Health Secretary RFK Jr.'s parents Robert and Ethel Kennedy
As the federal government moves to legalize psychedelics, particularly ibogaine, at the urging of Joe Rogan and in hopes no doubt that his and other drug-peace loving minions will look kindly on Trump and his coattail brigade of brigands in the upcoming midterm elections. Standing with Trump and Rogan at the policy announcement was HHS Secretary RFK Jr., whose support for psychedelics may stem from his mother Ethel's clinical experience with LSD in the 1960s while her husband was a US Senator.
Michael Pollan spoke about Ethel's LSD experience and RFK Sr.'s Congressional-floor comments on the topic during a Fresh Air interview about his new book, A World Appears: A Journey Into Consciousness. According to Acid Dreams by Martin A. Lee and Bruce Shlain, "The decision to curtail LSD research was the subject of a Congressional probe....the inquiry in the spring of 1966 was lead by Senator Robert Kennedy (D-NY), whose wife Ethel reportedly underwent LSD therapy with Dr. Ross MacLean." (p. 93).A SPIN magazine article "When Bobby Kennedy Defended LSD" reprinted in a newsletter from MAPS (Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies), says that the conservative Sen. Thomas Dodd (D-CT), an alcoholic who was later censured by the Senate for political corruption, convened The Special Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency for three hearings on LSD and other psychedelic drugs in 1966.
"RFK, whose wife had been treated with LSD and benefitted from the experience, adopted a quite different tone in his questioning of FDA and NIMH officials in his own subcommittee hearing on LSD," says the article. "He was curious as to why so many LSD research projects were getting scrapped. When the officials evaded the questions, RFK got straight to the point. 'Why if they were worthwhile six months ago, why aren’t they worthwhile now?' he asked repeatedly."
The article quotes Kennedy saying, "Perhaps to some extent we have lost sight of the fact that (LSD) can be very, very helpful in our society if used properly.”
While pregnant with their 11th child, Ethel Kennedy was at the side of her husband when he was assassinated in Los Angeles in 1968. "Petite and peppy," as the Washington Post described her, Ethel founded the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights soon after her husband's murder, and advocated for a variety of causes. She was active in the Coalition of Gun Control, the Special Olympics, and the Earth Conservation Corps. She participated in a 2016 demonstration supporting higher pay for farmworkers in Florida, and joined a 2018 hunger strike against the Trump administration's immigration policies.Acid Room: The Psychedelic Trials &Tribulations of Hollywood Hospital by Erika Dyck & Jesse Donaldson begins:
From the street, New Westminster's Hollywood Hospital didn't look like much. Just a rambling white mansion, mostly obscured behind the holly trees from which it took its name. But, between 1957 and 1968, it served as a mecca for alcoholics, anxiety patients, and unhappy couples, its unorthodox methods boasting a success rate of 50-80%, and attracting scores of celebrity patients, including Andy Williams, Cary Grant, and Ethel Kennedy. Those same methods would eventually bring about the facility's downfall, as well as the condemnation of physicians, the government, and the police.
Because, for the better part of a decade, Hollywood Hospital was the site of more than 6000 supervised LSD trips. Under the care of psychiatrist J. Ross MacLean and researcher/ex-spy Al Captain Trips Hubbard, it was the only medical facility in BC (and one of a handful across the country) venturing into the brave new world of psychedelic psychiatry - from a specialized inner sanctum known as the Acid Room.
Archives of the Hollywood Project were purchased from Timothy Leary's archivist Michael Horowitz of Flashback Books in 2011 by Purdue University, which has made them available online.
The Government getting involved in psychedelic research gives pause to some, given the history of MK-ULTRA and other dicey experimental programs; some even think those were linked to the Manson murders. Leary commented on an article he was quoted in about the US lifting a research ban in LSD in 1992, "I am proud to have 'killed' government authorized research on psychedelics."
Also see: The Tech Bro Takeover of Psychedelic Culture.
Jackie Kennedy and Majoon in Morocco
Judy Balaban, Early LSD Experimenter and Human Rights Champion
ALL THIS, AND MEDICAL CANNABIS RESCHEDULING, TOO!
The other pre-primary announcement the Trump administration made is that it will immediately reschedule medical cannabis to Schedule III, with hearings on broader rescheduling to take place in June. The order was signed by newly appointed AG Todd Blanche, Trump's former attorney who interviewed Ghislaine Maxwell just before she was transferred to a low-level federal prison facility.Trump's support of legalization during his last presidential campaign came after meeting with multistate, medical marijuana operators who donated millions of dollars to him, and have ties either to his cabinet or Russian oligarcs. In order to allow business expenses to be deducted from federal taxes under the new order, operators must register with the DEA by June 24, and the portal to register opened this week, despite the Treasury and the IRS saying that tax guidance is still forthcoming. Blanche's order claimed that international treaties the US has signed mean DEA must be the purchaser of all cannabis, and will take a fee for its transfer.
The order instructed DEA to deny applications made by anyone with a state or federal conviction (under 21 U.S.C. 823) for doing the same thing they're issuing licenses for (selling marijuana). This is in direct violation of state programs, which encourage equity operators who are victims of the racist and classist war on drugs to participate in the legal industry.
