Arcadia Public Library

When Michael Pollan set out to research how LSD and psilocybin (the active ingredient in magic mushrooms) are being used to provide relief to people suffering from difficult-to-treat conditions such as depression, addiction and anxiety, he did not intend to write what is undoubtedly his most personal book. But upon discovering how these remarkable substances are improving the lives not only of the mentally ill but also of healthy people coming to...

Authors discuss the development of such drugs as LSD, mescaline, and psilocybin, defining their dangers, describing their influence on the 1960s counterculture, and debating their potential therapeutic uses.

Presents an investigation into the current medical and scientific revolution in the field of psychedelic drugs, tracing the criminalization of such substances as LSD and psychedelic mushrooms and how they may treat difficult health challenges.

"A revealing, courageous, fascinating, and funny account of the author's experiment with microdoses of LSD in an effort to treat a debilitating mood disorder, of her quest to understand a misunderstood drug, and of her search for a really good day. When a small vial arrives in her mailbox from "Lewis Carroll," Ayelet Waldman is at a low point. Her mood storms have become intolerably severe; she has tried nearly every medication possible; her husband...

In the 1950s and '60s, chemist Sidney Gottlieb was head of the CIA's MK-ULTRA mind control project. He directed brutal experiments at secret prisons on three continents, made pills, powders, and potions that could kill or maim without a trace, paid prostitutes to lure clients to CIA-run bordellos, where they were secretly dosed with mind-altering drugs. His experiments spread LSD across the United States, making him a hidden godfather of the 1960s...

"When he signed up for a psychedelic retreat run by a mysterious Argentine woman deep in Brazil's rainforest in early 2018, Ernesto Londoño, a veteran New York Times journalist, was so depressed he had come close to jumping off his terrace weeks earlier.His nine-day visit to Spirit Vine Ayahuasca Retreat Center included four nighttime ceremonies during which participants imbibed a vomit-inducing plant-based brew that contained DMT, a powerful mind-altering...