered by Albert Hofmann (16th and 19th April) | Hofmann, 1980[2] |
| 1947 | Werner Stoll publishes first paper on psychological effects of LSD in humans | Stoll, 1947[3] |
| 1950 | First English language publication on LSD | Busch and Johnson, 1950[4] |
| 1953 | American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP) Founding president Joel Elkes publishes on LSD after openly self-experimenting with it | Bradley et al, 1953[5]; Roberts, 2008[6] |
| 1954 | Aldous Huxley’s ‘The Doors of Perception’ published: documents mescaline self-experiment | Huxley, 1954[7] |
| 1956 | Term ‘psychedelic’ coined by Humphrey Osmond in communication with Aldous Huxley | Huxley, 1980[8] |
| 1957 | Term ‘magic mushrooms’ coined by LIFE magazine | Wasson, 1957[9] |
| 1958 | Identification of psilocybin in magic mushrooms by Albert Hofmann | Hofmann et al, 1958[10] |
| 1959 | Closed conference held in Princeton on ‘the use of LSD in psychotherapy’, Jonathan Cole attends, an early ACNP president | Abramson, 1959[11] |
| 1960 | First major European conference on psychedelics; Sidney Cohen publishes positive meta-analysis on LSD safety | Passie, 1996[12]; Cohen, 1960[13] |
| 1961 | Jonathan Cole (ACNP president 1965-66) expresses ‘very mixed feelings on psychedelic research’ as critical commentaries emerge | Mangini, 1998[14] |
| 1962 | The Marsh Chapel or ‘Good Friday’ experiment conducted at Harvard under Timothy Leary’s supervision but without institutional approval | Pahnke, 1966[15]; Mangini, 1998[16] |
| 1963 | Leary dismissed from Harvard; Aldous Huxley and JFK die (both on 22nd November) | Stevens, 1987[17] |
| 1964 | Cole takes ‘sober look’ at psychedelics in JAMA; discussions on LSD take center stage at 1964 APA meeting; Ken Kesey travels across US taking LSD with ‘Merry Pranksters’ | Mangini, 1998[14]; Cole and Katz, 1964[18]; Stevens, 1987[17] |
| 1965 | Sandoz stop manufacture of LSD and psilocybin | Stevens, 1987[17] |
| 1966 | Prohibition of psychedelics and curtailment of research begins in US; Senator Robert Kennedy formally questions this move | Stevens, 1987[17]; Lee and Shlain, 1992[19] |
| 1967 | Timothy Leary declares ‘turn on, tune in and drop out’ at a festival in Golden Gate Park | Stevens, 1987[17] |
| 1970 | President Nixon signs Controlled Substances Act, LSD and psilocybin made Schedule 1 | Stevens, 1987[17]; Lee and Shlain, 1992[20] |
Criminalisation Rationale
The period just before the criminalisation of psychedelics, at the peak of their use, was typified by the 1960s counterculture movement spreading ideas of antiwar, sexual liberation, environmentalism and women's rights. All of these new ideas were framed by the media as threatening traditional mainstream conservatism. This sentiment became most apparent when US President Richard Nixon proclaimed a thought leader of the counterculture movement, a Harvard psychiatrist Timothy Leary as “the most dangerous man in America”. Leary’s mantra of “turn on, tune in, drop out” was seen as a direct threat to the corporate establishment and the consumerist, materialist mindset and the state at large.
Pre-Modern Era
As early as the 1790s, doctors, scientists and other specialists sought to plumb the expanses of their minds through psychoactive drug use in pursuit of better knowledge of their chosen substances’ effects. On these quests, self- experimentation was long regarded as indispensable and, before the late 19th century, had public and professional support. As the century progressed, the mood changed due to growing concerns regarding the risk of addiction, a preference for ‘objective’ forms of research that overlooked a drug’s benefits, and – consequently – support for outlawing their use.
Advocates of self-experimentation insisted that, without trying it themselves, they could not understand a drug’s effects, given how inscrutable second-hand accounts could be. In the 1790s, one such psychonaut wrote of laughing gas that, under its influence, ‘I feel like the sound of a harp’. Many researchers hoped to experience the visions and feelings that the substances inspired, and thereby to determine the drugs’ value in treating ailments. Others saw substances as providing a portal to insights and truths otherwise unattainable or hidden. When the French psychiatrist Jacques-Joseph Moreau tried hashish, for example, he concluded that ‘the inner world of dreams and the waking state of reason’ could ‘coexist and observe one another’. In 1902, the American philosopher William James claimed that our ‘waking consciousness’ was not our only consciousness.
