Tim Leary Counterculture Movement

Hello class, I will be your psychology professor for the day. Today’s topic is going to be Tim Leary and his contributions during the counterculture movement.
Towards the beginning of the 1960’s, the sudden influx of the use of psychedelic drugs influenced many people like you and me. One of the biggest influencers was Tim Leary. His controversial views were proven true to many and influenced people, but was harmful.
His penchant for psychedelics began from his experience of magic mushroom tripping in his short excursion to Cuernavaca, Mexico. His experience claimed to have him, as noted in his most well-known book, Turn On, Tune In, and Drop Out, “learn more about his brain and its possibilities” and “significantly altered the course both
his subconscious and conscious mind.” Because of how beneficial the experience was, this marked the beginning of his advocation of mind-altering drugs. He later got arrested several times for the possession of marijuana in California after announcing his candidacy for the spot of governor in 1970. He managed to escape with the help of several people only to get caught again, this time in Afghanistan. Leary did manage to be released in 1976, however, this stirred up controversy and Leary became a media sensation during the sixties. Even Richard Nixon dubbed Leary as the “The Most Dangerous Man in America.”
As he continued being a cannabis hoarder, Leary illegally conducted numerous psychedelic-related researches with undergraduate students, mostly the use of LSD during his lectures at prestigious colleges like Harvard. Leary noted and came to the conclusion that in a controlled setting and with the help with a professional psychologist, one could “alter his/her’s behavior that couldn’t be easily attained in regular therapy through the use of LSD.” However, his theory was later debunked by many, mainly because of the fact that he had no proof that it successfully worked for anyone except for himself. And if he were to have the proof, he would have been arrested for the fifth time because of illegal experiments on people under 21, which is also the number of failed marriages he had.
So the big question that I am pretty sure that many of you have would be: Why did so many people listen to Leary? Why did people choose to be influenced by someone who frequently gets in trouble by the government and possess drugs? Well, it turns out that people listened to Leary was because of his background. With a bachelor degree in the University of Alabama, a master’s at Washington State, and a doctorate at UC Berkeley, it seems reasonable during the sixties and even today for people to entrust a highly-educated person like Leary.
Unfortunately, people today and in the past don’t seem to focus on one’s personal agenda. Because people are quick to listen to someone who has a good education and has a degree from a prestigious school, they don’t see the person’s morals and his/her’s aspects behind their qualifications. Like Leary, with three psychology majors from three really good schools, he still managed to get arrested over five times, with sentences ranging from five to 30 years in prison.
Because of his numerous lectures and having to travel to all corners of United States, Leary decided that it was time to put his works into publications.
His widespread notion, “Turn On, Tune In, and Drop Out” became known to many in the United States. He made about thirty books, ranging from personality diagnosis to revealing how our brains are gods.
All this Tim Leary craze also happened during the Counterculture movement. The new generation of this time period decided to go against moral rules. This era marked the beginning of many movements, such as marriage equality, and movements to legalize psychedelics. This was another reason why Leary was favored by many--his views were supported the majority.
However, people are oblivious to what psychedelics could have a role on the human body. Leary’s claims aren’t scientific; they’re claims of his own experience and experiments he has conducted aren’t done professionally. Though his claim that psychedelics hold the key to knowing the causes of psychological elements, scientists later showed that psychedelics like LSD, DMT, Molly, Ecstasy showed severe psychological damages of one’s brain when used and/or administered frequently, unprofessionally, or used with bad-quality or counterfeit psychedelics. Sometimes, PTSD and severe depression could be initiated despite having a professional trip-sitter. There is also a great chance that one could experience a bad trip, a trip that could severely damage one’s mental
state.
People who have had a bad trip explained the feeling like being in a lucid nightmare-- “It's like a never-ending nightmare one can’t get out of.” Therefore, Leary’s advocation of psychedelic drugs actually proved to be harmful, not “altering one’s course of one’s mind to the right direction.” Leary’s religion, Hinduism, is strictly against the use of psychedelics or any life-deteriorating substances. So what he was doing for nearly sixty years was all ironic. His advocation for the use of psychedelics to give the beneficial effects that one wouldn’t receive for assisted therapy was also ironic, because like what I said earlier, psychedelic drugs could be the cause to psychological damage.