Hippies & Drugs
But I would not feel so all alone, everybody must get stoned.
Bob Dylan (Rainy Day Women nos. 12 & 35)
In the 1960s the hippies, en masse, undertook the largest uncontrolled experiment with drug use in the history of mankind. In those days it wasn’t unusual to be handed a pill, and swallow it with the only instruction You’ll dig it, it’s groovy. You trusted your fellow hippy and you wanted to get high and have a new experience. This was freedom. This was rebellion. This was cool. We discovered that Pandora’s stash box was full of drugs!
Purple Haze all in my brain, lately things don’t seem the same.
Actin’ funny but I don’t know why. ‘Scuse me while I kiss the sky.
Jimi Hendrix (Purple Haze)
From laboratories in pharmaceutical companies, on college campus and
bathrooms around the country came a plethora of new drugs with names like
LSD 25, DMT, purple haze, MDMA, orange sunshine, synthetic mescaline, psilocybin,
STP and many more. The purity and action of these drugs got more dubious
as time went on, as unscrupulous dealers sought to capitalize on the drug
craze. Along with methamphetamine, cocaine, marijuana, even heroin, hippies
tried whatever they could get their hands on.
If you can remember the ’60s, then you weren’t there.
Unknown
Why did hippies use drugs so extensively without concern? Let’s look
at the history of drug use leading up to this situation. After World War
II, the pharmaceutical industry exploded with research into new drugs.
They produced drugs to prevent disease, to cure disease, to alleviate pain,
to relieve upset stomachs, to keep you alert, to help you to sleep, to
lessen worry, to reduce hyperactivity in children, to remove the symptoms
of psychological disorders. Thanks to the industry’s aggressive campaigns
in the media and the doctor’s office, every medicine cabinet filled up
with drugs for every sort of ailment.
One pill makes you larger, and one pill makes you small.
And the ones that mother gives you don’t do anything at all.
Go ask Alice, when she’s ten feet tall.
Jefferson Airplane (White Rabbit)
I remember when I was a child of eight or so, having a headache or toothache,
and my mother giving me an aspirin saying it would make it feel better.
I like many of my generation was curious about drugs even at that age.
I asked my mom If it makes you feel better when you hurt, what does it
do when you feel fine? My thought was that it would make you feel really
good! Yes, I had what it takes to be a drugstore cowboy even then.
Better living through chemistry.
Dow Chemical advertisement
Drugs were portrayed as wonders of modern technology. We were led to
believe that soon all diseases would be conquered by taking some drug.
It was a time of unbridled optimism and the pharmaceutical propaganda worked
well on us young children. After all by the time I was eight, I’d downed
thousands of vitamins, hundreds of aspirins, had vaccines on sugar cubes
and in needles, drank colorful syrups for coughs, taken antibiotics to
kill bad bugs inside me. And I was a very healthy child!
Not feeling right? – Take a Pill!
Saturday Night Live
So in the early 60s, drugs were not seen as evil. Yes, heroin was that
bad drug that junkies were addicted to. But all the rest were good and
helped heal us, or at least made us feel better. It’s taken a prolonged,
decades long, anti-drug propaganda campaign to undo the pro-drug pharmaceutical
company brainwash. Now kids are more confused than ever. Many eagerly spout
the politically correct line drugs are bad, while they wash down their
Ritalin with caffeinated colas, then sneak a cigarette or a beer between
classes.
Reality is a crutch for people who can’t handle drugs.
Unknown
In the 1950’s the Beats were fond of marijuana and wrote and sang about
it, often in veiled terms. Illegal since the 30s, it was underground and
occasionally someone famous would be busted with it. But the Beats were
far fonder of alcohol as were most people. Alcohol was and is the true
gateway drug, if any actually exists. We all have a drink before our first
date with Mary Jane.
I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed
by madness, starving hysterical naked,
dragging themselves through the negro streets at
dawn looking for an angry fix,
angelheaded hipsters burning for the ancient
heavenly connection to the starry dynamo in the
machinery of night,
who poverty and tatters and hollow-eyed and high
sat up smoking in the supernatural darkness of
cold-water flats floating across the tops of cities
contemplating jazz.
Allen Ginsberg (Howl)
The Beats were aware of the effects of marijuana: increased sensitivity
and creativity. Artists, poets, writers, musicians, all felt inspired under
its influence. It would usually surface at parties and along with alcohol
(usually wine), helped lower inhibitions and get the party moving. It was
in this group context where the uninitiated would usually encounter their
first joint.
I get by with a little help from my friends,
get high with a little help from my friends.
The Beatles (With a Little Help From My Friends)
With the hippies, the group scene was just as important and influential.
