While researching the U.S. counterculture, I stumbled across a brief, apprehensive article about the growing popularity of recreational LSD use. The article (Drugs: The Dangers of LSD) appears in TIME in 1966, when the counterculture began to hit its stride but before the peak of its influence. It provides a historical snapshot of mainstream hysteria regarding the exploding drug culture.
In the last year … 75 patients were admitted to Bellevue because of LSD reactions, nine of them reported “uncontrollable impulses toward violence,” and two of these had attempted murder.
To such recognized LSD experts as Los Angeles’ Dr. Sidney Cohen, author of The Beyond Within (TIME, Dec. 18, 1964), the “acid head” who is “taking a trip” is more likely to become passively fascinated by the glories or horrors of contemplating his own navel than to react violently against others. Suicide is a more probable result than murder. But Dr. Cohen concedes that any man who stays on LSD for three days would require repeated, increasing doses, and might have reactions not previously seen by psychiatrists. Equally important is the basic personality of the LSD user: on college campuses and in beatnik dives in California, most users are young, directionless and more confused than hostile; New York City may well have a greater proportion of hard-core misfits, with different problems.
