The Dope on Hash

By The Editors / March / April 2003
June 22nd, 2007
Professor E.B. Delabarre of the department of psychology has recently made a report of the results of his researches on the physiological and psychological effects of hashish (Cannabis sativa). The researches, which have ex-tended over a number of years, thoroughly studied the effects of the drug on the mental processes and the physiological and emotional condition of the individual. It was found greatly to increase emotional mobility and vigor, enhancing and dramatizing the mood in which the individual happened to be when it began to take effect. It produced, also, for several days after administration, feelings of great ease and efficiency of action and thought.

While the drug has often been reported to produce visions and distorted perceptions of space and time, its mental effect is variable on different individuals, and Professor Delabarre found its effect on himself to lie chiefly not in producing visions, but in raising to an unusual pitch the general fullness, clarity, rapidity, and ease of the imaginative and perceptual processes.

Among the sensory capacities, cannabis was found to cause no significant change in power of vision, but it greatly sharpened and increased the individual’s awareness of his own movements and bodily processes. Keenness of hearing, as measured by laboratory tests, was doubled.

No ill aftereffects were noted from taking the drug, but it was necessary to arrange the researches with suitable intervals between experiments to prevent the formation of a habit.

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March / April 2003