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2021 Burning Man State of the Art | The Art of Burning Man 2021

A LOOK AT THE ART AND ARTISTS OF BURNING MAN 2021: THE GREAT UNKNOWN

As of April 12, 2021.

We rely on artist’s submissions for almost all of our content. If you are bringing art to the playa, please let us know! If you are featured and want any changes to the description of your work, please let us know! We can best be reached via email. Trippingly is a 100% non-commercial, zero revenue project built by Burning Man participants. Thanks for viewing!

1:44 Inter-dimensional Space Time Portal — Harlan Emil Gruber and TransPortals with Maraya — Taos, NM

Harlan has attended Burning Man since 1999, and has created portals for the playa since 2004. Read more about his work in this 2012 article. This year’s portal is a collaboration with Maraya.

The 1:44 Inter-dimensional Space Time Portal will provide a place for the return of the Divine Blueprint of Creation through Form, Sound and Light. Based on the universal principles of the cycles and circles of time and space it is an environment to go within to experience the Codes of Creation.

Located at 1:44 on the Playa, two semicircular 22″ by 22″-thick arches 24 feet high and 48 feet wide are aligned to north-south and east-west. The central pyramid can be both climbed on and entered within, of which the geometry is based precisely on Mayan pyramids. Visually, from outside, citizens will see the Signature Patterns of the Timelines (a symbolic language) inscribed into three sides of the ring and all four sides of the arches and illuminated from within. Once inside the pyramid participants will hear The Codes of Creation (sung by Maraya, as given by the Elohim), either performed live or recorded and playing on a sound system in the interior of the pyramid. Through experiencing these sounds and vision, all of our multiverses through all lines of time will be available for remembering.

Donate to this project here.

Black Rock Station - Black Rock Transportation Company

Black Rock Station is a mystery to be unravelled. A classic rural train station built in the mid-1930s to serve Black Rock City and the communities scattered throughout the vast Black Rock Desert. The station has come unstuck in time, unstable and oscillating through various moments over the last 150 years and beyond, with ghost trains heard but not seen, an ever-shifting interior life, and a subtle narrative that cuts against conventional historical themes.

Adding to the authenticity of its visual elements, Black Rock Station is also a sound piece. Visitors hear freight and passenger trains approach and depart at real-life volumes with announcements and floating bits of audio and musical clues. As the station cycles through time, pausing briefly in one of 8 moments over a 250-year period from 1858 to 2110, visitors catch snippets of mysterious audio or video, or explore ephemera in the station.

Donate to this project here.

Carillon — Steven Brummond — Oakland, CA

Steve was a designer and the project manager for the 2017 Temple. This year, he is bringing Carillon to Black Rock. According the the artist, a carillon is a collection of bells suspended in a tower and played with a series of keyboards or levers.

The project creates an interactive carillon on playa with 100 bells controlled by a series of levers and ropes. Participants enter the structure and work together to make carol using the bells. Carillon is contained in a 36' tall wood structure, which participants can enter at the ground level. There they encounter levers, ropes, and a spinning pole. All of these devices control one or a series of bells each ringing a special note. The main tower is pyramidal in shape, but has a two pronged spire at the top. The panels that make up the exterior are made from recycled plywood slats arrayed to make an ornate pattern.

Donate to this project here.

Citipati — Ryan Mathern and the Charnel Lords Crew — Atlanta, GA

In 2017, Ryan brought Tonglen to the Playa (see below). This year his team is creating The Citipati, the Funeral Lords. What is the Citipati… read more here.

From the creator’s website:

The Citipati, the Funeral Lords enact the eternal dance of death within an arching fire of perfect awareness. Two metal figures, nine-foot tall skeletons forged and fabricated from gleaming steel, fearsome and flashing, dance above a stage, which is ringed with footlights. A sixteen-foot high arch of fire frames them, spitting flame into the sky. These charnel lords are animated by the air and propane sent through their limbs and features: clattering, spinning, shrieking and rattling in their wrathful dance.

Coalescence — William Nemitoff and Curious Form — New Orleans, LA

In 2019, William Nemitoff and Lindsay Glatz created dream swing. This year William will bringing a new work, Coalescence, with the support of a honoraria grant.

Coalescence is two larger-than-life symmetrical metal orchids with interactive lighting in the flowing petals, seating on the leaves, and an ambient soundscape. The lighting and audio soundtrack respond to proximity and density of the crowd.

Donate to this project here.

Cosmos — Jen Lewin Studio LLC — New York, NY

vimeo

Comprised of spiraling LED pathways, Cosmos is a traveling, interactive light installation that has been coded to sense and respond to impact, vibration and movement.

Spanning 15,000 sq. ft., Cosmos is the largest sculpture ever to be commissioned from Lewin’s studio and has been engineered to perfectly process human interaction.

As viewers run, walk, dance, jump and play across Cosmos, they are able to generate an infinite amount of changes to its colors and reflections. This allows for an unprecedented level of interactivity and transforms the way we interact with art and each other.

Council of Animals (What to do about the monkeys) — Quill Hyde — Tonasket, WA

Quill is an artist by nature, engineer by training (Columbia & Reed), and has been bringing art to Burning Man since 2007, after first attending in 2006. Acavallo was the first project, and that was the seed for an art support camp and volunteer base that makes these projects possible. His art is inspired by nature, music, kids, and a vivid dreamscape, and designed and built with 25 years of engineering and fabrication experience.

From the artist:

The Council of Animals (what to do about the monkeys) is a piece to encourage dialogue. Three large metal animals - an elephant, a polar bear, and a rhino - make up the judges. Coyote is here too, with his fancy burning earth talking stick, as lawyer. There are benches for the monkeys.

The three judges are faceted steel, their massive bulk and iconic character rendered in clean geometry. They're all seated, on their butts, focused on Coyote and the 2-leggeds. Coyote stands on 2 legs, like his clients, leaning on a fancy talking stick for support, and standing on a metal platform. His talking stick has a globe-themed burner at the top. Behind him are benches of reclaimed wood.

The sculpted animals are large and visually striking enough to draw people in, the benches provide a resting place for dialogue. Which is the real goal of the piece - under the focused gaze of the judges, the participants will be encouraged to have meaningful conversations about what we're doing as planetary cohabitants. Or just hang out and enjoy watching Coyotes flaming staff light up the sculptural forms. Or make some new friends. Of course, they'll probably want to climb all over the animals, and that's OK too.

Philosophy

It was a surprise, as a young person, when I realized that none of my classmates thought of themselves as animals, that they thought of themselves as somehow separate, superior, like we were dropped in from another reality. I grew up close to the dirt, with animals as friends and foes alike, as equals. So it was a shock, in that fifth grade classroom - wait, what? I've been thinking about it ever since.

I was also heavily influenced by the creation myths I read, with all of the capricious roles that the animals played. Particularly Coyote, as the trickster - some animals have benefited from us taking over, some animals, not so much. If they could go back in time and squash a couple key monkey-ancestors, would they?

So, this piece. To be judged, by the animals. We're all in it together, and better figure it out soon.

Donate to this project here.

Crotalus AKA “Freddie” the Mojave Green Rattlesnake — Peter Hazel — Reno, NV

Crotalus, aka “Freddie.” Freddie will be a 25-foot tall rattlesnake made of thousands of glass and ceramic mosaic scales. This year I will be adding a spectacular light show using LED lights alongside the back diamond glass patterns made of reclaimed whiskey, vodka, and some tequila bottles.

Freddie’s ribs will be exposed, facilitating an interactive experience where explorers can climb outside, inside, and all the way up the ribs and into his open mouth. Once there, they can relax with a view overlooking the Playa, while an exhilarating fire escapes from Freddie's nostrils.

Freddie's design pays homage to the local Great Basin Rattlesnake, eclipsing the Citizens of Black Rock City as he stakes his claim as the Playa’s rightful inhabitant.

Peter’s past projects:

DIPTOWN — Stanislav Shminke and Irina Shminke — Ekaterinburg, Russia

DIPTOWN is a sprawling landscape installation of a town buried in sand with only building roofs sticking out of the ground. Diptown was once a simply a local tourist trap situated in a dip. Something covered the town up to the roofline, and the dip was transformed into flat desert. What’s happend? Here we leave space for interpretation. Everyone can invent their own legend. We only present an image, and we invite people to give it meaning and stories. Most of Diptown is hidden beneath the surface, in both the physical and metaphorical senses. Like an iceberg, it projects only a few feet above the surface. It will be up to imagine what else exists below the surface. It will up to viewers to fill in the rest of the details. A note from the artists: We are Stanislav Shminke and Irina Shminke, we live in Yekaterinburg city, on the Ural Mountains in Russia. In 2018 we brought our art piece Glorywall to the Playa directly from Russia. We build it in Yekaterinburg, Russia, packed it in three boxes and checked it in luggage. This year we are going to build the Diptown in Reno.

We are seeking people to join us and help build this project. We have a volunteer questionnaire (Russian and English) here. We would like people from the USA (and other countries to join us). We are not going to build anything in Russia, with almost all the work happening in America. We see Diptown as an international project in which everyone will find something of their own.

Instagram

Donate to this project here.

Empyrian — Renzo Verbeck & Sylvia Adrienne Lisse — Boulder, CO

The 2021 Temple.

Volunteer

Donate to the Temple here.

FIRE — Zoe Fry and The Introverts Collective — Mill Valley, CA

The FIRE Installation is a grove of Manzanita trees killed in the Napa fire of 2017. The intention of the piece is to create an opportunity for a immersive and physical relationship to the element of Fire, to experience oneself as part of a community, a grove, and also to highlight the unique individual entity of each tree as a natural work of art. A book of fire stories, 2D art, and scientific fact related to the fire element will be on a stand next to the grove. We will be collecting submissions for this book through September 2020. Submission requests can be sent to [email protected]

Donate to this project here.

Fractal Droid — Jenna Finney and Fractal Droid Collective — Austin, TX

Fractal Droid will feature films produced by Dutch Visual Fractal Artist Julius Horsthuis and American Visual Fractal Artist Fractaled Visions (Keith Anderson).

This project will be an interactive sculpture to hold space for both inspiration and philosophy of the integration of man and machine; artificial intelligence, virtual reality and the modern day human cyborg. Technology is already an extension of oneself, it is only a matter of time before we are fully combined with our creations.

Gilded — Mr and Mrs Ferguson — Alameda, CA

Scared of snakes? Maybe not if you get close to this western diamondback rattler. As you are drawn in, you'll see that its scales are actually gilded flowers and leaves. Delightful to admire and touch. A deceitful serpent from the Garden of Eden or a creature of natures's beauty? You choose.

Harmonia — Roy Trammell — Beaverton, OR

From the Org website:

Chaos and Resonance. Cycles and Epicycles. Movement evokes sound. Forms are implied. Unexpected order arises. Harmonia is a highly interactive sculpture with spokes animated by light in harmonically related motion. It’s a 30 foot hemisphere of 64 spokes and 13,000 LEDs. A nearby touch screen kiosk turns it into a great big toy which can be played like a visual instrument.

Heave — Michael Christian — Oakhurst, CA Michael Christian has been bringing large scale art to the playa since the 90s, including being the lead artist for the Nebulous Entity for Burning Man 1998. His work has often been among the most striking on the playa. He’s never been one to telegraph his work, but he notes that in 2021, he’ll be back with a 16 ft climbable structure of uncertain design.

I Heart Mom — Ryan Stevens — San Francisco, CA

With this 20 foot tall wooden sculpture of the traditional style I Heart Mom tattoo, we hope to bring all the beauty, struggles, highs, and lows associated with Moms (or other loved ones) who have shown us true, selfless love. This is more of a dedication piece but not specific to one person, it can be anyone in your life that you love wholeheartedly and made you the person you are today. Unfortunately not everyone is able to bring those people out to BRC to experience Burning Man so this is a way to honor them on the Playa.

Donate to this project here.

Illumina Radiata — Eric Zann — Kirkland, WA

Illumina Radiata is a 36-foot tall sculpture inspired by the totem poles of the Haida culture in the Pacific Northwest, it will incorporate design elements and motifs from both Haida art as well as art and architecture from around the world, in an attempt to celebrate and showcase their diversity.

Donate to this project here.

Infinite Stare — Kelly Smith Cassidy — South Lake Tahoe, CA

"Infinite Stare" is a monumental sculpture of a faceless head. From the distance, the head will look familiar; as if a forgotten culture had created it a millennia ago. Framing the face are lines of LED lights.

The inspiration for Infinite Stare stems from a spiritual awakening that the artist had when she was 21. During meditation, Kelly had a feeling like she might die. She surrendered to this feeling and then felt a peace come over her. The boundaries of "self" dissolved, and she found herself in Oneness. Once her eyes opened, with the expansion still present, she looked into a mirror, saw her face and felt separated from it in a way. She said to herself, "huh, so that's the face I chose this time around. Interesting!" There as a sense of the psychological ego dropping away and the sense of self taking a back seat to higher self. Since then, Kelly's life has never been the same and she has strived to make art that conveys this message to others.

Where the face should be on the sculpture is an open area. A lit-up ladder or stairs lead up to the hallowed-out head where people can sit. Drawn inside the shell of the head are all kinds of mindful ideas with pictograms and such depicting thoughts and ideas. LED lights are within to further enhance the interior "thought".

In a way, this piece will reflect the same feeling and aesthetic the artists burnbot effigy, "Creu Hudol" made for the Man Pavilion 2018 as well as her 2019 Civic Plaza grant piece, "E Pluribus Unum : Out of Many, One", as if they all came from the same time and culture.

Kelly is a second-generation artist living in South Lake Tahoe, CA. She creates welded copper and bronze art pieces for a living.

Kelly Smith Cassidy Fine Art: http://www.KellySmithCassidy.com

2018 Man Pavilion Art Grant piece: Burnbot Effigy, "Creu Hudol (Magical Being)": http://www.CreuHudol.com

2019 Man Pavilion Civic Plaza grant winner installation: "E Pluribus Unum : Out of Many, One": http://www.BurningManPlaza2019.com

2020 Burning Man Honorarium piece: "Infinite Stare": http://www.InifiniteStare.com

Kukulkan’s Portal — Abram Santa Cruz and Liquid PXL — Long Beach, CA

Kukulkan’s Portal is composed of two geometric shapes, an acrylic merkaba (stellated octahedron) enclosed in an aluminum cube. The design is meant to show the geometric relationship between the merkabah and the cube.

Kukulkan’s Portal is a modular geometric sculpture in honor of the new discoveries made in mathematics and science. Although the cube and the stellated octahedron shapes are not new to mathematics, researchers have claimed to have invented a new class of equilateral convex polyhedra.

The merkaba is entirely constructed of translucent lexan multi-wall sheets encased in industrial strength resins. The “back” of the triangles will be lined with LEDs facing forward. The cube is made from aluminum truss and skinned with laser cut design of kukulkan and other mayan symbols. The cube also contains LEDs and can be controlled separately from the merkaba.

Abram Santa Cruz comes from Mayan descent via his grandfather on his father’s side. He comes from a tribe that is of Mayan descent about 2 hours south of Mexico City near the city of Puebla. Abram wanted to tune in with that part of his heritage in designing this project because of the spiritual meaning that the merkabah holds with various cultures from around the world and tying that into the spiritual Mayan symbology.

Abram Santa Cruz chose to depict Kukulkan’s image on the cube because of its encompassing theological meaning in Mayan and Aztec culture. “Kukulkan is the Mayan Feathered Serpent god of wind, sky, rain and Sun. He is also the creator that gave mankind his learning and laws.” Source. Kukulkan was also known to be the portal between the physical world in the spiritual world.

‘Spiritually, the Merkabah (stellated octahedron or dual tetrahedra), also spelled Merkaba, is the divine light vehicle allegedly used by ascended masters to connect with and reach those in tune with the higher realms. “Mer” means Light. “Ka” means Spirit. “Ba” means Body. Mer-Ka-Ba means the spirit/body surrounded by counter-rotating fields of light, (wheels within wheels), spirals of energy as in DNA, which transports spirit/body from one dimension to another.’ Source

“Since Plato’s work, two other classes of equilateral convex polyhedra, as the collective of these shapes are called, have been found: Archimedean solids (including truncated icosahedron) and Kepler solids (including rhombic polyhedra). Nearly 400 years after the last class was described, researchers claim that they may have now invented a new, fourth class, which they call Goldberg polyhedra.” Source . olyhedra falls into the Kepler solids category and worked as a stepping stone to the new findings.

Combining Kukulkan with the merkabah made perfect theological sense as we plan on adding a meditation platform at the center of the merkabah. By providing a meditation platform, Kukulkan can take the visitor on a journey into themselves and transcend into higher realms. Loop — Dan Rabinovitch and Aromatic Designs Unit — Brooklyn, NY

Loop features a human powered fly wheel, that when activated creates music and coordinating lights.

Lost Frequencies — Shelby Dukeminier — Las Vegas, NV

Shelby creates large scale art and is bringing her first large scale project to the playa, an 18-foot tall heart. The idea originate when her mother, with whom she had not spoken for some time, posted an image of a whale heart on social media. The two reconnect after that, and the piece is named Lost Frequencies.

Donate to this project here.

Lux Lepus — Jen Law — Renton, WA

Mebuyan — Leeroy New and Pinto International — Manila, Philippines.

Leeroy New is an artist-designer whose practice overlaps and intersects with film, theater, product design, and fashion. He has created large scale public art (pictured below)

Donate to this project here.

M-Theory Mechanica — Matt Parkhurst — Truckee, CA

Parkhurst operates MJP Fabrication and Mechanical Services and his motto is: “If I can’t build it, or fix it, it’s probably not worth it.”

Parkhurst has collaborated on several pieces for Burning Man over the years, including multiple arts cars and he worked on Steve Atkin’s “Fire Spire. In 2020, he will be creating a piece entitle M-Theory Mechanica for the playa, with the help of an honoraria grant.

Orbit — Hayden Harrison — Oakland, CA

Light and sound immersive experience.

Parallel Self Embraced — Matthew Pagoaga — Los Angeles, CA

In brief: We live in tumultuous and divided times. Our relationship to each other today is often one of disagreement, strife, and tribal mentality. Parallel Self Embraced presents an alternative - encouraging a coming together interpersonally. The piece forms a sort of abstract mirror. Identical on either side, participants step up to it and see the person across from them. Within an infinite number of universes, in an infinite number of timelines, all events are possible, and in infinity, within some space and some time, you are me and I am you. Parallel Self Embraced thus functions as a looking glass through which to see a partner, a friend, even just a stranger, as a reflection of the self that could be, and the beauty inherent to the person traveling in a world parallel to yourself. Physical description: Twin 12' by 12' square panels made of welded pipe and conduit stand parallel, a foot apart, with wooden stairs leading up to the center of each panel on either side. Lines of the structure radiate from the outside of the square inward toward human-shaped negative spaces. Parallel Self Embraced is an outdoor installation. By day the piece appears as an abstract dark metal sculpture with lines radiating out. By night, LED pixels along the radiating lines light up. When a person enters either of the human shaped negative spaces, they trip a variety of interdependent Arduino sensors (eg. proximity sensor, photoresistor tripwire, pressure sensor, etc.) that connect to the LED strands and audio processors. Discreet speakers provide a daytime interaction element and lie beneath the stairs of either side. Philosophy: In viewing the twin panels of cycling LEDs, I wish to show where our realities meet. These are the borders between my universe and yours. I want you to see those two realities – see that they are both beautiful and, if you wanted, we could bridge the gap between your universe and mine. There are rewards for doing so. I’d like to stress, however, that I don’t wish the piece to encourage a drift toward centrism or middling. The outer limits of our distinct universes – the breadth of my experience opposite yours – is likely infinite. In an infinite spectrum, “center” loses all meaning. This doorway and potential connection therefore exists at a point of found commonality and shared experience unmoored from tethered points of political or philosophical alignment.

Donate to this project here. PeepShow: Land of Lost Encounters — Ashley Stracke — Los Angeles, CA

PeepShow will be a two sided-vaudevillian-style theater in the deep playa. Enter on one side and you’ll go rowing down a river of an ancient rainforest, hopping frogs, snakes slithering up trees, and monkeys climbing overhead. However, enter the otherside, and you’ll be treated to a show of an unsuspecting “actor” rowing down a river.

Pendulum of Fire — Pyrokinetics — Sebastopol, CA

In 2004, the Pyrokinetics team built a flaming pendulum from a framework of rolled tubular steel, copper and brass. The pendulum was suspended from a copper-tube umbilical cord that both provided support and sent propane to the solenoid discharge valves. Each solenoid valve had a pilot light at the end. The activation of each solenoid thus created an instant flaming jet effect, propelling the pendulum in the direction opposite that of its discharge. The four jets were oriented in a north-south, east-west configuration, allowing for directional control of the pendulum. The "pilot" uses four buttons to actuate the jets and drive the 20-ft-high pendulum, swinging it in whichever direction feels right.

For Burning Man 2005, continued the exploration of pyrokinetic sculptures and were granted funding to build a companion piece for the 2004 Pendulum of Fire. Using similar construction techniques and materials, the new sculpture took the idea of the pendulum and expanded on it by turning it upside down and adding a counterbalance, bringing the fire almost 30 ft overhead, making the Pendul-up of Fire.

PETALED PORTAL — David Oliver — Ventura, CA

David Oliver brought the memorable Portal to Burning Man 2019. In 2020, he returns, empowered with an honorarium grant, to create Petaled Portal. Petaled Portal is an interactive sculpture. The experience begins by standing at a “vanishing point” where one is able view all of its petals at the same scale. This point is 27 feet (8.23 meters) from the entrance. Stepping away from this viewing plane one will notice the back petal is double the size of the first petal. More steps create an additional play on perspective intended for playa. On the center ring of Petaled Portal, stained-glass tiles have colors that flow in the traditional way that a color wheel does. The Portal’s petals are also lined with stained-glass tiles, with colors flowing in the opposite direction of the ring’s colors. The Portal’s body is steel and painted copper. When entering from the back one will experience a decreasing rainbow tunnel of color not visible from the front. Petaled Portal is a game of perspective exploration. It is up to the participant to find the vanishing/viewing point and experience all petals in alignment. It is also a tunnel to walk through, and a piece to experience from the inside. And to examine its exposed skeletal structure, through its many engineered details. To climb on. To experience backwards, and walk through a tapering rainbow tunnel of lights not seen from the front. Or from far away, to experience as a spiraled color of Petals. Whichever way one chooses to interact with or view it, it is a Portal, offering the possibility of powerful "transformational" properties one can harness in their own personal way. It is a vessel providing transparent transportation for those willing for a transcending transformation. Petaled Portal will be a landmark attracting awareness through beauty, reaching with its petals through space that is empty. Through space that is nothing, and nothing is something when everything goes… away. …to a place where pain is outgrown, where words become crutches and there is no phone. It's where we are together when we are alone. A destination that is truly home, a settlement of ones searching soul. You can follow the project on Facebook. And on Instagram:

Donate to this project here.

Play With Your Food — Bryan Saunders and P Canadensis — Alberta, Canada

This immersive, multi-sensory playground is at first ordinary looking... but close up, viewers will be surprised with a birthday cake slide, a coffee cup merry-go-round, & a watermelon seesaw.

This installation is designed to allow us to re-imagine the everyday sights, experiences, and smells (wait, what?) we take for granted by presenting them in a fun, interactive, and larger-than-life format!

You can donate to this project here.

Prism of Possibilities — Emily Nicolosi and the In Theory Collective — Cottonwood Heights, UT A multi-dimensional portal (a zome spinning the stars and flostam of humanity) invites citizens into a universe of potential climate futures. Spinning outward, the portal directs participants to explore three different domiciles, from best to worst case scenario climate-impacted earths.

Philosophy: Our world is barreling towards a future of 4 degrees warming by the end of the century: the worst-case scenario described by scientists of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. And yet, we continue to live the status-quo of exorbitant fossil-fuel combustion. Perhaps our inability to act is related to our inability to imagine potential futures. This art project attempts to dislodge our taken-for-granted understandings of one of the foundations of our lives: the very places we call home. Can we together re-imagine a future that maybe is actually even better than the present? What will it mean if we do not? If we can find hope in such an exploration, perhaps we will find the motivation to make moves in a direction that will allow a happy future for the earth and all of her inhabitants.

