University of Illinois Press eBooks
May 1, 2015
Stephen Siff
26 citations
LSD entered the American mainstream not through counterculture but via respectable magazines like Time and Life, which introduced the drug to a postwar audience unaccustomed to descriptions of drug use. Early media coverage glorified LSD's use in treating mental illness and as a mystical gateway to the unconscious, shaping its status as a legitimate tool. This attention produced an intricate relationship between drugs and media that defined pop culture. Over time, the breathless coverage gave way to a moral panic, transforming the refined seeker of truths into an acid casualty beyond polite society.
Revue française d’études américaines
December 4, 2018
Stephen Siff
9 citations
In May 1957, a series of articles in Life magazine and major newspapers announced the 'discovery' of hallucinogenic 'magic mushrooms' by adventurers Robert Gordon Wasson and Valentina Wasson. They described using the mushrooms in an indigenous village, a narrative that intensified drug tourism in Mexico and mail-order sales of peyote. The Wassons argued that the mushroom provided a transcendent experience that was the pre-modern foundation of global religion. Rejected by scholars, this theory captivated journalists and the public. R. Gordon Wasson promoted his discovery through lectures, museum exhibits, and media interviews. Drawing on the couple's archives at Harvard University Herbaria, this article examines how their campaign fueled idiosyncratic theories about psychedelic drug experience.
University of Illinois Press
April 20, 2017
Stephen Siff
1 citation
In the early 1960s, Time and Life magazines gave extensive celebrity coverage to Timothy Leary, a Harvard psychologist fired for drug experimentation. Reporters treated Leary with skepticism but allowed him to explain LSD, relying on his scholarship and wit. Journalists often accepted Leary's conclusions about the drug experience while condemning his encouragement of drug use. Time and Life were especially protective of LSD and hopeful it could be productively used by ordinary people.
University of Illinois Press eBooks
April 20, 2017
Stephen Siff
In the 1950s, media coverage of Indian drug rituals shifted from portraying them as backward and superstitious to aligning them with emerging theories about hallucinogenic drugs. This change was driven by an amateur scientist's 1957 article in Life magazine announcing the "discovery" of hallucinogenic mushrooms, which was accompanied by a coordinated publicity campaign. The resulting media frenzy not only created a market for magic mushrooms but also provided a seemingly authentic historical and cultural backstory for contemporary psychedelic drug use, reshaping public perceptions.
University of Illinois Press
April 20, 2017
Stephen Siff
The chapter examines how LSD entered the news agenda through reports on scientific studies that used the drug to simulate madness, alongside the public conversation about mystical, mind-expanding drug use ignited by Aldous Huxley's book "The Doors of Perception." Journalists introduced American audiences to these new drugs and to the idea that drug-induced mental states could have scholarly and academic importance. This scholarly framing gave journalists permission to describe drug experiences that had previously been considered inappropriate for public discussion. Mainstream media coverage was soon followed by even more sensational reporting in marginal publications.