Drugs and Phantasy.

The reviewer critiques a chapter that argues detailed first-hand accounts of hallucinogenic experiences, collected under controlled conditions, could help decide whether such experiences should be available as an adjunct to life. The reviewer finds this claim to be a large inductive leap, questioning how accounts from just three students—each given psilocybin, LSD, and Sernyl at separate times—can resolve such a fundamental question, especially after the chapter invokes concepts like control and placebo. The reviewer also notes that only one student requested a drug, further undermining the argument's evidentiary basis.

Study at a glance

Abstract

The final paragraph of the 20-page chapter "A Brief Review" (and it is, by-and-large, a good review) reads: "We feel that detailed first-hand accounts of experiencesas they occurred(typescripts of tape recordings) by subjects, screened for stability, in sensorilly controlled environments, will help to resolve the question of whether the hallucinogenic experience should be an available adjunct to life." That statement leaves one rather puzzled: if such an account can resolve or help resolve a question as fundamental as the one posed, I would consider this one of the longest inductive leaps. After the obeisance given to the signals such as control, placebo, and other magic words, can one so readily accept the account of three students each of whom (save one) received psilocybin, LSD, as well as Sernyl at separate times? Another statement in the introduction leaves me equally nonplused, namely that only one student requested a drug