It has come to light that one of the biggest enthusiasts of LSD since it was first synthesised in 1938, was not only the hippie counterculture but also the CIA. The first section of the book Acid Dreams: The Complete Social History of LSD (1985) details how the CIA carried out covert operations with this drug.…
View Post
The sensory deprivation tank (also known as an isolation tank or a floatation tank) was invented in 1954 by John C. Lilly. Lilly (1915-2001), as well as being interested in the effects of sensory deprivation on consciousness, was also interested in dolphin communication and psychedelic drugs. When studying neurophysiology at the National Institute of Mental…
View Post
This article is based on a lecture delivered by Professor Jack Cowan at an event entitled ‘A Discussion on Scientific Research with Psychedelic Drugs’ (the conference was chaired by Professor David Nutt at Imperial College London, 12/06/2013). There are many causes of geometric hallucinations, including: Flickering lights (a phenomenon which the scientist Jan Evangelista Purkinje…
View Post
This lecture, ‘Why Study Psychedelic Drugs?’, is from ‘A Discussion on Scientific Research with Psychedelic Drugs’, a conference chaired by Professor David Nutt at Imperial College London (12/06/2013). In this lecture, Professor David Nutt outlines why the scientific investigation of psychedelic drugs is worthwhile and valuable. He points to the fact that actual scientific discoveries…
View Post
Dr Robin Carhart-Harris is a neuropsychopharmacologist (or a ‘scientist’ if you want to be more general) who works at Imperial College London. In the past, he worked under David Nutt, the former chairman of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs. Nutt was fired for being a bit nutty (in the eyes of the…
View Post