Psychedelic drugs, hippie counterculture, speed and phenobarbital treatment of sedative-hypnotic dependence: a journey to the Haight Ashbury in the Sixties.
Journal of psychoactive drugs January 1, 2011 Donald R Wesson 22 citations
During the 1960s, mainstream culture and the hippie counterculture both embraced the idea of 'better living through chemistry,' but disagreed on which chemicals. Political activists believed they could change mainstream culture and succeeded, while hippies were largely alienated and focused on building a separate culture. The Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco was the epicenter of hippie enclaves. This paper presents a personal history of the evolution of the hippie counterculture, changing drug use patterns in the Haight-Ashbury, and the origins of the Phenobarbital Withdrawal Protocol (also called the Smith and Wesson Protocol) for withdrawing patients from barbiturates and other sedative-hypnotics.