Religion and Psychoactive Sacraments:
An Entheogen Chrestomathy
Thomas B. Roberts, Ph.D. and Paula Jo Hruby, Ed.D.
Author Index | Title Index

Utopiates: The Use and Users of LSD 25.

Blum, Richard, and Associates. (1964).
New York: Atherton Press.


ISBN: None


Description: First edition, xvi + 303 pages. A publication of the Institute for the Study of Human Problems, Stanford University; The Atherton Press Behavioral Science Series.



Contents: Contributors, foreword by Nevitt Sanford, 14 chapters, index.


Contributors: Richard Alpert, Edward Comber, Joel Fort, Keith Killam, Ralph Metzner, Jeanne Wahl, William Wygant.


Excerpt(s): Utopiates is a unique book. It tells for the first time about the people and the issues involved in the use of the most powerful mind-altering drug known: LSD 25. The book goes far beyond a mere assessment of LSD's pharmacological effects. In a multipronged attack, the authors examine the relation of LSD use to our religious heritage, our social and cultural background, our aims, our personalities, and our basic assumptions about what we want from life. (dust jacket)

Forty-two of the ninety-two persons interviewed in Blum's sample were asked to answer thirteen questions about religious beliefs and changes. ... In summary, the basic findings were:

1. Sixty per cent stated their religious feelings changed:
   1. Thirty percent experienced a deeper understanding of their previous religious feelings and felt closer to their church;
   2. Thirty percent experienced a change in their religious thinking in a variety of ways.
2. Sixty per cent trusted God (life) more; 35 percent trusted people more.
3. Forty per cent indicated their understanding of the teachings of their own church had changed, largely toward an increased understanding of doctrine.
4. Forty per cent expressed lessened anxiety regarding death, elaborating this is various ways.
5. Thirty per cent felt a greater conviction of the existence of a supreme being.
6. Eighty per cent stated they were more secure people.
7. Fifty per cent indicated they were freer, more tolerant, or less guarded. Sixty per cent felt their personal conduct had changed for the better; 30 per cent believed their moral standards had changed toward increased personal responsibility.
8. Forty per cent felt a different relation between themselves and other people.