During the 19th century there was popular interest in attaining different levels of consciousness; experimentation with drugs was just one of many available paths. Some people attended séances or underwent hypnosis in order to further explore the mind. There was interest in the potential of split personalities, and Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, published in 1886, provided a metaphor for the ‘drug-induced personality change’. But the accounts produced by the self- experimenters exerted signicant cultural inuence. After the French writer Jean Lorrain wrote about his use of ether, James Joyce adopted his stream-of-consciousness style of writing. Paul Cézanne gave visual expression to the American philosopher William James’ experiences, combining ‘multiple perspectives of the same object in a single canvas’, while Albert Einstein demonstrated that ‘time was not a single and universal measure but perspectival and plural’. Reality was more complex than many had assumed.
References
- ↑ Direct evidence of the use of multiple drugs in Bronze Age Menorca (Western Mediterranean) from human hair analysis. E. Guerra-Doce, C. Rihuete-Herrada, R. Micó, R. Risch, V. Lull & H. M. Niemeyer Scientific Reports volume 13, Article number: 4782 (2023). Accessed on 9th May 2023 via: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-31064-2
- ↑ LSD: My Problem Child. McGraw-Hill: New York. Hofmann A (1980)
- ↑ Lysergsäure-diäthyl-amid, ein Phantastikum aus der Mutterkorngruppe. Stoll W (1947). Schweiz Arch Neur 60: 1–2.
- ↑ L.S.D. 25 as an aid in psychotherapy; preliminary report of a new drug. Dis Nerv Syst 11: 241–243. Busch AK, Johnson WC (1950).
- ↑ Bradley PB, Elkes C, Elkes J (1953). On some effects of lysergic acid diethylamide (L.S.D. 25) in normal volunteers. J Physiol 121. [PubMed] [Google Scholar] [Ref list]
- ↑ Roberts A (2008) Albion Dreaming: A Popular History of LSD in Britain. Marshall Cavendish: London.
- ↑ Huxley A (1954) The Doors of Perception. On the author's sensations under the influence of the drug mescalin.. Chatto & Windus: London.
- ↑ Huxley A (1980) Moksha: Writings on Psychedelics and the Visionary Experience. Chatto and Windus: London. pp 1931–1963.
- ↑ Wasson RG (1957). Seeking the magic mushroom. LIFE Magazine 49: 100–102.
- ↑ Hofmann A, Heim R, Brack A, Kobel H (1958). Psilocybin, a psychotropic substance from the Mexican mushroom Psilicybe mexicana Heim. Experientia 14: 107–109.
- ↑ Abramson A (1959) The Use of LSD in Psychotherapy. Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation: New York.
- ↑ Passie T (1996). Hanscarl leuner—pioneer of hallucinogen research and psycholytic therapy. Maps Newslett 7: 46–49.
- ↑ Cohen S (1960). Lysergic acid diethylamide: side effects and complications. J Nerv Ment Dis 130.1: 30–40.
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 Mangini M (1998). Treatment of alcoholism using psychedelic drugs: a review of the program of research. J Psychoactive Drugs 30: 381–418.
- ↑ Pahnke WN (1966). Drugs and mysticism. Int J Parapsychol 8: 295–315.
- ↑ Mangini M (1998). Treatment of alcoholism using psychedelic drugs: a review of the program of research. J Psychoactive Drugs 30: 381–418.
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 17.3 17.4 17.5 Stevens J (1987) Storming Heaven: LSD and the American Dream. Paladin: London.
- ↑ Cole JO, Katz MM (1964). The psychotomimetic drugs: an overview. JAMA 187: 758–761.
- ↑ Lee MA, Shlain B (1992) Acid Dreams: The Complete Social History of LSD: The CIA, The Sixties, and Beyond. In: Rev. Evergreen (ed). Grove Weidenfeld: New York.
- ↑ Lee MA, Shlain B (1992) Acid Dreams: The Complete Social History of LSD: The CIA, The Sixties, and Beyond. In: Rev. Evergreen (ed). Grove Weidenfeld: New York.