“As for the power of drugs, the notion that the pharmacological properties of a drug, irrespective of set and setting, are the sole determinants of disturbed or violent behavior dies hard.”
—
“Today addiction is generally accepted as a scientific term that describes the inevitable physiological dependence that follows the continued and heavy use of substances (such as the opiates, barbiturates, or alcohol) that have certain pharmacological properties. Nevertheless, it is clear that the conception of addiction, like the concept of drug abuse, has long been approached in an unscientific or pseudoscientific way.”
“One reason for the prevalence of definitions of drug abuse that are neither logical nor scientific is the strength of Puritan moralism in American culture, which frowns on the pleasure and reaction provided by intoxicants… Our Puritan heritage is so deeply ingrained that even drinking is attended by a deep-seated ambivalence… The idea that pleasure, or at least the kind of pleasure that leads to escape and euphoria, is potentially dangerous and must be rationed in imprinted in the American consciousness… as my study has revealed, even very moderate drug users also reflect Puritan attitudes and values by feeling guilty about their use.”
— “In the fall of 1967, during his fourth year of medical study at Harvard, [Andrew T. Weil] decided that if our statements were to be regarded as credible, we had to have experimental data.”
“But even these stringent requirements did not satisfy Harvard University. The Executive Committee of the Medical School refused permission for the experiment on advice of cousnel, who said to me on the telephone: ‘I have checked into this proposal carefully and find nothing speciically illegal. However, I have also checked my conscience and have decided that I must recommend that Harvard not countenance your giving this dangerous drug to human beings.‘”
“The experiments, which took place the following year (1968), went smoothly and uneventfully…”
“In the case of marihuana use I found repeatedly that the drug’s reputation for destroying normal personality functioning and for harming a variety of bodily processes was based on misunderstanding and misconception. It is rather ironic now, when approximately fifty-seven million Americans have tried marihuana (Miller & Associates 1983), to recall that less than two decades ago most informed citizens believed that any use of marihuana would turn the brain to jelly.”