In the biggest picture, psychedelics, drugs that alter consciousness, have been used since recorded history. And you'll find some authors writing about use, pictures of mushrooms and different ways people alter consciousness to achieve some spiritual or psychological union with themselves and the greater universe. In the modern times, the interest in psychedelics as a psychotherapy really began around the '40s, the time that LSD was discovered. LSD was discovered by Albert Hofmann in the '40s.
And at first, he thought it didn't suit the...he worked for Sandoz Laboratories, which was one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world at that time and still fairly large. And he thought that it didn't work, so he put this chemical on the shelf, LSD-25 on the shelf, thinking it didn't work. But he had a hunch that it had some other properties that he wanted to investigate, and so he took it out a few years later and was experimenting with it, and I think he spilled just a very slight amount on his finger. And he thought nothing of it, he cleaned up, put everything away, and then started to feel the effects. And this is the famous bicycle ride that he took. He got on his bicycle and started to ride home and started to feel the effects of the LSD.
As a chemical, it's very, very strong, so just a very, very small amount will have a strong effect. And that very small amount that he got on his skin did have that effect, and he called some friends, and that started him on his path. He lived to be about a hundred years old, and his whole life after that was dedicated to this research with psychedelics. Since he worked at Sandoz, he reported what happened. The laboratory took the chemical and manufactured fairly large quantities of it, and then shipped it out to therapists around the world. One of those people was Stan Grof, who then is the person that has probably done the most psychedelic research ever. He's still with us, still doing and working now with Holotropic Breathwork. But that started him on his studies.
In that time period, before it became illegal, LSD was given in clinical settings to over 40,000 times to people, so it's a highly studied substance. In about the same time, there was interest in psilocybin mushrooms and mescaline cactus from a related group of people. They were philosophers, artists, writers, therapists, and they were sharing this information back and forth primarily in this time period in Europe, the United States, and then some Central America and Mexico people were investigating, so therapists would be getting some kind of cactus or some kind of mushroom. They would be experimenting with it and then would use it with their patients, and at the same time LSD was being distributed.
And at first, he thought it didn't suit the...he worked for Sandoz Laboratories, which was one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world at that time and still fairly large. And he thought that it didn't work, so he put this chemical on the shelf, LSD-25 on the shelf, thinking it didn't work. But he had a hunch that it had some other properties that he wanted to investigate, and so he took it out a few years later and was experimenting with it, and I think he spilled just a very slight amount on his finger. And he thought nothing of it, he cleaned up, put everything away, and then started to feel the effects. And this is the famous bicycle ride that he took. He got on his bicycle and started to ride home and started to feel the effects of the LSD.
As a chemical, it's very, very strong, so just a very, very small amount will have a strong effect. And that very small amount that he got on his skin did have that effect, and he called some friends, and that started him on his path. He lived to be about a hundred years old, and his whole life after that was dedicated to this research with psychedelics. Since he worked at Sandoz, he reported what happened. The laboratory took the chemical and manufactured fairly large quantities of it, and then shipped it out to therapists around the world. One of those people was Stan Grof, who then is the person that has probably done the most psychedelic research ever. He's still with us, still doing and working now with Holotropic Breathwork. But that started him on his studies.
In that time period, before it became illegal, LSD was given in clinical settings to over 40,000 times to people, so it's a highly studied substance. In about the same time, there was interest in psilocybin mushrooms and mescaline cactus from a related group of people. They were philosophers, artists, writers, therapists, and they were sharing this information back and forth primarily in this time period in Europe, the United States, and then some Central America and Mexico people were investigating, so therapists would be getting some kind of cactus or some kind of mushroom. They would be experimenting with it and then would use it with their patients, and at the same time LSD was being distributed.
