FDA Investigates Drugs at University

The director of the Boston District of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration confirmed yesterday that F.D.A. inspectors were investigating the possible illegal sale in Cambridge of psilocybin, LSD, and mescaline, three hallucination-producing drugs.

Nevis E. Cook said that as a result of stories in the CRIMSON, the F.D.A. had been in touch with University officials about the drug problem, but that so far its work had consisted of "trying to pin down rumors."

"Most of the information I might have on the possible extent of it [the illegal sale or distribution of drugs] we got out of your newspaper," Cook told the CRIMSON yesterday.

Cook said he "doubts very much" that the investigation will lead to any arrests in Cambridge, and said it was unlikely that an organized ring of drug peddlers was operating in the Harvard Square area.

Cook suggested that whatever illegal distribution of drugs there was consisted of "some individual in the school getting drugs mailed in from outside." "We won't hesitate to prosecute anyone who is bringing this stuff in," Cook stated.

Under F.D.A. regulations, psilocybin, LSD, and mescaline are classified as drugs under investigation or experimentation. They cannot be sold publicly, and are available only to doctors, clinical psychiatrists, or other qualified researchers.

Controversy about the drugs first erupted last spring over research conducted by two members of the Center for Research in Personality--Timothy Leary, lecturer in Clinical Psychology, and Richard Alpert, assistant professor of Clinical Psychology.

"Not Carried On Scientifically"

Other members of the Center charged that the research was not being carried on in properly scientific fashion. After an investigation, the Massachusetts Public Health Department ruled that psilocybin could only be administered in the presence of a medical doctor. The University ruled that no undergraduates could be employed in the experiments.

[As evidence of the unscientific nature of the experiments, one source reported that Leary and Alpert organized group psilocybin parties, at which even the group leader had taken the drug.]

Two weeks ago, Dean Monro reopened the controversy with a warning to undergraduates to steer clear of psilocybin and other "consciousness-expanding drugs" because they pose a "serious hazard to the mental health and stability of even apparently normal people."

The statement said that the drugs had been known to induce psychotic and suicidal tendencies.

In a letter to the CRIMSON on Monday, Leary and Alpert disputed the contention that the drugs were dangerous. They also charged that legitimate scientific research in the drugs is being stifled at Harvard and other universities and forced underground "for the first time since the inquisition."