Description: The proposed installation is centered around a zome (a pointed, swirling dome). The zome will be made of steel treated with rainbow petina. The actual steel structure of the zome will not have large visual impact, as it will be covered in what represents the flotsam of humanity swirling through a multi-dimensional portal. The visually alluring and fascinating portal will be represented by spiraling dichroic plexiglass squares, and the flotsam will be made of pretty, shiny “garbage” including: CDs, keychains and can tabs, bike parts, silverware, seaglass, plexi mirrors, etc. The zome will be surrounded by three structures that represent homes (“domo”). The best-case scenario domo will look very futuristic: plexiglass and shiny metal siding. The worst-case scenario domo will look like (and be) made of junkyard materials (with care to not injure participants with e.g. rust). The mid-case scenario domo will be made of upcycled materials, and partially decorated with mosaics. Interactivity: The citizens of BRC will by stop to both enjoy and explore the P.A.D.’s interior and exterior, those who are fully engaged may uncover the story it tells. The exterior of the zome will be visually striking and beautiful to invite participants closer. The interior of the zome will have clues for participants to explore the mystery (e.g. written and artistic) and relaxing nooks in entice participants to linger and go deeper into the narrative. Each domo represents a different Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP), or scenario of potential future climactic changes, developed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Each will give exterior visual clues to the story, comfortable pillows inside allow participants to hang out and explore the decorations and stories (written and audio) that reflect each climate scenario. This project is at its core interactive and participatory. While citizens may not interact how we’ve designed, at the least the materials used in the project may encourage reflection on our culture of consumption. You can donate to this project here.

Quadrupod 2.0 — Scott Parenteau — Sacramento, CA

Ratchetfish — Barry Crawford — Elko, NV

Barry Crawford uses metal to create magical sculpture. In 2018, he brought Rearing Horse to the playa (pictured in it’s current home, downtown Reno).

This year Barry is bringing Ratchetfish to the playa. Ratchetfish will be a mechanical fish, that swims in a circle, with mouth movements (and possibly other movements), all controlled by hand cranks on the perimeter fence.

The cranks will generate a signal which is read by a computer to determine a desired speed and direction for the motor each crank is linked to.

Ratchetfish will have about 30 body sections (instead of 7 shown in the protypes below), so it will be a smoother motion. Barry is also planning a scaled body rather than the full height plates the prototype has, which should make for a neat effect. Barry will be posting regular updates as he builds on his Facebook page, here: https://www.facebook.com/Crawford-Metal-Works-121838007852318

Secretly Abandoned Spaces — Valerie Elizabeth Mallory and the They Collective — Oakland, CA

Story Every abandoned space retains a feeling of what it once was; a library, a railway station, a beautiful house. When stripped away of all the added things, we see a different kind of beauty, one that is forsaken and left adrift. It is the loveliness of both the unborn and unwanted. This piece is about the beauty of loss and decay of a space, a community, a loved one. The world takes back its own. Elegance emerges from loss and tells the story of predicted and necessary change. One enters the old house where mortals used to live and create stories of their lives. The house becomes a church of collected ideas long passed. These souls live in the walls of haunted spaces. The space will be ornate as a structure of antiquity. People tell the old stories over and over in their lives. Secretly Abandoned Spaces is an ephemeral museum, a piece that tells the story times lost in antiquity. New stories will be written on the walls which are meant to emerge out of the decay. Created by Artist and Sculptor (Valerie) Elizabeth Mallory and Illustrator and Concept Designer Mikell Haynes. They reside in Oakland California and are driven by strong interest in art and strive to create unique diverse experiences. In Elizabeth's words: I make my art because I love expression and I love the nuances of communication. I work very hard to convey as much expressive feeling in a way that is uncluttered and pure. I am inspired by people in my own life, and patients I have worked with in hospital settings. The art signifies the elemental way that people integrate with the world. Physical Description The structure will mimic an ancient abandoned building in a state of decay. It will be a hexagon-shaped Gazebo type space with a curved staircase in the center leading to an upper dome. The landing will have laser cut windows with lace curtains blowing in the wind. There will be cast figures posed sitting or standing in various corners. The figures will be milky white or charcoal black human casts made from real people. One figure will be holding blank handmade book burners can write in. On the blue decoupaged walls, there will be a place for burners to write their own stories and draw images with crayons and pens. Mikell Haynes will also do two large paintings on each wall. During the day the sun will shine through laced windows. At night the piece will be lit from the inside so it casts shadows on the desert floor. There will be a light beacon at the top shining over the desert. Surrounding the piece will be blood-red artificial trees with casts of small children sitting in branches.

You can donate to this project here.

Small Hadron Collider (SHC) — Jack Kalish and Rachel Ciavarella - Everything Good Studio — Brooklyn, NY

Jack Kalish is a new media artist, designer, and software developer living and working bi-coastal in San Francisco, CA and Brooklyn, NY. In 2013, Kalish founded Floating Point Art Collective, an art and design studio based in Brooklyn that focuses on creating inspirational works of interactive art for the public.

Solar Shrine — Antwane Lee — Chicago, IL.

The Solar Shrine is an Afrofuturistic, interactive art installation which is inspired by the magical realism of Ancient Egypt and Nubia. These two ancient cultures believed in Ra, the Sun God. Ra had metaphysical powers as the giver of life on Earth and creator of the universe. Ra was carried by the solar barque across the heavens during the day, assuming many manifestations. At night, the barque would then go through the underworld and different dimensions/realities, in preparation for Ra’s rebirth in the east. The ritual of the solar barque was simultaneously connected to the Ancient Egyptians and Nubians belief that darkness and death would transform their ancestors from being in the land of the living, to being reborn through Light or the Sun into other realms/dimensions of the afterlife. The piece itself is comprised of three structures. The entrance is the gateway, a tower through which people can enter The Solar Shrine. Atop this tower are four giant poofers, blasting flames into the sky. At the nexus between these four points is a solar disk, illuminated by the sunrise in the East. The main structure is a two-story shrine/observatory with an altar on the ground level, housing a solar barque carrying a second solar disk, also illuminated at sunrise. A stairway leads up to a second floor, open to the sky, with four continuously lit fire torches. The third structure is a shorter monument, housing the fuel needed. These three pieces together give the participants a way to experience the journey from the past, into the present, giving a vision of the future.

The inspiration of this art installation comes from the experiences and environment in Africa. There is a global trend of people all over the world looking for ways to connect to our ancestors on physical and spiritual levels. As all of humanity traces back to Africa, we believe that this art installation can bring that connection of our shared past into our present, and through expression and interaction, help shape our future together at Burning Man.

Afrofuturism. Afrofuturism is a cultural and artistic aesthetic that explores the intersections between the arts, history, mythology, science-fiction, and politics from a Black cultural lens. This movement is multi-disciplinary and envisions futures from African and African diasporic experiences. Afrofuturism is personified in the music of Erykah Badu, Earth Wind and Fire, Afrika Bambaataa, George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic, Janelle Monae, Flying Lotus, Sun Ra, FKA Twigs, and more. Writers like Octavia Butler, Samuel Delany, Nnedi Okorafor, and Eve Ewing exemplify it in their works. The influence of Afrofuturism is seen in movies like Black Panther, Brother from Another Planet, and Space is the Place. Artists such as Basquiat, Angelbert Metoyer, Hebru Brantley, and Derrick Adams help personify it visually. The civil rights movement itself can be seen as an example of Afrofuturism as people like Medgar Evers, Thurgood Marshall, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. imagined and helped create a different reality/future where people of color had equal rights. Afrofuturism, in this way, is an aesthetic lens through which one can intersect the past and present to envision the future.

In line with the Burning Man 2020 'The Multiverse' theme, there is a theory in Afrofuturism called Black Quantum Futurism. The theory uses art and literature as an approach to living and experiencing reality, by way of manipulating space-time, in order to see possible futures or multiverses. A practical example of this are the traditional divination practices of West African ethnic groups like the Yoruba who use sacred texts and the Ifa Oracle, to understand present conditions, intervene by connecting to the spiritual dimensions, and in turn, manifest different outcomes/futures for their communities.

You can support The Solar Shrine here.

Square Root of Growth — Joseph Evans — Denver, CO

From the Org website:

“Square Root of Growth” is a 15-foot tall steel and stainless steel abstract tree sculpture built completely with straight lines and 90-degree angles. The trunk of the tree will have a wood burning fire cauldron up the center trunk and the tree canopy will have three large propane fire ceilings within its branches. This project will take on a very organic nature, only using straight lines. The aesthetic will be sturdy, yet delicate, giving the tree a mathematical elegance. While the shape of the tree will seem unnatural due to its strict straight lines and sharp angles, the concept is that this tree may be naturally occurring in another unfamiliar universe.

Tremolo — Nick Geurts and Ryan Elmendorf — Candler, NC

Nick and Ryan have brought large scale art to the playa in the past. Perhaps their most memorable project was Awakening in 2016, however, they have brought many other striking pieces. In 2020, they return with Tremolo, a honarium-back project, Tremolo, featuring 50 freestanding wind or human powered musical instruments, each one with a spinning wooden enclosure that also serves as the sounding box mounted to a steel pole that is set in the ground.

Temple of Masks — Jason Gronlund — Guadalajara, Mexico

Jason Gronlund is an Artist and Blacksmith. Specializing in steel forging and fabrication for many years on practical and sculptural implements, he is also a print-maker, and digital dabbler who works on collaborative cross cultural projects between Guadalajara and Oakland via OAKLAJARA.

The Temple of Masks is a curving, enterable structure covered from top to bottom with unique masks of different sizes made of steel. The pointed spire at the top connects the three leaf-like legs and supports a poofing flame halo at its highest point. Inside the temple are three removable masks that can be worn by the participants. Each mask has a different expression, shape, and detail that sets it apart from all the rest. The masks will explore different themes, expressions, and ideas meant to resonate with the viewers ideas of what a mask is both literally and metaphorically. The act of putting on one of the masks on the inside of the temple will put a physical act to something that we usually do mentally as we face others in our lives.

You can donate to this project here.

The Autumn Spire — Eric Coolidge — Brooklyn, NY

Eric Coolidge is an artist and fabricator currently living in Brooklyn, NY. His work focuses on absurdity and involves different metals, casting methods, fiber glass, resin, mold making, blacksmithing, and large-scale installation.

In 2017, Eric brought the Tomb of Nahtaivel to the playa (pictured). He returns in 2020 with the The Autumn Spire.

The piece is inspired by the natural balance of organic and geometric properties in nature. The title refers to a red maple tree, a symbol of endurance and the passing of time. The tower combines gothic architecture and modern technology; new methods being used to resurrect an old style. The passage of time is important to me, and whether it is my perspective or an objective truth, society as a whole feels to be entering into a new season. It feels like something is ending, but as we pass from autumn into winter, so follows spring.

The sculpture is 20 feet tall and will be composed of bent steel pipe and CNC-cut sheet steel welded into sections and bolted together. It's gnarled root-like legs (which create a 15ft footprint) hold the central tower 8 to 10 feet off the ground, allowing participants to walk under the sculpture. As the spire rises, it's gothic arches twist and taper, giving the illusion that it extends into the sky. There will be a rigging point under the main tower with attachments for body suspension and aerial apparatuses (i.e. lyras, trapezes, or silks). A wheel is located at the base of the tower. The wheel will allow participants to rotate the top of the tower, that at night will emit a powerful light similar to a lighthouse The internal structure of the root-like base will be composed of steel pipe and tube, ensuring adequate support for the tower. The legs will be covered in a decorative "bark" created by welding recycled off-cut pipe into a shell around load-bearing metalwork.

You can donate to this project here.

The Buddha at the Trash Fence — Ali Agus Ardie and Digital Dalang — Indonesia, USA and Mexico

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Reincarnate! That is the mantra of The Buddha at the Trash Fence, a giant sized puppet of Buddha, seated atop a wooden lotus, in front of The Wheel of Dharma, all constructed out of recycled materials.

Seated in the lap (near the Root Chakra) of Buddha, participants control the puppet and essentially become one with Buddha’s inner self. A rod on either side moves the puppet’s arms and an attached bicycle brake system manipulates its fingers to perform the Mudra (hand gestures) in Buddhism used to evoke a state of mind. At the performers feet, bicycle pedals control the tilt of the Buddha’s head.

The Buddha will be constructed from 695 PET plastic bottles (the amount the U.S. collectively throws away every second). With materials supplied by the Reno Bike Project, The Wheel of Dharma and the puppet’s mechanics will be fabricated from over 3000 bicycle parts and pieces (the same number of bicycles abandoned on the Playa in 2017). The wooden lotus stage will source its repurposed wood from the Truckee Meadows Habitat for Humanity. The steel used for the frame of the stage will be reincarnated from past Honoraria project, Digital Dalang. Whose LED lighting we will borrow and run on a solar array.

The way of Buddhism is to follow the Noble Eightfold Path, represented by The Wheel of Dharma. To move along this path and end suffering, one must practice these eight habits of ethical conduct, thought and meditation.

Right Understanding; Right Intention; Right Speech; Right Action; Right Livelihood; Right Mindfulness; Right Concentration

The Buddha at the Trash Fence is a playful yet ironic reminder that if we apply these practices when it comes to recycling and the environment, we can end the suffering of our Mother Earth.

Recycling is the Reincarnation of our Waste!

Support

To support this project you can donate your time, money, or even your trash!

If you wish to volunteer with the prep/build/LNT team in Reno or on Playa, contact: [email protected]

If you wish to make a financial donation visit us here.

And don’t forget to follow us on Facebook

The Dreaming Goddess — David Bell and Camp Luminos — Phoenix, AZ

From the org website:

It has been our experience that many of our peers deeply desire spiritual meaning in life but find traditional religions to be legalistic, hypocritical, and out-of-touch. It’s our hope that by imagining a new religion (or re-inventing how an old one could have developed) we can spark people’s intense joy and longing for the spiritual without preconceptions or baggage.

Diana has historically been the Goddess of the wilderness and the hunt. She was thought to have guardianship over the crossroads and ushers supplicants between life and the afterlife. Her symbols are the moon and the stag.

With our reinterpretation of Diana’s worship we want to have people experience a spirituality of the wild spaces, both in nature and in the soul. A spirituality that emphasizes the wild nature of humans and the human nature of animals. A spirituality that mirrors the moon with change, death, and rebirth. A spirituality that reveres the sacred feminine rather than suppressing it.

The Importance of Small Things — Ela Lamblin and Lelavision — Vashon, WA

An interactive musical sculpture, stage, gathering point, a way to think about the importance of small things, the Plecoptera project includes the design and engineering, fabrication, transportation, and installation of the sculpture, and will feature performances by a diverse cast that will invite people to participate in events in Black Rock City, Nevada, and eventually in Seattle, on Vashon Island, WA, and other sites to TBD. Lelavision's Ela Lamblin will design and fabricate the piece, and Leah Mann will curate and direct the performance.

vimeo

The Midnight Museum of That One Time at Burning Man — Jerry Snyder — Reno, NV

The Midnight Museum of That One Time at Burning Man is an array of faux stained-glass lanterns depicting art and events from past Burns. It is first and foremost a love letter to Burning Man art, but also a springboard for conversation about the evolution of Burning Man art as an idiosyncratic and interesting visual culture.

The Restaurant at the End of the Multiverse — Tabasco Mills and the Iron Monkeys — Seattle, WA

In 2019, the Iron Monkeys bought The Plaza of Introspectus to the playa, a beautiful and memorable interactive installation. In 2020, the Iron Monkeys return with The Restaurant at the End of the Multiverse.

The Restaurant at the End of the Multiverse (REM) is a fiery communal space in a parallel universe. Around the space will be hanging lamps casting pools of light onto the ground to give the restaurant some ambiance. Three portals, one with a maitre’d station, connect REM to the outside world. The center of REM will be a steel armillary, piped for propane flame effects. Filling in the space between the armillary and the perimeter will be three big tables and three fire zen gardens.

The three tables are the soul of REM, the tables will have stools and benches inviting participants to have a seat with friends or strangers. The center of the tables will be lit with a bed of fire. Emerging from the fire will be flaming steel candelabras.

You can support the project and the Iron Monkey’s work here.

The Self Help Yourself Bookshelf — Brie’Ana Breeze and Crew — Alameda, CA

The Self Help Yourself Bookshelf will be a small self-help section of a library - included with punny titles and a few surprises in store.

If anyone has any hardcover books they would like to donate, they can contact Brie’Ana through her website: Www.BrieIsRestless.com or by email [email protected].

The Traveling Sound Museum Presents: The Anomaly — Chris Cerrito and Mike Rosenthal — Brooklyn, NY

The Traveling Sound Museum is a collection of Sound Jars that each contain a different sound from a different place from a different time in the history of the world. The collection goes back over a thousand years and contains sounds from nearly every era imaginable.

Through The Mind’s Eye — Launa Eddy — New York, NY

From the artist’s website:

Through The Mind's Eye might make you wonder if Salvador Dali and Jeff Koons had an illegitimate dream baby. Colorful, animalistic, surrealist and absurd. It's a big bright toy that wants to be played with. And while your inner child goes 'squeee' over its fun-ness, you also notice that deep in its soul (and also glaringly on the surface) this sculpture is about struggle, and the beauty and wilderness that could very well emerge from the darkness within... if you dig your heels in and keep your head up.

Ex Umbris, Ad Lucem = Out of Darkness, Into Light.

Unbound: A Library in the Multiverse — Julia and David Nelson-Gal — Palo Alto, CA

Unbound is a project created by artist, Jules Nelson-Gal, and her husband, David Nelson-Gal, in collaboration with numerous friends, artists, builders and readers. Unbound is a library-- a temple to human thought, altered by time, space and energy and collaged with over 3000 deconstructed books infusing the piece with a debris field of ideas. Emanating from the walls are recorded readings contributed by individuals from around the world. This piece is meant to reveal the boundless potential of human thought, creativity and collaboration as well as question how time can change our understanding of what once was fact.

Unbound will open its doors for the first time at Burning Man 2020. Many ways to participate are listed on the Contact page of the project’s website. More about Julia.

You can donate to the project here.

Unpopular Music (or UNPOP) — Stephan Moore & Scott Smallwood aka Evidence — Chicago, IL and Edmonton, AB

Stephan and Scott have brough UNPOP to the playa for the past two years, and are back with an honorarium grant in 2020.

UNPOP, or "Unpopular Music," is an intimate, 8-channel listening environment. It features exquisite, detailed sound works, including field recordings, abstract electroacoustic music, ambient textures, and other non-beat-oriented sonic experiences. Encompassing a circular space 40 feet in diameter, the piece is built around a circle of small custom-built Hemisphere speakers by Isobel Audio, which enclose a listening area complete with soft couches for comfortable seating. We have created multiple long programs of sound works that run from dust until dawn, which includes our own works, as well as curated pieces by over 60 international composers and sound artists. UNPOP is designed with the deep playa environment at Burning Man in mind, as well as the audience that is likely to encounter this listening sanctuary there.

As sound artists and long time burners, we have taken a special interest in the soundscape of Burning Man and the impact it has on its inhabitants: the city's overall sonic structure, the music camps from close and far away, the happy and bewildered people, and the many artworks that include sound. We have noted the diversity of artistically crafted sounds available at Burning Man, but it remains true that the majority of sounds heard in the city come from beat-oriented music of various kinds. We love this! But at the same time, we have often longed to find alternative sonic experiences. Each year, we find ourselves spending much time roaming in the deep playa, where the unintended, aggregate soundscape of the city is at its most interesting. At night, the rumbling beats of the city come rolling across the playa and become textural, ebbing and flowing, and intermingling with soft local sounds: bicycles, people laughing softly, the wind, and sometimes ghosts, it seems. With over 30 years of playa experience between us, dating back to 2003, we are glad to be realizing a dream we have long envisioned. We believe UNPOP will resonate with this special environment, particularly with our fellow deep playa wanderers.

Visit their virtual walkthrough.

VIMOKSHA — Michael Emery — Santa Cruz, CA

From the Org website:

VIMOKSHA consists of two rectangular standing steel panels mosaicked with thousands of irregular cut mirror. VIMOKSHA provides the wandering acolyte a shimmering reflection of the desert surround defined in two rectangular frames. Closer approach reveals the seekers own reflection bouncing in and out of the frame. Still closer, brings the wandering sadhu into communion with his/her/their own visage broken into a multitude of fractal possibilities. VIMOKSHA might be understood as a window through which we see ourselves altered and reflected back reorganized into a multidimensional world that is unknown and new. In this new world, alternative possibilities arise. VIMOKSHA reminds us that we are already liberated, Everything is possible.

What to Expect When Expecting — Julia Bonnheim and Future Problems — Portland, OR

From the artist’s website:

What to Expect When Expecting is an invitation to step inside of another's body and explore what could have been and what might be. Participants are asked to face the dichotomy of bringing forth life and dreams in a world that is facing climate destruction.

You can donate to this project here.

#Art #State of the Art #Honoraria #2021 #Burning Man 2021 #The Great Unknown

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trippinglynet · 3 years

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Burning Man Festival 2021 Dates

First, Burning Man isn’t a festival, but if you’ve landed here, you probably searched for “Burning Man Festival”… So I’m saving you a lot of grief by being the first to tell you…. don’t call it a festival!

And here’s the rest of the ticketing information you might be looking for:

Burning Man Dates

Burning Man is Scheduled to be held August 26 to September 3, 2021.

WILL BURNING MAN BE BACK IN 2021?

We believe Burning Man will return in 2021. We’ve been saying this for a while, and we stick by it.

Here’s what we know for sure:

The Org is targeting the week of April 23rd to make the go/no go call.

Vaccinations will be required, and there may be some type of COVID testing required for admission. They are targeting an event size of around 60k participants, plus around 9k support staff.

If the event moves forward, ticket sales will start in May with the Directed Group Sales phase — tickets allocated to camps.

To help with fundraising, the Org will sell 1,000 “ticket reservations”, with a minimum price of $2,500 per reservation. This will guaranty you the right to buy a ticket at a future event at the standard ticket price. So you pay $2,500 (or more if you’d like) today, and buy a $450 or so ticket when you please. See tickets.burningman.org to purchase a reservation. Note, it is possible all or part of this purchase price may be tax deductible.

Here’s our speculation (from January 2021), with updates in brackets:

The Organization has been clear that Burning Man will not happen if it cannot happen safely. Can it be held safely? Well, the event is held on a seven square mile bit of desert. And having a high quality mask is already required by common sense. Most importantly, we believe that by the time the gates open, most [everyone] who want to be vaccinated will have been vaccinated, keeping in mind minors and those with certain medical conditions will be ineligible for the vaccine regardless of supply.

The biggest risk factor is the uncertainty of announcing an event and selling tickets well in advance of the event. A lot of thing could happen, including viral variants that reduce the effectiveness of vaccines, or the expected ramp up in production of existing vaccines, and the approval and production of new “one shot” vaccines not happening at the required pace.

Absent one of this risk factors coming to pass, we suspect by early May [late April] the event will officially be announced. The size will undoubtedly be downsized [to 60,000], both in population and in the scale of the art. Two of the most controversial items: we believe the tickets will be partially non-refundable. [This is not correct it seems - tickets will be refundable] The Org will be spending plenty of money to make this event happen, along with covering normal operating expenses, and there simply won’t be funds to give back if there is a last minute cancellation. Next, we strongly suspect that vaccination will be required of all those who are medically eligible for the vaccination [confirmed]. We’ve received angry emails about this last point, some claiming it won’t happen, others outraged that we think it will happen. Nonetheless, we are more confident on this point than virtually any other in this article.

THE OFFICIAL TICKET PROCESS

Burning Man is expected to sell 60,000 tickets in 2021. Ticket sales will begin to camps in May, with other ticket phases following shortly thereafter. People will be able to purchase a $2,500 “reservation”, which guarantees them the right to buy a ticket at this or a future event (at the standard ticket price).

While we don’t know what 2021 will look like, we can take a look at what was proposed for 2020.

For those buying tickets directly from Burning Man, there was to be three ticket sale opportunities. First, a pre-sale phase (FO’MO Sale), where tickets were to be purchased for around $1,400. Next, the Main Sale was to feature tickets for around $550. Finally, a small number of tickets were to be sold shortly before the event at the “OMG Sale” at around $600. In each case taxes, shipping and other fees were added as described below.

The 70,000 tickets offered in 2020 were to be divided as follows:

FO’MO Sale: 4,000 tickets at $1,400

Directed Group Sale: 35,000 tickets at $550. 15,000 vehicle passes

Main Sale: 20,000 tickets at $550. 10,000 vehicle passes available at $150

OMG Sale: 3,000 tickets at $600. 1,500 vehicle passes available at $150.

Low Income: An additional 4,500 tickets are offered as part of the low income program at $225.

