Pubdate: Sat, 14 Jan 2006
Source: StarPhoenix, The (CN SN)
Copyright: 2006 The StarPhoenix
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/saskatoon/starphoenix/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/400
Author: Alex Strachan, CanWest News Service
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/hallucinogens.htm (Hallucinogens)

SASKATCHEWAN DOCTORS 'PSYCHEDELIC PIONEERS'

The press notes for History Television's documentary The Psychedelic 
Pioneers, about medically motivated drug experiments in the 1950s, 
point out that in a remote corner of the Prairies, "three gifted 
Canadian doctors were attempting to unlock the secrets of the human 
psyche in an unconventional way -- with the use of the drug LSD."

It's debatable whether that would qualify as a legal defence in this 
day and age, but the documentary profile of how the Saskatchewan 
doctors first used LSD as a way to understand schizophrenia and later 
as an aid in psychotherapy and treatment for alcoholism has special 
significance today, given the renewed debate over legalized drug use.

The Psychedelic Pioneers notes how, when news of LSD's seemingly 
magical effects first became public, artists, writers and 
intellectuals like Aldous Huxley were quick to experiment. Huxley 
would later write about his experiences in his 1956 book The Doors of 
Perception -- written under the influence, as it were.

Here's another curious trivia note for you: The Psychedelic Pioneers 
is narrated by Shirley Douglas, whose father, Tommy Douglas, was 
Premier of Saskatchewan while the docs were doing their mind control 
experiments. (Saturday on History Television)
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom