Timothy Leary, Richard Alpert (Ram Dass) and the changing definition of psilocybin.

The 1968 U.S. federal prohibition of psilocybin was largely a product of the actions of Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert, who transformed from Harvard professors into countercultural icons during the 'Harvard drug scandal.' They tested psilocybin on human subjects, attracting Harvard undergraduates and condemnation from faculty and administrators. Unlike most illegal drugs, psilocybin was never linked to a threatening minority group but to privileged youth. Leary and Alpert acted as moral entrepreneurs on holy missions for young and minority Americans. Their success in changing culture made psilocybin possession criminalized under federal law in 1968, demonstrating that crusaders can shift culture even when laws attempt to control their behavior.

Study at a glance

Abstract

This research focuses on the events leading to the 1968 U.S. federal prohibition of psilocybin. It is a study of duelling moral entrepreneurs-Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert vs. the Harvard University Administration. The goal is to show how the primary active compound in an ostensibly harmless fungus (the psilocybin mushroom) became controversial in less than a decade. We used books, newspapers, magazine articles and previously unpublished materials (including documents from the Harvard Archives) to analyze Leary and Alpert's lives and careers through the early 1970s. The prohibition of psilocybin in the U.S. was largely a product of Leary and Alpert's involvement in the "Harvard drug scandal" and their transformation from Harvard professors to countercultural icons. They tested the substance on a variety of human subjects and in doing so piqued the interest of Harvard undergraduates while drawing condemnation from other faculty and Harvard administrators. This case is theoretically interesting because unlike most illegal drugs, psilocybin was never linked to a threatening minority group, but to some of the nation's most privileged youth. The Harvard administrators were not really moral entrepreneurs but Leary and Alpert clearly were. Although they were far from being prohibitionists, they were self-righteous crusaders on different but equally holy missions for the good of young and minority Americans. Ironically, due to their successes the possession of psilocybin was criminalized under United States federal law in 1968 (Pub. L. No. 90-639, Stat. 1361 1968 and Boire, 2002). This case study demonstrates that crusaders can be successful in changing culture even when laws are passed in futile attempts to control their behaviour, just as Leary predicted.