When you saw your friends all participating in an illegal act without negative
consequence, and lots of positive ones, who could resist? Peer pressure
at its most effective. I smoked my first joint with my fellow cabin mates
at a summer camp where I worked when I was 16. A few months later, I was
at college smoking it every day, and had already taken my first LSD trip.
Feed your head!
Jefferson Airplane (White Rabbit)
It’s interesting to speculate what might’ve been had LSD not become
available to us. How much was it responsible for? More powerful than either
mescaline or psilocybin, and far easier to mass produce, its impact cannot
be underestimated. Many of today’s technological wonders including the
personal computer and the Internet are due to the inspiration and enlightenment
of LSD (and marijuana). Carl Sagan has admitted (posthumously) his use
of marijuana to inspire his best-selling books Contact and Cosmos.
Avoid all needle drugs.
The only dope worth shooting is Richard Nixon.
-Abbie Hoffman
Colorful fashions, several art movements and of course the incredible
outpouring of musical talent in the 1960s was directly due to the impact
of psychedelic drugs. Having such open minds, hippies were the ones who
experimented with and experienced the insights these drugs provide, thus
unleashing a barrage of new ideas upon society.
LSD melts in your mind, not in your hand.
Unknown
What is it about LSD that makes it such an inspirational experience?
I’m having a hard time coming up with an analogy for those who haven’t had
the LSD experience. But I’ll try one. If using marijuana encourages thoughts
about God, and mescaline is like seeing or talking with God, then an LSD
trip is experiencing the world as God. That is its mind-blowing potential.
The Shamans
The hippies were blessed to have among them some individuals who can be
considered Psychedelic Shamans. These shamans led the way, first by experimenting
themselves, then by reporting the results and promoting their realizations
in various media. The following brief portraits are taken from Hippyland’s
Psychedelic Shamanism page. Please see the bibliography for recommended
reading by these authors, or visit our online bookstore at https://hipmarket.com/bookstore/bookstore.htm
psychedelics including mescaline and LSD. In fact as he lay dying, he asked
for and received his last dose of acid. His great works of fiction include
‘Brave New World’ about test-tube babies, consumerism and Soma, the drug
of choice. I’m still longing to take a Soma Holiday. Huxley’s ‘Doors
of Perception of Heaven and Hell’ is a classic of psychedelic literature.
It’s based on his experiences with mescaline and how it opened the doors
of the mind. The Doors named their rock group after this book.
Timothy Leary – The high priest of LSD, Leary is clearly the
King of Shamans. His role as professor at Harvard University soon took
a back seat to his public persona once he discovered for himself the powerful
insights available through psychedelics. Unable to restrain Leary’s enthusiasm,
Harvard dismissed him, allowing Leary to experiment with psychedelics under
his own terms. Once freed from clinical restraints, Leary determined which
factors enhanced and promoted good trips. He was quick to realize that
the LSD trip was a religious experience that transformed the tripper for
life. He encouraged clergy, scientists, artists and many others to experiment
with LSD and recorded their experiences. His legendary sessions in Millbrook,
N.Y. yielded much data, but more importantly pioneered the personal and
interpersonal psychedelic experience as never before.
Leary became the focus of public debate about the use of drugs, leading
to the criminalization of LSD and other psychedelics. Leary himself became
the target of governmental repression, with Richard Nixon calling him the
most dangerous man in America. Imprisoned, escaped, on-the-lam, returned
from exile, Leary remained unfazed in his efforts to promote the psychedelic,
shamanic experience. His numerous books exhort the reader to discover for
himself the mind-expanding potential of psychedelics.
John Lennon – While John Lennon might have considered himself
foremost an artist and musician, he nevertheless met the criteria of a
shaman in today’s society. His great influence among young people was due
to his charisma and talent. Lennon’s experiences with psychedelics, particularly
LSD, changed his view of the world and the way he expressed himself through
his music. Not only did he become more experimental and inventive, but
his lyrics took on an otherworldly nature. His songs inspired countless
thousands to open their minds and experiment with psychedelics. Some of
his tunes were actually composed and recorded under the influence of LSD.
John was a tireless promoter of the hippy/shamanic message of peace, love
and understanding. His message reached the far corners of the planet.
Jim Morrison – Morrison, the songwriter and lead singer for the
Doors, was an iconoclast who used his fame to get his message across. A
poet and philosopher, Jim felt it necessary to push the envelope and society
as far as you could to find freedom. He knew that drugs were just Doors
to other worlds where few explorers ventured. His music, his lyrics and
his passion took us to some dark places in our personal and collective
psyches. Like any good shaman, Jim’s real talent was taking us along on
his journeys into these forbidden realms and opening our minds with his
vivid perceptions.
