More Than 1,200 Listen To Leary

More Than 1,200 Listen To Leary

By Roy Reynolds

(Higher Education Reporter)

A young audience of 1,200 to 1,500 paid $2 apiece last night to enter Hill Auditorium for three hours of extremely amplified sound produced with musical instruments and about 40 minutes of banter by drug advocate Timothy Leary.

The occasion was a benefit sponsored by the Youth International Party to raise legal defense funds for John Sinclair, leader of the local White Panther group, who is serving 9½-10 years in Marquette prison on a conviction for possession of marijuana.

A declaration by Leary that “marijuana is absolutely and completely beneficial” drew cheers and applause not matched by any of the three hard rock groups sharing the stage. Odors that periodically wafted through the auditorium along with smoke from “straight” cigarettes suggested that some in Leary’s audience came convinced.

Leary is a former Harvard faculty member prominent mainly as a promoter of hallucinogenic drugs. He said his current activities include running for the governorship of California, where he and his wife and “about 20 brothers and sisters” live in a rural area.

Advocacy for “getting away from the city” and “in tune with the rhythms of nature” was a major point in Leary’s remarks last night, along with an attack on alcohol, a summary of his views on religion and politics, and caution concerning the use of drugs other than marijuana.

While proposing that “everyone owes it to himself to take LSD once to see what’s there,” Leary also said that “less than 30 per cent, perhaps only 15 per cent of the population, is ready for the kind of trip LSD provides. LSD is for shaman (tribal magic and medicine men) ... you can’t hold an eight-hour day job and take LSD regularly. . . you become a time traveler.”

In his role as shaman of a drug-based “orgiastic, joyous religion” he forsees developing nationally “in 1971-72,” Leary claimed that “three of the top six Kennedys have turned on.” He said the key stage will come when the 15 to 21 age group starts voting.

Youths are learning to use drugs "quite scientifically," he declared, while "the older, power-holding generation is quite adicted to its favorite dope. It's booze... booze is a down trip... booze perfectly fits the religion of the power-holding generation, which can be summarized in the motto 'For God's sake, feel bad.'

"The new religion says 'For God's sake, for my sake, for everybody's sake, feel good.' This is a death blow to the Judeo-Christian religion.

"There are precise drugs, exactly tailored to your nervous system, and they all exist in nature... There are no more excuses for not being turned on all the time."