Swiss Psilocybin and US Dollars
OpenAlex – November 07, 2012
Source: OpenAlex
Summary
Switzerland's unique approach to drug policy, fostering proto-countercultural experiments since the early 1900s without the aggressive confrontations seen in the US in the 1960s, has established it as a global leader in psychedelic science. Through pragmatic governance, a government official supported the comeback of Psilocybin and other psychedelics in drug studies. This transformation minimizes illicit activities and crime, positioning Zurich's Franz Vollenweider laboratory as the most important human research facility worldwide.
Abstract
Abstract Chapter 2, “Swiss Psilocybin and US Dollars,” turns to the situation in Switzerland where proto-countercultural experiments in living have blossomed since the beginning of the twentieth century without ever leading to the kind of aggressive confrontations that the United States experienced in the 1960s. The government official overseeing the comeback of hallucinogen research in this part of the world explains how he came to support this development, which he locates in a broader transformation of Swiss drug policy. The competitive advantage granted by a pragmatic technocracy is part of the reason how Franz Vollenweider’s laboratory in Zurich became the most important human research facility in the global assemblage of psychedelic science.