1st Edition
Sacred Drugs How Psychoactive Substances Mix with Religious Life
Introduction
Part I: Big Picture
1: Sacred? Drugs?: Disorientations
2: Why Alter Consciousness, Religiously?
3: The Impact of the Psychoactive Revolution in the West: A New Drugged World Order
Part II: Sacred Drugs, American Style
4: Everyday Drugs and Sacred Potentialities
5: Faith in Pharmaceuticals
6: Addiction and the Sacred
7: Psychedelic Awakenings
Conclusion
Biography
Gary Laderman is Goodrich C. White Professor of American Religious History and Cultures, Emory University, USA.
'Finally, a lucid and deeply researched book that illuminates a public secret within the humanities. Taking drugs is innately religious. Going beyond the cheap truths of the “psychedelic renaissance” in the sciences, this book maps how the use of drugs in general - from alcohol to pharmaceuticals to acid - speaks to humanity’s most fundamental yearnings.'
J. Christian Greer, Stanford University, USA
"Laderman writes with steady hands. No mystic fluff. No clinical coldness. He treats drugs as part of how people build the sacred...Should you read it? If you care about the sacred side of psychoactives, yes. If you work in the space and need language that respects both tradition and modern medicine, yes. If you want a silver bullet, no. The book resists that. It gives a map. You still have to walk. Verdict: Recommended. Smart, grounded, useful for readers who move between culture, ceremony, and clinical settings."
- Javier Hasse, Editor-in-Chief of High Times Magazine, read the full review here