In addition to the face value of tickets, you would also have had to pay:

A delivery fee of $25 domestic, $35 int’l

$4 surcharge per item

Nevada Live Entertainment Tax (LET) of 9%

A 2.7% credit card processing fee

So if you were to purchase two $550 tickets and a $150 car pass the total cost would be around $1,275, including domestic shipping.

Note: Total attendance at Burning Man 2020 was expected to be close to 80,000, which includes staff, vendors, BLM, law enforcement, etc. Note, more than 70,000 tickets are sold, as event organizers add a small number of additional tickets to account for no shows, early departures and late arrivals.

All sales require a Burner Profile. Sign up or log in here to update it.

Ticket Dates

Ticket sales to camps via the Directed Group Sale will begin in May. Expect full dates to be announced the last week in April.

The Ticket Process

We don’t know what the ticket process for 2021 will be, however, in recent years ticket sales have been broken in multiple phases, as follows:

Directed Group Sales.

Directed Group Sales (DGS) are tickets allocated to camps, art cars and art projects to ensure that a portion of their participants get tickets. The DGS phase was developed to ensure that established groups, such as theme camps and art car producers, have access to tickets for their participants. These are allocated early in the ticketing process to ensure members have certainty around having tickets and fully participating in the camp/group’s efforts leading up to the burn.

Each approved group is allocated a number of tickets by the organization. The group then distributes the right to buy tickets among its members, and provides a list of approved members Burner Profiles to the organization. Shortly before the DGS sale, each registered member receives an email confirming their participation in the DGS. On the day of the sale (or during the 48-hour window of the DGS sale), members either click on the unique link provided in the email, or go to their Burner Profile page, where a link will appear when the sale goes live (before going live there will be a box that alerts the user they are registered for the sale. After the 48-hour window expires, the tickets are released and the link will no longer be valid. Note: the organization allocates slightly more tickets than are available, so in theory, these tickets can sell out.

FOMO Sale

The FOMO Sale is open to the general public, and allows people who are willing to spend more money to get tickets. The ticket price of $1,400 is designed to be close to the price of aftermarket tickets, and is a way to eliminate profit margins for scalpers or pay-to-play camps. People may also buy these tickets as a way of financially contributing to Burning Man. These tickets have sold out in recent years, however, unlike the Main Sale, tickets have been available hours after the FOMO link has gone live. In addition, the org has released a limited number additional tickets after the original tickets have sold out. If you are looking for tickets and find the FOMO tickets have sold out, consider setting up an alert to check for availability, as well as frequently checking the Reddit Burning Man subreddit, where people usually post when tickets pop up on FOMO.

Note, the FOMO tickets are exactly the same as all the other tickets other than the price. All tickets at Burning Man, regardless of price tier, get you one thing: gate admission. A final note, what does FOMO stand for? Officially, it’s “fear of missing out”. However, more than one senior org member types FoMo (not “FOMO”), a bit of an inside joke that you can get tickets Fo’ Mo’ money. Note: If you buy FOMO tickets, you may sell them at face value in the STEP program or elsewhere. Similarly, if you are wiling to pay FOMO prices, and register early for STEP, your odds of getting tickets is fairly high.

Main Sale

The Main Sale is the primary way for people without DGS tickets to attend Burning Man. Prior to the sale, each potential buyer must register a profile on Burner Profiles. During the sale registration period they must specify that they are interested in purchasing tickets. They will then receive an email confirming their registration and a link to participate in the sale. A box will also appear on the Burner Profile page indicating they are registered for the general sale.

On the day of the general sale, an active link will appear on each registered users’ Burner Profile page, and email link previously sent will become active. When the sale begins, the user clicks on the link and will receive a page telling them they are in the cue to receive tickets (or a 404 error if servers are overloaded). After a wait of a few seconds to 30 minutes they will be either given the opportunity to purchase tickets or be told tickets are sold out.

Low Income Tickets

Around 4,500 “low income” tickets are also sold at approximately $210, plus taxes and fees. Note, in 2016 these tickets didn’t sell out until shortly before the event. In 2018 and 2019 demand for these tickets were higher, but still a viable option for lower income participants. In 2019 the allocation increased almost 20%. Those eligible should make an application immediately upon the window opening, as once the organization believes they have received sufficient applications to allocate all tickets, the window closes.

You can still register for the main sale if you have applied for low income tickets, but if you buy a ticket in any ticket phase your low income ticket will be cancelled. Note, even registering for other ticket phases could impact your low income ticket application. The official word from Burning Man’s Low Income ticket review group: "purchasing another ticket disqualifies you from being awarded a Low Income ticket. Registering for a regular sale would only be taken into account if the application is really marginal and we’re having a tough time making the call."

Burning Man does not publish eligibility criteria and there are no strict cut-offs for financial eligibility, although some have reported having relatively solid income but unusual expenses or other financial hardships and receiving tickets. Your contribution to the event is also taken into account. So if you feel you can’t attend due to ticket cost and therefore don’t intend to apply for tickets, and feel your contribution to the event would be significant, you may be a good candidate for the low income ticket program.

In past years, people have generally received word on their low income ticket application roughly four weeks after applying. Note some strategy here - if you apply immediately, the first day you can, for a low income ticket, you will likely get a response before registration for the main sale opens.

Read more about the Low Income Ticket Program, including tips on creating the best application possible.

STEP ticket exchange (Secure Ticket Exchange Program)

The STEP program is a way to sell tickets you aren’t going to use or buy tickets. Few tickets change hands through the STEP program. To have any chance to get tickets (other than FOMO priced tickets), you will need to register immediately upon registration opening. FOMO tickets are easier to obtain via the STEP program.

Ticket Scam Websites

Every year there are fraudulent websites designed to look like the official ticketing website. The most dangerous ones have URLs that sound official. Your best best to ensure you are on the official ticketing website is to start at www.burningman.org and then follow the prompts to get to the ticketing website. The ultimate webpage you will lend on to buy tickets or to register for the sale will look something like xxx.burningman.org. For example “https://here.burningman.org”. or “https://profiles.burningman.org” are likely the links this year. If you are careful to start on www.burningman.org you will get to the right place.

Note, Google search for “Burning Man tickets” is a risky way to get to the right page. For much of 2019, this page would have been the first to pop up, above the official Burning Man ticketing webpage, so just type in the website. Note, www.Burningman.COM is also owned by Burning Man and will redirect you properly (it was the official domain through the 90s).

Alternative Tickets Strategies

Your first method to get a ticket to Burning Man is to buy one directly through the Org in one of the ticket sales described above.

Everyone is going to tell you, “Don't Panic”, tickets will free up, you'll get one. Don't pay above face value!

Getting tickets via the Burning Man community is still how most of the people we know who struck out in the main sale get their tickets. Spending time in the community, attending regional burns, camp fund-raisers, and engaging in other activities that contribute to the Burning Man community will significantly increase your chance of finding tickets. If you don’t have a strong social network in the Burning Man community, below are strategies to consider.

Here are other strategies to obtain a ticket to Burning Man:

Buy the $1,400 tickets. If you are willing to fork over a premium price, you are likely to get tickets directly through the organization. These are expected to sell out quickly in 2019, as the number of tickets available at this price were dramatically cut (as many went to scalpers, it is believed).

Submit a Low Income Ticket Application. If you are a low income individual, this is a good avenue to get tickets, and surprisingly often ignored.

Join a camp with a ticket allocation. There are camps that are looking for members and have ticket allocations. Start reaching out to any camp that resonates with you and be upfront about your need for a ticket. The Burning Man board has set a new course toward emphasizing formal camps as a way to have more influence over Burning Man culture, so watch for more and more tickets being allocated toward camps in the coming years.

Note: International camps often are both in need of feet on the street in the US and have more tickets than for which they have demand. Reach out to as many as you can, either with interest of joining (ideally!), or at a minimum with an offer to help out with logistics in the US. Camping with a camp of non-US people would likely be an interesting experience, and helping them move gear, do groundwork before they arrive, etc., is a service that is needed. Reach out to enough of these camps, and you will get face value tickets, and help support a camp that has logistical issues and is contributing to the diverse experience that is Burning Man.

Watch eBay like a hawk for face value tickets. They are sold almost every day close to the burn. They will pop up as a “Buy It Now”, and will be purchased almost immediately. So you will need a bot or a motivated refresh finger to get one of these golden tickets. See #6 below to help avoid fraud.

Watch Craigslist for face value tickets. If you are in the SF Bay Area, they pop up now and then. Outside of San Francisco it’s far less likely, but in Portland and Seattle a few pop up every year. Insist on getting full ID and contact information from the seller to help ensure that the tickets are genuine, haven’t been declared lost or otherwise been canceled. Any honest seller will happily provide this (they may not be willing to provide it until you are ready to hand over cash, to avoid you reporting their tickets to BM for cancellation). Pay via Paypal specifying you are buying goods or services, so you have extra protection if you need to go after a fraudulent seller. Carefully examine the ticket to ensure the holographic images are valid. Install a QR reader on your phone, and scan the QR code and make sure the number matches the ticket number. And compare the ticket against the list of voided tickets. Note that even if you do all these, one scam is to sell a valid ticket, then reported it stolen to the org, have it cancelled and reissued. One way to mitigate this is to have the tickets transferred via a Will Call ticket transfer.

A note on eBay/Craigslist/StubHub. I believe that there is far less chance of fraud on eBay or StubHub than on Craigslist, and better recourse in both circumstances for fraud. StubHub offers an outright guarantee against fraud. eBay offers certain guarantees as well, but it’s a bit less robust in its protection.

StubHub. StubHub tickets are generally more expensive than eBay once you figure in the service charge. StubHub offers a full guaranty against fraudulent tickets: you will either (a) get replacement tickets or (b) get your money back. StubHub purchases tickets each year to Burning Man and has in the past replaced fraudulent tickets at the gate, for at least one buyer I talked with at the event. However, StubHub is not free from risk. A common issue is that a seller sells tickets to you, you wait for delivery, and they fail to deliver. StubHub will give you a refund, and charge the seller a fee. The problem is that if you purchased your tickets in July, and then needed to replace them in mid-August, you may find that the tickets increased significantly in price. StubHub will not give any credit or refund in this situation.

EBay. EBay offers a guarantee against fraud. However, there are reports of ticket scammers sending an empty envelope to buyers, and eBay refusing to take any action against the seller. So if you do buy on eBay, make a video of you opening the envelope when it arrives, and carefully filming the tickets inside, including the numbers. If the tickets have been voided or are fraudulent, eBay will likely provide a recourse.

Other ideas to stay safe with aftermarket tickets:

Pay with tickets using PayPal, which since 2015 has provided some coverage against fraud for intangible goods. You must specify when making the purchase that it’s a commercial transaction. Never agree to specify the PayPal transaction is a “gift”, which eliminates buyer protection. If someone asks you to do this, avoid the transaction entirely. When the envelope arrives, take a video of you opening it and displaying the contents. On the off chance you have been sent an empty envelope or the tickets appear to be fraudulent, you have clear evidence of what has happened.

Read the Burning Man FAQ on buying tickets.

Buy your tickets before the OMG sale…. prices jump immediately after the sale.

A note on buying tickets on secondary markets. There is a strong culture against buying or selling tickets for above face value. We have never done so, and will never do it.

Random Bits

What Happens if Burning Man is Cancelled? The organization has some flexibility what to do if tickets are sold and then the event is cancelled. In 2020, the org issued a refund for the face value of the ticket, but not the service fees. We know that if the event is cancelled due to an act of god, not obtaining a BLM permit, or similar issues, the org is not required to issue a refund. (What they would do is a matter of pure speculation). We also know that the org and the BLM agree that many people would likely show up at Black Rock Desert, absent significant efforts to stop them.

Wonder why your tickets come with a Fireball candy? And only one regardless of the number of tickets? And why you don’t get one if you are not in the United States? The Fireball is added to the package to change the mailing envelope from First Class Mail, to a First Class Package. First Class Mail has a maximum width of 3/4”. The Fireball makes the envelope closer to an inch, which historically would include both tracking and signature at no extra cost. This results in the cost of shipping being less than the cost of sending a First Class Mail (over 13 ounces), with a tracking and signature option enabled. So if you aren’t in the US, don’t expect a Fireball. And why one? According to Burning Man having multiple Fireballs increases the odds the package will pry open during shipping. Oh, and don’t expect to have to sign for your tickets this year…The USPS no longer includes signature confirmation automatically for First Class Packages (and even those with expedited shipping have not been required to sign for the tickets).

My ticket didn’t arrive or my envelope arrived open or without a ticket. No worries… The Org can cancel any tickets that have been lost, stolen or compromised and then leave a new ticket a Will Call. Note, Burning Man now requires lost tickets to be picked up physically to combat a fraud tactic where scammers were having the same (official) tickets issued multiple times, by reporting them lost or stolen and having new tickets issued.

Burning Man isn’t responding to my emails for ticket support. Ok, here’s the super secret direct phone number to ticket support…. 1-844-272-6505 Historically they pick up pretty much immediately. Oh, and the number’s not a secret at all, but for some reason every year people freak out because emails aren’t getting returned.

I bought a ticket from a stranger, and it’s not being honored at the gate. And it’s an authentic ticket! Unfortunately, a ticket scam that has been perpetrated of late is for a scam artist to buy tickets using a false identification. They then sell the tickets and later report the tickets stolen. Burning Man issues new Will Call tickets and sell those too. It’s possible for someone to spend $800 on tickets and gross $3,000 to $6,000 using this almost impossible to detect scam.

Can I use someone else credit card to buy my tickets? The name on the ticket order must match the name on the Burner Profile being used to purchase it. But one can use a third-party credit card to make the purchase. Just make sure the same credit card is not being used to otherwise buy Burning Man tickets. See the official Reddit AMA answer here.

My Tickets are Stuck in Customs! If the ticket has been shipped to you from Burning Man, they will cancel it and replace it with a new ticket. If you are receiving a ticket from a friend, have that friend take a video of them putting the tickets in the envelope and dropping them with the mail carrier, showing the transit number. Make sure the video shows the number on the ticket, the number of the fedex/ups/usps tracking number, and the depositing of them with the carrier, all in one unbroken sequences. If the ticket is stuck in customs, you have very clear evidence that you mailed the ticket and you will receive notification from customs that will prove the ticket is being held up. Then contact Burning Man. The will likely re-issue your ticket and allow you to pick it up at Will Call. Even without this procedure, the org is very likely to cancel the ticket and re-issue a new one as well. (Note, the org needs to guard against fraud, and there is a ticket scam that uses “stuck in customs” to defraud third-party ticket buyers, and therefore are thoughtful about when to cancel a ticket in these circumstances).

Is Burning Man Oversold? May I be refused entry even if I have a ticket and have done nothing wrong? Burning Man sells more tickets than capacity will allow. Once the gate count reaches maximum capacity, people are held back from entering until someone exists. This doesn’t usually occur, but did in 2018, when more people than average used their tickets. The current BLM permit (2019 onward) gives Burning Man a little more flexibility to temporarily exceed the 80k cap and the organization has also sold fewer tickets in 2019, so we don’t expect the capacity issue to be a problem this year.

Website Technical Issues. First, we have always used the direct link from the Burner Profile screen, and not the link from the email. The email link seems to fairly consistently have more issues than the direct link, but YMMV.

The Burning Man website has had technical issues in the past. If during the ticket sales phase you receive a white screen (aka the White Screen of Death), black screen, are told that you have already purchased tickets, or are violating some other policy, or other error message, consider the following work-arounds. Note, none of these are sure to work, and they may make things worse. They are just the things we do when confronting technical failures on ticketing websites:

First, try to refresh the browser if it doesn’t automatically refresh; often repeated refreshes will fix the white screen of death, or issues with elements of a page not loading. Open a “Private Window” in Safari or “Incognito Window” in Chrome (or similar window in your browser) and cut and paste your ticket link address to that. Often the private windows will overcome issues. Note, we never use a Tor Browser when buying tickets, as many sites block Tor traffic. As a second approach, attempt to open your ticket link via your cell phone (while keeping your initial web browser open). If that fails, turn off the WiFi on your phone and try again. This last approach is the most risky as you will now have a new IP address, and you may then get an error that you are trying to cut in line, or that the link has already been used. That said, if you are getting a white screen, or error message that is telling you your link isn’t valid or similar message, it’s possible this last trick will work. Note, we have no special insight to how the back end of the Burning Man.org ticketing system works. The Main Sale will be the first time it is used, and the suggestions above are based on generic solutions to common issues. We try to follow whatever the instructions are on the ticketing website, and would only try the suggestions above when encountering an obvious technical problem.

Does anyone really just buy a single ticket? 85% of the people buying tickets in the main sale, buy two tickets. 15% only buy a single ticket.

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trippinglynet · 3 years

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Glovers Taking It to the Next Level with Psychedelics | Alex “Truffles” Lopez and Ruel “Dafuq?” Smith

Recently, the Trippingly team met Andrew Zhao, the CEO of ThrowLights.com, a company that produces some of the best glovesets out there. He introduced us to several amazing artists using psychedelics to elevate their craft.

When Alex “Truffles” Lopez takes acid at home, he often spends the first hour or two self-reflecting and journaling. Then his creativity kicks in.

Lopez puts on his gloves, featuring multi-colored LED lights at the fingertips. He’s a glover — someone who gives light shows, often at raves.

When he’s on psychedelics, Lopez says his light shows are that much better. “Sober, I know 10 moves ahead,” he says. “Psychedelics, I know 100 steps ahead. Everything is more clean and precise.”

That’s because psychedelics help him to achieve a hyper-focused state of flow. “When I'm on psychedelics, it dissolves my ego completely,” Lopez says. “So I'm able to create without resistance… Every subconscious thought is gone.

“There's moves that I can’t even do in my sober life that I've been able to do in an altered state of consciousness.”

Lopez is part of a growing community using psychedelics like LSD, psilocybin and DMT to enhance creativity and performance.

That’s because psychedelics are said to facilitate a state of flow — how we describe that feeling of being so immersed in what you’re doing that the world melts away, time flies, and nothing else seems to matter.

Many report feeling when they’re on psychedelics, a quieting of the ego and analytical mind, allowing them to form an intimate and hyper-aware connection with an activity at hand. This state can be achieved through micro-dosing and larger doses, depending on the person.

But when glover Ruel “Dafuq?” Smith takes psychedelics, it’s not just to connect with gloving on a deeper level. But to feel a cosmic connection with someone he’s giving a lightshow to.

“I could care less about the high. It was the connection I was making with the people,” Smith says.

“When I'm giving someone a show, I'm giving them a show as if I was giving myself a show, but as them. So I'm basically looking at my lights through their eyes. Not even like the glimmer off their eyes, but like basically through their eyes. So I'm creating that spiritual — that soul bonding connection because I'm transferring my energy, my mentality and my thought into them and then creating it for them.”

Smith says he needs that interpersonal connection in order to feel that he’s in a state of flow. That’s why he primarily gives light shows on psychedelics at music festivals.

“I could be on a 10-strip (of acid) at home by myself and put on the gloves and throw the worst show ever,” he says.

If you’re interested in trying psychedelics to further your creativity and/or performance, here are six tips from Lopez and Smith.

1. Set an intention

Lopez: “So when you take it, you want to set an intention on, hey, I'm going to be more creative this time and I'm going to practice. Definitely setting intention is going to amplify that.”

2. Start small

Smith: “I would definitely suggest taking it slow. I've had friends trip on two tabs and they're losing their minds and I've had friends trip on five tabs and they're like I barely feel anything. It's definitely one of those things where you should take it slow, know your body. Don't overdo it. I get you want to get to a certain level, but you'll get there. It will come. Just, just wait.”

3. Have a good music playlist ready to go, if you’re at home

Enough said.

4. Be careful about who else is home

Lopez: “Don't have anyone around that you like are iffy about. Like if someone bugs you, don't have them around when you're doing psychedelics because it's going to bug you even more. Don't live with your parents. You can't have anyone around you that's going to be like, what are you doing? I mainly do psychedelics by myself. Because when you're by yourself, you're not having a projection of anyone else's energy.”

5. Get to know your body on psychedelics before taking them at a festival

Smith: “You should condition your body. You should never go into a situation that you've — not never been in, but never been in in that state, because once you get there, it's going to be so different, completely different from what you are not only used to seeing, but what you're expecting to see.

“I think people have a lot of expectation and what a lot of time I see acid do is it crushes their expectation and either overly exuberates it or underwhelms it to a point where they're either not enjoying because they just don't feel that high or they're having too much of an overexhileration and they're just overwhelmed. They just don't know what's going on and they can't make heads or tails of it, you know? So I would suggest taking lower doses, conditioning your body and making sure that's something you want to do.”

6. Have someone with you if you’re fairly new to psychedelics at a festival

Smith: “If you don't think you're going to be able to handle it, one, I wouldn't suggest taking it. But if you do decide to, I suggest having someone with you. But honestly, you don't always need to. Just knowing yourself, if you're good, like you never had to be babysat when you're either drunk or high or whatever, and you just want to take like two tabs and you want to go enjoy the night, I say go do it.

“Just knowing yourself, like if you feel like you might need a baby sitter... The first time I did any drug, any type of drug, I always had a babysitter, always. Even if they're experienced tripper or not, because I don't know how I'm going to react. I don't know how I'm going to react, like bottom line.”

7. Consider taking acid if you want to try psychedelics at a festival

Smith: “A lot of people choose acid over mushrooms because it's not so intra-personal. A lot of people — and as shitty as it is to say — don't like themselves. And that's just the reality of our world, you know, and it's unfortunate. If I'm going to suggest anything, acid, because it has the least mental repercussions. I don't say that as every psychedelic has a repercussion. Anything you do has a repercussion behind it, whether it be positive or negative.”

Trippingly has no commercial affiliations with Throwlights, or any artist mentioned in this article. We just think they are awesome.

#truffles #Glovers #Throwlights #Alex Lopez #Ruel “Dafuq?” Smith

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trippinglynet · 3 years

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Drug Use for Grown Ups by Dr. Carl L Hart

“I am an unapologetic drug user. I take drugs as part of my pursuit of happiness and they work” begins Dr. Carl Hart’s newly released book, Drug Use for Grown Ups: Chasing Liberty in the Land of Fear.

Dr. Carl Hart is a professor of Psychology at Columbia University and the former the Psychology Department Chair. He is a research scientist that focuses his efforts on understanding drug use and drug addiction. His personal journey took him from being a supporter of strict drug laws with harsh penalties to being an advocate of legalization and science-based public policies.

His new book, Drug Use for Grown Ups, explains why drug policies in the United States are deeply flawed, often propped up by racist appeals and unsupported by science. Dr. Hart’s personal story is also compelling, and he effectively weaves his own narrative throughout the book providing a fresh perspective on the issues.

Dr. Hart grew up in a poor neighborhood. He used and sold drugs, and kept a gun in his car. After completing high school he joined Air Force, which started him on the path of higher education. Ultimately he earned a Ph.D in neuroscience, in large part because he wanted to solve the issue of addiction, which he blamed for many of the problems his childhood neighborhood faced.

As his knowledge grew, his perspective changed. He began to see drug abuse as a symptom of a problem, rather than its cause. Unemployment, racism, classism, poverty, and boredom contribute to drug abuse. In contrast, he recognized that physically and mentally healthy people may choose to use drugs to increase their personal happiness, without imposing any cost on society and little or no harm to themselves. Recreationally he has used, and in some cases continues to use drugs to improve his life. Among the drugs he has used are heroin, MDMA and cannabis.

Drug Use for Grown Ups has been released at a perfect time. Decriminalization of cannabis has lead to a broader reconsideration of drug policies. The voters of Oregon recently voted to decriminalize all drugs, and focus resources on treating those who experience troubles. In the coming years our social policies toward drugs and their users will be reconsidered, and Dr. Hart’s message needs to be heard loud and clear in any debate.

Let’s take a moment to review some of the themes Dr. Hart touches upon.

the War on Drugs

The foundation of American drug policy has never been the public’s good health. Instead, it has been a tool used by politicians and law enforcement to consolidate power and advance personal objectives. The War on Drugs has been and always will be a war on the poor and people of color. It has been used to stoke fear in middle America, often using deeply racist rhetoric. The prize is large: A $35 billion industry. An industry that relies on one drug crisis after another to sustain it.

