Alternative Consciousness

By the early 1940s, illicit drugs in America were scarce and often heavily diluted due to wartime conditions: resources were diverted to the national effort, sea passages were militarized, and private aircraft and international airspace were limited. After the war, cannabis became a potent fuel for the countercultural awakening spreading across the nation. The chapter defines "psychedelic drugs" as a class of substances affecting cognition and perception, and identifies how alkaloids like psilocybin, LSD, DMT, and mescaline bind to serotonin receptors that regulate sensory input and interpretation.

Study at a glance

Abstract

This chapter stresses how illicit drugs were difficult to obtain in America and were often heavily diluted by the early 1940s. It illustrates the conditions that limited the supply of drugs in the Unites States, such as the massive diversion of resources toward a single national effort, the militarization of almost every major sea passage, an extremely limited supply of private aircraft and navigable international airspace. It also recounts how cannabis became a potent fuel for the countercultural awakening that began to spread across the nation after the war. The chapter focuses on the term “psychedelic drugs,” which is generally taken to mean a class of substance that primarily affects cognition and perception. It identifies how psychedelic alkaloids such as psilocybin, LSD, DMT, and mescaline bind to serotonin receptors thought to regulate sensory input and interpretation.