During the Summer of Love, first in San Francisco (1967)and then in other cities, such as Toronto (1968), where I lived at the time, it was common to take LSD offered by friends out on the street, to swallow it there and then and see what would happen.<\/p>\n
Other than to Timothy Leary, Richard Alpert and their colleagues, who let psychedelics escape from the ivory tower of Harvard, we ironically\u00a0owe this turn towards youthful mass intoxication\u00a0to the\u00a0incompetence of the American and British secret services. They let the magic pills they administered to their test subjects, often without their knowledge and consent, escape the lab and cabinet to find their way onto the streets.<\/p>\n
Ken Kesey, the author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, was one of those subjects, albeit consenting. His chaotic Merry Pranksters, a boisterous group of Korea veterans and other tough guys, were soon throwing acid parties\u00a0to the tunes of the Grateful Dead, while on the East Coast\u00a0Timothy Leary was busy becoming more and more of his messianic self. In 1969, he ran\u00a0for Governor of California, where he had lived and worked as a clinical psychologist, and a co-founder of the Psychology Department at Kayser Berkeley\u00a0Hospital. He was soon arrested and jailed. His slogan \u201cCome Together Join the Party,\u201d out of which John Lennon created his song\u00a0\u201cCome Together.\u201d describes\u00a0a time when freedom\u00a0was claimed and liberations pursued to an unknown extent by virtue of the sheer masses of kids and others hitting the streets.<\/p>\n
In total, from the American West Coast to India and on to Oceania, half a billion doses of LSD alone\u00a0are said to have initiated an expansion of consciousness, which still echoes loud and clear today. Last year 27 million Americans over the ages of 12 (!) said they’d taken LSD in the past year. Approximately one in 50’000 need help while or as a result of tripping.<\/p>\n
In order not to incriminate people who are hedonists at worse,\u00a0the possession of small amounts of LSD, psilocybin, and MDMA needs to be regulated, as these substances are relatively safe when used responsibly.<\/p>\n
Something else:<\/p>\n
Starting November 25, we will be exhibiting a selection of our books and other treasures at the Walcheturm art space in Zurich. Similar to the monthly Psychedelic Salon, which has found a home in Zurich’s Cabaret Voltaire, we will offer readings, and discussions with well-known local personalities, as well as a film program, in a colourful location at\u00a0Walcheturm.<\/p>\n
The library is open Wednesday through Saturday from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m.; the evening program takes place from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.,. by announcement. If you would like to get involved and support us, please let us know.<\/p>\n
We will celebrate on November 18 from 6 p.m onward. <\/p>\n
Welcome!<\/p>\n
Susanne Seiler<\/p>\n
Kunstraum Walcheturm, Kanonengasse 20, 8004 Zurich<\/p>\n
https:\/\/walcheturm.ch\/<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" During the Summer of Love, first in San Francisco (1967)and then in other cities, such as Toronto (1968), where I lived at the time, it was common to take LSD offered by friends out on the street, to swallow it there and then and see what would happen. Other than to Timothy Leary, Richard AlpertContinue Reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1,17,5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gaiamedia.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3844"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gaiamedia.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gaiamedia.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gaiamedia.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gaiamedia.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3844"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.gaiamedia.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3844\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3848,"href":"https:\/\/www.gaiamedia.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3844\/revisions\/3848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gaiamedia.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gaiamedia.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gaiamedia.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}