A now familiar refrain began in earnest over 100 years ago, when white America was first warned of the pending dangers of drug abuse. In 1914, a New York Times article announced “Negro Cocaine ‘Fiends’ Are a New Southern Menace.” (See insert). The author, an accomplished physician, warned of the “Negro fiend’s'“ homicidal propensities, and super human abilities: “[T]he deadly accuracy of the cocaine user has become axiomatic in Southern police circles…. the record of the ‘cocaine nigger’ near Asheville who dropped five men dead in their tracks using only one cartridge for each, offers evidence that is sufficiently convincing.” [FN]

But we need not look back 100 years to see this same rhetoric. The crazed super-human negro theme appeared in 1991, when Rodney King was badly beaten by Los Angeles police. The assault was justified initially by the claim King was on PCP at the time of the beating, and the use of PCP, it was reported, can give super human strength.[FN] When toxicology showed no traces of PCP, the argument became that it was reasonable for the officers to use overwhelming force because they believe King was on PCP. [FN] Missing from news reports is the demonstrated fact that PCP does nothing to increase human strength, although it can reduce the perception of pain as one is badly beaten.

When Trayvon Martin was shot to death by George Zimmerman in 2012, Zimmerman’s lawyer argued that Mr. Martin’s drug use could have made him aggressive and paranoid [FN]. While barring testimony that Martin regularly used marijuana, the judge in the case allowed a toxicology report to be admitted that showed trace amounts of THC in his body. The amounts were well below the threshold for any type of intoxication, and suggest that he had not used marijuana for at least twenty-four hours.[FN] As Dr. Hart notes, Zimmerman’s “[defense team] reverted to the familiar and tired marijuana-crazed Negro script, illustrating the enduring persuasive power of this myth.”

And in 2014, while peacocking his proposed harsh drug legislation, Maine Governor Paul LePage sounds the familiar tune of the negro menace coming to town, and leaving in their wake a trail of drug-fueled destruction and impregnated white girls.

Wait, what? Impregnated white girls? Yup, read (or better yet, watch the video):

I’ve got a bill into the legislature right now to take the traffickers….these are not the people who take drugs….These are guys with the name D-Money, Smoothie, Shifty. These types of guys, they come from Connecticut and New York. They come up here, they sell their heroin, then they go back home. Incidentally, half the time they impregnate a young, white girl before they leave, which is a real sad thing because then we have another issue that we got to deal with down the road.

A racist dog whistle through a bullhorn, cynically used by the Governor of one of the whitest states in the nation.

These drug laws, enacted via race-based fear mongering, are often drafted to primarily impact poor and BIPOC communities. Selective enforcement further leverages their discorporate impact on vulnerable populations. Dr. Hart notes, for example, that the infamous 1973 Rockefeller drug laws in New York State created mandatory 15 years to life sentences for the possession of small amounts of heroine or other drugs, and “More than 90 percent of those convicted under the Rockefeller laws were black or Latino, even though they represented a minority of drug users.” And one should not forget the crack cocaine laws, which provided penalties of 100 times that of powdered cocaine, despite there being little difference between the two compounds other than the manner in which they are ingested (smoking vs. snorting), and the population perceived to be using them (black vs. white).

The False Science of Drug Abuse Policy

"There are virtually no data on humans indicating that responsible recreational drug use causes brain abnormalities in otherwise healthy individuals. "

As a research scientist, Dr. Hart is able to go beyond reviewing the contemptible motivations and tactics of some of the anti-drug crusaders, and addresses head on the science of drug use. Drug policy should be routed in public health concerns, not in political power grabs. U.S. government action should be designed to promote those values articulated in our Declaration of Independence, which guarantees our citizens the birthrights of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Dr. Hart correctly notes that the Declaration of Independence “proclaims each person’s right to live as they see fit, as long as they do not interfere with others’ ability to do the same. And it declares that governments are created ‘to secure these rights,’ not to restrict them.”

A common sense approach to drug regulation is for the government to balance public health concerns and an individual’s pursuit of personal happiness, using scientific data to weigh the costs and benefits of restricting individual freedom. The first step in this process is to look at objective, peer-reviewed scientific studies of drug use. It turns out this isn’t as easy as it should be.

First, studies often show that either the harm from drugs isn’t particularly high. For example, back in 1972, Richard Nixon declared drugs to be “Enemy Number One”, and the phrase “The War on Drugs” became popularized, which included aggressive prosecution of marijuana use. This was simultaneous with Nixon’s own Shafer Commission releasing its finding, following a comprehensive, science-based analysis of the issue of marijuana use in the United States. It found “No significant physical, biochemical, or mental abnormalities could be attributed solely to their marihuana smoking” and recommended decriminalization of its possession.[FN] It’s no surprise that one of Nixon’s closest aids later told a journalist that the War on Drugs was a war on the “antiwar left and black people”[FN]

"Over my more than twenty-five-year career, I have discovered that most drug-use scenarios cause little or no harm and that some responsible drug-use scenarios are actually beneficial for human health and functioning."

But what about studies that do find drugs to create some type of harm? As Dr. Hart developed his professional expertise he came to a troubling conclusion: “I came to realize that drug-abuse scientists, especially government-funded ones, focus almost exclusively on the detrimental effects of drugs, even though these are, in fact, a minority of effects.” And concluded, “over my more than twenty-five-year career, I have discovered that most drug-use scenarios cause little or no harm and that some responsible drug-use scenarios are actually beneficial for human health and functioning.”

Dr. Hart calls out bias at National Institute of Drug Addiction, and in particular, the roll of Dr. Nora Vokow, NIDA’s director. NIDA is a government agency, with an annual budget in excess of $1 billion. Many scientists rely on NIDA grant money to do their studies. While recognizing Dr. Vokow as an accomplished researcher, Dr. Hart also paints a picture of a bully, who overstates the negative impact that recreational drugs have on the brain, while essentially ignoring any benefits. Many scientists don’t publicly share their views for fear of repercussion, including the loss of critical funding from the NIDA. In short, “it is difficult to disentangle politics from science when dealing with a federal organization such and NIDA.” Personally, I doubt that a research agency that names itself “National Institute of Drug Addiction” rather than the “National Institute of Drug Health” is likely to produce unbiased analysis anytime soon.

Unfortunately, the issue goes beyond the almost inevitable bias in U.S. government funded studies. Even when a scientific study is well designed, researchers can interpret the results to support their own pre-conceived notions, an issue Dr. Hart provides evidence of. The press can then take the study and further distort findings with sensational headlines. Dr. Hart takes the time to walk through several examples where these distortion have occurred as well. He also provides a basic framework on how to read studies, and to interpret their results. He even spends a fair amount of pages criticizing his own early work, which reflected a lack of working knowledge of the substances being studied, resulting in flawed study design.

Finally, the government can then selectively pick studies to support whatever policy they wish to pursue, typically one that will require more government and more funding for law enforcement. We have already seen how the Nixon administration ignored its own committee’s findings to pursue an anti-drug agenda. The prohibition of LSD and psilocybin was also driven almost entirely by politics, with barely a fig leaf of scientific data to support it, and only after over fifty years of active repression of scientific research is the therapeutic value of these substances once again being documented in double blind studies.

And for MDMA, a drug that has always shown significant promise for treating psychiatric conditions, the DEA effectively shut down research into its benefits in 1985, arguing MDMA need not have caused any actual harm to be placed in Schedule I, and that a potential for abuse was sufficient. [FN] Today, both psilocybin and MDMA are on the verge of being available for legal use under medical supervision. Even Peter Jennings and ABC News took our politicians to task for their treatment of MDMA in a 2004 special news report. (See insert).

The hypocrisy and personal greed of politicians who promote the War on Drugs is clear. But perhaps no clearer than in the case of John Boehner, the former Republican Speaker of the House, who opposed cannabis during his three decades of government service. He retired in 2015 and three years later did a complete about face from his prior thirty years in government by supported cannabis legalization. Why the quick change? He joined the board of Acreage Holdings, a Canadian firm that is the largest multi-state owner of cannabis licenses and assets in the United States. Shockingly, when asked about regrets in promoting an anti-Cannabis that resulted in mass incarceration, he noted “I don’t have any regrets at all” and when pressed elaborated “The whole criminal justice part of this, frankly, it never crossed my mind”. As Dr. Hart notes, Boehner doesn’t “seem to give one fuck about the extensive harms caused by the prohibitory policies he once supported.”[FN]

Stigmatization and The path to effective policy

We’ve already seen the harmful motivation of politicians, the challenges of bunk science, but a third factor really colors everything. The stigmatization of drug users.

A few years back, when Trippingly.net was suddenly gaining unexpected media attention, an interviewer asked why I had started a “harm prevention website”. Irritated, I shot back that Trippingly was not a harm reduction website. The confused and well-intentioned interviewer asked me what Trippingly was, if not focused on harm reduction. I stumbled at bit, before clumsily declaring it to be an “awesomeness enhancing website”.

It wasn’t an unfair question really. At the time, virtually every website that discussed the recreational use of drugs wrote disclaimers that they didn’t advocate the use of drugs, and hid behind the veil of “harm reduction.” I didn’t even immediately understand my own frustration at the question, but underlying my emotional outburst was frustration of the very premise of the question; the premise that any website that focuses on drug use must be dedicated to reducing some type of harm, despite almost all Trippingly’s content being focused on the positives I perceived associated with psychedelics and many other drugs.

Dr. Hart also bristles at phrase “harm reduction”. For him, “It doesn’t capture the complexities associated with grown-up activities such as love or war or drug use. Instead, it preoccupies us with drug-related harms. And the connection between harms and drug use is reinforced repeatedly through our speech.” Maximizing the safety of any activity, whether it be driving a new car, engaging in a new workout regime, or embarking on drug use has safety as an element, but not the primary focus. Dr. Hart suggests a better phrase would be “Health and Happiness”, which focuses on both using compounds safely, and using them in a manner that promotes personal happiness.

Again, effective public policy is one that balances the health of the user (and any concurrent costs to society) and the user’s happiness and personal freedom. The current prohibition culture fails society and users alike by creating more problems than it solves.

The use of virtually any recreational drug in an appropriate setting by a healthy user is likely to be safe at a reasonable dose. Troubles begin when a user takes a drug in an unsafe environment, at an inappropriate dose or when the drug has been adulterated. The criminalization of drug use has made each of these problems worse, not better.

The first step in safe drug use is education and information. A drug user should have access to clear, science-based information on how, where and how much to take a drug. And the drug user should have access to pharmaceutical grade compounds. The quickest route, of course, is legalization of all drugs, including the legalization of sale and distribution of pharmaceutical grade drugs. Until that day, providing education to drug users about the effects, dosages and risks coupled with inexpensive and anonymous testing of psychoactive compounds would go a long way toward true harm reduction.

Let’s consider this proposition by examining one of the most controversial drugs, heroin. Remember, Dr. Hart has noted that he has used heroin for years, without creating any social harm, and suffering no apparent adverse medical effects. He even deliberately used heroin daily to develop a dependency to better understand withdrawal (very unpleasant, but manageable).

We have all been bombarded with the latest drug crisis, the Opioid Crisis. When we dig down a bit, the crisis is not quite what it seems. Let’s take heroin as an example. Heroin presents risks to the user. But Dr. Hart introduces us to Barbara Broers, a professor at the University of Geneva, who notes (in a quiet, and matter-of-fact tone), “Heroin is one of the safest drugs.” Dr. Hart reaction at hearing this at the time likely reflects most people’s: “I’m not exactly sure what I said or if I even said anything, but I am certain that the incredulous look on my face communicated, ‘Get the fuck out of here!’”

Dr. Hart next systematically walks through the risks and statistics associated with opioid use: most heroin users do not become addicted, but risks increase if you are young, unemployed or have co-occurring psychiatric disorders. Perhaps more importantly for public policy, the real concern is adulterants in heroin. The presence of fentanyl when a user is expected heroin can kill. The issue isn’t that fentanyl is so inherently dangerous. It’s that the effective dose of heroin is much larger than that of fentanyl, and the unexpected substitution can easily cause a user to overdose.

The unpredictability of the heroin supply has driven many users to take prescription pills, such as Percocet or Vicodin, however, these drugs contain only a small amount of opioid and a larger dose of acetaminophen. So a user chasing a opioid high might be tempted to take several pills to achieve their goal, but in doing so risk liver damage from the acetaminophen. Similarly, users that combine opioid and a sedative, such as alcohol, greatly increase their risk.

Note, that none of these issues are inherent in the use of heroin. They are caused by the prohibition of heroin, which creates both an unreliable black market and an information gap. Dr. Hart aptly concludes: “People are not dying because of opioids; they are dying because of ignorance.”

The same argument can be made with almost all drugs that are subject to the prohibition. For example, next time you read about an overdose death on MDMA, in all probability the death is the result of the drug’s true content or strength being misrepresented to users, or the drug being mixed by the user with other drugs.

A Note on Drug Exceptionalism

No all reform efforts rest at the feet of politicians. We all share responsibility to move the ball forward. Most readers of Trippingly are seeking information about psychedelics. The psychedelic community historically is unusually well educated, financially stable and predominantly white, although for the past few years I have witnessed a rapid and welcomed demographic diversification. Nonetheless, even with the shifting demographics, one will quickly encounter drug exceptionalism in our community.

Dr. Hart recounts being approached by a middle-aged white military veteran who shared his experience with “plant medicines” he used not to “get high” but to facilitate his “spiritual journey”. Dr. Hart felt some contempt, not anger at the man personally, but a general annoyance “with the mental gymnastics that some psychedelic users perform in order to distance themselves from other drug users.”

I have always advocated for the recreational use of drugs, along with the use for personal growth and healing. In many ways I believe the lines people draw between these categories are fairly arbitrary and almost always self-serving. As a frequent public speaker, I often encounter drug exceptionalism. Almost always certain drugs are viewed in a favorable light, while others viewed negatively. Tellingly, which drugs belong in which bucket varies predictably depending on my median age and race of my audience.

My first observation speaking to groups is that once I declare myself as a strong proponent of the recreational use of drugs, including the recreational use of psychedelics, I find most of the audience seems to breath a collective sigh of relief. Yes, it’s ok to have a good time on psychedelics and not have to always deal with heavy stuff. Here’s your permission slip. Enjoy.

But then things get tricky. I don’t view the use of psychedelics as being in any way morally superior to the use of any other compound. I do believe (with certainty) that certain drugs require a higher experience level and diligence than others. Some drugs are plain simple to use. Others are not. However, in the psychedelic world there is a common hierarchy of drugs, which might look a little like this: Ayahuasca> mushrooms/LSD> MDMA> Adderall> crystal meth> heroin. I suspect that almost everyone in an average psychedelic discussion group would agree with this ranking if they were entitled to switch only one ranking. Dr. Hart takes this thinking to task.

First, he notes that the distinction between having “a good time” and healing or spiritual enlightenment is often difficult to parse. “Sacred experiences that positively affect one’s self-perception, worldview, goals, and ability to transcend one’s difficulties are hard to separate from one’s feelings of pleasure or happiness.” What’s more, he notes he has experienced all these effects after taking non-psychedelic drugs.

Dr. Hart goes on to note that he wouldn’t classify MDMA as a psychedelic. “It is an amphetamine, period.” And of course he is right. MDMA creates an experience that is distinct from many other amphetamines, but its chemical composition makes it an amphetamine. Moreover, the subjective experience of ecstasy is far more closely aligned with other stimulants than any classic psychedelic. Nonetheless, Dr. Hart is undoubtedly correct in his conclusion that “MDMA is categorized as a psychedelic by respectable, middle-class white folk because they use and enjoy it.”

We owe it ourselves and others to look beyond this type of elitism. Choose your own intention but abandon any pretense of superiority when it comes to our substance of choices.

Closing Thoughts

While Drug Use for Grown-Ups is an important book, it is also an enjoyable read. Some of Dr. Hart’s most moving material only relates tangentially to drugs. His relationship with his wife and son and the racism they encounter are powerful. The risk associated with vulnerability Dr. Hart describes is heart breaking, and an important read for anyone who has not experienced systemic racism. Hart’s own struggle to be open about his drug use, and his call for others in positions of power (and privilege) are important messages to the growing mass of middle and upper class people who have discovered drug use to be a powerful way to improve their quality of life.

A new War on Drugs is starting. It is a cultural war, in which we can no longer afford to allow half truths and outright lies be told. And war in which we must not allow people to be marginalized because their choice of drug is not our choice of drug.

#Book Review #Dr. Carl L Hart #Decriminalization #Public policy #Columbia University #Heroin #Cocaine #MDMA #THC

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Classic Publication: R. Gordon Wasson, The Devine Mushroom of Immorality (1968/1972)

Article: R. Gordon Wasson, The Devine Mushroom of Immortality

Book: R Gordon Wasson, Soma, The Devine Mushroom of Immortality (1968)

#R Gordon Wasson #Soma #Devine Mushroom of Immortality

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Classic Article: Drugs that Shape Men's Minds | Aldous Huxley

October 18, 1958

In the course of history many more people have died for their drink and their dope than have died for their religion or their country. The craving for ethyl alcohol and the opiates has been stronger, in these millions, than the love of God, of home, of children; even of life. Their cry was not for liberty or death; it was for death proceeded by enslavement. There is a paradox here, and a mystery. Why should such multitudes of men and women be so ready to sacrifice themselves for a cause so utterly hopeless and in ways so painful and so profoundly humiliating?

To this riddle there is, of course, no simple or single answer. Human beings are immensely complicated creatures, living simultaneously in a half dozen different worlds. Each individual is unique and, in a number of respects, unlike all the other members of the species. None of our motives is unmixed, none of our actions can be traced back to a single source and, in any group we care to study, behavior patterns that are observably similar may be the result of many constellations of dissimilar causes.

Thus, there are some alcoholics who seem to have been biochemically predestined to alcoholism. (Among rats, as Prof. Roger Williams, of the University of Texas, has shown, some are born drunkards; some are born teetotalers and will never touch the stuff.) Other alcoholics have been foredoomed not by some inherited defect in their biochemical make-up, but by their neurotic reactions to distressing events in their childhood or adolescence. Again, others embark upon their course of slow suicide as a result of mere imitation and good fellowship because they have made such an "excellent adjustment to their group."--A process which, if the group happens to be criminal, idiotic or merely ignorant, can bring only disaster to the well-adjusted individual. Nor must we forget that large class of addicts who have taken to drugs or drink in order to escape from physical pain. Aspirin, let us remember, is a very recent invention. Until late in the Victorian era, "poppy and mandragora," along with henbane and ethyl alcohol, were the only pain relievers available to civilized man. Toothache, arthritis and neuralgia could, and frequently did, drive men and women to become opium addicts.

DeQuincey, for example, first resorted to opium in order to relieve "excruciating rheumatic pains of the head." He swallowed his poppy and, an hour later, "What a resurrection from the lowest depths of the inner spirit! What an apocalypse!" And it was not merely that he felt no more pain. "This negative effect was swallowed up in the immensity of those positive effects which had opened up before me, in the abyss of divine enjoyment thus suddenly revealed…Here was the secret of happiness, about which the philosophers had disputed for so many ages, at once discovered." "Resurrection, apocalypse, divine enjoyment, happiness...." DeQuincey's words lead us to the very heart of our paradoxical mystery. The problem of drug addiction and excessive drinking is net merely a matter of chemistry and psychopathology, of relief from pain and conformity with a bad society. It is also a problem in metaphysics--a problem, one might almost say, in theology. In The Varieties of Religious Experience, William James has touched on these metaphysical aspects of addiction:

The sway of alcohol over mankind is unquestionably due to its power to stimulate the mystical faculties in human nature, usually crushed to earth by the cold facts and dry criticisms of the sober hour. Sobriety diminishes, discriminates and says no. Drunkenness expands, unites and says yes. It is in fact the great exciter of the Yes function in man. It brings its votary from the chill periphery of things into the radiant core. It makes him for the moment one with truth. Not through mere perversity do men run after it. To the poor and the unlettered it stands in the place of symphony concerts and literature; and it is part of the deeper mystery and tragedy of life that whiffs and gleams of something that we immediately recognize as excellent should be vouchsafed to so many of us only through the fleeting earlier phases of what, in its totality, is so degrading a poison. The drunken consciousness is one bit of the mystic consciousness, and our total opinion of it must find its place in our opinion of that larger whole.

William James was not the first to detect a likeness between drunkenness and the mystical and premystical states. On the day of Pentecost there were people who explained the strange behavior of the disciples by saying, "These men are full of new wine."

Peter soon undeceived them: "These are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day. But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel. And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh."

And it is not only by "the dry critics of the sober hour" that the state of God-intoxication has been likened to drunkenness. In their efforts to express the inexpressible, the great mystics themselves have done the same. Thus, St. Theresa of Avila tells us that she "regards the center of our soul as a cellar, into which God admits us as and when it pleases Him, so as to intoxicate us with the delicious wine of His grace."

Every fully developed religion exists simultaneously on several different levels. It exists as a set of abstract concepts about the world and its governance. It exists as a set of rites and sacraments, as a traditional method for manipulating the symbols, by means of which beliefs about the cosmic order are expressed. It exists as the feelings of love, fear and devotion evoked by this manipulation of symbols.

And finally it exists as a special kind of feeling or intuition--a sense of the oneness of all things in their divine principle, a realization (to use the language of Hindu theology) that "thou art That," a mystical experience of what seems self-evidently to be union with God.

The ordinary waking consciousness is a very useful and, on most occasions, an indispensable state of mind; but it is by no means the only form of consciousness, nor in all circumstances the best. Insofar as he transcends his ordinary self and his ordinary mode of awareness, the mystic is able to enlarge his vision, to look more deeply into the unfathomable miracle of existence.

The mystical experience is doubly valuable; it is valuable because it gives the experiencer a better understanding of himself and the world and because it may help him to lead a less self-centered and more creative life.

In hell, a great religious poet has written the punishment of the lost is to be "their sweating selves, but worse." On earth we are not worse than we are; we are merely our sweating selves, period.

Alas, that is quite bad enough. We love ourselves to the point of idolatry; but we also intensely dislike ourselves--we find ourselves unutterably boring. Correlated with this distaste for the idolatrously worshiped self, there is in all of us a desire, sometimes latent, sometimes conscious and passionately expressed, to escape from the prison of our individuality, an urge to self-transcendence. It is to this urge that we owe mystical theology, spiritual exercises and yoga--to this, too, that we owe alcoholism and drug addiction.

Modern pharmacology has given us a host of new synthetics, but in the field of the naturally occurring mind changers it has made no radical discoveries. All the botanical sedatives, stimulants, vision revealers, happiness promoters and cosmic-consciousness arousers were found out thousands of years ago, before the dawn of history.

In many societies at many levels of civilization attempts have been made to fuse drug intoxication with God intoxication. In ancient Greece, for example, ethyl alcohol had its place in the established religion. Dionysus, or Bacchus, as he was often called, was a true divinity. His worshipers addressed him as Lusios, Liberator, or as Theoinos, "Godwine." The latter name telescopes fermented grape juice and the supernatural into a single pentecostal experience. "Born a god," writes Euripides, "Bacchus is poured out as a libation to the gods, and through him men receive good." Unfortunately they also receive harm. The blissful experience of self-transcendence which alcohol makes possible has to be paid for, and the price is exorbitantly high.

Complete prohibition of all chemical mind changers can be decreed, but cannot be enforced, and tends to create more evils than it cures. Even more unsatisfactory has been the policy of complete toleration and unrestricted availability. In England, during the first years of the eighteenth century, cheap untaxed gin--"drunk for a penny, dead drunk for twopence."--threatened society with complete demoralization. A century later, opium, in the form of laudanum, was reconciling the victims of the Industrial Revolution to their lot--but at an appalling cost in terms of addiction, illness and early death. Today most civilized societies follow a course between the two extremes of total prohibition and total toleration. Certain mind-changing drugs, such as alcohol, are permitted and made available to the public on payment of a very high tax, which tends to restrict their consumption. Other mind changers are unobtainable except under doctor's orders--or illegally from a dope pusher. In this way the problem is kept within manageable bounds. It is most certainly not solved. In their ceaseless search for self-transcendence, millions of would-be mystics become addicts, commit scores of thousands of crimes and are involved in hundreds of thousands of avoidable accidents.

Do we have to go on in this dismal way indefinitely? Up until a few years ago, the answer to such a question would have been a rueful "Yes, we do." Today, thanks to recent developments in biochemistry and pharmacology, we are offered a workable alternative. We see that it may soon be possible for us to do something better in the way of chemical self-transcendence than what we have been doing so ineptly for the last seventy or eighty centuries.

Is it possible for a powerful drug to be completely harmless? Perhaps not. But the physiological cost can certainly be reduced to the point where it becomes negligible. There are powerful mind changers which do their work without damaging the taker's psychophysical organism and without inciting him to behave like a criminal or a lunatic. Biochemistry and pharmacology are just getting into their stride. Within a few years there will probably be dozens of powerful but--physiologically and socially speaking--very inexpensive mind changers on the market.

