Third Expanded Edition
Psychology/Pharmacology
520 pp 
300 illustrations, photos, drawings 
Bibliography, index 
ISBN 0-914171-51-8 
$38.95

BUY THIS BOOK

"Stafford's is a sane, reasoned reference book in a controversial area where politics and criminal penalties have kept research and public knowledge at a minimum."

-Publishers Weekly

-New Age Journal

Search this book: Search the full text of this book

sychedelics Encyclopedia is a fascinating historical reference on psychedelics -- from the LSD-25 of the '60s to the memory enhancers of today. 

Psychedelics Encyclopedia draws from scientific research, personal accounts, and popular literature to document the properties attributed to psychedelic substances, their preparation and use, and the shifting social attitudes toward them over the past half-century. 

Psychedelics Encyclopedia is a remarkable sourcebook for anyone interested in the psychological, biological, physiological, and cultural aspects of psychedelics.

Information on the history, botany, pharmacology, physical effects, mental effects, forms, and sources for: 

+ The LSD Family 
+ Marijuana & Relatives
+ Peyote 
+ Mescaline & San Pedro 
+ Psychoactive Mushrooms
+ The MDA Cluster 
+ Yage & Harmaline
+ Ibogaine 
+ Short Acting Tryptamines (DMT, DET, DPT) 
+ Nootropics 
+ Other Psychoactive Substances

Of all the substances that excite the visionary powers of the mind, LSD is the most potent. It belongs to a class of substances that can be divided into two groups. One group occurs naturally, in the fungus ergot and in members of the woodrose and morning glory families. The other group is produced semi-synthetically, the most important member being LSD. Both groups exhibit a four-ring crystalline chemical structure. Unlike most of the psychoactive molecules dealt with in this book, which are called amines, these LSD-type compounds are all amides.

In a curious circle of coincidence, knowledge about the psychoactivity of the natural groups came along only after the synthesis of LSD by Dr. Albert Hofmann. Unlike most chemists, who even today work mainly with synthetics, Hofmann was drawn toward study of natural substances at the end of the 1920s. Under the supervision of Dr. A. Stoll, who isolated the first ergot alkaloid in a pure chemical form, Hofmann later synthesized a number of ergot analogues (closely related compounds) at Sandoz Pharmaceuticals in Switzerland.