SOME REFLECTIONS ON MY — On Being Stoned: A Psychological Study of Marijuana Intoxication. . Palo Alto, California: Science and Behavior Books, 1971.
Cultural hysteria over marijuana use was peaking at the end of the 1960s, but there was almost no useful scientific information available on what people experienced, experience that made it worth the while of breaking the law and ending up in jail. With the support of a National Institute of Mental Health grant, I conducted a study of what marijuana did to the mind of educated users. After initially interviewing experience users (basically, “Can you describe what happens when you smoke?”), a I developed a large and systematic questionnaire for experienced users which revealed the basic changes, the nature of this ASC of being “stoned.” This included both how often various effects happened and the minimal level of intoxication needed for them to be available. The psychological aspects of marijuana intoxication were considered, for I could make a useful argument that marijuana, the drug per se, did almost nothing by itself, but if the physiological changes it produced then received the right psychological stimuli, many interesting effects could occur.
The survey of effects is now somewhat inaccurate because of cultural changes (alcohol was seldom used with marijuana back then, e.g., as it dulled the effects, now such usage is fairly common) but it’s still the most comprehensive survey I know of (although, being interested in so many other altered states, etc., I have not followed current research closely).
– CTT
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