LSD AS AN AGENT OF SOCIAL CHANGE

Dear Sheaf,

The article "Saskatchewan's psychedelic past" by Rory MacLean printed
on March 4 reads like a eulogy to LSD. I wish to resurrect LSD to its
rightful status as an agent of social change.

The consciousness altering power of LSD is an absolute requirement for
changes in the individual and in society. Poet William Blake said it
best: "If the doors of perception were wiped clean, we would see the
world as it really is."

That we need an enhanced consciousness should be apparent as we view
the present state of the world: clear-cut forests, decimated ocean
fisheries, soil degradation, wars and rumours of wars, ravages of
poverty, crime and, last but not least, climate change.

MacLean failed to describe the laboratory setting of the LSD
experiment.

The LSD experience was not solely dependent on the chemical LSD but on
the total context of the experiment. The context includes the physical
environment, the mental state of the subject, and most importantly
having a "road map" for the LSD journey. If more attention was paid to
the context, many of the "bad trips" could have been avoided.

The negative effects of LSD emphasized by the critics pale in
comparison to the 2,089 highway deaths in Canada in 2006 due to the
consumption of the legal drug called alcohol.

Historical accounts of Saskatchewan's psychedelic past are seriously
incomplete because they do not include a documentation of the
interviews with LSD drug takers in the 1950s and '60s in Saskatchewan.
Inside reports would help to understand the consciousness altering
power of the LSD. There is no time to lose as the LSD takers are an
endangered species.

By what authority do I tout the benefit of the consciousness
transforming power of LSD? I've been there!

Sincerely,

Michael Mowchenko