Word: hallucinogen
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1960-1969
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...moon. "This would be very expensive" Sagan replied. "Even if there are lots of diamonds on the moon, it might not pay to bring them back. If anything were mined on the moon, it would have to be something not found anywhere on earth -- perhaps some terrific hallucinogen...
Outpatient use of psilocybin, in particular, has been pointed out as potentially hazardous because of the "suicidal ideation, excited states, and impaired judgement" it can produce. (S. Malitz, et al., "Some Observations on Psilocybin, a New Hallucinogen, in Volunteer Subjects," Comprehensive Psychiatry, 1960, 1, 8-17.) Assurances of a "psychological screening," with no information about the criteria of screening, are distressingly vague, and here Leary and his associates have failed to provide the University with proper evidence of the safety of their work. The fact that the University has not held up a ruined volunteer as an example...
Predictably, Huxley compares mescaline to soma, the universal antidote to everyday existence in Brave New World,--a drug with "all the advantages of Christianity and alcohol, none of the drawbacks." Like soma, mescaline is an hallucinogen and a euphoriant that is not harmful and provides a reasonably safe, extremely interesting escape from the world. But the effects of mescaline are far too capricious, much too susceptible to subtle psychological influences, and certainly too time-consuming to rank with those of Huxley's ideal drug. And with the majority that finds heaven in mescaline here is inevitably a small minority that...