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) - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom