A QUICK TRIP INTO PSYCHEDELIC REVERSION

A Retrospective Look At The Marijuana Question

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This article first appeared in the Friday, September 15, 1972 issue of the
Imprint's predecessor Chevron. It is being reprinted here to give readers
yet another perspective on an issue that has been at the forefront of
debate in recent weeks: marijuana.

Based on recently compiled medical-psychological research, and the informed
opinions of authoritative analysts in government, law, finance and the
media, the Canadian government has moved with commendable speed and
foresight in attacking the nation's latest in a series of "crazes" or fads
notable for their ominous implications. Yes, gentle readers, another
"alteration of consciousness" phenomenon seems to be about to burst on the
scene.

As yet un-named, the phenomenon appears dangerously similar to some of the
"milder" drugs with which our society regularly doses itself, such as
marijuana and LSD. In the early stages of addiction, users typically report
relatively slight physical sensations, euphoria and laughter. Even at low
doses, users sometimes experience anxiety or moments of apparent loss of
control. In later stages, the effects can become much more pronounced. The
senses are altered, sometimes drastically, with visual, aural, and
especially tactile sensations assuming new dimensions. Sensations of space
and, more typically, time may be dramatically altered, so that a brief
moment may seem to last forever.

Use seems to be primarily a social phenomenon, although group size is often
as low as two, and there is a noticeable tendency for users to band
together, adopt similar lifestyles, and even undergo substantial and abrupt
changes in personality and behaviour, affecting their relationships with
family, friends and society at large. Sudden shifts in users' value
structures are often apparent.

Although the scientists are less explicit about this portion of their data,
there are other disturbing trends associated with this particular
alteration of our normal consciousness. For example, interviews with both
moderate and heavy users continually turn up phrases with distinct and
anti-productive statements. There are unmistakable signs of paranoia,
anxiety, hostility and depression when it is suggested that they give up
their addiction. Their attitudes toward authority in general are
self-centered and negative.

Perhaps the above is less surprising when we consider some of the more
extreme forms of behaviour resulting even from short-term use. The
following description is based on a clinician's notes, the patient being a
young housewife with extremely limited experience. "Every inch of her skin
radiated with unimaginable warmth, and her naked young body seethed with
unbridled pleasure. An ocean of bliss surrounded her and her mouth hung
open in awe-struck response to the overwhelming delight she was
experiencing from her head to her toes ... her body jerked spasmodically,
nearly out of control ... no longer able to suppress the ecstatic rush of
pleasure that raced through her body like billowing gusts of wind ..."

Indeed?

Although the moderates will raise their quite predictable voices crying
individual rights, and although the radicals will raise their raucous but
no less predictable voices crying repression and fascism, it is obvious to
every intelligent and concerned member of our society that such behaviour
can never be condoned, either explicitly or implicitly. Imagine the
consequences for our economy if large numbers of our population were
experiencing such "trips" even infrequently. A well-known humourist made an
extremely valid point when he pointed out, tongue-in-cheek, that he was
certainly not going to have his appendix taken out by as surgeon who, scant
hours before, had been "jerking spasmodically, nearly out of control."

There are, after all, limits. What scientists call our normal waking
consciousness has been good enough to pull us from the primordial oceans of
our origin to our present of near-utopian technological affluence. All that
remains is for us to transport these dreams of boundless wealth to the
other 84 per cent of the world's population, and the great and abiding
dream of man triumphant over nature will become reality.

And doesn't that beat altered states of consciousness?

So, get it together trippers, and lay off.