Drug Warning gets Wide Coverage; Source of Drugs Remains Mystery

Tuesday night Dean Monro and Dana L. Farnsworth, director of the Health Services, wrote a letter to the CRIMSON warning undergraduates of the danger of what they called "mind-distorting" drugs such as L.S.D. (lysergic acid diethy-lamide), psilocybin, and mescaline.

The letter was sent because of concern in the administration over recent evidence of undergraduates using the drugs. CRIMSON sources revealed that sugar cubes impregnated with L.S.D. have been sold in the Square.

From these two statements, and particularly the latter, an amazing story has been concocted by some elements of the professional press. Yesterday's Boston Record-American screamed in 90-point type on page one: "Drug Black Mart Bared at Harvard." Most of the other papers used a little more sense, but the story was given heavy play in the press and on the radio.

Surprised by the sensational reaction to his warning, Dr. Farnsworth yesterday attempted to restore reason to the wild discussions started by the stories.

"The problem of ingestion of drugs of various kinds is a continuous one, with variations in practice from year to year," Farnsworth said. While declining to state what specific cases, if any, had prompted his letter. Farnsworth stated that there has been no "major blow-up" in drug usage.

"Our attention is drawn from time to time to possible improper uses of the drugs, and we feel it appropriate to warn students of the dangers of using powerful drugs that affect the mind without appropriate authorization or supervision," Farnsworth said.

He compared the problem to others the University deals with continuously such as "plagiarism and book stealing." In any large community, there is bound to be some malpractice; early last year a small number of students were discovered to be involved in narcotics usage.

One of the major questions in the current situation is the source of the drugs. All the drugs named in the original letter are illegal in Massachusetts, except in special situations. Dr. Farnsworth said there is no cause to prescribe them for medical reasons.

Many rumors have made the rounds, including one that graduate students involved in University experiments have sold the drugs, but Fransworth is "particularly uneasy about drugs that come from source outside the University."

Although the problem apparently is not one of major significance, informed sources said yesterday that an investigation will be carried out next week. Massachusetts Food and Drug investigators will check out this and other universities, according to the Record-American. It is not yet certain who else will join the search for illegal drugs: representatives of both the Postal Inspection office and the Federal Narcotics bureaus denied knowledge of any investigatory activities.