Our aim is to provide honest information about psychedelica like LSD, Psilocybin (magic mushrooms) and Mescalin and to inspire an open discussion without threats of penalties against users of psychedelic substances. The prohibition of scientific research into psychedelica is unworthy of a democratic society.
	• news • substanzen • anwendungen • persönlichkeiten • geschichte • künstler • literatur • musik • multimedia • links • mailing list		PSYCHEDELICS - LAST CHANCE FOR HUMANKIND? Psychedelics are back again. Are they just another drug fad or the next step in human evolution as some people believe? Psychedelics are to the mind what a microscope is to science, they say, and these substances have come not a moment too soon to prevent global disaster. Will psychedelics awaken humankind to cosmic grandeur? It‘s doubtful that our planet and its biosphere can withstand much longer the heavy attacks from a mankind gone berserk. A lot has already been destroyed and more gets destroyed every day. So it‘s easily possible that we all go down the drain pretty soon. That means that we irreversibly disturb the delicate and fragile balance of the ecosphere and make our nice little planet uninhabitable for the next couple of 100‘000 years. But why is the human race behaving like a two year old destroying his toys? Because it‘s still in its infancy, that‘s why. There are only about 6‘000 years of history of written language. Evolution was slow. Then things speeded up in the last centuries but especially in the twentieth one. And even more so in the last decades with global industrialisation, telecommunication and computers. The problem is the extreme development of the sciences that made the intuitive mind succumb to the so-called rational mind. Technical knowledge has evolved way ahead of spirituality. Spirituality meaning a vivid experience of being interconnected with everything alive. In pagan societies the shaman or priest of the tribes would be in touch with the all encompassing and organise immediate „mystical“ or „magic“ experiences for his people. The resulting view of the world would prevent these societies from harming their environment. Many of today‘s dominant religions have done their best to destroy pagan structures. Very few shamanistic cultures have survived, some of them are the Amazonian Indians. These people have been using natural psychedelics for thousands of years. Psychedelics - most dangerous drugs, says the American government who has classified them as „Schedule A“ drugs along with heroin. Most important self-healing and intelligence•increasing substances, says a large underground community of academic and DIY researchers all over the world. Here‘s some facts: • There are several families of psychedelics, notably „sacred mushrooms“ containing psilocybine, then mescaline and its relatives, then LSD as a class of its own. Related but not really belonging to psychedelics are ecstasy (MDMA) and its relatives. Marijuana and hashish in high doses are mild psychedelics. Every class has its own idiosyncrasies. • Psychedelics don‘t make anyone addicted, that means there are no withdrawal symptoms and no urge to heighten the dosages. In contrary the effects are usually lessened if taken too often - even with increased doses. • There is basically no danger of harming your body with psychedelics. But careful: we‘re talking of pure substances and not of the dirt your usual street dealer might offer you. The repressive laws have created a black market with frequent low quality and contaminated „acid“. Many longtime users say that no underground brand of LSD even comes close to pure Sandoz LSD as it has been available legally in the sixties. Pure LSD is difficult to synthesise. Mushrooms can be grown in the lab and are a secure alternative. • There is better LSD available these days than throughout the eighties. Papers and microdots are usually safe and not as highly dosed as in the sixties. • There is a danger of going through heavy psychological crises on a psychedelic trip. This can be a great chance for personal growth, it can also be very frightening if not assisted. Have a loving and supporting person with you. There‘s an increased suggestibility, so beware of ill-meaning manipulative persons and don‘t watch stupid movies on TV. • „Set and setting“ are along with substance-purity the most determining factors of your trip. „Set“ being your mind‘s state when embarking and „setting“ meaning your actual surroundings. Nature is always better than the city. • Vitamin C will help to straighten you if necessary. The horror stories distributed by American and other authorities as well as disinformative Hollywood movies have dominated public debate for the last twenty years. We need not repeat them here. Let‘s see what the other side claims, the benefits of psychedelics if used in a reasonable way: • Gaining insight into one‘s own personal history, mind structure and emotional behaviour patterns. People tell of prenatal experiences, some even of earlier lives. • Extremely increased learning capabilities. • Furthering of telepathic and clairvoyant potential. • Communicating with aliens, god, parts of our collective unconscious or your own private locked away stuff - whatever you prefer. • Recognising the earth, its plants, animals and other inhabitants as one living organism. • Enlarging artistic horizons and erotic sensitivity (but you might just end up laughing in bed). • Understanding the multi-faceted nature of „reality“. Getting out of one-dimensional tunnel-realities. • And finally asking questions like „who are we?