Wide Public Use Of Hallucinogenic Drugs example essay topic

Throughout history, drugs have been used in many different ways for many different purposes. Heroin and other narcotics were once widely used for medicinal purposes. Alcoholic beverages were once simply social drinks for special occasions. Most hallucinogens were once only used for spiritual purposes. Despite the obvious differences in these drugs, there is one thing they all have in common; they are all, in one way or another, associated with the scum of the earth and, more specifically, the decay of Western Society. Mescaline is no exception to this assertion...

Mescaline can come from the Peyote cactus, which is found in Northern Mexico and Texas... Many Native North American Shamans (medicine men) used the Peyote cactus to enhance spiritual ceremonies, to enhance artistic creativity, and to heal the wounded and sick members of their tribes... (O'Brien, Chafety, and Cohen 38)... This rare hallucinogenic plant has left its mark in the world of science numerous times with the help of scientists such as Arthur Heffter and Ernst Spath... ("Modern scientific... ". n. p. )...

In the twentieth century mescaline attracted extensive intellectual interest with such people as Havelock Ellis, Weir Mitchell, and, more importantly, Aldous Huxley... (O'Brien, Chafety, and Cohen 39)... When Aldous Huxley published his book The Doors of Perception in 1954, he inadvertently gave way to the Psychedelic Revolution which exploded in the 1960's... ("Whether or... ". n. p.

). Aldous Huxley's intention was to promote the controlled use of hallucinogens for creative and intellectual purposes-not to encourage irresponsible drug use on a meaningless basis. His ideas and motives were lost in an abyss of stoned hippies. This paper is meant to prove wrong the misanthropists who believe Aldous Huxley was just a glorified stoner.

"Single-mindedness is all very well in cows or baboons; in an animal claiming to belong to the same species as Shakespeare it is simply disgraceful" (Huxley n. p. )... Mescaline is naturally found in the Peyote cactus and the Sophora secundiflora tree... These plants are frequently found together and were both used in ancient Native American ceremonies...

The use of mescaline and other hallucinogens by Native Americans can be traced as far back as 10,000 years ago... The mescal bean, found on the Sophora secundiflora tree, is quite hazardous if overindulge... One may experience severe or even fatal consequences if even a little too much is eaten... For this reason, the peyote ceremony as entirety replaced the mescal bean ceremony...

("The history of Peyote... ". n. p. ). "Legend has it that Peyote was discovered when a lost, and starving man came across it in the deep desert. A voice was heard to emanate from the plant, saying that it was good and should be eaten. The man ate of the bitter, unpalatable plant, regained his strength, and returned to his village bearing this divine gift, and relating his adventures".

("Legend... ". n. p. )... The ancient Shamans believed the peyote cactus to be a God or a means of communicating with God... They would use peyote when in need of spiritual, agricultural, or medicinal advice... These Native medicine men also used other hallucinogens, such as mushrooms, for healing people... These methods have even been called upon recently when a doctor or surgeon is unable to help, and many of these circumstances were successful...

(Barter 49). Shortly after the Spanish invaders conquered the aboriginal people in the fifteenth century, the European clergy, who were completely intolerant of any beliefs but their own, began to rid the new world of its native beliefs including the Peyote ceremony... ("Persecution... ". n. p. ). This seems to all too similar to the conservative skeptics who condemned Aldous Huxley for his experimentation's. Given the above information it should be easy to understand how this drug can be used reasonably and productively...

Although the ritualistic uses of Peyote have been going on for over 10,000 years, the scientific studies did not start until the late 1880's when Parke Davis & Co. instigated the distribution of dried Peyote buttons... ("Modern... ". n. p. )... In 1892, the German Chemist Arthur Heffter (1860-1925) found mescaline to be the principle element in the Peyote cactus... He immediately began his experimental studies of the mescaline experience, "2: 00 p.m. Violet and green spots appear on the paper during readings.

When the eyes are kept shut the following visual images occur... carpet patterns, ribbed vaulting, etc... Later on, landscapes, halls, architectural scenes (e.g. pillars decorated with flowers) also appear... until about 5: 30 p. m". The mental effects of mescaline include euphoria, a dreamlike state, heightened sensory perception, sometimes hallucinations, difficulty with linear thinking, and enhanced ability with lateral thinking... In 1919, the first synthetic mescaline was created by Ernst Spath... Der Meskalinrausch (The Mescaline High), published in 1927, was the last extensive study of the effects of mescaline... In 1945, a cactus used by Native Ecuadorians, San Pedro, were found to contain mescaline...

Near this time mescaline was studied for the treatment of alcoholism, neurosis, and other mental disorders... Wide public use of hallucinogenic drugs, known as the Psychedelic Revolution, broke out in the 1960's due to Aldous Huxley's 1953 book The Doors of Perception... ("Ernst Spath... ". n. p. ).

Mescaline, however, never really became popular due to its scarcity... LSD took over as the trendy hallucinogen for experimentation... ("However, mescaline... ". n. p. ). Unlike the ancient Native Americans, these hippies had no ritualistic ceremonies and, therefore, ruined the original motive for taking hallucinogens. It is the fault of these careless fools that intellectuals such as Aldous Huxley got a bad reputation for their experiments.

Aldous Huxley's book presents a convincing and scholarly argument for the use of hallucinogens as a means for opening up the thinking mind to new ideas and perceptions, or even as a method for jump starting human creativity in the common man. One cannot possibly draw a similarity between a brilliant man attempting a transformation of consciousness for creative purposes and a perpetually stoned young hippie trying to "hop on the magic carpet ride" for a few hours. There is an obvious difference between Huxley's quote "When mind altering substances are administrated in the right situation, it can lead to a mystical experience" (54) and the average pot-head saying "You wanna get high?" Huxley's desire to express idea that the average man's creativity can benefit from hallucinogens is further displayed when he writes. ".. untalented visionary may perceive an inner reality no less tremendous, beautiful and significant than the world beheld by [William] Blake" (33). All Huxley was trying to do was gain a deeper understanding of his own mind and the nature of the human consciousness. He states that everyone has this same curiosity in this quote "The urge to transcend self-conscious selfhood is, as I have said, a principal appetite of the soul" (13). Huxley describes the positive aspects of his experience by saying "I was seeing what Adam had seen on the morning of his creation-the miracle, moment by moment, of naked existence" (44).

One way to be sure that Huxley was not promoting meaningless drug use is in the fact that he was not a regular user. He experimented a few times in his life, and every time he turned it into a work of art..