11 - "Psi" And Psychedelics, The Mind-Expanding Drugs

Throughout man's tenure on earth, he has often been less than judicious in consuming items of questionable food value. Certain mushrooms, chemically saturated sugar cubes, extracts from cacti, various roots and herbs, and other unlikely substances have been chewed, swallowed, and ingested, not for the purpose of sustaining life, but for the physiological and psychological effects which they have on the body and the brain. Cults of mystical expression have grown up around the use of these substances, and their high-priests continue to proselytize among an insecure and searching citizenry.

"By 1970," Dr. Timothy Leary, primary prophet of the LSD cult, declared recently, "between 10 and 30 million persons, most of them young, will have embarked on voyages of discovery through the limitless inner space of their own minds." According to Leary, these voyagers will return "wiser and more loving" than when they started out. "The next four years, I predict, will be years of mutational conflict. Unless we're very wise and very good to each other there will be many victims."

On May 2, 1938, Dr. Albert Hoffman of the Sandoz Research Laboratories in Basle, Switzerland, first synthesized Lyserg-Saeure-Diaethylamid. Five years later, Dr. Hoffman accidentally inhaled a minute quantity of the drug, while working with other ergot derivatives, and experienced a "not unpleasant inebriation," which consisted of hallucinations that lasted for several hours. Since that time, scientists have been trying to fit LSD-25 and other drugs with hallucinogenic properties into biochemical schemes of many kinds. Substances and chemicals that formerly had an aura of mystery around them, are slowly being broken down by chemical analysis and are now either being hailed as "mind-expanders" or exploited for fast and far-out thrills.

Since the trance state has interested "psi" researchers for many years, much of the recent experimentation with drugs has been followed by parapsychologists with more than a passing concern. Because of the close association of drug-induced hallucinations with mystical visions and trance experiences, it is hoped that a drug will be found that will induce or supplement psychic powers. Although only the barest groundwork has been done, there is some indication that we already possess knowledge of such drugs.

In 1953, Mr. R. Gordon Wasson, a vice-president of the J.P. Morgan Company, and his wife observed a rite of the Mixtec Indians that involved the use of a sacred mushroom. The curandero, or witch doctor, was said to have powers of prophecy after he had consumed the mushrooms, and the Wassons were interested in testing his claim.

It was an all-night affair for which the curandero had made extensive preparations long before the culmination of the rite began. For five days before and five after, he did not allow himself the company of a woman. He explained his actions to the Wassons by saying he feared he would go mad if he consorted with any female. He drank no alcohol for the same period and fasted for twenty-four hours before the ceremony began. The Wassons first became involved in the ritual at nine o'clock in the evening when the witch doctor called them to a small room containing articles of ceremonial religious observance.

The curandero asked the Wassons what information they sought, and the Wassons answered that they wanted to know about their son, Peter, whom they had left in Boston. Then in the small, dark room, illuminated only by candles, the witch doctor began the ceremony. By 10:30, he had eaten fourteen pairs of the mushrooms. Other facets of the rite included the precise arrangement of the ceremonial articles in the room and the rubbing of green tobacco on the curandero's head, neck, and stomach. Then the candles were extinguished and they waited.

At 1:00 A.M. the witch doctor claimed that he was receiving a vision of the Wassons' son. He shocked them by saying that Peter needed them because of some emotional crisis in his life. The curandero continued, telling them that their son was no longer in the city they had thought he was in and that he was either going to war or joining the army. He ended his string of predictions by stating that a close relative of Mr. Wasson's would become seriously ill within a year.

It was not long after this ceremony that reality bore out the witch doctor's predictions. Peter Wasson had joined the army at the unhappy end of a romance that had left him emotionally distraught. He was only eighteen at the tune, but he had joined the service and was shipped to Japan before the Wassons could protest. At the time of the ceremony, he had been not in Boston but in New York. The last portion of the curandero's prognostication also came true when one of Mr. Wasson's first cousins died of a heart attack within the one-year period the man had foreseen.

Intrigued by the curandero's performance, the Wassons became interested in trying the mushrooms themselves. They pursued the back trails of Mexican bush country until they found a village where the natives were willing to let them join a mushroom ceremony. They were given explicit instructions on what and what not to eat before they consumed the mushrooms. The gathering was held in the basement of one of the Indian veilings, and each person present consumed six pairs of the greasy-tasting mushrooms within a half an hour. The scene was lit by the moon which shone through an opening in the wall.

About a half an hour later, Wasson said that he felt as if his soul had been scooped from his body and had been projected to a point far away. He went on to describe scenes resembling those commonly described by the users of mind-expansion drugs. Yet, in his case, there was no instance of any kind of prophecy or clairvoyance.

