The Cure for Homelessness
Can there ever be a cure for homelessness?
As a youngster growing up, I got to participate in an experiment performed by the military (Air Force Office of Scientific Research) when I visited the dentist. I’m sure I wasn’t the only kid who got to taste (and experience) Electric Kool-Aid (LSD-laced juice). In the early 1950’s, the military experimented with ways to deal with large groups of injured children in the event of a catastrophe (Armageddon?).
My researches into ‘military drug testing’ lead me to an article posted in MIND MINDED PRODUCTIONS. This brief excerpt spurred me to thoughts that follow.
LSD Research by Jessica Locke
http://www.mindmined.com/public_library/nonfiction/jessica_locke_del_greco_LSD_research.html
“In 1999, the most effective method (though "effective" may be an exaggeration) for treating alcoholics (was) Alcoholics Anonymous. The goal of AA and of every twelve step program is to help the client develop a sense of spirituality that will replace the use of alcohol and illicit drugs. Typically this program requires years of hard work on the part of the subject and the therapist, but twelve-step spirituality does appear to successfully cure alcoholics and drug addicts who are thoroughly dedicated to the cause of sobriety.
Captain Al Hubbard, a former OSS spy, was acting in accordance with the theory that spirituality can induce sobriety when he began to administer LSD to hard-core alcoholics in the early 1950's. His private experiments were so successful that he established LSD treatment centers at three major hospitals in Canada. He also convinced other researchers, such as Dr. Humphrey Osmond, to exploit the spiritual aspects of the LSD trip.
Before Hubbard introduced Osmond to the spirituality theory of sobriety, Osmond had been using LSD to induce a nightmarish experience involving delirium tremors in his patients, believing that only those alcoholics who reached "rock-bottom" could recover. Osmond became convinced that Hubbard's method was preferable after he performed an experiment based on the new theory at Weyburn Hospital. Osmond administered a single high dose of LSD to 1000 hard-core alcoholics. Fifty percent of his subjects did not drink alcohol again. (Lee and Shalin, 50)
Osmond continued this research for thirteen years, finally concluding that "LSD therapy can turn a large number of alcoholics into sober members of society. Even more importantly, this can be done very quickly and therefore very economically" (Lee and Shalin, 50).”
MY THOUGHTS:
If LSD can induce nightmarish experiences that bring half of all alcoholics to a spiritual aspect of recovery, might it also work to bring the homeless around to being ‘homed?’
If the AA works to induce familial experiences that lead an alcoholic to a spiritual program of recovery, might a similar 12-step program help lead the homeless to a program of being ‘homed?’
Wouldn’t either effort, (administering LSD to the homeless to induce nightmarish experiences, or implementing a 12-step spiritual program to evoke familial experiences) be cheaper or more cost-effective than any ‘homeless program’ to date? Which effort to bring an end to homelessness would be most humane? Is either effort worthy of a try; an experiment; an attempt?
Please comment. Just don’t look to me for the answer; I already gave at the dentist!
As a youngster growing up, I got to participate in an experiment performed by the military (Air Force Office of Scientific Research) when I visited the dentist. I’m sure I wasn’t the only kid who got to taste (and experience) Electric Kool-Aid (LSD-laced juice). In the early 1950’s, the military experimented with ways to deal with large groups of injured children in the event of a catastrophe (Armageddon?).
My researches into ‘military drug testing’ lead me to an article posted in MIND MINDED PRODUCTIONS. This brief excerpt spurred me to thoughts that follow.
LSD Research by Jessica Locke
http://www.mindmined.com/public_library/nonfiction/jessica_locke_del_greco_LSD_research.html
“In 1999, the most effective method (though "effective" may be an exaggeration) for treating alcoholics (was) Alcoholics Anonymous. The goal of AA and of every twelve step program is to help the client develop a sense of spirituality that will replace the use of alcohol and illicit drugs. Typically this program requires years of hard work on the part of the subject and the therapist, but twelve-step spirituality does appear to successfully cure alcoholics and drug addicts who are thoroughly dedicated to the cause of sobriety.
Captain Al Hubbard, a former OSS spy, was acting in accordance with the theory that spirituality can induce sobriety when he began to administer LSD to hard-core alcoholics in the early 1950's. His private experiments were so successful that he established LSD treatment centers at three major hospitals in Canada. He also convinced other researchers, such as Dr. Humphrey Osmond, to exploit the spiritual aspects of the LSD trip.
Before Hubbard introduced Osmond to the spirituality theory of sobriety, Osmond had been using LSD to induce a nightmarish experience involving delirium tremors in his patients, believing that only those alcoholics who reached "rock-bottom" could recover. Osmond became convinced that Hubbard's method was preferable after he performed an experiment based on the new theory at Weyburn Hospital. Osmond administered a single high dose of LSD to 1000 hard-core alcoholics. Fifty percent of his subjects did not drink alcohol again. (Lee and Shalin, 50)
Osmond continued this research for thirteen years, finally concluding that "LSD therapy can turn a large number of alcoholics into sober members of society. Even more importantly, this can be done very quickly and therefore very economically" (Lee and Shalin, 50).”
MY THOUGHTS:
If LSD can induce nightmarish experiences that bring half of all alcoholics to a spiritual aspect of recovery, might it also work to bring the homeless around to being ‘homed?’
If the AA works to induce familial experiences that lead an alcoholic to a spiritual program of recovery, might a similar 12-step program help lead the homeless to a program of being ‘homed?’
Wouldn’t either effort, (administering LSD to the homeless to induce nightmarish experiences, or implementing a 12-step spiritual program to evoke familial experiences) be cheaper or more cost-effective than any ‘homeless program’ to date? Which effort to bring an end to homelessness would be most humane? Is either effort worthy of a try; an experiment; an attempt?
Please comment. Just don’t look to me for the answer; I already gave at the dentist!
posted by Kelly at 7:00 PM
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