Consciousness Cafe - Entheogens and Psychedelic Cultural Transmissions

This interrogation of Timothy Leary during the Chicago Seven Trial (which began in September 1969) is still very interesting and often amusing. Some excerpts specifically regarding psychedelics:

MR. KUNSTLER: Dr. Leary, have you been the author of any publications?

THE WITNESS: Yes, I have written two books on experimental clinical psychology and about twenty scientific articles in this field. I have written six books and over fifty scientific articles on the effects of psychedelic drugs on human psychology and human consciousness.

MR. KUNSTLER: Doctor, can you explain what a psychedelic drug is?

THE WITNESS: I will try. Psychedelic drugs are drugs which speed up thinking, which broaden the consciousness, which produce religious experiences or creative experiences, or philosophic experiences in the person who takes them.
These psychedelic drugs, of course, are the opposite of the nonpsychedelic drugs like heroin, or alcohol, and barbiturates which slow down thinking, as opposed to psychedelic drugs which expand and accelerate the consciousness.

. . .

MR. KUNSTLER: Even better.
All right, Dr. Leary, when did you first meet Abbie Hoffman?

THE WITNESS: The first time I met Mr. Hoffman was at the LSD Shrine and Rescue Center in New York City. That would be November or December of 1966.
MR. KUNSTLER: Now, lest there be any confusion, what does LSD stand for?

THE WITNESS: It was the League of Spiritual Discovery. That was a religion incorporated in the State of New York and we had a rescue center in New York
where hundreds of people taking drugs could be rehabilitated.

. . .

MR. FORAN: Dr. Leary, will you name the drugs that you said speeded up thinking?

THE WITNESS: Yes, psychedelic or mind-expanding drugs include LSD, mescaline, peyote, marijuana, and I could go on. There is a list of perhaps thirty or forty chemical compounds and natural vines and herbs. Do you want more?

MR. FORAN: No, that is enough.
. . .

Categories: psychedelic, Leary, Chicago, Chicago Seven