The 1960s; Why did it happen? What sparked a generation of change, a social and cultural revolution, and the music that still resonates today? To be honest…it all started with psychedelics. Why just tell people to see the world in a different way, when you can show it to them? The military were the first to use psychedelics in their non-lethal chemical warfare department where they used synthetic Marijuana, LSD and other drugs in their effort to create war without death. While the military was pursuing this goal, the CIA was funding psychedelic research across the nation in an effort to perfect mind control. A volunteer to one of their programs was Ken Kesey, the drugs they gave him inspired him to write One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest and cross the country in a rainbow colored bus spreading the word about these new drugs to expand ones consciousness. Dr. Timothy Leary got the ball rolling, giving psychedelics to Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac and other beat writers and musicians, creating the foundation from which the counter-culture movement was born.
The same drugs; different goals; its not about who has the power, its about how you use it.