Stafford, Peter

Stafford, Peter. Psychedelics Encyclopedia. Berkeley, CA Ronin Publishing, 1992. 

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Stafford, Peter Psychedelics Encyclopedia. 

Spring Grove Hospital, 33 Stafford collection, 15 Stafford, Peter, 44 Stark, Ron, 87 Steinberg, Saul, 87 Steindl-Rast, David, 84 stereoisomers, 66 Stevens, Jay, 60 stimulant properties, 41 Stolaroff, Myron, 15,20 Storming Heaven LSD and the American Dream, 60 Stormy Search for the Self, 29 stress reduction, 68,71,76,81 striychnine, 50 strippers, 62 Sudafed, 66 suicide, 76,78,82 Sunshine acid, 87 sweating, 69 synapses, 48 synergies, 48,86 synthesis of MDMA, 86 synthetic psychedelics, 44,50 Syrian rue, 43... 

PETER Stafford is a writer on psychedelics in New York City and co-author of LSD The Problem-Solving Drug. 

Peter Stafford has an elephant s memory for what happened to Public Consciousness."... 

Psychedelics are the royal road to the unconscious, and I would advise anyone interested in these matters to read Peter Stafford s Psychedelics Encyclopedia — which will have to do until better brains come along. ... 

Psychedelics Encyclopedia by Peter Stafford offers the most thorough history to date of the modern-day use of psychedelic drugs. LSD, mescaline, psilocybin, cannabis, and a host of lesser-known and exotic psychotropic agents are discussed in this entertaining survey."... 

Psychedelics Encyclopedia, Third Expanded Edition Copyright 1978,1983,1992 by Peter Stafford ISBN 0-914171-51-8 Published by Ronin Publishing, Inc. 

When Peter Stafford s Psychedelic Encyclopedia first appeared in 1977, it was a major addition to the literature on an important group of drugs affecting the mind. It provided detailed and straightforward accounts of LSD, mescaline, marijuana, and a host of other chemicals and plants. Stafford s information was accurate, balanced and uncontaminated by polemic. Clearly, he was sympathetic to intelligent experimentation with these agents, and, clearly, he was experienced with them personally, but his purpose was to present a logical selection of facts rather than to push his own views. 

Yet all of these drugs can be mind-manifesting for some individuals. That is the literal meaning of "psychedelic," and I suppose Peter Stafford has included them for that reason. Certainly, marijuana deserves a place here, both because it is commonly mind expanding for those who first try it or are new to it or who use it only infrequently, and also because it moves in the same circles as the true psychedelics. 

Peter Stafford has delved into the literature on psychedelic substances and produced an account of the properties attributed to them, how they are prepared and used, and the shifting social attitudes that have been displayed towards them over the past half-century. He has drawn as well on his personal experiences with the agents he discusses and the experiences of people he has known and talked to. The result of this twin-pronged attack on the most perplexing intellectual problem and the most pervasive moral problem of the day— intellectual because of the difficulty in framing an adequate theory of the effect of psychedelic substances, moral because of their widespread use in contravention of the law— is a book which stands in a class by itself. 

I wanted to go into this not to make a point that Tim s obstinacy led to Nixon s downfall, which is true, nor to raise the question whether the use of LSD as a political instrument was justifiable, which is debatable, but to suggest that the price paid for the insurrection Tim devised was the interruption of supplies of LSD and in due course the flooding of the market with a variety of toxic substitutes labelled "acid." Which brings me back to Peter Stafford and my belief that the point of view he represents is the right one for now. 

Peter Stafford surveys these and related developments in the new information on MDMA written for this edition. This Introduction also features a brief overview of a few more of the literally hundreds of other new compounds that have been synthesized in psychochemical research laboratories in recent years. We have also added information about some of the organizations and publications that have recently appeared in response to continued interest in psychedelic driven consciousness change. 

In order to lend greater weight to this human element of psychedelic history, we have included in this Introduction a series of profiles and biographic updates about individuals who have played important roles in the field. Featured here are pioneers who are frequently mentioned in the text of this book, as well as a few who have made their marks since the appearance of the second edition. Of these profiles, perhaps those of John Lilly and Terence McKenna are the most valuable for making this edition as truly complete a volume as possible. Peter Stafford often expressed regret that more of Lilly s seminal work was not covered in the previous edition. Today relative newcomer Terence McKenna is rapidly becoming one of the most influential figures on the contemporary psychedelic scene. 

Additionally, in order to acknowledge some of the many contributors to this field who have died during the last decade, Peter Stafford has provided a roster of "Psychedelic Obituaries." To the many others, both living and dead, who do not appear in these pages but have nonetheless made unquestionably substantive contributions, we sincerely apologize. We hope we will someday be able to offer them berth on a fourth voyage of Psychedelics Encyclopedia. 

Peter Stafford, author of Psychedelics Encyclopedia, at the Bridge Conference... 

Timothy Leary, the Madness of the Sixties and Me, Charles W. Slack (Peter H. Wyden, 1974. Psychedelic Baby Reaches Puberty, Peter Stafford (Praeger, 1971, Delta Books, 1972) The Center of the Cyclone, John Lilly (Julian Press, 1972)... 

Peter Stafford s Psychedelics Encyclopedia (revised edition Los Angeles J. P. Tarcher, 1982) covers the chemical psychedelics as well as the plants and is filled with history, description, pictures, and anecdotes. PIHKAL A Chemical Love Story by Alexander Shulgin and Ann Shulgin (Berkeley, California Transform Press, 1991) is an unusual autobiographical account by a renowned psychedelic chemist that includes detailed descriptions of many designer psychedelics. 

Stolaroff, M. (No date), quoted by Peter Stafford in Magic Grams Inquiries into Psychedelic Consciousness, Rosetta Folios, Berkeley, p. 334. 

Quoted in Peter Stafford s Psychedelics Encyclopedia (1982), [Temple of... 

Psilocybin mushrooms continue to elicit images of pivotal future events in Peter Stafford s Psyche-delics Encyclopedia, is described a vision of the Kennedy assassination by pioneer psilocybin researcher, Stanley Krippner ... 

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