1950-1970 / Testimony

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Testimony of Allen Ginsberg on LSD before a Special Subcommittee of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary

Ginsberg Senate Testimony on LSD (1966)

The poet Allen Ginsberg (1926–1997) testified on June 14, 1966, before the special Senate Judiciary subcommittee holding hearings on narcotic rehabilitation and LSD on college campuses, with Quentin N. Burdick (1908–1992) presiding. He read a long prepared statement describing his visionary experience of 1948 and his use of peyote, mescaline, LSD, and ayahuasca, then argued from newspaper coverage and the medical literature that LSD's dangers had been exaggerated and that research should be expanded. The record hosts the full printed text, pp. 487–509, including his questioning by Burdick and Jacob K. Javits (1904–1986), his list of proposed research topics (Exhibit No. 76), and the references he put into the record.

Testimony of Timothy Leary on LSD before a Special Subcommittee of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary

Leary Senate Testimony on LSD (1966)

Timothy Leary (1920–1996), then president of the Castalia Foundation at Millbrook, New York, testified on May 13, 1966, before the special Senate Judiciary subcommittee chaired by Thomas J. Dodd (1907–1971) that was holding hearings on narcotic addict rehabilitation and on LSD use on college campuses. Leary proposed licensing adults to use psychedelics and offering supervised university courses, and he sparred at length with Senator Edward M. Kennedy (1932–2009) over control, possession, and danger. The record hosts the full printed exchange, pp. 238–258, from Dodd's introduction to the recess.