Posted on 01/11/2006 4:16:29 AM PST by beyond the sea
Thanks for the memories. J. Ross MacLean was a smooth and smart fellow, but the actual "LSD therapists" were much more interesting...some old old psychiatrist who dropped in for the "dropping," and a former journalist who'd gone up to Hollywood Hospital to write about it and stayed to guide trips. Along with the pure LSD, they mixed a little mescaline "for visual effects." The "patient" was blindfolded to enhance the inner visions. A very good plan.
The trip was taken in a comfy room with a couch and a sound sytem with speakers that filled an entire wall. The journalist/therapist constantly changed music until he found stuff you'd really respond to. Because a tripper had to fill out a battery of psychological tests before being accepted, they had a pretty good idea where you were headed and the musical accompaniment added a kind of psychic velocity, pushing you down the rivers of your dreams.
The place was called Hollywood Hospital because it was surrounded by a nice yard filled with tall holly trees...
After the session, which might last all day, they offered you anything at all that you wanted to eat. A sort of "first meal."
The entire hospital was for people with chronic alcoholism. As I recall, they had grant money from the Province of British Columbia to experiment with LSD on treatment of alcoholics--throughout the hospital, I think.
As early as '66, one wing was just for LSD therapy for outsiders who just came for the drug and who were unlikely to be alcoholics.
Ooooh, I think I might have not been too thrilled about that.
;-)
Wow, I wish I could have seen all that happen.
Glad you liked the post. Sort of irritating that the guy who asked me for it didn't have the courtesy to ping me back on it.
live with it
live with it
By the way...... I did NOT ASK you for your post ....... YOU OFFERED IT!
WHERE did I ask you for it???
No, that was a misunderstanding. The guy that asked me for it was "CJ Wolf". You were nice enough to respond, but he not. Sorry for unclear message.
Correction, babble-on.
Your message was NOT "unclear" ............. it was INCORRECT!
Let's be real!
;-)
you hear much of lsd---most anecdotal BS. no known 'L/D' has been found for it---barbara striesand, paul mcartney---millions have used this drug for benefit---but 'one man's food is another's poison'. the problem is complex, as true lsd requires costly labs & good chemists---it's much easier for unscrupulous people to merely sell 'rat-poison', pcp, etc., AS lsd---another problem? does the user have 'underlying' illness---lsd may aggravate such---just as a 'normal' person, given anti-depressants often becomes manic. the problem lies with the subject, not the substance---aspirin may be deadly, as penecillin to some---my opinion is 'keep the guv, FDA, etc., at bay---they are ignorant of Your bio-chemistry---lsd never harmed me---but scripted drugs? devastation---unto near-death---no guv has the right to 'dictate' personal choice---a Constitutional Right---sure, you can't holler 'fire' in a theater---and garbage must be picked-up---borders defended---guv has purpose---but it has become 'totallitarian'---that is the greater danger.
LSD is very powerful.Defintely no joke and not for people who will not remain calm while their ego and illusions are stripped naked for them to view and observe.
Once was enough for me.I saw what I wanted to see and learned what I did about myself and then moved on and have no desire to try it again.
I saw it really mess up some minds when it went flavor of the month for all the teenyboppers around 1968.They were totally unclear on the concept.
Flashbacks are real,my friend.Real scary too.
A communist plot?LSD?
No way!The Reds I knew absolutely hated the acid crowd back in the Sixties.Called it bourgois self-indulgence and a CIA plot to divert the masses from The Revolution.
Signs.
The Five Man Electrical Band from the Summer of 1971,right?
Very true. I would not recommend LSD to most of my friends and certainly not to any of the young ones. The difficulty is that people capable of handling it aren't the ones taking it.
Been decades now, but I recall my own experiences with crystal clarity. Leary and some others smarter than he used to talk about "set" and "setting," meaning preparation for the experience and a congenial environment. These are necessary - dropping acid and going to see The Exorcist aren't, as Richard Pryor used to joke, a very good idea.
If you are a paranoid individual this stuff will make you more paranoid. Insecure, and it will make it worse. Confused, worse. Unstable, worse. Frightened, worse. Most people taking clean LSD who have bad trips were on one before they dropped.
I must dissent from Hoffman's considered opinion that it would be useful in treating alcoholism or other personality problems. These are individuals already pretty torn up and LSD is likely to be pretty rough on them. They will remember some of the things that they've done and know just how gawdawful they were, and you'd better have a sitter handy when that happens.
I also think that the stuff gives you a hangover of sorts which lasts for quite awhile. People who stay loaded on it all the time will definitely burn out - it isn't really what I'd term a "recreational" drug at all. It is very serious business and if taken at all it needs to be taken seriously. I won't ever use it again, but I think on the whole that when I did it was a profound and positive experience. YMMV.
3 cheers! there is no evidence of lsd 'causing' any illness, 'mental/otherwise'---this individual has some surfing to do---
any substance may be dangerous to a particular individual---as i noted, aspirin may kill---i was dx'd at 16 as 'bipolar'---the only med that ever helped was lsd---whilst using i had an easy 7-fiugre income, was stable as hell, owned office buildings, and net worth of 17-21 $mil---for Me, it was medicine---that may not apply to others---but does that give them the right to deny me what led to wealth, founding industries that now employ many thousands? NO---fear of guv Law, that took away wealth---
for me---lsd's efficacy as a 'med' is well-documented---in year's of use, i never had a bad-trip---on The Real thing--
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