MIND DRUGS

Responsible articles on alcohol, LSD, marijuana, heroin and other central nervous system stimulants, their use and abuse, the medical, social and legal ramifications, with self-conscious awareness (and avoidance) of the usual emotional overtones. ""Some contributors (such as the Medical Director of the Haight-Ashbury Medical Clinic) are under thirty"" and they know the scenes; Leary and the high guys from Harvard, suburban cliques and get to groups, Hashbury and the East Village. As each was written by a different professional (and four by Miss Hyde), there is necessarily some repetition, fortunately no disagreements, happily a recurrent insistence on the need for study of long-term effects, especially of marijuana. They don't ignore ""disaffiliates"" or the renunciation-with-guilt establishment and they do refer to a current preoccupation with existential acts and immediate pleasures. Several discuss the personality patterns of users and the relative successes of various institutional treatments (addresses provided). Perhaps in recognition of a general malaise Miss Hyde includes a final chapter. ""Turning on without Drugs,"" which refers to Joy, the Maharishi's transcendental meditation, and similar do-it-yourself movements. The vocabularies, while not hygienically technical, are precise and noticeably free of weighted words. The information is here; a more attractive jacket could do a lot.