The Accidental Trip (1943–1964)

Albert Hofmann’s Bicycle Day (19 April 1943): Sandoz chemist Albert Hofmann accidentally ingests 250 µg of LSD‑25, experiences vivid hallucinations on his bicycle ride home, and later brands the compound “Delysid” for psychiatric research.

Cold‑War Experiments – MK‑Ultra (1953–1964): The CIA runs covert LSD tests on unwitting soldiers, prisoners, and civilians, hunting for a “truth serum” or mind‑control tool.

Harvard Psilocybin Project (1960–1963): Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert administer psilocybin to students, clergy, and inmates; faculty outrage over private “magic‑mushroom parties” leads to Alpert’s dismissal (27 May 1963) and Leary’s departure soon after.

Kesey & the Furthur Bus (1964): Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters drive a neon school bus cross‑country, staging LSD‑fueled Acid Tests with live music, strobe lights, and communal dosing—prefiguring modern raves.

By the mid‑’60s, a handful of chemists and renegade psychologists had lit the fuse—next came the scene itself, where music, art, and communal trips transformed psychedelics into a cultural force.

The Acid Wave (1965–1967)

The Human Be‑In (14 Jan 1967): 20–30 k people gather in Golden Gate Park. Timothy Leary coins “Turn on, tune in, drop out,” while Owsley Stanley hands out “White Lightning” LSD, igniting the Summer of Love.

Haight‑Ashbury Epicenter (Summer 1967): 75 k–100 k young people descend on San Francisco’s Haight‑Ashbury, packing crash pads, head shops, and free Grateful Dead concerts.

Haight‑Ashbury Free Clinic (7 June 1967): Dr. David E. Smith opens the city’s first free clinic to treat drug‑related crises, seeing 250 patients on day one.

Liquid‑Light Shows: Overhead projectors swirling oil, dye, and film loops bathe venues like the Fillmore in moving color, dissolving performer/audience boundaries.

Communal Highs & Hard Landings (Oct 1967): Overcrowding, bad batches (e.g. potent DOM/STP), and rising crime spark a “Death of Hippie” parade in October, marking cracks in the utopian dream.

As acid spread from labs to living rooms, San Francisco became ground zero—bright lights, big crowds, and the first signs of a cultural backlash.

Psychedelia Goes Mainstream (1967–1970)

• Music Turns Technicolor: The Beatles release Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (26 May 1967), pushing studio effects and album‑art collage into the global spotlight.
• Visual & Spiritual Cross‑Pollination: Day‑Glo posters, paisley fashion, and tie‑dye become shorthand for altered consciousness; LSD‑driven ego dissolution fuels pilgrimages to Indian ashrams and seeds America’s yoga boom.
• Counter‑Politics: Psychedelic idealism energizes anti‑war protests, civil‑rights marches, and early feminist consciousness‑raising circles, alarming the political establishment.

By the end of the decade, psychedelic style—music, fashion, and activism—had exploded beyond the underground into the mainstream.

Psychedelic Sparks Innovation (1960s)

Douglas Engelbart’s “Mother of All Demos” (1968): Guided LSD sessions for Menlo Park engineers and architects inspire design ideas later showcased in his groundbreaking demo of hypertext, video conferencing, and the mouse.

Stewart Brand’s Whole Earth Vision (1968): On 100 µg of LSD, Brand envisions a satellite photo of Earth as a unifying image—later gracing the cover of the Whole Earth Catalog and influencing ecological thinking.

Steve Jobs & Silicon Valley: Steve Jobs called LSD “one of the most important experiences of my life,” crediting it with fostering a creativity‑over‑profits ethos that became part of Apple’s DNA.

Psychedelic experiences didn’t just change culture—they spurred some of the biggest leaps in tech and design.

Political Whiplash (1966–1970s)

State‑Level Bans (30 May 1966 & 6 Oct 1966): Nevada and California outlaw LSD, setting the stage for federal action.

Controlled Substances Act (1970): LSD, psilocybin, and mescaline land in Schedule I—“no accepted medical use”—halting research and ramping up enforcement.

Altamont Free Concert (6 Dec 1969): Hells Angels security kills Meredith Hunter, symbolically ending the ‘60s peace‑and‑love era.

As the Nixon administration cracked down, the era’s utopian dream collided head‑on with politics and policy.

Modern Renaissance (1990s–Present)

• MAPS & MDMA Trials: The Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies wins FDA breakthrough‑therapy status for MDMA‑assisted PTSD treatments (2017–present).
• Johns Hopkins Psilocybin Study (2016): Two high‑dose sessions yield ~80 % remission in depression and anxiety among cancer patients, sustained at six months.
• Policy Thaw: Oregon’s Measure 109 (2020) creates the first regulated framework for psilocybin therapy; Denver, Oakland, and other cities decriminalize natural entheogens.
• Psychedelic Retreats & Tech: A surge of retreat centers in Canada and Europe—and microdosing apps paired with wearable biofeedback—brings these practices to mainstream wellness seekers.

Today’s clinical trials, policy changes, and tech innovations echo the 1960s drive for exploration—only now under rigorous science and regulation.

Lasting Echoes

Yoga studios, mindfulness apps, festival visuals, and our obsession with “flow states” all trace back to the psychedelic era. As the FDA reviews MDMA‑ and psilocybin‑assisted therapies, we’re finally asking the questions that a generation of hippies once intuited: can a single molecule heal minds—and culture—if used with care?