Tikkun Article Advocates Reexamination of Psychedelics, Religion, and Drug Policy

DRUG POLICY STUDIES November 1995

Stephen Mo Hanan advocates opening a discussion about the sacramental uses of psychedelic drugs in a recent article for Tikkun (Stephen Mo Hanan, "Out of the Psychedelic Closet," Tikkun (A Bimonthly Jewish Critique of Politics, Culture, and Society), September/October 1995, p. 15-20).

He describes his own religious experience with mescaline in 1970 climbing the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, and argues that psychedelic drugs should not be grouped with drugs like crack and heroin in discussions of drug policy.

He writes that he came to reconcile his religion with his drug use:

It raised the question of whether God wants us to be happy or just well-behaved. Good behavior offends no one, but happiness can repel as well as attract. ... Shall we view life as a ledger divided between rewards and punishments, credits and debits, or as a gift that flows out of a Mystery?