Editing Harvard Psilocybin Project (section)

==History==
In 1960, [[Timothy Leary]] and [[Richard Alpert]] ordered psilocybin from Swiss-based company [[Sandoz]] with the intent to test if different administration modes lead to different experiences. To a greater extent, they believed that psilocybin could be the solution for the emotional problems of the Western man.<ref name="psychedelic scandal">{{Cite journal |last=Weill |first=Andrew T. |date=1963-11-08 |title=The Strange Case of the Harvard Drug Scandal |url=https://bibliography.maps.org/bibliography/default/resource/15046 |journal=Look Magazine |volume=27 |issue=22 |pages=38, 43-44, 46, 48}}</ref>

The first test group was composed of 38 people of various backgrounds. Soothing environments were chosen to conduct the experiments. Each subject controlled its own intake dosage, and the lead researchers Leary and Alpert also ingested the substance. This study led to the conclusions that, while 75% of the subjects in general described their trip as pleasant, 69% were considered to have reached a "marked broadening of awareness". 167 subjects in total participated to the 1960 study. At the end of the study, 95% of the subjects declared that the psilocybin experience had "changed their lives for the better".<ref name="psychedelic scandal"/>

In 1961, Leary decided to orient the study towards the possibility of psilocybin assisted rehabilitation of inmates. It resulted in the inmates being able to visualize themselves in a "cops-and-robbers game".<ref name="psychedelic scandal"/>