Drugs don't have spiritual potential, human beings have spiritual potential. And it may be that we need techniques to move us in that direction, and the use of psychoactive drugs clearly is one path that has helped many people.

Whole plants differ in their effects from refined drugs (:)...Plants are dilute preparations (of) the active principles...Plants usually go into the body through the mouth and stomach, whereas purified chemicals can be put...by snorting or injecting...directly into...bloodstreams without giving...bodies a chance to process them. Other compounds in drug plants...may modify the active principles, making them safer.

Imagine that each time you inhale, that the universe is breathing into you, and as you exhale it is breathing out of you.

By keeping my hand in that, it's the way I keep learning. The main way you learn in medicine is by practicing and working with patients.

In Europe, when tobacco was first introduced, it was immediately banned. In Turkey, if you got caught with tobacco, you had your nose slit. China and Russia imposed the death penalty for possession of tobacco.

You've got to experiment to figure out what works.

The notion that a human being should be constantly happy is a uniquely modern, uniquely American, uniquely destructive idea.