From April 15 to 18 of this year, coinciding with the anniversary of Albert Hofmann’s discovery of LSD, a conference of psychedelic science experts organized by MAPS (http://www.maps.org) was held in San Jose, California. We will report on the event in detail in the print version of Cannabis Magazine. We are taking this opportunity to revisit some of the articles published in the magazine about the creator of LSD.

by Stanislav Grof

Stanislav Grof, M.D., Ph.D., is a psychiatrist with more than 30 years of research into non-ordinary states of consciousness induced by psychedelic substances and various drug-free techniques. He was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia, where he also did his scientific training—an M.D. at the Charles University School of Medicine and a Ph.D. at the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences. His first research on the clinical use of psychedelic drugs was carried out at the Prague Psychiatric Research Institute, where he was principal investigator of a program on the heuristic and therapeutic potential of LSD and other psychedelic substances. In 1967 he was invited as a research and clinical fellow by Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD. After two years he decided to stay in the United States and continue his research as Chief of Psychiatric Research in Maryland and as an assistant professor of psychiatry at the Henry Phipps Clinic of Johns Hopkins University. In 1973 he was invited by the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California, where he lived until 1987 as a scholar in residence, writing, giving seminars and courses, and developing, with his wife Christina, Holotropic Breathwork, an innovative form of experiential psychiatry. He was a member of the Institute's Board of Trustees.

He currently lives in Mill Valley, CA, leading practical seminars for professionals in holotropic breathwork and transpersonal psychology (Grof Transpersonal Training) and giving courses and seminars around the world. He is one of the founders and leading theorists of transpersonal psychology and the founding president of the International Transpersonal Association. Through this association he has organized international conferences in the United States, India, and Australia.

At the last High Times Cannabis Cup, there was one figure whom virtually every event revolved around, directly or indirectly: Winston Hubert McIntosh, better known as Peter Tosh (10/19/1944 – 9/11/1987).

An article by the master Escohotado on prohibitionism and its historical antecedents.