In view of what we already have in the way of powerful but nearly harmless drugs; in view, above all, of what unquestionably we are very soon going to have--we ought to start immediately to give some serious thought to the problem of the new mind changers. How ought they to be used? How can they be abused? Will human beings be better and happier for their discovery? Or worse and more miserable?

The matter requires to be examined from many points of view. It is simultaneously a question for biochemists and physicians, for psychologists and social anthropologists, for legislators and law-enforcement officers. And finally it is an ethical question and a religious question. Sooner or later--and the sooner, the better--the various specialists concerned will have to meet, discuss and then decide, in the light of the best available evidence and the most imaginative kind of foresight, what should be done. Meanwhile, let us take a preliminary look at this many-faceted problem.

Last year American physicians wrote 48,000,000 prescriptions for tranquilizing drugs, many of which have been refilled, probably more than once. The tranquilizers are the best known of the new, nearly harmless mind changers. They can be used by most people, not indeed with complete impunity, but at a reasonably low physiological cost. Their enormous popularity bears witness to the fact that a great many people dislike both their environment and "their sweating selves." Under tranquilizers the degree of their self-transcendence is not very great; but it is enough to make all the difference, in many cases, between misery and contentment.

In theory, tranquilizers should be given only to persons suffering from rather severe forms of neurosis or psychosis. In practice, unfortunately, many physicians have been carried away by the current pharmacological fashion and are prescribing tranquilizers to all and sundry. The history of medical fashions, it may be remarked, is at least as grotesque as the history of fashions in womenls hats--at least as grotesque and, since human lives are at stake, considerably more tragic. In the present case, millions of patients who had no real need of the tranquilizers have been given the pills by their doctors and have learned to resort to them in every predicament, however triflingly, uncomfortable. This is very bad medicine and, from the pill taker's point of view, dubious morality and poor sense.

There are circumstances in which even the healthy are justified in resorting to the chemical control of negative emotions. If you really can't keep your temper, let a tranquilizer keep it for you. But for healthy people to resort to a chemical mind changer every time they feel annoyed or anxious or tense is neither sensible nor right. Too much tension and anxiety can reduce a man's efficiency--but so can too little. There are many occasions when it is entirely proper for us to feel concerned, when an excess of placidity might reduce our chances of dealing effectively with a ticklish situation. On these occasions, tension mitigated and directed from within by the psychological methods of self-control is preferable from every point of view to complacency imposed from without by the methods of chemical control.

And now let us consider the case--not, alas, a hypothetical case--of two societies competing with each other. In Society A, tranquilizers are available by prescription and at a rather stiff price--which means, in practice, that their use is confined to that rich and influential minority which provides the society with its leadership. This minority of leading citizens consumes several billions of the complacency-producing pills every year. In Society B, on the other hand, the tranquilizers are not so freely available, and the members of the influential minority do not resort, on the slightest provocation, to the chemical control of what may be necessary and productive tension. Which of these two competing societies is likely to win the race? A society whose leaders make an excessive use of soothing syrups is in danger of falling behind a society whose leaders are not overtranquilized.

Now let us consider another kind of drug--still undiscovered, but probably just around the corner--a drug capable of making people feel happy in situations where they would normally feel miserable. Such a drug would be a blessing, but a blessing fraught with grave political dangers. By making harmless chemical euphoria freely available, a dictator could reconcile an entire population to a state of affairs to which self-respecting human beings ought not to be reconciled. Despots have always found it necessary to supplement force by political or religious propaganda. In this sense the pen is mightier than the sword. But mightier than either the pen or the sword is the pill. In mental hospitals it has been found that chemical restraint is far more effective than strait jackets or psychiatry. The dictatorships of tomorrow will deprive men of their freedom, but will give them in exchange a happiness none the less real, as a subjective experience, for being chemically induced. The pursuit of happiness is one of the traditional rights of man; unfortunately, the achievement of happiness may turn out to be incompatible with another of man's rights--namely, liberty.

It is quite possible, however, that pharmacology will restore with one hand what it takes away with the other. Chemically induced euphoria could easily become a threat to individual liberty; but chemically induced vigor and chemically heightened intelligence could easily be liberty's strongest bulwark. Most of us function at about 15 per cent of capacity. How can we step up our lamentably low efficiency?

Two methods are available--the educational and the biochemical. We can take adults and children as they are and give them a much better training than we are giving them now. Or, by appropriate biochemical methods, we can transform them into superior individuals. If these superior individuals are given a superior education, the results will be revolutionary. They will be startling even if we continue to subject them to the rather poor educational methods at present in vogue.

Will it in fact be possible to produce superior individuals by biochemical means? The Russians certainly believe it. They are now halfway through a Five Year Plan to produce "pharmacological substances that normalize higher nervous activity and heighten human capacity for work." Precursors of these future mind improvers are already being experimented with. It has been found, for example, that when given in massive doses some of the vitamins--nicotinic acid and ascorbic acid for example--sometimes produce a certain heightening of psychic energy. A combination of two enzymes --ethylene disulphonate and adenosine triphosphate, which when injected together, improve carbohydrate metabolism in nervous tissue--may also turn out to be effective.

Meanwhile good results are being claimed for various new synthetic, nearly harmless stimulants. There is iproniazid, which, according to some authorities, "appears to increase the total amount of psychic energy." Unfortunately, iproniazid in large doses has side effects which in some cases may be extremely serious! Another psychic energizer is an amino alcohol which is thought to increase the body's production of acetylcholine, a substance of prime importance in the functioning of the nervous system. In view of what has already been achieved, it seems quite possible that, within a few years, we may be able to lift ourselves up by our own biochemical bootstraps.

In the meantime let us all fervently wish the Russians every success in their current pharmacological venture. The discovery of a drug capable of increasing the average individual's psychic energy, and its wide distribution throughout the USSR, would probably mean the end of Russia's present form of government. Generalized intelligence and mental alertness are the most powerful enemies of dictatorship and at the same time the basic conditions of effective democracy. Even in the democratic West we could do with a bit of psychic energizing. Between them, education and pharmacology may do something to offset the effects of that deterioration of our biological material to which geneticists have frequently called attention.

From these political and ethical considerations let us now pass to the strictly religious problems that will be posed by some of the new mind changers. We can foresee the nature of these future problems by studying the effects of a natural mind changer, which has been used for centuries past in religious worship; I refer to the peyote cactus of Northern Mexico and the Southwestern United States. Peyote contains mescaline--which can now be produced synthetically--and mescaline, in William James' phrase, "stimulates the mystical faculties in human nature" far more powerfully and in a far more enlightening way than alcohol and what is more, it does so at a physiological and social cost that is negligibly low. Peyote produces self-transcendence in two ways--it introduces the taker into the Other World of visionary experience, and it gives him a sense of solidarity with his fellow worshipers, with human beings at large and with the divine nature of things.

The effects of peyote can be duplicated by synthetic mescaline and by LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide), a derivative of ergot. Effective in incredibly small doses, LSD is now being used experimentally by psychotherapists in Europe, in South America, in Canada and the United States. It lowers the barrier between conscious and subconscious and permits the patient to look more deeply and understandingly into the recesses of his own mind. The deepening of self-knowledge takes place against a background of visionary and even mystical experience.

When administered in the right kind of psychological environment, these chemical mind changers make possible a genuine religious experience. Thus a person who takes LSD or mescaline may suddenly understand--not only intellectually but organically, experientially--the meaning of such tremendous religious affirmations as 'God is love," or "Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him."

It goes without saying that this kind of temporary self-transcendence is no guarantee of permanent enlightenment or a lasting improvement of conduct. It is a "gratuitous grace," which is neither necessary nor sufficient for salvation, but which if properly used, can be enormously helpful to those who have received it. And this is true of all such experiences, whether occurring spontaneously, or as the result of swallowing the right kind of chemical mind changer, or after undertaking a course of "spiritual exercises" or bodily mortification.

Those who are offended by the idea that the swallowing of a pill may contribute to a genuinely religious experience should remember that all the standard mortifications--fasting, voluntary sleeplessness and self-torture--inflicted upon themselves by the ascetics of every religion for the purpose of acquiring merit, are also, like the mind-changing drugs, powerful devices for altering the chemistry of the body in general and nervous system in particular. Or consider the procedures generally known as spiritual exercises. The breathing techniques taught by the yogi of India result in prolonged suspensions of respiration. These in turn result in an increased concentration of carbon dioxide in the blood; and the psychological consequence of this is a change in the quality of consciousness. Again, meditations involving long, intense concentration upon a single idea or image may also result--for neurological reasons which I do not profess to understand--in a slowing down of respiration and even in prolonged suspensions of breathing.

Many ascetics and mystics have practiced their chemistry-changing mortifications and spiritual exercises while living for longer or shorter periods, as hermits. Now, the life of a hermit, such as Saint Anthony, is a life in which there are very few external stimuli. But as Hebb, John Lilly and other experimental psychologists have recently shown in the laboratory, a person in a limited environment, which provides very few external stimuli, soon undergoes a change in the quality of his consciousness and may transcend his normal self to the point of hearing voices or seeing visions, often extremely unpleasant, like so many of Saint Anthony's visions, but sometimes beatific.

That men and women can, by physical and chemical means, transcend themselves in a genuinely spiritual way is something which, to the squeamish idealist, seems rather shocking. But, after all, the drug or the physical exercise is not the cause of the spiritual experience; it is only its occasion.

Writing of William James' experiments with nitrous oxide, Bergson has summed up the whole matter in a few lucid sentences. "The psychic disposition was there, potentially, only waiting a signal to express itself in action. It might have been evoked spiritually by an effort made on its own spiritual level. But it could just as well be brought about materially, by an inhibition of what inhibited it, by the removing of an obstacle; and this effect was the wholly negative one produced by the drug." Where, for any reason, physical or moral, the psychological dispositions are unsatisfactory, the removal of obstacles by a drug or by ascetic practices will result in a negative rather than a positive spiritual experience. Such an infernal experience is extremely distressing, but may also be extremely salutary. There are plenty of people to whom a few hours in hell--the hell that they themselves have done so much to create--could do a world of good.

Physiologically costless, or nearly costless, stimulators of the mystical faculties are now making their appearance, and many kinds of them will soon be on the market. We can be quite sure that, as and when they become available, they will be extensively used. The urge to self-transcendence is so strong and so general that it cannot be otherwise. In the past, very few people have had spontaneous experiences of a premystical or fully mystical nature; still fewer have been willing to undergo the psychophysical disciplines which prepare an insulated individual for this kind of self-transcendence. The powerful but nearly costless mind changers of the future will change all this completely. Instead of being rare, premystical and mystical experiences will become common. What was once the spiritual privilege of the few will be made available to the many. For the ministers of the world's organized religions, this will raise a number of unprecedented problems. For most people, religion has always been a matter of traditional symbols and of their own emotional, intellectual and ethical response to those symbols. To men and women who have had direct experience of self-transcendence into the mind's Other World of vision and union with the nature of things, a religion of mere symbols is not likely to be very satisfying. The perusal of a page from even the most beautifully written cookbook is no substitute for the eating of dinner. We are exhorted to "taste and see that the Lord is good."

In one way or another, the world's ecclesiastical authorities will have to come to terms with the new mind changers. They may come to terms with them negatively, by refusing to have anything to do with them. In that case, a psychological phenomenon, potentially of great spiritual value, will manifest itself outside the pale of organized religion. On the ether hand, they may choose to come to terms with the mind changers in some positive way--exactly how, I am not prepared to guess.

My own belief is that, though they may start by being something of an embarrassment, these new mind changers will tend in the long run to deepen the spiritual life of the communities in which they are available. That famous "revival of religion," about which so many people have been talking for so long, will not come about as the result of evangelistic mass meetings or the television appearances of photogenic clergymen. It will come about as the result of biochemical discoveries that will make it possible for large numbers of men and women to achieve a radical self-transcendence and a deeper understanding of the nature of things. And this revival of religion will be at the same time a revolution. From being an activity mainly concerned with symbols, religion will be transformed into an activity concerned mainly with experience and in-tuition--an everyday mysticism underlying and giving significance to everyday rationality, everyday tasks and duties, everyday human relationships.

#Aldous Huxley #Religion #Saturday Evening Post

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Classic Article: Drug harms in the UK: a multicriteria decision analysis

David Nutt challenges traditional views of the harm of various drugs.

#David Nutt #Social harm

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The God Pill | July 13, 2006 | The Economist (Classic Article)

Jul 13th 2006

Hallucinogens induce lasting spiritual highs in the religious

ONE June night in Mexico in 1955, Gordon Wasson, a vice-president of J.P. Morgan, became one of the first outsiders to eat what the Aztecs called teonanacatl, the flesh of the gods. Actually, it is the flesh of a fungus, and it soon became known to hippies as the magic mushroom. But, whereas the flower children of the 1960s and their descendants gobbled the hallucinogenic fungi in search of a good time, the Aztecs had a deeper purpose. They used the mushrooms in religious ceremonies for healing, divination and communing with the spirit world.

Now a study led by Roland Griffiths of Johns Hopkins University, and published this week in Psychopharmacology, has shown that psilocybin – the active component in magic mushrooms – does indeed induce mental states akin to the highest religious experiences. Moreover, it has lasting positive effects on those who take it. [Read the Study]

Experiments involving drugs of any kind need to have a control – that is, an otherwise identical experiment in which something other than the drug is administered – to check that any effects are caused by the drug and not something else. Ideally, neither experimental subjects nor researchers should know who is in the control group, but for experiments involving psychedelic drugs this is difficult, because it quickly becomes apparent who is high and who is not.

For his control, Dr Griffiths decided to use methylphenidate hydrochloride, otherwise known as Ritalin, a drug that calms hyperactive children. On one of two occasions, he gave 36 volunteers who had never taken hallucinogenic drugs either psilocybin or Ritalin, swapping the drugs on the second occasion. The choice of Ritalin was inspired. Neither the volunteers nor the experimenters could say reliably which drug was being administered on which occasion.

A close eye was kept on the volunteers for eight hours after the drugs were given, to check all was well. They were then asked about their experience. Two-thirds of the participants, who were mostly middle-aged college graduates, ranked being given psilocybin as either the best or in the top five best experiences of their lives – on a par with the birth of a first child. They described feeling peace, intense happiness and a sense of the unity of all things.

The participants were no strangers to spiritual highs. Almost all engaged at least monthly in religious or spiritual activities such as prayer or attending religious services, and were selected for participation in the trial on this basis. Yet two months after the trial, 79% of them reported moderately or greatly increased well-being or satisfaction. Their positive changes in attitudes and behaviour were confirmed by independent assessments made by friends and family.

Why this should be is not yet well understood. Psilocybin is thought to work by mimicking serotonin. This is one of the messenger molecules that carry signals between nerve cells in the brain, and it is known to influence mood. But there has been little research of late. Clinical studies using psilocybin and other hallucinogens were halted when recreational use of the drugs took off. They have only just resumed after a four-decade hiatus.

Dr. Griffiths and his colleagues argue that the mood-lifting effects of hallucinogens might be used to treat drug and alcohol addiction. Psilocybin itself is not addictive, although they recommend that its availability should continue to be limited. Psychedelic drugs could even be used to probe the basis of consciousness, according to Solomon Snyder, one of Dr Griffith's colleagues. Dr Snyder believes that investigation of such drugs could help scientists understand the molecular changes in the brain that underlie religious experiences.

Back in the 1950s, Gordon Wasson spent years gaining the trust of Amerindians who had continued the religious traditions of their pre-Columbian ancestors. Eventually he was allowed to partake of the mushroom. His experience, from which he said he emerged awestruck, started a short period of study that ended prematurely because of the mushroom's widespread recreational use. By showing it is possible to conduct such research responsibly, Dr Griffiths has opened the door for further work to be done on the properties of psychedelic drugs.

#R Gordon Wasson #Roland Griffiths #Johns Hopkins #2006 #Economist

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trippinglynet · 3 years

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Fake Ketamine has Flooded the Market. How Worried Should We Be?

Over the past few years the illegal use of Ketamine has rapidly grown, resulting in higher street prices and lower availability. Another troubling development has emerged — An influx of Ketamine copycat drugs are dominating the market. These drugs look and feel very similar to the real thing.

For almost twenty years we have tinkered with K, from low doses in social settings to deep, fully transcendental and dissociative states. We’ve had amazingly positive experiences. We’ve also lost a good friend to organ failure following years of daily Ketamine dependency. K is a substance we don’t take lightly, but find very rewarding.

We always test our compounds using test kits like the ones sold by DanceSafe or Narcocheck. For the past few years we have encountered a significant number of substances being marketed as K that failed to pass the basic dropper tests, and often produced results that left questions about what the substance was.

To shed light on whats going on, one of our research partners acquired eleven samples of Ketamine from a variety of sources. Each sample was submitted to a commercial lab, which applied deformulation techniques to identify the chemical composition of the mixtures and compounds. The results: 9 samples contained little or no Ketamine whatsoever. Only one sample tested for pure Ketamine.

The Lab Testing

The first challenge was to acquire Ketamine from as many sources as possible. Our research partner purchased from eight dark web sources compounds advertised as Ketamine or Ketamine S(+) (Ketamine is a mixture of two mirror image compounds: Ketamine S(+) and Ketamine R(-). She also received four samples from sources selling Ketamine, two in San Francisco and two in New York city. Three of these were advertised as Ketamine S(+), one as standard blended (racemic) K.

It’s important to note that we do not know where any of the sellers obtained their product. It’s possible that multiple sources were purchasing from the same manufacturer or middleman. It’s even possible that a single online seller is selling under multiple identities.

The results:

1 sample purchased in San Francisco tested as pure racemic Ketamine. Appearance was similar to salt crystals.

2 samples purchased in New York tested as pure 2-FDCK (2-Fl-2'-Oxo-PCM or 2-Fluorodeschloroketamine). One sample was 1/4” white rocks. One sample was a fine white powder.

1 sample purchased in New York tested as 30% DXE (2'-Oxo-PCM, aka DCK), 30% racemic Ketamine, 60% Inositol, with trace amounts (<1%) of Phencyclidine (PCP). Appearance was a fine white powder.

1 sample purchased online tested as 50% racemic Ketamine, 40% 2-FDCK, 4% milk protein, 6% Inositol. Appearance was a fine white powder.

1 sample purchased online tested as 60% MXE (2-MeO-2-deschloroketamine (Methoxyketamine), 40% mix of inert fillers. Appearance was a fine white powder.

1 sample purchased online tested as 70% O-PCE (2'-Oxo-PCE or N-ethyldeschloroketamine), 30% mix of inert fillers. Appearance was a fine white powder.

1 sample purchased online tested as 70% O-PCE, 30% 3-MeO-PCE. Appearance was a fine white powder.

4 samples purchased online tested as 100% 2-FDCK. Appearance varied from 1/4” white rocks to smaller (1/2 mm) crystals of varying uniformity.

Subjective Experiences

We interviewed two people who sampled the pure racemic Ketamine and one batch of the pure 2-FDCK. Both are long time and regular users of K (one or two times per month). Both snorted the compounds. After some trial and error, they reported similar intensity of effect at 225 mg of the pure K and 195 mg of the 2-FDCK.

Both reported the experiences with K and 2-FDCK to be extremely close subjectively. They both knew the correct identity of each substance, and both noted that they likely would not have noticed any difference between the 2-FDCK and the Ketamine had they not been focused on looking for differences.

The subjective differences noted: 2-FDCK had less defined visualizations, and they were darker, both in color pallet and emotionally. There was a feel of dying initially for one subjected, accompanied by minor panic, which quickly passed. The “hole” felt less deep, but lasted longer than with K.

But both people emphasized these were subtle, and they had both had very similar experiences with Ketamine from time to time. Both reported the experiences to be largely positive, but expressed a preference for the real K.

Safety

A major question that remains unanswered is whether people are being put at additional risk by using the counterfeit products being sold. Each of the compounds are close analogues to K. For example, as shown in the illustration, 2-FDCK is a Ketamine analogue where the chlorine group has been replaced by fluorine. Minor changes also produce the other analogues we encountered.

The similarity in structure helps explain why the various molecules have similar subject effects. However, the exact mechanism of how Ketamine works is poorly understood.

We know Ketamine blocks a channel in the brain known as the N-methyl D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR), altering the brain levels of glutamate, a neurotransmitter that stimulates nerve cells which allows for more effective communication between them. But Ketamine acts on other parts of the brain as well, and these mechanisms are less well understood.

We know that Ketamine is generally well-tolerated, although persistent use of K can lead to ulcers and kidney problems. Heavy use (daily for an extended period) has also been associated with memory issues, while users taking Ketamine once or twice a month did not suffer from similar memory impairment.

Typically, closely related compounds will have a similar risk profile [fn]. Therefore, there is some reason to believe the analogues being sold as Ketamine will present similar risk factors as Ketamine. However, until a compound is actually studied for toxicity and other harms, it is impossible to know with certainty the physiological impact it will have on the body. Certain other closely related compounds, such as methamphetamine and MDMA, which are very close in chemical composition, have different toxicity and potential for abuse.

Finally, because several of the analogues are more potent than Ketamine, it would be easy for an experienced Ketamine user to take too much of the analogue. The most likely outcome would be the same as overdoing it with Ketamine… blacking out, wetting oneself, etc. But how easy would it be to die from an overdose of a Ketamine analogue?

The LD50 (the dose that would kill half the people who took it) for Ketamine taken orally is estimated to be 4.2 grams for a 155 lb human. A high dose of oral Ketamine would be 250 mg, and therefore the risk of accidental overdoing on Ketamine is relatively small, and deaths by Ketamine toxicity are rare. LD50 of common Ketamine analogues have not been established. We suspect that analogues have a similar LD50 as Ketamine, but we have found any published data on lethal toxicity for the analogues we encountered.

Finally, several of the sample purchased included a mix of two compounds. Drug interactions are tricky, including the interactions of analogues (even 5 mg of methamphetamine added to 125 mg of MDMA produces a wildly different experience than pure MDMA, for example).

Conclusions

First, if you pay $100 per gram for Ketamine, you should be receiving K, not an analogue. For example, 2-FDCK can be purchased for around $25/g, and significantly less if you purchase in bulk. So being ripped off isn’t cool. Moreover, no one know the long term health effects of Ketamine analogues. We suspect they will be similar to Ketamine, but until they are studied, this is just informed speculation. Because fraudulent sellers are mixing multiple analogues, the risks of unpredictable outcomes is increased. Finally, because the potency of the various analogues vary, it will be important for any user to take conservative doses until they become familiar with the compound.

#Ketamine #2-FDCK #DXE #PCP #MXE #O-PCE #2-MeO-PCE

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trippinglynet · 3 years

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Dancefloors Against Ketamine

by Tom Armstrong

March 2010

It’s an unavoidable fact that the recent boom in deep and tech-house has brought with it a club culture based around a drug which has as much to do with music as Shirley Bassey has to do with Chinese snail racing: Ketamine.

I make these observations from the experience of being involved in and writing about the club scene in London extensively over the past year, but anyone who has been to a deep/tech house club night in London over the past few months will be familiar with scenes which could potentially be from Danny Boyle’s ‘28 Bumps Later’ where a cast of expressionless zombies try their best to crawl across a wall to the bar, making a combination of baby steps and aimless lunges to guess where the floor might be.

It seems paradoxical that a music-based movement has spawned a subculture which is entirely disinterested in the music it’s associated with, but it has. Let me take you back a few months to one particularly hot spring weekend. A selection of some of my favourite international DJ/producers were billed to play a warehouse party in Hackney (I’ll spare them the naming and shaming because the issue is much larger than that) which on paper, with the names on display, should have been the party of the year. What in fact transpired was merely a confirmation of what I’d suspected had become the primary clubbing experience for my generation: a ketamine fueled non-event. Half way through the night I looked out onto a stagnant crowd and watched the room sink further and further into a k-hole until the beats were at walking pace and the dance floor had no more vivacity than a wave of un-coordinated nodding heads.

To the DJs and the crowd the music was secondary; something to have on in the background while everybody disappeared into their own world. Nobody cared what tune was playing; the DJs themselves seemingly more interested in the gaggle of idol-worshipping girls behind the decks. There were people walking around in sunglasses indoors - at night - in April. I’d come to expect that sort of posing and image-conscious clubbing at Pacha or Hed Kandi, but this was a supposedly underground warehouse party in a cutting-edge part of London with some of the finest house DJs in the world. How had this scene become so unhealthy? Being in a room with such a downbeat vibe even took the fun out of MDMA, I felt like the only person interested in the party and after a few hours I got my coat and left.

