Editing Timothy Leary (section)

==== Introduction to psychedelic mushrooms ====
[[File:TimothyLeary-LectureTour-OnStage-SUNYAB-1969.jpg|thumb|right|Leary at the [[State University of New York at Buffalo]] during a lecture tour in 1969]]
On May 13, 1957, ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' magazine published "[[Seeking the Magic Mushroom]]", an article by [[R. Gordon Wasson]] about the use of [[psychedelic mushrooms|psilocybin mushrooms]] in religious rites of the indigenous [[Mazatec people]] of Mexico.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Life on LSD |url=http://www.life.com/image/50711262/in-gallery/50751/life-on-lsd |url-status=dead|magazine=[[Life (magazine)|Life]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101026205242/http://www.life.com/image/50711262/in-gallery/50751/life-on-lsd |archive-date=October 26, 2010}}</ref> Anthony Russo, a colleague of Leary's, had experimented with [[psychedelic drug|psychedelic]] ''[[Psilocybe mexicana]]'' mushrooms on a trip to Mexico and told Leary about it. In August 1960,<ref>Cashman, John. "The LSD Story". Fawcett Publications, 1966</ref> Leary traveled to [[Cuernavaca]], Mexico, with Russo and consumed [[psilocybin]] mushrooms for the first time, an experience that drastically altered the course of his life.<ref name="video">''Ram Dass Fierce Grace'', 2001, Zeitgeist Video</ref> In 1965, Leary said that he had "learned more about ... [his] brain and its possibilities ... [and] more about psychology in the five hours after taking these mushrooms than ... in the preceding 15 years of studying and doing research".<ref name="video"/>

Back at Harvard, Leary and his associates (notably Alpert) began a research program known as the [[Harvard Psilocybin Project]]. The goal was to analyze psilocybin's effects on human subjects (first prisoners, and later [[Andover Newton Theological School|Andover Newton Theological Seminary]] students) from a synthesized version of the drug, one of two active compounds found in a wide variety of hallucinogenic mushrooms, including ''[[Psilocybe mexicana]]''. Psilocybin was produced in a process developed by [[Albert Hofmann]] of [[Sandoz Pharmaceuticals]], who was famous for synthesizing LSD.<ref>{{cite book| last1 = Sandison | first1 = Ronald|title = Psychedelia Britannica - Hallucinogenic Drugs in Britain| publisher = Turnaround| page = 57| date = 1997| isbn = 1873262051}} 'Psilocybin...was synthesised in Dr Hofmann's laboratory in 1958.'</ref>

[[Beat Generation|Beat poet]] [[Allen Ginsberg]] heard about the Harvard research project and asked to join. Leary was inspired by Ginsberg's enthusiasm, and the two shared an optimism that psychedelics could help people discover a higher level of consciousness. They began introducing psychedelics to intellectuals and artists including [[Jack Kerouac]], [[Maynard Ferguson]], [[Charles Mingus]] and [[Charles Olson]].<ref>Goffman, K. and Joy, D. 2004. ''Counterculture Through the Ages: From Abraham to Acid House''. New York: Villard, 250–252</ref>