Introduction

The evolution of humanity was marked by man's realization that his mind separated him from all other forms of life. Equally enlightening was the revelation that the mind could be manipulated by ingesting certain substances, creating new levels of reality. These inner glimpses, sometimes considered spiritual, formed the basis of many religious and philosophical beliefs.

As civilization progressed, mind-altering substances were often condemned as evil. Pleasure quotas were devised, mandating who should have how much pleasure,, and in what manner. Pleasure providers were approved or disapproved in a scatter-shot, arbitrary, uninformed way.

Alcohol and nicotine, responsible for thousands of deaths each year, are legally and socially accepted. Relatively, harmless substances, such as marijuana, can still send the otherwise law-abiding pleasure seeker to jail.

People have always used drugs. Like it or not, legal or not, history has consistently shown man's occasional need to bend his mind in an effort to bring it to a better place. Whether nirvana is reached by prayer, meditation, or chemical reaction, he seems determined to get there.

Many non-drug-using Americans tend to think of drugs as matter of past history-a temporary phenomenon of the 1960s, the days of Timothy Leary and Haight-Ashbury. Nothing could be further from the truth. Consider the statistics:

According to government surveys, 45 million Americans have smoked marijuana, and 32 percent of the bicentennial high school graduating class consider themselves to be regular users.

Department of Defense figures indicate half the enlisted men in our armed forces regularly use drugs.

Almost 750,000 Americans are habituated amphetamine users.

Eight million Americans have experimented with cocaine. The bottom line is simple and obvious : More people are using drugs recreationally than ever before. Ask any high school student, anywhere in the country, what is floating around his school and he'll start to bombard you with a list of natural and synthetic exotics including "windowpane," "reds," "blotter," "purple microdot," "?14s," and a host of other drugs.

This book does not attempt to take a position on drug use. Neither pro nor con, we do realize one thing: Drug experimentation and use is booming. The likelihood that the trend will lessen in the months and years ahead is virtually nil.

If we can accept this fact, it should be apparent that the best way to deal with our national recreational drug problem is not by creating and enforcing stricter laws. That approach, obviously, has not worked. Rather, it is time to take an honest, objective look at what these drugs are all about: which ones are harmful, and which ones are relatively harmless; which ones can lead to serious problems or addiction; and which do not. Warnings of any type will not lessen drug use or abuse, but knowledge and awareness can help put the subject of drug into some sort of rational perspective. The uninformed drug user plays a dangerous game of mind-and-body Russian Roulette. The uninformed parent, educator, spiritual adviser, and community-at-large chance further alienation of an increasingly larger segment of the younger population by refusing to look at drugs truthfully and instead responding to often fallacious drug-scare stories.

Recreational Drugs is meant to provide nontechnical, understandable information needed by users, abusers, experimenters, and nonusers alike. It is based on the premise that one who knows the truth about drugs will be better able to deal with them. Drugs can kill, but often they do so merely through lack of information. We have tried to provide this information in the form of a complete, accurate, up-to-date, and honest picture of the drugs making the recreational rounds. Some of it may be surprising and contrary to long-held beliefs.

This book is based on research, not experience. In our search for factual information, many of our own concepts and opinions were changed. Some drugs we had considered acceptable were discovered to be dangerous; the horrors of certain other drugs were found to be gross exaggerations. We have attempted to be as thorough in our research as we could, cross-checking sources and information whenever possible. Drugs are part of man's attempt to explore his inner space. We hope this book wilt help him chart his way.

Miami, Florida
July 1977