What was more alarming was the reaction the following week by people who had been there. If you believed the hearsay, I’d been at the most amazing party since the last supper. The message boards were full of it, word-of-mouth spread, but I just didn’t understand, where were all these people who had such a great time on the night? They certainly weren’t on the dance floor. Then something dawned on me, the elements which are important to me: the music, the crowd, the vibe, the things that have made clubbing that special, meaningful thing that we love, are playing second fiddle to getting as wonky as possible on ketamine and gushing about how great the whole thing was afterwards. The scene, it seems, has become a charade.

You might say ‘getting off your face on drugs in a club is nothing new, it’s the same across the board’. Well, not quite. Acid House was arguably the first youth movement where the clubs were fuelled as much by the drugs as they were the music. For the first time, two separate entities which had co-existed for decades finally entered into an unbreakable marriage. One seemed meaningless without the other, furthermore in ecstasy’s case, one actually enhanced the effects of the other.

Briefly, the way ecstasy works is by flooding the brain with serotonin and dopamine, which heightens perception and creates exhilaration. This is why a) the music sounds so good and b) you want to tell each and every person on the dance floor how much you love them. Ketamine on the other hand is a very different ball game. It jams electrical neurotransmission between brain cells, distorting the senses and effectively separating body and mind. It’s nothing new either, it was discovered in the sixties and used relatively safely as a medical anesthetic. Within a few years a band of psychedelic experimentalists looking for an alternative to LSD had begun to utilize its recreational advantages, but it wasn’t to find its way into clubland until mid-nineties New York, much to the surprise of its original users.

The reason for their surprise, and the root of the problem we’re faced with today, is that trying to enjoy ketamine in a club environment is like trying to push a square through a round hole. They just don’t go together. You become dissociative, you lose your co-ordination, and you become separate from your surroundings; in effect, K is the quintessential ‘anti-party’ drug. If ecstasy brings a club together under a collective consciousness, ketamine divides it up again into a collection of individual non-responsive egos. If ecstasy makes you one with the music, ketamine shuts it out and ignores it. If ecstasy is energy, ketamine is lethargy.

This begs the question: Given the choice, who in their right mind would go to a club and take an anesthetic? People who aren’t interested in being a part of what’s going on around them, that’s who. People who have grown up on a diet of shit pills and celebrity culture. People to whom being able to say you saw a particular DJ is more important than what tunes they’re playing, and how can you care about the music when the most excited reaction you can muster is a gormless smile and a thumbs up? The club scene has always had an element of this, but to an increasingly large section of my generation music is just a voice in the backseat while ketamine takes you on your own private journey.

The next time you’re at a club or a big-billed house night in London, look around you. How many people are dancing? Really? And how many people are wandering around on autopilot or sat on the side-lines unable to move and uninterested in what’s going on around them. There’s even talk of ‘Wonky house’ (which is surely an oxymoron) being made by ketted-up producers who are every bit as much of the problem as the zombified clubbers. The foundations laid out by the loved-up generation are slowly sinking into a mass k-hole, and if those loyal to the music (and the Mandy, let’s not beat about the bush here) don’t get back onto dance floors and start hugging each other again, 20 years of positive clubbing experiences are under threat of being undone. And to those who should know better, next time you’re stocking up for a night out, think, isn’t a party full of people on bumbles much more fun than a walking wonky graveyard?

I’ll end on a poignant quote I read recently from a seasoned disco queen on the subject which highlights how far the ketamine epidemic has spread: “If you like your world in slow-motion and want to become one with the wall then save it for the afterparty, don’t stand there bog-eyed and get in my way while I’m Vogueing.”

#Ketamine #London #Tom Armstrong #2010

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trippinglynet · 3 years

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Oregon's Proposition 109, Explored In-Depth

The Oregon Psilocybin Services Act

Measure 109, the Oregon Psilocybin Service Act (the “Act”) was adopted in November 2020 after receiving 56% of Oregon’s popular vote.

The measure provides for legal access to psilocybin in supervised settings by licensed facilitators. Facilitators are not doctors and need only complete a high school education requirement. Until January 2025, facilitators will need to have been Oregon residents for at least two years to apply for a license. The licensee will be required to complete a yet to be develop educational course, and pass a licensing exam.

The Oregon Health Authority (the “OHA”) has direct supervision and authority over the act. Measure 109 also establishes Oregon Psilocybin Advisory Board (the “OPAB”) to assist in the implementation of the measure and its on-going oversight. The measure establishes a two-year phase in period, during which the state will develop rules and regulations to best implement the act.

Oregon also adopted Measure 110 with 58% of the vote, which decriminalizes personal possession of all drugs, and reclassifies the possession of larger quantity of drugs for non-commercial purposes from a felony to a misdemeanor. Personal possession remains a civil violation, and could result in a maximum $100 fine. Measure 110 also provides funds for addiction treatment, making Oregon the first state to transition from a punitive model to a wellness-based approach for addressing substance use.

Under Measure 110, possessing under 12 grams of psilocybin mushrooms, or less than forty tabs of LSD would be civil offenses. Possessing under 2 grams of cocaine or 1 gram or 5 pills of MDMA are also civil offenses.

Below is a summary of the key points of the Oregon Psilocybin Services Act. This has not been prepared by or reviewed by any attorney, and you should seek legal advice prior to relying upon the provisions of Measure 109.

Overview of How the Act Works

The Act governs the manufacture and sale of psilocybin, and establishes separate license requirements to: manufacture psilocybin, operate a psilocybin service center, run a lab to test psilocybin products or facilitate psilocybin sessions.

A single licensee may hold both a license to manufacture product and a license to operate a service center at which product is consumed. They may also hold multiple service center licenses. Before January 1, 2025, all license holders must be residents of Oregon for a minimum of two years.

Psilocybin products must be produced indoors. The products may be natural or synthetic (S.8(f)) and will need to be tested by a lab licensed by the OHA for psilocybin testing. Manufacturers will need to label products, including labeling the potency of the product

Psilocybin is provided by a licensed facilitator, with a minimum of a high school degree, who has completed a state mandated education program and license exam. No medical diagnosis may be required by the state to receive psilocybin treatments.

Psilocybin treatments consist of up to three sessions: A preparation session with the psilocybin facilitator, the administration session, and then an integration session, which may be waived by the client.

The administration session must occur at a service center, during which the client purchases, consumes and experiences the effects of the psilocybin, under supervision of the supervisor. The preparation session and integration session (if any) need not be held at a service center. The Act defers to the rule-making process as to whether group administration sessions may be held.

Note, the Act provides that the client must consume and “experience” the effects of the psilocybin at a service center. It does not provide whether a micro-dose may be administered at a service center, and these types of details will need to be worked out by the OHA, and addressed by rules and regulations they will adopt during the two-year phase in period.

Service centers cannot be within a specified distance of a school and may be subject to reasonable city and local zoning requirements. All employees must be over 21. Products sold are subject to a 15% tax. Government assistance programs and private insurance are not required to cover psilocybin treatment.

Cities and localities may only restrict manufacturing or service centers if done via an initiative approved by the local electorate, preventing localities from circumventing the act without popular approval. Localities may not tax psilocybin.

The Act restricts an individual from having a financial interest in more than one psilocybin product manufacturer or more than five psilocybin service center operators. This will have the practical effect of limiting institutional investment in Oregon’s psilocybin manufacturing or service center operation.

By operation of Oregon law, the legislature may, at anytime, amend the Act. Unlike certain other jurisdictions, such as the State of Washington, measures adopted by Oregon citizens are not afforded special protection from legislative change.

The Act in no way changes Federal law. Psilocybin is a Schedule I controlled substance, along with heroin, crystal meth, and marijuana. While it is impossible to know with certainty the full implications of this, we can look to marijuana regulation to predict certain implications.

First, we do not anticipate any federal law enforcement against anyone licensed under the Act, and acting in compliance with the Act. At a minimum, obtaining a criminal conviction in such a context would be extremely problematic. Moreover, the FDA has granted Breakthrough Therapy status to multiple psilocybin products. And while Joe Biden was slow to the decriminalization bandwagon (opposing cannabis legalization as recently as the democratic primaries), he has changed his tune and now supports decriminalization efforts. Vice-president elect Harris co-sponsored the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act. It is very difficult to imagine the Biden administration opposing local decriminalization efforts of any type. Opposing the Act, with its regulatory framework, seems far fetched at best.

Nonetheless, the federal Schedule I designation means most major commercial enterprises will not be able to participate in the psilocybin industry prior to FDA rescheduling, which likely won’t happen for several years. Moreover, any entity receiving federal grant money will also be practically prohibited from participating under the Act, except to the extent they can do so consistent with federal law, such as in the context of FDA approved clinical studies.

The Timeline of the Act

On or before:

February 28, 2021 - The governor appoints the members of the OPAB.

March 31, 2021 - The OPAB hold its first meeting

June 30, 2021 - The OPAB submits findings on available studies and research in treating mental health conditions

July 31, 2021 - The OHA publishes available studies and research in treating mental health conditions

June 30, 2022 - The OPAB submit findings on rules and regulations for implementation of the act, policies for psilocybin access, and regulations at policies at a federal level.

December 31, 2022 - OHA shall prescribes applicable regulations. Development period ends.

January 2, 2023 - OHA accepts license applications to manufacture, test product, operate a center and facilitate services.

Details of the Act

The Purpose of the Act

The primary purposes of the Act include:

Developing a long-term strategic plan for ensuring that psilocybin services will become and remain a safe, accessible and affordable therapeutic option for all persons 21 years of age and older in this state for whom psilocybin may be appropriate. (Section 2)

The primary purposes after the two-year development period include:

Allowing licensed persons to legally manufacture psilocybin products and provide psilocybin services to persons over 21 years old;

Establishing a comprehensive regulatory framework concerning psilocybin products and psilocybin services under state law.

Medical Assistance and Private Insurance

Act may not be construed to require a government medical assistance program or private health insurer to reimburse a person for costs associated with the use of psilocybin products (S.4)

The Oregon Psilocybin Advisory Board

The OPAB is established within the Oregon Health Authority (the “OHA”) for the purpose of advising and making recommendations to the authority.

The Governor shall appoint the OPAB as follows (S.6):

1. Two non-voting, ex-officio members:

A designee of the Oregon Health Policy Board

The Public Health Director (or its) designee.

If the Public Health Director is not the State Health Officer, the State Health Officer or a physician licensed as its designee;

If the Public Health Director is the State Health Officer, a representative from the OHA who is familiar with the state’s public health programs/activities.

2. Fourteen to sixteen voting members:

Four members, selected from a list of seven possible categories. Categories include five from state or local health representatives, a representative of an Indian tribe, and a representative of people who provide public health services to the public. E.g., they could pick four state employees, and no one else or any other combination from the specified categories.

A psychologist.

A physician.

A naturopathic physician.

An expert in the field of public health who has a background in academia.

Any three of the following: Someone experienced in researching psychedelic compounds in clinical therapy, a mycologist, an ethnobotanist, a psychopharmacologist, someone experienced in psilocybin harm reduction, a representative Oregon Liquor Control Commission with tracking marijuana transfer experience.

During the two-year program development period: One of the chief petitioners of this 2020 Act (Tom and Sheri); and one or two at-large members; and

After the two-year program development period, one, two, or three at-large members.

The board meets every other month during development period, and quarterly thereafter. Majority rule.

Role of the OPAB (Section 7)

The board has an advisory function to the OHA. It will:

Advise on the state current scientific research, proposed guidelines for administering psilocybin (including educational requirements and an ethics code), advise on whether group sessions shall be permitted, advise on requirements to receive a license under the measure, advise on the environment in which sessions shall occur, and coordinate with the state attorney general regarding federal law concerns.

The Oregon Health Authority (Section 8)

OHA oversees administration of the act and has rule making authority to implement the act. To adopt rules prohibiting advertising psilocybin products to the public.

The authority may not require that a psilocybin product be manufactured by means of chemical synthesis.

The authority may not require a client to be diagnosed with or have any particular medical condition as a condition to being provided psilocybin services.

License Types and Application Process

There are four distinct licenses available. Licenses to: (1) manufacture psilocybin products; (2) operate a psilocybin service center; (3) facilitate psilocybin services; and (4) test psilocybin products. (S.13)

Applicants for any license must be over 21. The OHA may be required applicants to undergo training and pass an examination. Applicants may be disqualified if they habitually use substances to excess, are convicted for a crime relating to the license, are not of good repute and moral character, or fail a variety of other tests of competency or character. (S.15)

Before 1/1/2025 license applicants must have Oregon for at least two years (or for entities, have majority owners that have lived in Oregon for two years).

Applicants may not be disqualified for prior manufacture of psilocybin or marijuana, or the possession of any controlled substance, if conviction is at least two years prior to license application and the person has no more than one conviction.

An individual may not have a financial interest in more than one psilocybin product manufacturer or more than five psilocybin service center operators.

A person may hold multiple service center operator licenses.

A person may hold both a manufacturer license and a service center operator license at the same or different premises.

Manufacturing

Fees may be imposed on manufacturing, but may not exceed the cost of administering the Act and shall be deposited in a segregated psilocybin fund. (S.23(5))

The OHA will adopted a variety of “endorsements” relating to psilocybin manufacturing, and each manufacturer may only produce products covered by their endorsement. Manufactures may, however, hold multiple endorsements. For example, the OHA may adopted endorsements of the manufacture of synthetic psilocybin, the natural production of psilocybin, and the chemical extraction of psilocybin from plant materials. Someone who held endorsements to grow natural mushrooms and extract psilocybin from plant material would be able to produce natural, extracted psilocybin, but not synthesize psilocybin. (S.24)

OHA will limit the amount of product on premises, depending on demand and supply within the state. (S.25)

Service Centers

Service centers must be in an area not-zoned exclusively for residential use, and not within 1000 feet of a school, subject to certain exception that allow a 500 foot boundary if there are physical or geographic barriers capable of preventing children from crossing the psilocybin service center property. (S.26-27)

Fees may be imposed, but may not exceed the cost of administering the act and shall be deposited in a segregated psilocybin fund. (S.26)

Facilitators

Must be licensed, and license holders before 1/1/2025 must meet two year Oregon residency requirement. Must have a high school diploma or equivalent. Must follow OHA education and exam requirements. (S.30)

Fees may be imposed, but may not exceed the cost of administering the act and shall be deposited in a segregated psilocybin fund. (S.30)

Services

OHA shall adopt rules for providing services to the client, including holding and verifying the preparation, administration and integration sessions. (S.33)

Before a client participates in an administration session, they must attend a preparation session with a facilitator, which need not be at a service center. The Act does not specify whether the session may be held online or telephonically. (S.34)

An administration session must be held at a psilocybin service center. (S.36)

After a client completes an administration session, the psilocybin service facilitator who supervised the administration session must offer the client an opportunity to participate in an integration session. The client may, but need not, participate in an integration session. (S.37)

Clients must provide a client information form. Facilitators are entitled to rely upon the forms, unless it would be unreasonable to do so. (S.35,38)

OHA shall determine education, training, etc. that facilitators skills are affirming, non-judgmental and non-directive and skills for administering psilocybin. (S.7,40)

Segregation of Premises

If a licensee holds more than one license for the same premises, OHA may require the premises to be segregated into separate areas for conducting the activities permitted under each license. For example, they may require manufacturing to be segregated from the service center area where psilocybin sessions are held. (S.43)

OHA develop a system for tracking of transfer of psilocybin products. (S.45)

Enter into an agreement with the Oregon Liquor Control Commission to tract the transfer of product among premises. The system shall include protections to prevent psilocybin being diverted to other states, to avoid tampering and to establish accurate accounting. (S.45)

The system must be capable of tracking, at a minimum, the sale and purchase of psilocybin products between licensees and premises.

Conduct of Licenses

Psilocybin products must be produced indoors. (S.52) The products may be natural or synthetic (S.8(f)) and will need to be tested by a lab licensed by the OHA for psilocybin testing (S.97). Manufacturers will need to label products, including labeling the potency of the product (S.105)

Manufacturers and service centers may only deliver psilocybin products to manufacturing facilities or service centers. And may only receive psilocybin product from another manufacturer. This may be waived by the OHA. (S.53)

The sale of psilocybin products to a client by a psilocybin service center operator that holds a license must be restricted to the premises for which the license has been issued. This may be waived by the OHA. (S.53)

Clients must be 21 or older. (S.54)

Service center operators and facilitators must keep client identity and communications confidential, subject to customary exceptions. (S.56)

A client may purchase, possess, and consume a psilocybin product: (1) Only at a psilocybin service center; and (2) Only under the supervision of a psilocybin service facilitator. (S.57)

A psilocybin service facilitator may not consume a psilocybin product during an administration session that the psilocybin service facilitator is supervising. (S.58)

All employees must be 21+ years of age. (S.59)

The OHA may revoke a license if the license violates the act, has mislead the OHA, is insolvent, habitually excessively uses alcohol or controlled substances, or, since the issuance of the license, is convicted of a felony, of violating any Oregon psilocybin products laws, or of any misdemeanor or violation of any municipal ordinance committed on the premises for which the license has been issued. (S.64)

Anyone who performs work for a license must have an OHA permit, if the work includes provision of psilocybin service, the possession, manufacturing, securing or selling psilocybin products, and certain other tasks. (S. 65-66)

Anyone under 21 who enters a service center is guilty of a Class B violation (max fine $1,000, presumptive fine $265). A person under 21 is not in violation of the section if they contacted law enforcement or emergency service for themselves or another person, or a third party sought medical attention for them. (S.70-71)

It is a class A violation ($2,000 max fine) to use false ID, give psilocybin to someone visibly intoxicated, to award psilocybin as a prize, premium or consideration for a lottery or game of skill or chance. (S.73)

Local Regulation and Taxation

In general, local laws are preempted by this statute, and as a result no local city or county can pass laws that are more inconsistent with the act. However, localities may impose reasonable restrictions on manufacturing procedures, center operation, hours of operation, public access and premise locations. (S.79)

No local licenses may be required for the manufacture or sale of psilocybin. However, reasonable regulations of the businesses may be imposed. (S.80-81)

No local taxes are permitted. (S.82)

Federal Law

The Oregon Health Authority, the State Department of Agriculture and the Oregon Liquor Control Commission may not refuse to perform any duty under the act on the basis that manufacturing, distributing, dispensing, possessing or using psilocybin products is prohibited by federal law. (S.87)

Psilocybin-producing fungi is defined as a crop for the purposes of certain agricultural regulations. The operation of a psilocybin service center may be carried on in conjunction with a psilocybin-producing fungi crop. A county may allow the manufacture of psilocybin products as a farm use on land zoned for farm or forest use. (S.91)

Testing of Psilocybin

OHA shall establish standards for testing product, including identifying appropriate tests for psilocybin products, depending on the type of product and manner of manufacturing. These may include tests for contaminants, pesticides, solvents. (S.96)

OHA shall establish procedures for determining batch sizes and for sampling psilocybin products. (S.96)

Testing must occur in a licensed lab. (S.97)

Packaging, Labeling and Dosage

OHA shall adopted labeling requirements that include potency, serving sizes, contents, and standard food labeling information. (S.105)

OHA shall adopt rules establishing the maximum concentration of psilocybin and the number of servings permitted in a package. (S.105)

Taxation; Record Retention

A 15% tax is imposed on retail sales. (S.113)

Service operators must keep records for a minimum of five years. (S.118)

A Oregon Psilocybin Account will be established from the state, separate from the General Fund. (S. 126)

Authority of Cities and Counties to Prohibit Psilocybin-related Businesses

Localities may adopt ordinances to be referred to the electorate that prohibit or allow the establishment of psilocybin manufacturers or service centers. Between the date the city adopts the ordinance and the date of the next election, OHA shall not grant new permits to manufactures or service centers. (S.128)

Localities may not tax psilocybin products. (S.128(6))

#Measure 109 #Measure 110

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trippinglynet · 3 years

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LSD: Hollywood's Status-Symbol Drug | Cosmopolitan, November 1963

While some psychiatrists have found LSD useful in therapy, growing numbers of doctors are gravely worried by evidence that the drug may cause mental distress rather than cure it.

by Bob Gaines

The Caterpillar took the hookah out of its mouth and yawned once or twice, and shook itself. Then it got down off the mushroom, and crawled away into the grass, merely remarking as it went, “One side will make you grow taller, and the other side will make you grow shorter.”

“One side of what? The other side of what?” thought Alice to herself.

“Of the mushroom,” said the Caterpillar. . . .

In the hallucinatory world of Alice in Wonderland, where caterpillars talk, mock turtles cry and magic mushrooms abruptly alter the gourmet’s perspective of the world (a fact well documented by the Indians of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula), the extraordinary properties of the vision-producing drug, LSD-25, would seem almost commonplace.

But even Alice might blink twice and remark, “Curiouser and curiouser,” were she to learn of the current fad and controversy that has sprouted up about the drug. Suddenly LSD has become the sophisticated “fun thing to try among the smart set, the fast set and the beat set, and if you haven’t got a buddy who can run down to his friendly neighborhood LSD bootlegger and buy an apule of those little blue pills, you are simply not in, my friend. In New York the drug is bartered freely in Greenwich Village coffeehouses. In Boston, communal homes have been established where LSD communicates can share insights gained through better living with chemistry. In San Francisco black marketeers ply a busy trade smuggling the drug in from Canada, while in Los Angeles drug cultists gather to plan for the idyllic day when there wil be LSD therapists (similar to the ones now working in Europe) with cubicle-lined offices filled with happily hallucinating patients. Like winter colds and Asian flu, LSD is seeping the nation, and its eager exponents assure us it will soon be as much a part of the American culture and diet as Mom’s apple pie.

A Galloping Cure?

The cause of all this bizarre activity is d-lysergic acid diethylamide tartrate, a supposedly non-addictive drug so powerful that a minute particle barely visible on the head of a pin can send anyone who swallows it into dream delirium. It is classified-along with two other substances-a psychedelic or “mind-expanding” drug. Since its discovery in 1943 by a Swiss chemist named Albert Hofmann, it has been the subject of close to a thousand papers dealing with its effect on everything from Siamese fish to Asiatic elephants. Is supporters have suggested it may serve as a panacea for a melange of problems, ranging from stuttering to cancer. A few psychiatrists are currently using it as a kind of galloping psychotherapy. They claim it speeds up analysis and accomplishes in months what normally takes years. most physicists and doctors demur so does the Food and Drug Administration which recently seized over sixty thousand doses of black market LSD in San Francisco and wishes that it could get its hands on more.

So serious do physicians and psychiatrists view the fad for this drug that Dr. Roy Grinker, chief editor of the AMA’s Archives of General Psychiatry, recently wrote an editorial in his publication that the drug could be fatal if used indiscriminately and that many psychiatrists had become so enamored with its “mystical, hallucinatory state” that they were “disqualified as competent investigators.” He further complained the drug was being imprudently publicized and endorsed by “movie actors and television psychiatrists.”

Hollywood Had It First

The last crack was a direct slap at Hollywood, where LSD receive its first major burst of publicity, and where some of its most devoted rooters live. Actually, Hollywood was buzzing over LSD as far back as 1959. It began when two Los Angeles doctors published the results of an experimental therapy program they had conducted with 110 patients-including Cary Grant, his wife Betsy Drake and several more Hollywood actors, publicists and writers. The reaction to the paper was explosive. Joe Hyams, Hollywood correspondent for the New York Herald Tribune, who did one of the first interviews with Cary Grant about LSD therapy, told me recently, “After my series came out, the phone began to wring wildly. Friends wanted to know where they could get the drug. Psychiatrists called, complaining their patients were now begging them for LSD. Every actor in town under analysis wanted it. In all, I got close to eight hundred letters.” Cary Grant today is still eager to offer this testimony to the efficacy of the drug: “If I drop dead within the next ten years, I will have enjoyed more living in the latter part of my life than most people ever know.” When I asked Grant if he thought his association with the drug had helped or hindered its development, he said brusquely, “A Hollywood name might have created some resistance, but many people will seek any reason to oppose a new idea, you know.”

At the time, Sandoz Pharmaceuticals, manufacturer of LSD, was fairly liberal about releasing the drug for “experimental” purposes, and a number of Hollywood psychiatrists, lay therapists and even osteopaths jumped on the LSD bandwagon. The fad spread north to San Francisco, and shortly after, newspapers in Las Vegas began to report of ampuls of LSD in saline solution being sold to teen-agers.” “The fad here quickly divided itself into two groups, the hopheads who were looking for a kick and the thoughtful people who wanted to experiment with the drug’s effects on mental illness, creativity or extrasensory perception,” one San Francisco architect who tried LSD during this period told me. “Everybody seemed to have a pal who was working with the drug or could get his hands on it.”

