A rare and early recording from a 1966 LSD Conference at the University of California – Prior to his travels in India, Ram Dass talks about exploring various uses of psychedelics including creating social institutions that utilize trained personnel to guide psychedelic sessions. He suggests designed experiments with pain relief, stages of death and studies to assist people with special learning abilities. Because the use of psychedelics creates higher states of consciousness it is the experience that is addictive, not the drug or method itself.
I just googled when Ram Dass met Maharajji and it said 1967 and I’m so relieved it was after this talk. So many issues with giving LSD to kids. As a mother of a an autistic child I do not have the words to express my feelings on giving LSD to a child and a child diagnosed with autism.
Consent is so extremely important and the issue of (the child’s) consent which brings up questions of what is consent seems to me to have been entirely disregarded in that study. .
Listening to Ram Dass over 50 years later it’s so amazing. Fast forward to 2023 and we’re now in a society where psychedelics are becoming more accessible and less regulated . His teachings are so important and I’m glad that we were able to preserve them. Safe journey, Psychonauts, Namaste.