Summer of Love - Use of Drugs

Use of Drugs

Psychedelic drug use became one of several means of finding or creating a new reality. Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir comments:

Haight Ashbury was a ghetto of bohemians who wanted to do anything—and we did but I don't think it has happened since. Yes there was LSD. But Haight Ashbury was not about drugs. It was about exploration, finding new ways of expression, being aware of one's existence.

Although the culture was based primarily on music and the rejection of established society, a large and colorful thread running through the social fabric at the time featured enlightenment through discovery and personal development, and the use of LSD and marijuana was significantly influential as a result. LSD – also known as acid – was extremely popular, and the perception-altering effects of the drug were often interpreted to be a path for evolution onto a "higher plane" of consciousness.

After resigning his tenured position at Harvard, former professor of psychology Timothy Leary became a major advocate for the recreational use of the drug, spreading his beliefs up and down the East Coast. After taking psilocybin, a drug extracted from certain mushrooms that causes effects similar to those of LSD, Leary supported the use of all psychedelics for personal development. He often invited friends as well as the odd graduate student to trip along with him and colleague Richard Alpert.

On the West Coast, author Ken Kesey, a prior volunteer for a CIA-sponsored LSD experiment, also advocated the use of the drug. Shortly after participating, he was inspired to write the bestselling novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Subsequently, after buying an old school bus, painting it with psychedelic graffiti and attracting a group of similarly-minded individuals he dubbed the Merry Pranksters, Leary and his group traveled across the country, often hosting "acid tests" where they would fill a large container with a diluted low dose form of the drug and give out diplomas to those who passed their test.

Along with LSD, marijuana was also used heavily during this period of time. With the various all-organic movements beginning to expand, this drug was even more appealing than LSD due to the fact that apart from creating a euphoric high, it was all-natural as well. However, as a result, crime rose among users due to the fact that several laws were subsequently enacted to control the use of both drugs. The users thereof often had sessions to oppose the laws, including The Human Be-In referenced above as well as various smoke-ins in July and August, however, their efforts at repeal were unsuccessful.