LSD For World Peace

More and more of the California intelligentsia began to push the drug. From his houseboat in Sausalito, philosopher Alan Watts spoke of a society where LSD pills would be taken two or three times a year, like aspirin, to relieve temporary emotional headaches. Aldous Huxley wrote glowingly of his mystical SD flights; poet Allen Ginsberg urged that the drug be given to Khruschev and Kennedy in the interest of world peace. One of the Hollywood actresses who first tried the drug, who wrote of how it cured of frigidity in the book, My Self and I, under the pseudonym of Constance Newland Cultist groups sprang up in San Francisco and Hollywood, where it now had virtually become a status symbol among the cocktail-party set, and local officials began to hear of LSD parties where the drug was mixed with mescaline, marijuana and barbiturates - “they all cancel each other out and save you from a hangover,” explained one celebrant. The great American LSD binge was on. Not all this activity was harmless. Rumors about psychotic breakdown began to circulate. One prominent physician on the LSD scene had his license temporarily revoked for experiment with the drug while using it. There was also the much-publicized story of a Los Angeles detective who confiscated a bag of harmless-looking sugar cubes on a known narcotics peddler and took them home. That evening the detective and his son used the sugar in their coffee and shortly after began to have weird hallucinations. Both had to hospitalized.

At this point, Sandoz began to crack down on the distribution, and many therapists without proper qualifications abruptly had their supply cut off. The pharmaceutical company was worried that is might one day be sued for indiscriminate distribution of the drug. There was also the matter of the black market which seemed to be growing larger as the fad spread to the East Coast, where it now seems to be flourishing.

Danger: Uneven Effect

When I asked Dr. Carlo Henze of Sandoz about the problem, he was at a loss to explain the source of the illegal drugs. “We wish we knew. We only know that any competent organic chemist with the proper laboratory equipment could manufacture LSD. The danger in these drugs is that the quality is unreliable.

Currently, the Svengali of LSD cultists is Dr. Timothy Leary, former psychology lecturer at Harvard University and head of a group in Cambridge, Massachusetts called the International Federation of Internal Freedom, shortened colloquially to IFIF. Leary and his associate, Dr. Richard Alpert, also formerly of Harvard, having stirred up enormous controversy because of their stand on behalf of what they call the Fifth Freedom-freedom to expand one’s consciousness through “drug-induced satori.”

In the spring of 1960 (during what Leary called his “antediluvian” period), he was vacationing in Cuernavaca, Mexico, when an anthropologist at the University of Mexico introduced him to the “magic mushrooms” that cause hallucinations. “It was the first time I’d experienced the effects of psilocybin [the vision-producing chemical in the mushrooms] and it changed my life completely,” he recalls. “I had an intense transcendental experience. It showed me how limited my old conception of the range of human consciousness was.”

Leary and Alpert conducted several hundred private sessions with graduate students and friends, exploring the emotional and creative effects of psychedelic drugs. The drugs were frequently administered in apartments near Harvard where the subjects relaxed on mats or rugs in front of a glowing fireplace while music played on the phonograph. Eventually, the dean’s office of Harvard heard whispers about these soirees and, paling at the prospect of a host of Harvard lads benumbed on LSD, decided to act. In November, 1962, Dean John Monro of Harvard College and Dr. Dana Farnsworth of the University Health Service issued a statement to the student newspaper, The Harvard Crimson, warning that the use of “mind-distorting drugs” like LSD, mescaline and psilocybin “may result in serious hazards to the mental health and stability even of apparently normal persons.” The statement was accompanied by a Crimson article about the bootlegging of LSD sugar cubes about Harvard Yard at a dollar a cube.

By this time, Leary’s superiors had become genuinely anxious about the psilocybin research project. Rumors about psychedelic sex parties and undergraduates working their way through college by smuggling in shipments of LSD from New York were rampant. “LSD is so powerful” says Leary wryly, “that one administered dose can start a thousand rumors.” A faculty group was formed eventually to “advise and oversee” all studies involving psilocybin, and Leary and Alpert were asked to turn over their supply of the drugs to the University Health Service. As criticism mounted, Leary and his little band of experimenters drew closer together until finally, with the help of several small foundations, they formed IFIF in the winter of 1962. The group also opened two communal homes in nearby residential Newton.

The Harvard-hallucinogen controversy finally blew up the next spring when Dr. Alpert was fired for administering drugs to an undergraduate. The incident was reported to President Pusey’s office by the boy’s doctor, and Pusey immediately pulled the rug out from under Alpert, the first such dismissal at Harvard in the twentieth century. Shortly after, Dr. Leary was also fired for failure to attend classes. He denies this charge, say he had no classes in the spring, and is currently fighting the dismissal.

The “Modest Heroes”

"Said Cary Grant after his LSD analysis, "If I drop dead within the next ten years, I will have enjoyed more living in the latter part of my life than most people ever know."

Despite all setbacks, Leary and company still pursue their goal of psychedelic freedom and speak confidently of research groups starting in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Mexico City. IFIF’s home office in Cambridge now lists over seven hundred members, and new applications arrive in the mail every day. When I met Timothy Leary recently, he was able to say confidently, “It's only a question of time until the psychedelic experience will be accepted. We see ourselves as modest heroes, an educational tool to facilitate the development of new social forms.

“Our main concern is the social application of the drugs,” he says. “We believe virtually anybody who used them under the correct supportive circumstances can receive intuitive insights of astonishing clarity. We have an enormous amount of scientfic evidence to show that personal background makes no difference. You can be a convict or a college professor-you’ll still have a mystical, transcendental experience that may change your life.

Doing More Harm Than Good?

“Our basic philosophy is similar to that of the founders of all the great world religions. Man should turn inward. Man should examine his own consciousness. In a sense, we’re a very conservative, old-fashioned organization, and only in the present climate of hysteria can we be considered far out. We’re simply trying to get back to man’s sense of nearness to himself and others, the sense of social nearness which civilized man has long lost. We’re in step with the basic needs of the human race, and those who oppose us are far out.”

Statements like this usually can be counted on to infuriate doctors, psychiatrists and psychologists. The men I spoke to tongue-lashed Leary for being everything from “an irresponsible egotist and bad man” to a confirmed LSD addict (he candidly admits he has taken over one hundred psychedelic flights.) Drugs administered by Leary and IFIF are said to have caused several cases of mental breakdown. A few doctors admitted a grudging admiration for the man. One new York psychiatrist, who used LSD until Sandoz stopped the supply, told me, “I think Leary’s done a lot of harm to the cause of psychedelic medicine, but I give him credit for having the guts to stick his neck out. He’s convinced he’s right and he’s willing to jeopardize his career for these ideas. Only time will tell whether he's right.

Fortunately for the cause of psychedelic medicine, most researchers have shied away from Dr. Leary’s brand of religiosity and confined themselves to more mundane, pragmatic ends. The story of the development of LSD has been recounted so often it needs only brief retelling. In 1943, Albert Hofmann, a chemist with Sandoz Pharmaceuticals in Basle, Switzerland, accidentally swallowed or inhaled a minute quality of an experimental drug. He soon became dizzy and went home where he lay in bed and experienced fantastic hallucinations. Puzzling over the episode the next day, he deliberately swallowed a small quantity of the chemical and was soon lost in a world beyond time and space in which he could see his own “body lying dead on the sofa.” Since that day, hundreds of other experimenters have been working with the drug.

Originally, it was thought to have value in the treatment of psychotic patients. Today, doctors are not so certain, and some of the most interesting work going on deals with the use of LSD in the treatment of specialized problems like alcoholism, drug addiction, schizophrenia among children. In the late forties and early fifties, the Army and Air Force were interested in known more about LSD as a tool for brainwashing (i.e., had the Chinese Communists used it on American prisoners of war?) and as a weapon in drug warfare. Scientists were asked to investigate what might happen if someone were to drop several pounds of LSD in the municipal water supply of New York, Washington, or Los Angeles. The findings are still being kept under wraps by the Army Chemical Corps which handles such information.

“Profound” Character Changes

So far, the most fruitful, though controversial, work has been in the treatment of neurotics. Dr. Humphry Osmond, who curently is conducting a psychedelic program for alcoholics at the New Jersey Neuro-Psychiatric Institute, believes the drugs can cause a profuon change in human character, though neither he nor anyone else seems to know the exact mechanism of this “profound change” Osmond and his associates only know that remarkable results have occurred under LSD Therapy.

While there is no such thing as an average LSD reaction, the experience of Ronnie Gilbert touches so many of the familiar bases that it is worth recounting. Ronnie is a blues singer and also sings with The Weavers, possibly America’s oldest and best-known folk song group. At present, she is a cheerful handsome woman who, when she is not on tour, lives in a happily cluttered midtown Manhattan apartment with her daughter. But one year ago, Ronnie was mired in a deep, aching depression from which she found it impossible to break free. During this period a worried friend told her of a New York psychiatrist who was using the new drug, LSD-25, and suggested she go see him.

Stripped to the Core

In the next six months, Ronnie went through twenty LSD sessions with the doctor. Each session began at 10 a.m. and continue until evening (for which she paid the standard psychoanalytic fee of twenty dollars an hour). Part of the sessions were spent in her doctor’s darkened office where she lay absorbed in visions, shimmering colors and forgotten scenes from her childhood. Sometimes she sat and painted the things she saw (the paintings she showed me were luminously nonobjective splashes of color and curiously pleasant); on other occasions, she and her doctor went for walks in nearby Central Park or visited art galleries and churches.

Walking through the park, Ronnie told me, she felt an “atavistic sense of life all around me. I looked at trees for the first time, really looked at them. Everything seemed so rich and intense. I think it is this intensity that gives the LSD experience meaning to a patient. Suddenly, all the phony concepts and layers of inhibitions are stripped away, and you are exposed at your intellectual and physical core. You have to believe what you see.”

By the end of her first six sessions in LSD land, Ronnie had thrown off her depression; she continued for several months more and then decided she had had enough. “For the first few days after dropping therapy, I felt a bit anxious and irritable, so maybe there is something to the idea that you can build a psychic dependency on the drug. But then the irritation stopped. Since then, I’ve been turned on to life and have never been so happy,” she told me.

#Cosmopolitan #LSD #Bob Gaines #Hollywood #Cary Grant #Betsy Drake #Dr. Carlo Henze #Dean John Monro #Dana Farnsworth #International Federation of Internal Freedom #IFIF #DrHumphry Osmond #Dr. Humphry Osmond #Ronnie Gilbert

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The Heaven or Hell Drugs | Macleans, June 20, 1964

SIDNEY KATZ

JUNE 20 1964

ON THURSDAY, JUNE IS, 1953, in the interests of schizophrenia research then being conducted in a provincial mental hospital in Weyburn. Saskatchewan. ] swallowed a chemical known as LSD-25. The tasteless, colorless, odorless substance I took had been described to me as a "hallucinogenic” drug — a drug capable of turning a normal person, temporarily, into a psychotic. My report of this unforgettable experience (Maclean's, October 1, 1953) began this way:

“For twelve hours 1 inhabited a nightmare world in which 1 experienced the torments of hell and the ecstasies of heaven. I will never be able to describe fully what happened to me during my excursion into the world of madness. There are no words designed to convey the sensations I felt or the visions, illusions, hallucinations, colors, patterns and dimensions my disordered mind revealed. . . . The faces of familiar friends turned into fleshless skulls and the heads of menacing witches, pigs and weasels. . . . The patterned carpet at my feet was transformed into a fabulous, heaving mass of living matter.

. . . I could clearly see to the horizon and beyond. . . . Time lost all meaning. . . . My senses of feeling, smell and hearing ran amok. ... At times, I beheld visions so beautiful, so dazzling, so rapturous, so unearthly that no artist will ever paint them.”

When I wrote these lines LSD and its chemical relative, mescaline, were the only hallucinogenic agents known. Today the number has proliferated to include psilocybin, DMT, UM-491, CI-395, and many more now being synthesized or tested. They have a new name, the "psychedelics.” meaning mind-revealing, mind-expanding or consciousness-expanding drugs. The term was coined by Dr. Humphrey Osmond, formerly of Saskatchewan and now director of psychiatric research for the state of New Jersey. ("To sink in hell or soar angelic, You need a pinch of psychedelic,” rhymes Osmond.) Thousands of people have taken one or another of the new psychedelic drugs. They include many people with specific problems: alcoholics, neurotics, psychotics. child schizophrenics and hardened criminals. But the consciousness-expanding chemicals have also been used by large numbers of "normal” people — writers, painters, scholars, theologians and others who believe that these new', potent agents are able to endow their lives with greater beauty, meaning and purpose.

No contemporary account of the potential benefits of the psychedelic drugs has so far been made public, even in the medical press. One reason is suggested by Dr. J. Ross MacLean of Hollywood Hospital, New Westminster. B.C., where over six hundred patients have taken LSD. "Many medical journals are now running two years behind in publishing material,” he says. “It's almost like court cases in Ontario."

They have names like LSD, UM-491, DMT. They have weird, visionary effects on the mind—glorious or utterly terrifying. They may have truly fantastic powers in treating mental illness, alcoholism, criminality. Theologians are bitterly divided over their ability to induce "instant religion." Their enthusiasts say they could even add a new dimension to the inner lives of average men and women.

But accumulated experience with the drugs up to now — both published and unpublished — has aroused excitement and enthusiasm in many informed quarters. To Dr. Duncan Blewett, a University of Saskatchewan psychologist, "The psychedelics are the strongest tools ever dreamed of for man's betterment. They will solve most of man’s problems. They can make humanitarians out of fanatics, friends out of enemies, effective people out of neurotics.” Dr. Timothy Leary, a brilliant but controversial ex-Harvard psychologist whom I recently interviewed in New York, flatly states that "the consciousness-expanding drugs can make the average person happier, wiser, kinder and more creative.” In the view of Dr. Stanley Krippner of Kent State University in Ohio, we should be exploring energetically the widest possible use of the psychedelics "if millions of people arc to be helped quickly, dramatically and inexpensively."

This kind of buoyant optimism appears to be justified in the case of chronic alcoholics who are beyond the reach of psychotherapy or Alcoholics Anonymous. For the past ten years, alcoholism clinics in Saskatchewan and British Columbia have been blazing a pioneer trail in the use of LSD. Over a thousand patients have been treated, many of them "hopeless." Dr. Abram Hoffer, a University of Saskatchewan specialist, sums up the result this way: "LSD is the best remedy we've got. Our results are twice as good as those achieved by any other treatment program.” From the state hospital in Everdeen. Netherlands Dr. Arendsen-Hein reports what appears to be a breakthrough in the treatment of psychopathic criminals. He describes, among others, an inveterate swindler and sex pervert who was unaffected by five years of psychiatric treatment. After treatment with LSD the patient "is now such a different character that skeptics would say this is too good to be true.” After observing several such apparent miracles, Dr. Ci. W. Arendsen-Hcin says. “Our widespread skepticism as to the value of treating the criminal psychopath needs revision.” Schizophrenic children, who for years have lived silently in a remote fantasy world of their own creation, have partially returned to reality after taking LSD and UM-491.

Some theologians claim that almost everyone can have a deep, mystical religious experience with the psychedelics. R. G. Wasson of New York, an authority on vision producing agents, has described psilocybin as “the great mediator with God.” Hundreds of poets, painters, sculptors, writers anti-composers have used the mind-expanding chemicals. “They respond ecstatically and wisely to the drug experience,” says Dr. Timothy Leary. “They tell us this is what they’ve been looking for. Creative people revel in the new and intense and direct confrontation with the world about them.” Many neurotics, after drug sessions, report freedom from painful symptoms of long duration. Large numbers of “normal” people have also praised the drugs, claiming they increase the capacity to love, to communicate, and to develop one’s latent abilities.

Because the psychedelics introduce a radically new approach to mental therapy it’s not surprising that they have stirred up a storm of debate in medical and psychological circles. The most heated controversy was precipitated by the so-called “Harvard University drug scandal.”

The central figures in the Harvard affair were two staff psychologists. Timothy Leary, forty-three, and Richard Alpert, thirty-two. Their experiments with LSD and psilocybin began in I960 under the auspices of Harvard University. As their interest in the drugs intensified, they began off-campus investigations in private homes and apartments, using as their subjects graduate students, friends, doctors, theologians and an assortment of painters, writers and sculptors. By 1962 they were continually under attack by university officials, government health authorities and various members of the medical profession.

According to university officials. Leary and Alpert did not exercise the necessary caution in selecting candidates for LSD and psilocybin. “Playing with these drugs is like playing psychic Russian roulette,” said John U. Monro, dean of Harvard College. The authorities charged that several Harvard students were under medical care, the results of careless psychedelic experiments. One patient, they claimed, imagined that he was six inches tall for forty-eight hours; another took to his bed for several weeks, crying and sobbing, in memory of the horrible hallucinations induced by psilocybin. Leary and Alpert were criticized for giving potent drugs without being qualified to practice medicine. An even greater transgression in the eyes of the university was the psychologists' practice of taking psychedelics along with their subjects. “The more the two scientists take the drug.” said one critic, “the less they become interested in science.”

In the fall of 1962 Leary and Alpert organized IFIF (the International Federation for Internal Freedom) to explore the drugs, train people in their administration and set up “transcendental colonies.” IFIF is now defunct because of opposition by strong factions within the medical profession, and government health authorities. At its zenith it had three thousand members and quarters in Boston, New' York, Los Angeles and Mexico. Leary and Alpert’s dispute with Harvard University ended last summer when both men were fired by President Nathan Pusey — an unusual event in Harvard's well-ordered existence.

What the Harvard affair has underlined are the two sharply opposing professional views about how to use the mind-expanding drugs. The majority of psychiatrists, psychologists and pharmacologists tend to be conservative. As a general principle, says Dr. Theodore Rothman, a senior psychiatrist on the staff of the University of Southern California, the drugs should be used sparingly. “I’m against chemical brainwashing,” he says. “I protest the impairing of the intact human brain with chemicals in order to disorganize the nervous system, producing psychopathological states which may be irreversible.” On occasion, he has dismissed Leary and Alpert’s views as "academic hipsterism." Dr. Jonathan Cole, director of psychopharmacological research at the U. S. National Institute of Health in Maryland, told me that he favors using the psychedelics only on seriously disturbed people who have failed to respond to other forms of treatment. An important peripheral hazard of the drugs, according to Cole, is that they are “cultogenic.” What this means, he says, is that “people who take them develop boundless enthusiasm and want to give them to everybody else.” Other qualified experts have warned that if the drugs are used indiscriminately, a kind of psychic addiction may be set up in some people. Present government control of the psychedelic drugs reflects this fear. Restrictions on distribution of the chemicals are rigid, both in Canada and the United States.

No one who has had personal experience with any of the consciousness-expanding chemicals will question the need for caution. They should be administered by competent specialists, and withheld from people who want them only for “kicks.” They should never be given unstable individuals in whom they might precipitate a psychotic breakdown. With these reasonable precautions, medical men who have actually worked with the drugs have shown that when they are professionally administered the risk involved is negligible. Fortunately. all but a few people seem to be able to take the new chemicals without harmful effects. After reviewing one thousand published studies on LSD, Drs. Sidney Cohen and Keith Ditman, of Veterans Hospital in Los Angeles, concluded that LSD is nonaddictive and that toxic or psychological complications from its use are rare. The statistically small proportion of people who have suffered damage have usually been those who bought the drugs on the black market and took them without supervision. A pioneer in LSD treatment. Dr. Abram Hoffer adds, “There is no danger to the subject. In most cases where there have been bad results this may be ascribed to the incompetence of the people giving the compound.”

"To restrict their use to the ill is analogous to saying that only the sick should be able to go to Paris for a rest and change"

Still, many or possibly most medical authorities continue to claim that psychedelics should be administered only to people suffering from serious mental illnesses. Dr. Duncan Blewett. of the University of Saskatchewan, thinks otherwise. “To restrict their use to the ill is analogous to saying that only the sick should be able to go to Paris for a rest and change. It may help a sick man to overcome his disease, but a man who is well to begin with is likely to see and accept far more and to profit far more from the trip.” And the attempt to restrict the psychedelics is viewed by Dr. Timothy Leary as a serious encroachment on individual freedom. “People should have access to their own nervous systems and their own unconscious minds,” says Leary. “That’s the fifth freedom.” Leary says he is not surprised that the new chemicals are regarded with suspicion, fear and hostility by most orthodox medical and scientific people. "All pioneers and trail-blazers can expect to be persecuted.' he says. "We are visionaries. far-out explorers in an exciting new world.”

Leary's world had its modern beginning one April afternoon in 1943 in a laboratory in Basel. Switzerland. Albert Hofmann, a chemist employed by the pharmaceutical firm Sandoz AG, w'as trying out different compounds based on lysergic acid, a chemical derived from ergot, a black fungus that grow's on rye and wheat. Hofmann swallowed a small quantity of a compound he had just created, later to become known as LSD. "1 experienced fantastic images of an extraordinary plasticity," he later reported. “They w'ere associated with an intense kaleidoscopic play of colors. . . . Space and time became disorganized. ... I thought I had died. My ‘ego’ was suspended somewhere in space and I saw my body lying dead on the sofa. ... I was overcome with fears that I was going crazy.”

Hofmann's strange new compound aroused the immediate curiosity of medical scientists throughout the world who were interested in mental health. They learned that LSD dilates the pupils, raises the systolic blood pressure, increases the strength of reflexes and of electrical discharges from the brain. It also stimulates the brain's sensory centers as well as blocking off its inhibiting mechanisms. Most significantly, LSD and variations of LSD compounds can inhibit or encourage the production of serotonin, a substance found in certain regions of the brain. Some researchers suspect that hallucinations and agitated behavior result from an excess of serotonin, and that fits of depression and catatonic states result from a deficiency of serotonin.

A few years after his LSD discovery Dr. Hofmann created psilocybin. the pure chemical form of the active ingredient of the famous vision - producing mushroom, Psilocybe mexicana. Other chemists synthesized mescaline, derived from the peyote cactus plant found growing in large sections of the southwestern United States, Mexico and Central and South America. Mescaline is chemically related to LSD as are DMT and UM-491, two other newly arrived psychedelics. All these chemicals are usually administered in tablet or liquid form. Another new drug. C1-395 or Phencyclidine, is administered intravenously. The strongest of all the psychedelics is LSD, one hundred times more potent than psilocybin; seven thousand times stronger than mescaline. The effects of LSD last eight to twelve hours: psilocybin four to six hours: DMT about an hour.

The action of the psychedelics on the human body is yet to be explored fully, as are the means by which the new chemicals bring about phenomenal changes in the feeling, thinking, attitudes and behavior of many of the people who take them. I will, however. attempt to summarize the explanations of several physicians, philosophers and theologians. The explanation will be inadequate. No written language exists to convey fully what happens to a person who takes a mind-expanding chemical.

Under the influence of the drug the subject has what workers with psychedelics have come to describe as a "transcendental experience,” an experience "beyond the person." It is overwhelming and illuminating, both emotional and intellectual. It is often likened to the Zen Buddhist idea that an adept can achieve, after years of prayer and meditation, a satori —an “experience of experiences” powerful enough to change a man's life. The change, according to Zen, involves a keener and deeper perception of the self and the world: a greater zest and appreciation for "oneness" in life — nothing is alone or unimportant. An adept in satori should become more understanding, more sympathetic, more tranquil.

Psychedelic drugs, according to their proponents, make most people capable of a satori without the Zen adept's years of earnest prayer, meditation and ascetic practice. (This has prompted one observer to refer to LSD and psilocybin as "instant Zen.")

The drug is the key to a new. limitless world in which mental blocks and barriers vanish. The subject's capacity to lie to himself or to rationalize his failures disappears. His new inner perception enables him to reconstruct his future life along different lines. In religious terms, a "conversion" has taken place: the individual has died and been born again.

The treatment of alcoholism with psychedelic drugs provides the most striking example of the constructive powers of a "conversion" by psychedelic dosage. In the last ten years a few' thousand alcoholics have been treated with LSD in clinics in Canada, United States and Great Britain. An analysis of all the available statistics shows that LSD in combination with psychotherapy, caused half the treated alcoholics to become abstainers: psychotherapy alone succeeded with slightly less than one patient in three.