The question remains poised before "psi" researchers without an answer. Can psychedelic ("mind-manifesting") drugs induce or enhance psychic phenomena? There have been very few reports such as the one given by the Wassons, and although the drug-induced experiences are very similar qualitatively to those described by mystics and mediums all over the world, they may be only an accompanying manifestation of the brain state of these sensitives.

While researchers look on, hoping for a break-through, the drug controversy rages. Pointing to the unpredictable results of uncontrolled use of such drugs as LSD-25, mescaline, and psilocybine, critics of unrestricted use of the drugs demand legislation that will curb the distribution of Psychedelics. Many recent magazine articles and books stress the detrimental effects some drug users have suffered. Although mind-expansion drugs are not narcotic in the sense that they set up a physical craving within the user, possible long-term effects of the drugs have not yet been determined. If the drug is used as a means of escape from reality, it is possible that a user could become dependent upon it in the same manner that many people become dependent upon alcohol.

Meanwhile, users of the drug have organizations of their own and are determined to meet this challenge to their freedom. They claim that the benefits gained from the psychedelic experience is valuable and should not be forbidden anyone who, of his own volition, would like to try it.

Even though most observers agree that some control is necessary, serious parapsychologists are alarmed that such controversy may yield over-protective legislation, which would hamper the controlled testing of psychedelic potential in the area of "psi" research. Given tune, such drugs could help unlock the secrets of telepathy and clairvoyance, and there is much still to be accomplished that could be hampered if legal screws are tightened too far.

Even before medieval witches' potions and the wizards' weird concoctions, men knew about, and used, many varieties of what are now called Psychedelics. The ancient Greeks held the mushroom sacred, and some researchers have postulated that the famed Delphic oracle may have been prompted by some form of psychedelic drug, along with the sulfur fumes the entranced woman was supposed to have inhaled. Other cultures have also held the mushroom or the cactus sacred. The Mayan Indians of Central America erected stone monuments to the mushroom earlier than 1000 B.C. These monuments have been found in the tombs of the wealthier citizens of the Mayan culture and for many years were thought to be fertility symbols.

While modern research techniques have shed some light on the nature of the experiences induced by psychedelics, some investigators have begun their research from historical formulas found in ancient manuscripts or inscriptions. Dr. Erick-Will Peuckert, professor at Germany's Gottingen University, is one of these men. Dr. Peuckert has devoted his life to the investigation of ancient formulas, which were purportedly used by followers of the occult in earlier times.

A highly trained man, Dr. Peuckert studies and translates ancient manuscripts, which give step by step prescriptions for the production of what were once considered magic potions. Once these creams and ointments have been manufactured and tested, they can then be analyzed for the chemical components they contain.

Following a formula that claimed to provide the power of attraction between individual members of the opposite sex, Dr. Peuckert combined bodily extracts into a solution which he injected into candies and fruit to be given to test subjects. The young women volunteers responded by being able to pick out the man from whom the solution had been prepared, even if the subjects were in a group of other men who had not participated in the test. Furthermore, the women felt an otherwise unexplainable desire to meet the person with whom they had become chemically enamored.

These experiments, which were performed with tight controls, gave Dr. Peuckert a great deal of sensational publicity in the European press. Not seeking such notoriety, Dr. Peuckert became so upset by the news stories that he has since become very reticent about divulging data about his experiments.

Information about one of his later experiments did find its way into print, however. In an ancient book on witchcraft, Peuckert found a formula for witches' salve which was known to contain such psychedelic drugs as the thorn apple, the Deadly Nightshade, and other regional fruits and roots. Dr. Peuckert and an unnamed attorney friend of his then tested the salve in the ritual manner prescribed by the book of magic.

After the salve had been applied, both men fell into a trance state that resembled sleep. They were both entranced for twenty hours and awakened with mammoth hangovers, complete with cotton mouths, sore throats, and headaches. Dr. Peuckert and his friend both claimed that they had witnessed the wildest orgy known to man - the Black Sabbat of the witches.

The scenes that Dr. Peuckert witnessed seem closely akin to those produced by other psychedelic drugs, except for the heavy emphasis on sexual perversion. Dr. Peuckert's research into the medieval rites may have planted in his mind the suggestion of such scenes which became full-blown hallucinations under the influence of the salve. This is a plausible explanation since psychedelic drugs are used similarly in psychiatry, and it is known that the experiences a subject would like to have before using the drug, affect the experiences which he does have. Thus it is a good explanation - except for the fact that Dr. Peuckert's attorney friend had precisely the same experiences the scientist himself had.

