Here’s a collection of powerful quotes about psychedelics.
“Psychedelics are illegal not because a loving government is concerned that you may jump out of a third story window. Psychedelics are illegal because they dissolve opinion structures and culturally laid down models of behaviour and information processing. They open you up to the possibility that everything you know is wrong.”
― Terence McKenna
“LSD is a psychedelic drug which occasionally causes psychotic behavior in people who have NOT taken it.”
― Timothy Leary
“It's a very salutary thing to realize that the rather dull universe in which most of us spend most of our time is not the only universe there is. I think it's healthy that people should have this experience.”
― Aldous Huxley
“I am convinced that psychedelics are not a panacea, but they can play a role in healing and connection, both for the people that choose to use them and for those that do not.”
― Matt Zemon
“One psychedelic trip can make you understand more about the nature of reality than 1000s of hours of "doing" science.”
― Robert Celner
“As shortcuts to spiritual and transcendent experiences, psychedelics played an important role in human evolution and galvanized pre-historic ritualistic cultures. In modern times, banning psychedelic drugs has proven to be counterproductive. Just as banning sexual activity does not stop sexual desire, outlawing psychedelic drugs does nothing to suppress the innate human urge for transcendental experiences. Besides, prohibition rarely works as we saw with alcohol or marijuana. Despite their classification and the legal hurdles around working with Schedule I substances in the U.S., psychedelics have undergone something of a renaissance among researchers, and for good reason.”
― Alex M. Vikoulov
“But along with the feeling of ineffability, the conviction that some profound objective truth has been disclosed to you is a hallmark of the mystical experience, regardless of whether it has been occasioned by a drug, meditation, fasting, flagellation, or sensory deprivation. William James gave a name to this conviction: the noetic quality. People feel they have been let in on a deep secret of the universe, and they cannot be shaken from that conviction.”
― Michael Pollan
“I think of going to the Grave without having a Psychedelic Experience is like going to the Grave without ever having Sex. It means that you never Figured out what it is all about. The Mystery is in the Body and the way the Body Works itself into Nature.”
― Terence McKenna
“Love is the most transformative medicine For Love slowly transforms you Into what psychedelics only get you to glimpse.”
― Ram Dass
“The only way to write honestly about the scene is to be part of it. If there is one quick truism about psychedelic drugs, it is that anyone who tries to write about them without first-expierience is a fool and a fraud.”
― Hunter S. Thompson
“The cultural integration of psychedelics won't happen overnight, and the question of young people is perhaps the most difficult involved. The first step is for people who have knowledge of these substances to share it, "coming out" about their own experiences. Drug education should be honest and present a balanced picture of risks and benefits.”
― Rick Doblin
"Even in the less-obviously creative fields of hard science, LSD can be profoundly beneficial. In fact, it played a role in the two biggest discoveries in biology of the 20th century. Francis Crick, who discovered the double helix structure of DNA with James Watson, and Kary Mullis, who invented the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), had both taken the drug, and attributed some of their understanding and insights to it. Mullis has gone so far as to say: "would I have invented PCR if I hadn't taken LSD? I seriously doubt it ... [having taken LSD] I could sit on a DNA molecule and watch the polymers go by. I learnt that partly on psychedelic drugs."
— David Nutt
"Many people describe psychedelic experiences as profoundly meaningful, which may help them develop a sense of purpose in life or envisage an alternative to being stuck in a rut with alcohol."
— David Nutt
“LSD is a catalyst or amplifier of mental processes. If properly used it could become something like the microscope or telescope of psychiatry.”
― Stanislav Grof
“Although many of us think of psychedelics as dangerous drugs, it’s time for a rethink. They are non-toxic, non-addictive, have very few side effects, and could potentially offer relief for people suffering from a range of psychological difficulties.”
—Dr. Rosalind Watts
“There are aspects to those two particular drugs [psilocybin and LSD] that the places you can go in your brain are much deeper and more healing than anything else.”
—Kristen Bell
“I take mushrooms almost every day. I mean, microdosing is a game-changer!… Psilocybin is good for everybody,” Handler continued. “It puts you in a good mood, keeps you upbeat, and makes you appreciate nature. So ya, legalizing mushrooms? For sure.”
—Chelsea Handler
“Taking LSD was a profound experience, one of the most important things in my life. LSD shows you that there’s another side to the coin, and you can’t remember it when it wears off, but you know it. It reinforced my sense of what was important –creating great things instead of making money, putting things back into the stream of history and of human consciousness as much as I could.”
—Steve Jobs
“Ayahuasca was definitely one of my favorite drugs I’ve ever done. When I did it, I asked everyone else in the room, ‘Did your entire life just change? Are you a new person?”
—Miley Cyrus