The idea that an overwhelming mystic experience can dramatically alter the course of a man’s life is hardly new. Sixty years ago the philosopher William James said. "The cure for dipsomania is religiomania.” As early as 1907, American anthropologists reported that drunken, degenerate Winnebago Indians who began taking mescaline as part of their religious rites became "sober, successful, healthy, outstanding members of their community.” The same has been true of Canadian Indians who belong to the Native American Church on the Prairie Provinces. It's interesting to note, too, that Alcoholics Anonymous — the first group in modern times to cope successfully with alcoholism — has a strong underlying religious motivation: the patient has to admit his helplessness and place himself in the hands of a “higher power.”

A thirty-eight-year-old patient in a Saskatchewan clinic was described as "a hopeless alcoholic, who. for years, had been drinking forty ounces of whisky a day.” His father had been a chronic drunkard. The patient frequently suffered DTs and was often depressed and suicidal. He had been in prison for passing bad cheques. He was not supporting his third wife. All previous treatment had failed. After taking LSD, he wrote. "I felt different about myself and others. I began to realize all the people I had lied to. the jobs I'd lost and the people I'd affected. I couldn't look in the mirror because I didn't like what ! stood for." After leaving hospital, he stopped drinking, graduated from university and is today successfully filling a highly skilled job.

At the mental hospital in Weyburn a forty-seven-year-old man with a lengthy history of alcoholism and petty crime was given LSD. Later he said, "I find it hard to describe what took place after forty-seven years of beating my brains out against a wall of indifference, self - centredness and ignorance plus the inability to believe there could he a power bigger than me. Today that wall was ripped apart. I will never be able to describe that exquisite, beautiful moment of my life of accepting and being accepted. I am still amazed at the exquisite feeling of release and peace of mind which took place at that moment.”

Dr. Charles Savage of the Mental Research Institute in Palo Alto, California, describes an alcoholic woman who was given 150 micrograms of LSD. She closed her eyes and seemed to fall in a trance. Then she awoke with a start and said, “I thought I had been killed. I thought I was tried, dragged in chains before God, condemned and taken out to be executed.” She awoke, feeling that she had been reprieved. She stopped drinking and has been abstinent for three years.

Many scholars and scientists have attempted detailed explanations of how these changes in behavior come about. The opinion of Dr. Eric Fromm is often quoted, that the alcoholic is a person “alienated” from society, suffering from a “sickness of the soul.” He feels lost and rootless in our industrial society. He seeks his salvation in alcohol. But the attempt fails and now he’s trapped by drink. “After the LSD experience,” says Dr. Charles Savage, “the subject awakens with a feeling of rebirth. He is provided with a new beginning, a new sense of values.” After long observation, Dr. S. E. Jensen, director of the York County Mental Health Unit in Newmarket, Ontario, has concluded, “The conversion of the alcoholic under LSD is not conversion to a particular church or doctrine. It is the experience and knowledge that a higher power exists, and with this comes the humility which many experts agree is so important to maintaining sobriety.”

The man who takes a psychedelic drug can be encouraged to have a transcendental experience by psychological preparation. This was not known when I took LSD eleven years ago. I was told in advance, repeatedly, that I was about to embark on a nightmarish journey into the unknown world of psychotic madness. I took the drug in a hospital, surrounded by white-coaled doctors. My experience in the drugged state was overshadowed by terror.

It remained for the former Harvard psychologists, Drs. Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert, to discover that the mind-expanding experience can be “heavenly or hellish” depending on what kind of advance preparations are made. Their own LSD and psilocybin sessions were customarily held in rooms heavily draped with batik silk and hung with abstract paintings and collages; dim light and soft music filled the room. Later, when they shifted their operations to the Mexican fishing village of Zihuatanejo, the drug rooms, decorated with woven Hindu prints, overlooked the palm-studded beach and were within sound of the Pacific Ocean.

Psychological preparation for a drug session is based on helping the subject find answers to the questions, “What are my problems? In what ways do I want the mind-expanding drug to change my attitudes and behavior?” Leary believes that most people are rigidly committed to playing a personality “game” — engineers play the “engineer game”; salesmen play the “salesman game.” Each game has its own set of rules, values and jargon, and sticking to the rules often means a man never fulfills his deeper needs. The psychedelic drug is a key to freedom from the stereotypes of the game, says Leary.

Leary and Alpert have also adopted their own version of a mystic Tibetan work, The Book of the Dead. (Their taste for borrowing phrases and ideas from Eastern mysticism probably helps explain why Harvard excommunicated them and why they sometimes sound more like beatniks than scientists even to a layman.) Written several centuries ago, the original

volume was a book of instruction on the art and science of dying, the mysteries of life after death and reincarnation. Leary and Alpert use their version to guide subjects on how to lose their ego (“psychic death”) and then live again (“psychic rebirth”) .

During a drug session a guru (Hindu for guide or teacher) joins the subjects in taking a dose of the drug — usually much smaller in quantity. The guide’s role is to allay fear and help the subject make his way among the intricacies of the transcendental world. At times the guide reads passages from The Book of the Dead: “Trust your divinity . . trust your brain . . . trust your companions . . . float downstream.”

The psychedelics are being used against several forms of what has been regarded as “incurable and helpless” human conditions. One of these conditions is criminality. In one experiment conducted on thirty - six criminals at Concord Reformatory, a maximum security prison in Massachusetts, men who had been given psilocybin while in prison showed a recidivist rate, eighteen months after they had been released, only half as great as the general one for Concord prison. “The drug seems to break up the pattern of criminality,” Dr. Leary says. But he advised other forms of therapy as well.

Another “incurable and hopeless” human condition the psychedelics are being used to fight is childhood schizophrenia. The childhood schizophrenic has long been a baffling and insoluble problem to the psychiatrist. The disturbed child lives in a secret and frightening world of his own making. His perceptions are distorted; he doesn’t respond to people or things in his environment. Often he sits or stands alone rocking, whirling, staring at his fingers, banging his head against a wall or pounding himself

with his fist. His sleeping, eating and toilet habits are disorganized. Some such children are “autistic” — meaning that their “language” is limited to screams or a few guttural sounds. Other schizophrenic youngsters are “verbal”; they possess some skill with words but they are unable to distinguish between their terrifying nightmares and reality. One such boy said. “Once 1 stared at a kid. He was real small and then he got bigger and bigger each minute. I looked at him and he turned into a giant.” Another boy came to believe that a person in his stomach was controlling him.

Many such children are hospitalized at the Creedmoor State Hospital in Queen’s Village, New York. They have all failed to respond to all the known treatments — psychotherapy, electric and insulin shock, tranquilizers, energizers, antihistamines and anticonvulsants. On an experimental group of fifty of these youngsters between six and twelve years of age — half of them autistic, half verbal — Dr. Lauretta Bender and her colleagues decided to try two psychedelic drugs, LSD and UM-491. They dosed the children every day for periods ranging from two to twelve months.

The changes in the autistic children, according to the report prepared by Dr. Bender and her group, were “most remarkable.” They became happier, sometimes gay, particularly in the early stages of the treatment. Some showed by their facial expressions that for the first time they knew what was going on around them. Parents and hospital staff said the children were “more affectionate,” “more aware” and “less afraid.” A boy who was usually under sedation because he beat himself severely could now get along without his daily sedative. Sleeping and eating habits improved: the children gained weight and acquired a healthy

color. Several youngsters became interested in speech for the first time. Some actually began to make themselves understood.

There were also improvements in many of the "verbal” children. A hostile, sullen boy began greeting the hospital staff with a smile and a pleasant remark. Several of the youngsters were now able to distinguish between their fantasy world and reality. One boy, speaking of his past hallucinations, explained, "That's when I w'as sick.” Another said, “I w;as acting crazy then, like a cartoon.” These improvements were maintained only while the LSD and UM-491 treatments continued. When the drugs w'ere stopped the children's condition deteriorated, but not to its former level. With resumption of the drugs came improvement again.

To Dr. Bender and her associates the dramatic effect of the psychedelic drugs on schizophrenic children is encouraging. Here, at last, is a substance w'hich can quickly and safely bring such a child at least partly into touch with reality. The researchers say the way is now open for a series of promising biochemical studies: how do the psychedelic drugs produce such a "healthy” result? Can the psychedelics be used helpfully in combination with other chemicals? "Hopefully,” Dr. Bender says, "these drugs will contribute to our efforts to find better therapeutic agents for early childhood schizophrenia.”

But numerically, at least, it's safe to predict that a less seriously deranged group, neurotics, will be the great beneficiaries of the consciousness-expanding drugs. The ability of psychedelics to help emotionally ill people achieve insight has been described as "thrilling” by Dr. James Terrill of the Mental Research Institute at Palo Alto in California. The psychedelics, he says, can bring about personality changes unobtainable by traditional methods. “LSD has a lot to offer, particularly to those over-controlled individuals who cut off their feelings and tend to seek intellectualized answers to all the problems of life. LSD helps make them whole again." Case histories from the files at Palo Alto underline the potential healing powers of the new drugs.

A staff physician at the clinic. Dr. Donald Jackson, was consulted by a brilliant professor whose future looked bleak because he was overwhelmed by an ever-present fear of insanity. Some years before, he had taken his problem to a celebrated psychoanalyst who told him that he was a "pseudoneurotic schizophrenic-’ and therefore “unanalysable." The professor was left for years to alternate between lethargy and desperation. During his first LSD session he talked freely of his terrors. In the second session he plunged boldly into the psychotic state and became so wildly agitated he had to be forcibly restrained. "Together we came face to face with the insanity he had feared and together we mastered it,” says Dr. Jackson. "He found a phantom he could discard: he also found his real self, a living human being.”

At the International Foundation for Advanced Study in Menlo Park. California, LSD is used routinely in treating patients who are emotionally disturbed as w'ell as in trying to help businessmen, teachers, writers, and others who simply want to reconstruct their lives along broader, richer lines. According to a recent report, eighty-three percent of 113 patients claim to have found "lasting benefits.” The results most frequently mentioned are decreased feelings of guilt, anxiety and inadequacy; freedom to use one's abilities: improved relationships with other people and greater freedom to communicate with others.

Dr. M. J. Rejskind. director of the Regina Mental Health Clinic, has repeatedly observed the remarkable tongue-loosening quality of LSD. He describes an unhappily married couple with five children who were unable to talk honestly with each other about the causes of their difficulties. Rejskind gave both husband and wife LSD together. As the drug took effect they began talking about each other with utter frankness. "For the first time they began to realize how they felt about themselves and about each other,” says Rejskind. The couple is still seriously mismatched but husband and wife now tolerate each other good-naturedly. Rejskind is beginning to use LSD to spark discussion among a group of eight depressed patients who, left to their devices, look at each other in glum silence. LSD, according to the initial results observed, has turned them into chatterboxes. “They’ve gone overboard.” says Rejskind. "They’re talking freely without fear.” Despite these results with LSD. Rejskind firmly believes that psychotherapy will always be the backbone of treatment of the emotionally disturbed. “You can't replace a skilled therapist with a miracle drug.” he says.

The psychedelic drugs may come to be an important element in treating troubled high school and university students. Under-achievement and drop-outs now involve many highly intelligent but troubled students. A 1963 mental health survey of University of Toronto students reported that three students had committed suicide while a dozen others had unsuccessfully tried to do so. At least four hundred young men and women had sought psychiatric help. Many of them had become dependent on pep pills and tranquilizers. Despondency, depression and deep concern over such problems as personal relationships, sex, friction with parents, pressure from parents to do well, the need to conform, the quest for meaningful values and the inability to communicate were found to be widely prevalent. Commenting on the shortage of psychiatrists, a university health official observed. “A lot of drop-outs might have been saved had we got to them early enough.”

Psychotherapy is one way of “getting" to them, but it has the disadvantages of being expensive and slow even when a psychiatrist is available. An alternative, according to Dr. Stanley Krippner. a Kent State University psychologist, is treatment by psychedelic drugs. He cites the case of a fifteen-year-old high school drop-out, a highly intelligent boy. “He was irresponsible. indifferent about his studies and personal appearance and got into difficulty with the law. After being out of school a year, he received a psychedelic drug. The lad finds it hard to explain the overwhelming effect it had on him. "It liberated a power in me I knew I had but couldn't use.” he said. "I now' feel different about things.” The boy returned to school and established a reputation as a first-rate scholar and a responsible, well-liked leader.

Apart from doctors, theologians have shown the greatest interest in and curiosity about the consciousness expanding drugs, as well as the most energetic tendency to dispute their usefulness. Psychedelic subjects often use religious terminology and concepts in trying to describe their experiences. After taking psilocybin, the majority of a group of sixty-nine ministers and religious workers said they had rich spiritual experiences. Another group drug session conducted by Dr. Timothy Leary involved four hundred volunteers — graduate students, professors, writers — only ten percent of whom were orthodox believers or churchgoers. Yet, in re-calling the experience, more than half used terms like “God," “divine," “meeting the infinite," “the oneness of the universe” and “resurrection.”

Even half of the tough criminals in the Concord Reformatory experimental group mentioned earlier reported mystic conversion reactions.

Ten theologians took psilocybin on Good Friday. Nine underwent “a genuine religious experience"

The same theme runs through individual accounts of the psychedelic experience. Robert Graves, the eminent English poet and scholar, says, “I entered the Garden of Delight. I am not talking in metaphors nor am I a mystic. Paradise is where I went. The man w'ho enters . . . will never be quite the same man when he returns.” Under the influence of the drug, Wilson Van Dusen, a California psychologist, recalls, “I was in a black void in which God was walking on me and I cried for joy. My voice seemed to speak of His coming but I didn’t believe it. Suddenly and unexpectedly the void was lit up with the blinding presence of the One. How did I know? AII I can say is that there was no possibility of doubt."

To find out whether the psychedelic transcendental experience was similar to the experiences reported by religious mystics and saints, a Harvard theologian organized a controlled experiment. It was conducted at noon on Good Friday of 1962 in Marsh Chapel, located in the basement of Boston University. The subjects were twenty divinity students, half of whom took psilocybin; the other half took dummy pills. A minister delivered a sermon and left the group alone in the room which was filled with organ music. During the next three hours nine of the psilocybin group reported “a genuine religious experience.” Only one of the control group reported the same thing. A typical account was, “I felt a deep union with God ... I carried my Bible to the altar and tried to preach. The only words I mumbled were peace, peace, peace. I felt I was communicating beyond words.”

"Dr. Timothy Leary predicts that “the day will come when sacramental biochemicals like LSD will be used as routinely as organ music and incense to assist in the attainment of religious experience.”"

In the past, visions, ultimate knowledge and other forms of religious ecstasy have been achieved only by a handful of holy men after years of meditation and prayer and lengthy periods of fasting, isolation, controlled breathing exercises, seclusion or sleeplessness. The psychedelics, as it were, appear to bring mystical experiences within the reach of almost everybody. “This is a necessity in our modern culture,” says Dr. Stanley Krippner, the Kent State University psychologist. “Most people today are not deeply moved, spiritually, by attendance at church.” Dr. Paul Lee of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a former Harvard divinity student, observes. “Everyday religious experience has become so jaded and rationalized that to become aware of the mystery and wonderment of life we must resort to drugs.” Dr. Walter Houston Clark, of the Andover Newton Theological School, deplores the lack of spiritual closeness and fellowship among church members. The fellowship in the modern church, he says, “hardly exceeds that to be found in a Rotary Club or a closely knit business.” Groups who have been “illuminated” together, he believes, would acquire this desirable kind of rapport and cohesiveness. Dr. Timothy Leary predicts that “the day will come when sacramental biochemicals like LSD will be used as routinely as organ music and incense to assist in the attainment of religious experience.”

Most theologians dispute these hopeful opinions. When they refer to psychedelic drugs they tend to use phrases like “instant mysticism,” “instant grace,” “instant salvation," “chemical religion" and “cheap and lazy religion." The Presbyterian head of the San Francisco Theological Seminary, Dr. Theodore Gill, says that “the drugs make an end run around Christ and go straight to the Holy Spirit." Other churchmen hold that the use of chemicals amounts to “irreverently storming the gates of heaven.” The distinguished Oxford authority on Eastern religions, R. C. Zaehner, says that while drug-induced revelations are strange and inexplicable they are far different from the ecstasies of the saints and holy men. One thing can be said for certain: the advent of the psychedelics has posed a number of serious theological questions which urgently need answering.

As Joseph Haven says in his thoughtful paper, A Memo to Quakers on the Consciousness-Changing Drugs, "Seldom has the demand for rethinking of the nature of mystical, experimental religion been so insistent."

Much of this rethinking is under way. Scholars have traced, in detail, man’s long history of eating plants and vegetables to induce religious visions. About twenty-one hundred years ago — one theory holds — the Aryans of Central Asia were habitual users of soma, a milkweed-like creeper that brought on a visionary state of mind. When they moved south to invade India they left behind their natural supply of soma. Lacking a biochemical means to induce visions they invented a system of breathing and psychological exercises — Yoga — to achieve the same result. Other ancient peoples also made sacramental use of such visionary plants as coca, opium and hashish.

In the New World several peoples incorporated roots, herbs, cacti or mushrooms into their religion because taking them produced a "oneness with the gods.” The most highly regarded has long been the sacred mushroom. psilocybe mexicana. Psilocybin and LSD pills contain the active ingredient of the sacred mushrooms in synthetic and concentrated form. Recently a scientist visited a Mexican village and gave a supply of psilocybin pills to the local curandera, or medicine woman. She was delighted with both their potency and utility. “Now I can do magic all the year round. I don't have to wait for the mushroom season,” she said.

Real ecstasy — or just a psychosis?

A fiercely debated point in the "chemical - religion'’ controversy is whether “artificial” drug-induced ecstasies are the same as “natural” ones. Many, if not most, theologians answer that the so-called revelations are probably nothing more than the symptoms of a temporary psychosis. But William James, who himself experimented with the visions induced by nitrous oxide, said in 1902 that chemical mystic experiences are “genuine.” A leading contemporary authority on mysticism, Dr. W. T. Stace of Princeton University, argues that the church shouldn't dismiss anything that has the power to deepen faith. "The fact that the experience is induced by drugs has no bearing on its validity,” he says. Dr. Houston Clark, the theologian quoted earlier who himself has taken psilocybin, concurs. "If the psilocybin experience is not at times mystical in nature, then the difference is so subtle as to be indistinguishable.”

Scientifically minded protagonists in the chemical-religion debate arc exploring the biochemical origins of both the artificial and natural mystic experiences. "We know,” writes Dr. Walter Houston Clark, "that any profound emotional experience, religious or otherwise, is accompanied by change, particularly of a chemical or hormonal nature. Furthermore, we know that the natural chemistry of the body includes biochemical substances known as the indoles which are similar in structure to the consciousness expanding chemicals. The question that then immediately arises is whether a natural excess of indoles might not predispose some people to certain kinds of mysticism? Or whether a mystical state of mind might not. on the other hand, stimulate chemical changes in the body?"

What can be stated with certainty is that ascetic practices alter the body chemistry which, in turn, radically influences perception. The holy man who fasts or a prolonged period sutlers a vitamin deficiency. Until this century, many patients committed to lunatic asylums as hallucinating schizophrenics were really suffering from dietary-deficiency diseases like beriberi or pellagra. The yoga who breathes deeply brings about an abnormal concentration of carbon dioxide in his blood which leads to marked changes in feeling and thinking. The hermit who lives in an isolated and darkened cave for several weeks has startling visionary experiences. The same thing has happened to Canadian and American scientists who exposed themselves to “sensory deprivation" by living, for several days, in a darkened chamber or immersed in a sphere underwater.

Will the new chemical religion gain wide acceptance? The California psychologist Wilson Van Duscn, a religious man. believes that chemical religion is uniquely suited to the tempo of North American life. "I'd prefer quiet years of meditation in a monastery." he says "but in the Western world we simply haven’t got the time.” Nevertheless, most religious people have a strong aversion to linking religion, in any way, to chemicals. Clark, the theologian, believes that sooner or later they’ll have to overcome this distaste. “The mystic implications of the psychedelic drugs,” he says, “cannot be ignored by theologians or leaders of organized religion.”

Neither, evidently, can the mind expanding substances be ignored by creative artists. According to the psychedelic enthusiasts, every painter, writer, composer and sculptor should take consciousness-expanding drugs as part of his basic training. The job of an artist is to perceive the world in his own unique way and then, employing his creative talent and energy, translate his perception into a work of art. But many artists get bogged down and can’t create. “The drugs can teach a stalled artist how to perceive the world in a new, intense and ecstatic way,” says Dr. Timothy Leary. “They also open the gate to the unconscious mind. And there are more visions stored away in the cortex than in all the museums and libraries of the world." Swedenborg, Blake, Coleridge, Kant, Emerson and Yeats were only a few of the great creative artists who were aware of the need to expand consciousness in order to create works of outstanding originality. Some used consciousness-expanding drugs: Poe, De Qincey and Freud.

A number of tentative attempts have already been made to study the effects of the psychedelic drugs on creative activity. Painters seem to derive the quickest and greatest benefits. After a psilocybin session Arthur Hoener, a professor at the Massachusetts College of Art, wrote, the drug “opens the door to greater visual reality. I have become extremely sensitive to distance, light, color. My work is now more abstract and universal in attitude.” The advisability of painting while actually under the influence of the mind-expanding drug is questionable. One medical report says: “The artist's pictures do not contain any new elements in the creative sense, but reflect psychopathological manifestations of the type observed in schizophrenia.” Another says that while the paintings seem to have greater esthetic value, the artists “had difficulties in mobilizing their perceptions and energies to paint." They were inclined to sit back and look, think and feel.

As for writing under the influence of psychedelic drugs, there appears to be no reason to expect anything but nonsense. One sample of stream-of-consciousness prose thus produced reads: “Doctor, where have you been? I’m Alabama bound! I'm carbamino bound. ... I love to play tennis. Tennis. Tennis. Six love, love six. I love you . . . etc., etc." Some writers, under the drug, have become hyperactive. Allen Ginsberg, the bearded New York “beat” poet, tore all his clothes off and. naked, ran to phone the late President Kennedy and Premier Khrushchov to urge them to take psilocybin in the interests of lasting world peace.

Do the consciousness-expanding drugs have any effect on the sex drive? So far the answers are inconclusive. Many subjects become so fascinated by the strange technicolor world they have just entered that they become disinterested in everything else, including sex. A sterile environment, such as a hospital room, would most certainly act as an anaphrodisiac. On the other hand, after taking psilocybin or LSD in their own homes, twenty-five married couples reported a remarkable intensification of the sexual experience. The report from which this information was taken — prepared, but not published, by the Harvard Psilocybin Project — speculates that the drug heightens sexuality because it releases both man and woman from inhibiting “neurotic blocks.” Furthermore, the drugs create “profound feelings of interpersonal communion and unity which endow every action with beauty and significance." The partners’ distorted sense of time may also contribute to the intensity of the experience. A minute under the influence of LSD can seem to be hours of ecstacy. Couples who have made love after taking a psychedelic have used such terms as “cellular orgasm,’’ “pulsating energy patterns,” “internal fireglow" and “melting and flowing of the entire body.”

What is the future of the psychedelic drugs? Will they be given a full and fair opportunity to demonstrate their usefulness? At present, experimental and therapeutic programs involving the mind-expanding chemicals are in low gear because of the traditional cautiousness of the medical profession. Medical conservatism has an extremely useful function; it has often kept dangerous discoveries away from the public they might have harmed. On the other hand, unreasonable caution can work against the public interest by hampering the development of new' techniques which can advance human health. Dr. J. Ross MacLean of Hollywood Hospital in New Westminster. B.C., is one of several experienced physicians who are convinced that the psychedelics are well on their way to universal acceptance. “We are now receiving patients from all over the world. many sent by highly reputable doctors and psychiatrists. The large number of really remarkable personality changes wrought not only by us but by others in North America. Europe and the Iron Curtain countries cannot remain hidden, cannot be denied forever.” MacLean says.

In our society man has become in some ways a stranger to himself. His place as an individual has become unclear. He is the victim of a variety of confusing and conflicting pressures. Countless troubled men and women are driven to seek salvation in alcohol, addictive drugs, and psychosomatic or psychic illness. These imperfect methods of salvation usually lead to the couch, the hospital or the grave. Our present conventional psychological tools for rescuing the victims of modern society are no longer adequate. We must explore new' possibilities. Among the brightest of the new possibilities are the psychedelic drugs. Hopefully, they may give man access to the vast reservoir of strength that lies in the innermost reaches of his consciousness. ★

#Sidney Katz #Weyburn #Charles Savage #Eric Fromm #International Foundation for Advanced Study #Robert Graves #Good Friday Experiment

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