Distilled Spirits author Don Lattin: Bill W., LSD and the Secret History of Alcoholics Anonymous

[darvocet21]

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DISTILLED SPIRITS -- Getting High, Then Sober, with a Famous Writer, a Forgotten Philosopher and a Hopeless Drunk, Don Lattin 2012

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One of the foundations of the twelve-step recovery program Wilson and company devised in the 1930s is the proposition that alcoholics and other addicts must undergo a “spiritual awakening” inspiring them to “turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understand Him.”

Those are the only words in the twelve steps that were printed in italics, indicating an openness in the early AA circles to finding God in the Judeo-Christian tradition, Eastern spirituality or, twenty years later, in a tab of acid.
Bill Wilson, LSD and the Secret Psychedelic History of Alcoholics Anonymous Lucid News Oct, 2020

 

[deficiT]

This sounds very interesting. I'm actually about to be in a meeting now. I'll have to check this out!

 

[G_Chem]

Yup ol BW was actually a proponent of LSD, but you won’t ever hear that in a meeting that’s for sure. And try to bring it up lol.

-GC

 

[deficiT]

Yup ol BW was actually a proponent of LSD, but you won’t ever hear that in a meeting that’s for sure. And try to bring it up lol.

-GC

Yeah, I don't know much about it but I've heard that. Hopefully this video is enlightening. But yeah, definitely not something you hear in meetings.

I personally don't really consider psychedelics as drugs of abuse, and I don't plan on never tripping again even though I'm sober from everything else.

 

[darvocet21]

Bill W was never a proponent of LSD. He suggested that it might be helpful in facilitating a spiritual awakening, mainly to friends and confidants, because it caused him to have an experience similar to hitting bottom in the 1930s. But that honest self-examination, and service to help others recover was still essential and the only proven way to stay sober. He took it when it was still legal, under the auspices of Dr. Sidney Cohen who was one of the more conservative LSD researchers and certainly not an acid evangelist. By the time the 60s rolled around Bill W was very circumspect about his experiences. I think he was horrified and embarrassed about the promotion of LSD as a recreational drug.

an interesting anecdote that may or may not be true is that when he was dying Bill W pleaded with his wife to let him drink alcohol. She refused.

 

[bingey]

'an interesting anecdote that may or may not be true is that when he was dying Bill W pleaded with his wife to let him drink alcohol. She refused'

I feel sorry for him now