In 1957 Dr. Humphry Osmond first coined the word " psychedelic" to describe the mind-expanding drugs, then familiar to only a small minority of researchers and " acid-heads." In these remarkably few years, this term—and the drugs it refers tohave become household words. Ominous headlines have warned us of their dangers, while Madison Avenue has revelled in the delights of the psychedelic sub-culture. This book is a broad and serious inquiry into this much-discussed topic. It will enlighten and surprise the uninitiated, as well as the frequent user. It includes first-hand reports of the nature of the experience; recent scientific theories; the use of psychedelics in primitive and non-western cultures; and the sociology of drugs in our own society. There are also sections on the potential creative uses of psychedelics, from the enhancement of religious experience to the treatment of alcoholics and the design of mental hospitals. The contributors include noted scientists, psychologists, sociologists, and religious leaders. All of them help to throw some light on a subject which, in spite of the interest it generates, has produced a great deal of misinformation. Government restrictions have in fact brought the progress of much-needed research almost to a halt. PSYCHEDELICS is a plea for—and an invitation to—enlightenment.