Jack S. Margolis' Complete book of recreational drugs

by Jack S. Margolis

Libro usado en buenas condiciones, por su antiguedad podria contener señales normales de uso

439 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1978

Reviews

[David Ward · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jack S. Margolis’ Complete Book of Recreational Drugs by Jack S. Margolis (Cliff House Books 1978) (615.78) (3899).

This is a very dated book of advice about recreational drug choices from the 1970’s, and it offers recommendations for choosing from among both the natural and pharmaceutical selections of the day, many of which are no longer available in the present day (2023).

Author Jack Margolis has created an encyclopedic list of licit and illicit drugs and compounds which are known to be psychically active (e.g., “will get you high”). The most striking thing about this little volume is that it provides commentary about the effects of each of the pharmaceutical drugs of the day. The book is like today's Erowid.org website - more or less a clearinghouse of info for those given to psychic exploration and/or chemically-induced relaxation and experimentation.

Jack S. Margolis’ Complete Book of Recreational Drugs is essentially a Physician’s Desk Reference for psychonauts!

The most eye-opening (and outdated) info in the book is the commentary about the proprietary pharmaceutical drugs which were in widespread use in the 1970’s. There are entries for countless pharmaceutical compounds that are as scarce as hen’s teeth in the 2020’s but which were prescribed by the millions back in the day. These were principally a countless number of amphetamine and barbiturate compounds (or even combinations of the two!) that have now been removed from pharmacy shelves after having been adjudged by “Big Brother” as too dangerous to be made available to the general public.

Here’s a piece of pharmaceutical trivia of which I was completely unaware: The drug “Ketamine,” which was discovered in 1961, was the most frequently-used anesthetic on the battlefields of Vietnam. This drug has been in the news recently in late-2023 as the cause of death of the actor Matthew Perry, who gained fame on the television show Friends. According to Jack Margolis, the drug Ketamine offers effects that are partly psychedelic and partly like the hugely popular party drug Methaqualone (Quaaludes).

This book is a great time trip back to the 1960’s and 1970’s.

I purchased a used PB volume in good condition for $14.50 on 10/11/2023 on Amazon.

My rating: 7.5/10, finished 12/22/23 (3899).

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