Carlos Castaneda – Steeped in the shamanic tradition of the Nahuatl
Indians of Mexico, Castaneda weaves a tale of initiation, revelation, power
and transcendence in his series of books. The story of how Carlos meets
and accepts his apprenticeship under the tutelage of brujo Don Juan is
a masterpiece. The endless debate about whether it’s a work of fact or
fiction is notwithstanding. The teachings underlying the work have great
merit, as they give meaning to existence and provide a path, the warrior’s,
for those souls brave enough to confront their own weaknesses and transform
themselves.
Terence McKenna – Terence McKenna is a man who, like Gordon Wasson,
lived with the natives and learned their shamanic ways. Along with his
brother, Dennis, they added much to our knowledge of ethnobotany, the native
uses of psychedelic plants. McKenna’s book, Food of the Gods, was a landmark
in this field. Terence is well known for his work with Ayuhuasca and DMT
as well as his lectures on these and other subjects.
Alexander & Ann Shulgin – This husband and wife biochemist
team have explored the whole range of psychedelic drugs including some
that few, if any, have tried. They are known as the parents of Ecstacy.
Their books Tihkal and Pihkal are filled with their psychedelic experiments
and experiences as well as how-to make your own.
Ken Kesey – In contrast to Timothy Leary’s experimental approach
to psychedelics, Kesey explored the experiential. Along with his Merry
Pranksters, Kesey felt that psychedelics were a new way to experience the
world. Inviting diverse friends from Allen Ginsberg to the Hell’s Angels
to his place in La Honda he was able to transform groups of people via
the communal trip. After turning on hundreds of mind travelers, he decided
to take his show on the road in a Day-Glo bus. Kesey and the Pranksters
went on a psychedelic cross-country trip that inspired many including
the Beatles (Magical Mystery Tour) to try to duplicate. The Pranksters’
famous Acid-Test parties where LSD laced Kool-Aid was dispensed accompanied
by music (by such notables as the Grateful Dead) and light shows were modern
day correlates to the shamanic rituals of old.
An unjust law is itself a species of violence. Arrest for its breach
is more so.
Mahatma Gandhi
In my opinion, the real reason for the War on Drugs, and the particular
emphasis on marijuana is that it is a way to control freethinking individuals.
This works by either denying access to mind-liberating substances, or by
imprisoning those who use them. Just as the FBI under J. Edgar Hoover maintained
a list of subversive enemies of the state, today’s enemy list includes
anyone who uses (not necessarily abuses) drugs that are not beatified by
our medical/industrial/political machine.
If they can’t control our minds, they must control our bodies, thus
prisons multiply. They fear a loss of control over the workforce, the primary
consumers, the taxpayers, and their political constituents. For if we stop
obeying our masters, it’s tantamount to a slave rebellion. That is all
we are, slaves working for the next dollar. We are no longer individuals
with freedom to delve beyond the system’s programmed parameters.
This threat is real, since the system offers no alternatives. You’re
either on the bus or you’re one of them. If you happen to be one of the
700,000 American Citizens who get arrested for a marijuana offense each
year, you know which side you’re on. Likewise, if you’re one of the millions
who live in fear that one day your illegal toke will get you busted or
fired, paranoia is your constant companion.
This is an issue that no hippy or freedom loving American can ignore.
It’s symptomatic of a disease that has been growing within our system of
government since Timothy Leary and Ken Kesey took LSD out of the lab and
put it into the hands of the people. LSD would’ve been a great counter-espionage
tool if the CIA could have controlled it. But it’s precisely this lack
of control, over the thoughts in peoples’ minds that the established order
fears.
This is one issue hippies can unite on. Our brothers and sisters rot
in jail while we debate whether we should legalize industrial hemp. AIDS
and cancer patients live their last days in pain and nausea, some also
in jail, while we hide our past and/or present illicit activities from
families, friends and co-workers. Did your conscience and reason leave
you somewhere back in the ’70s? Does the word hypocrite ring any
bells?
We must act on this issue, now! We must get beyond politically correct
attitudes and realize our government has declared war on freethinking,
freedom loving Americans. Only a sustained, well financed, organized, united
effort can possibly change peoples’ thinking about marijuana. Marijuana
must be recognized for what it is: a medicinal herb, an effective pain
reliever and anti-nausea agent for critically ill patients, a plant with
1001 industrial uses, a sacred sacrament for many religions, and a safe,
alternative soft drug that can replace alcohol as a relaxing, non-aggressive
recreational activity for millions of people.
In addition our government should finance research into the medical
and cultural uses of other psychedelic chemicals. The shamanic and
ritual use of plants for personal exploration has been an accepted part
of society for thousands of years. To repress this use not only ignores
an important element of human culture, but the lack of knowledge about
these substances endangers the well being of those who seek self-discovery.
Posted by: skip
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