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Religion and Psychoactive Sacraments:
An Entheogen Chrestomathy
Thomas B. Roberts, Ph.D. and Paula Jo Hruby, Ed.D.
Author Index | Title Index
Marijuana: Effects on Human Behavior.
Miller, Loren L. (Editor). (1974).
New York: Academic Press.
ISBN: 0-12-497050-8
Description: Hardcover,
xvi + 406 pages.
Contents: List of contributors,
preface, 14 chapters, subject index.
Contributors: Howard
Darley,
Fonya Lord Dornbush,
William G. Forney,
Erich Halikas,
Glen F. Klonoff,
Bernard I. w,
Barbara R. Manno,
Loren L. Miller, Patricia Pliner, Jared
R. kler.
Excerpt(s): Throughout
history, man has used two frames of reference
for appraisal of reality. One is a set of terms and concepts based
in experiences connected with problems of survival and domination
of the physical world; to the extent that such terms and concepts
can be tested for predictive utility, they are called "scientific."
The other represents an attempt to explain the unknown in terms
of the undefined-terms and concepts which cannot be defined publicly
and thereby be subjected to the test of predictive utility. These
may be called "mystical" and are particularly prominent
in the discourses and writings of certain religionists, poets,
writers, and social philosophers, as well as some scientists.
The difference in aesthetic values between the mystical and scientific
orientations is apparent in the use of the term high to refer
to effects of marijuana that are biologically adverse. After proper
indoctrination by his peers, the user reports that marijuana induces
clarity of thinking, original, brilliant ideas, heightened perception,
and novel insights (all of which are presumably, subsumed under
the term high), whereas the observer can only detect distortions
of time-sense and impairment of logical thought as revealed by
speech analyses. Furthermore, the marijuana user learns
to regard such a high as pleasurable. Similar considerations apply
to the term "psychedelic" ("consciousness"
or "mind-expanding") which is sometimes used to refer
to the effects of marijuana. "Mind-expansion" implies
that a scale exists, along which the dimensions of "mind"
can be measured. In the nonintoxicated state, illogical thought,
distortions of perception, hallucinations, and paranoid reactions
would be classed as "errors"; to the psychedelists,
however, when produced by marijuana (or LSD-25), they are considered
evidence of mind-expansion. (pages 39-40)
Recently, the term "recreational drug"
has come into vogue among the supporters of the legalization of
marijuana. ... The social consequences of acceptance of the concept
of recreational drug would be the permeation of our society with
adherents of numerous cultists deriving primary reinforcement
from varieties of drugs and secondary reinforcement from drug
cult ideologies. (Abraham Wikler, Chapter 2,
The
Compilation copyright © 1995 – 2001 CSP
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