In spite of the hangover both men had upon awakening from the trance, they immediately set about writing separate accounts of what they had envisioned. Except for differences in wording, they described the same scenes. Peuckert's theory is that the Sabbat was often manifest with the use of such salves, and although the people involved actually had no physical experiences, they could be made to confess to their witchcraft because they did not separate hallucinations from reality.

Even though relatively few psychedelically stimulated psychic experiences have been reported, parapsychologists still are optimistic about the value of Psychedelics to the work they are doing. Several conferences have been held bringing together experts in pharmacology and parapsychology so that the exchange of information, case studies, and techniques might be facilitated.

Dr. Cedric W.M. Wilson of Bethesda, Maryland, pointed out an important assumption that is being made automatically by those who use Psychedelics in their research, i.e. "psi" phenomena are physiological in character. Furthermore, it is assumed that such phenomena are like all other physiological phenomena and are capable of being affected by an external agent.

It is hoped that the proper use of Psychedelics will allow "psi" researchers to take some giant steps forward. There have been many complaints that the presently used statistical methods are too slow. One researcher likened the process to measuring the distance to the moon with a yardstick.

Whatever comes of the research, the only certainty is that there is much testing and evaluating left to do. It may be unfortunate that modern science is enslaved to numbers, but the fact is inescapable. Statistical evaluation is now the only known way to adapt a number scheme to "psi" phenomena, and those preoccupied with this approach may be progressing down a blind alley. Dr. Abram Hoffer of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, has called for a change in approach. In a symposium on "Methodology of Research" at the conference on Parapsychology and Psychedelics in November of 1958, he stated bluntly that "statistical methods are incorrect" when used to evaluate "psi" phenomena. Dr. Hoffer would like to see an adaptation of "the methods of the biologists and chemists who have made much progress without being over-dependent on statistical methods."

Dr. Hoffer went on to suggest several steps which could give parapsychology a much needed boost. "(1) Study the incidence and prevalence of parapsychological phenomena; (2) Locate people who clearly are gifted; (3) Study environmental conditions which enhance the ability to perceive parapsychologically which will include the setting, the type of phenomena, etc.; (4) Demand a higher order of success, rather than accept successes which are mathematically significant, using statistical theory, but practically insignificant; (5) determine whether the Psychedelics will enhance the proven ability of people to sense parapsychological phenomena."

Dr. Roberta Cavanna, an Italian neurochemist, told doctors at Delaware State Hospital of his efforts to give the study of ESP some scientific validity by inducing "psi" phenomena with LSD and psilocybin in a laboratory atmosphere.

Dr. Cavanna feels that there is already enough scientific evidence that verifies the existence of telepathy and has concentrated on the development or encouragement of clairvoyance and precognition in his experiments. "I started with the assumption that ESP does exist," said Dr. Cavanna, "and I began to work with the goal of fitting such phenomena into the framework of scientific understanding."

The neurochemist feels that his work with drugs and "psi" is extremely promising. In one experiment the doctor and his staff give subjects the drugs and hand them a batch of sealed envelopes containing pictures impossible to see with normal perception. The subjects are then asked to describe the pictures contained in the opaque envelopes. Some "extremely sensitive" subjects have been accomplishing remarkable results while under the drugs, according to Dr. Cavanna.

Dr. Sidney Cohen, a Los Angeles psychiatrist-pharmacologist, author of The Beyond Within, has written: "It is hardly necessary to invoke supernatural explanations for the mind's more exceptional activities ... Intuition, creativity, telepathic experiences, prophecy—all can be understood as superior activities of brain-mind function ... The experience called hallucinogenic will play a role in leading us into the future. It points out the existence of unique mental states which must be studied and understood."

Dr. Humphrey Osmond, of the New Jersey Neuropsychiatric Institute at Princeton, has been experimenting with hallucinogenics since 1951. It was, in fact, he who coined the world "psychedelic" to describe the effects of the drugs. "We have changed the world so much," he said recently, "that unless we make interior changes we'll soon be in serious trouble."

Dr. Timothy Leary and Dr. Richard Alpert were discharged from their positions at Harvard University in 1963 for their attempts at making "interior changes." Their enthusiasm for the mind-expanding properties of LSD undampened, the two went on to establish a number of colonies of their "International Federation of Internal Freedom." Leary was arrested in March of 1966 for bringing marijuana into the United States from Mexico. He is, at this writing, awaiting a term in prison.

Law enforcement officials, such as Aaron Koota, Kings County (Brooklyn) district attorney, tend to look upon traffic in LSD and other hallucinogens as just another racket and fear that they will soon have to contend with a black market in the drugs and that it will be aided and abetted by the crime syndicates.

Physicians and psychiatrists warn against the indiscriminate use of LSD.

Dr. Roy Grinker, of Michael Reese Hospital, Chicago, Illinois, editor of the American Medical Association's Archives of General Psychiatry, issued a warning that "... greater morbidity, and even mortality, is in store for patients unless controls are developed against the unwise use of LSD-25."

Dr. Charles C. Dahlberg of New York is an advocate of the therapeutic uses of LSD, but strenuously warns that it be administered with great care and only to patients who have been studied for six months "to confirm the absence of a hidden psychotic process."

Dr. D.C. McClelland of Harvard University stated in a staff memorandum: "It is probably no accident that the society which most consistently encourages the use of these substances, India, produced one of the sickest social orders ever created by mankind, in which thinking men spend their tune lost in the Buddha position under the influence of drugs exploring consciousness, while poverty, disease, social discrimination, and superstition reached their highest and most organized form in all history."

What does LSD do and how does it act?

One team of investigators grouped the following primary effects:

1) a feeling of being one with the universe;
2) recognition of two identities;
3) a change in the usual concept of self;
4) new perceptions of space and time;
5) heightened sensory perceptions;
6) a feeling that one has been touched by a profound understanding of religion or philosophy;
7) a gamut of rapidly changing emotions;
8) increased sensitivity for the feelings of others;
9) such psychotic changes as illusions, hallucinations, paranoid delusions, severe anxiety.

Dr. Leszek Ochota, a member of the investigational drug branch of the Food and Drug Administration, distinguished four stages of LSD action in the May 14, 1966, issue of The New Republic.

1. Initial, lasting for 1/2 to 3/4 hours after oral ingestion of 100 to 150 micrograms of LSD, and producing slight nausea, some anxiety, dilation of pupils, tachycardia, etc.;

2. "Experience," lasting for 1 to 4 to 8 hours, and consisting of illusions, hallucinations, associated with significant alteration of orientation (mainly impaired for time, rarely for place), of consciousness (confusional states, dreamlike revivals of past traumatic events or childhood memories), of sensory perception (in addition to visual illusions, hallucinations and synesthesias—distortion of space and perspective), or motor coordination (unpaired on testing), of mood affectivity (anxiety, euphoria, hypomania, ecstasy, autistic withdrawal), of ideation (flight of ideas, ideas of reference, impairment of concentration and intelligence on testing), and alteration of personality (dissolution of personality by depersonalization and de-realization, impairment of conscience and of acquired social and cultural customs);

3. Recovery, lasting for several hours and consisting of "waves of normality alternating with waves of abnormality";

4. Aftermath, consisting of fatigue and tension during the following day.

LSD is not addictive. It is, in fact, self-limiting. If one were to take the drug for three days in a row, it would no longer produce a psychic effect. A week or longer would have to pass before the drug would again "expand the mind."

Why, then, should LSD and the other Psychedelics be treated as if they were poisons by law enforcement agencies and by certain physicians and psychiatrists? The simple fact is that not enough is yet known about psychedelics to recommend prescribing the drugs and popping them into everyone's mouth in the hope that each of us is capable of creating his own inner "brave new worlds."

For one thing, LSD can cause permanent psychotic reactions and psychic splits that may never heal. Add this fact along with the estimate that approximately five per cent of the world's population is predisposed to schizophrenia and you arrive at one very strong argument for supervised usage of the drug. Even Dr. Timothy Leary has swallowed a few rash statements and announced that "not everyone has an absolute right to do what he wants with his own head."

For another, we as yet have no idea how LSD affects the brain and the body. Some researchers have suggested that since the substance itself leaves the system so rapidly it must trigger the discharge of some as yet unidentified bodily substance. At least one investigator has noticed a change in the aging process among native shamans and diviners who steadily partake of their own home-brewed Psychedelics. Rapid aging might be an as yet unforeseen result of extensive use of psychedelics.

Then, too, some psychiatrists maintain that a psychotic disturbance can occur days, weeks, even months after receiving LSD. Others hasten to add that this could only happen if the individual were already psychically disturbed, but this argument only emphasizes the need for the careful screening of those who use hallucinogens.

Dr. Ochota lists the "more evident dangers of the prolonged adverse reactions from hallucinogens" as based on FDA research. These are: "mood swings, including depression, which may lead to suicide, and euphoria, which may lead to socially embarrassing situations; time and space distortions, presenting obvious traffic dangers; hallucinations, which are perilous out-of-doors; impulsive behavior, wandering and absent-mindedness, all of which may endanger the user and those with him."

And so the controversy over the use of Psychedelics rages on. Parapsychologists can only look on and hope that the increasing legal clamps will not hamper the promising research that has got under way.