“ and „where do we come from?“ and maybe even getting some answers. Which brings us back to the spirituality point. All of this can of course be gained without psychedelics but not as quickly and as reliably. So psychedelics can be useful to cope with the ever accelerating rate of change in the world and to heal deeply hidden traumata. Specialised psychedelic training centres could be set up for any psychological, social or technological need and would make nations smarter, more tolerant and more enlightened in a short time. Deep changes in ecological behaviour could be achieved very rapidly if many people experienced the urgent need for them. Imagine the United Nations on a mushroom trip - we might be some steps closer to world peace. In the sixties and early seventies a phalanx of writers, pop musicians and other artists with Harvard professor Tim Leary as media-hero had turned on millions of people to experimenting with LSD and other psychedelics. A counter culture grew rapidly with The Beatles as their most prominent representatives and later Woodstock as its symbol. But the empire stroke back. „Tricky Dicky“ Nixon, president of the United States, started a private war on Leary, resulting in a twelve year prison sentence for the possession of two marijuana joints. Nixon had been financed by a man called Bebe Rebozo who was rumoured to be dealing with heroin. Nixon first action in the White House was „Operation Intercept“ that tried to stop marijuana import from Mexico. Many hippy, yippie or black panther activists got jailed for years, some got killed. It‘s an ironic footnote that the J. Gordon Liddy who hunted Leary for Nixon was also one of the Watergate burglars - and „Watergate“ was the case that got Nixon impeached. Ever since the aftermath of the „summer of love“ US governments have put the most severe penalties on everything connected with psychedelics. Still today you get away better with murder than with growing marijuana in the United States. And the rest of the world has sheepishly followed American drug politics as nailed down in several UN treaties. Under Reagan LSD and the other psychedelics were categorised as „Schedule A“ drugs along with heroin. That means that possession, use or sale of these substances are heavy crimes. CNN reported more than 400‘000 psychedelic prisoners in the US. To top these human tragedies scientific research of all these substances has been completely prohibited which is a very similar situation to the middle ages when the Vatican reigned supreme and astronomers were executed. MDMA by the way was later also put into the „Schedule A“ category in spite of heavy protests from the psychiatric community and contrary findings of government commissions. And then came techno. Another generation discovered ecstasy and psychedelics, this time most prominently in Europe. Everything got a bit different from the sixties this time around. Government responses in Europe haven‘t been that heavy with the Netherlands and Switzerland following pronouncedly liberal courses and France on the other hand as the extremist hardliner with a retro president who still believes in nuclear warfare. But the establishments have lost much of their credibility by self-generated crises in economy, ecology and general corruption. The media aren‘t that easy to handle anymore. New information channels like the internet are difficult to control. Surviving veterans of the sixties sympathise from the background, sometimes even from influential positions. The younger generations have built their own autonomous business networks mainly in the entertainment and computer industries. Very cautiously some scientific research has been allowed again, even in the USA. The results are very encouraging, these substances are definitely worthwhile. They could even become the next big business. The world is changing faster and faster and global problems are quickly getting out of hand. Accelerated thinking is needed and psychedelics could be the key, maybe even our last chance as time is getting short. © 1996 by PJ Wassermann suggested reading: • Albert Hofmann: LSD my Problem Child • Alexander & Ann Shulgin: PIHKAL • Peter Stafford: Encyclopaedia of Psychedelic Drugs • Timothy Leary: The Politics of Ecstasy • Terence McKenna: True Hallucinations • John Lilly: The Centre Of The Cyclone • Aldous Huxley: The Doors Of Perception • Jeremy Narby: The Cosmic Serpent