(Rev MeO:)
When did you first hear about entheogens and their great purpose?

(Dennis McKenna:)
Its hard to pinpoint. I remember our first hearing about entheogens must have been in the early sixties. I remember my mother and one of her friends talking about “did you know they have some drug that will make you remember things, or look into you mind and realize you're a rapist”, that kind of thing... this must have been when the media had just started alluding to LSD, and not always negatively. Several things followed on in short order, the Life Magazine article about Wasson (which I don't actually remember; but I do remember the one about LSD; and then Huxley's books, a number of things, made use realize that this was something worth looking into.

(Rev:)
So what age was this when your mom and her friends discussed drugs that made you realize you were a rapist?!!? hah!

(DM:)
It wasn't until several years later that I was actually able to access entheogens and find out what was going on... Terence was a student in California by then... I must have been about 11 or 12. I didn't take LSD until I was 16, I had smoked weed about a year before that...

(Rev:)
Did Terrence turn you on to this world, or did you start using these just with local friends?

(DM:)
Not for lack of trying. My first attempts were with morning-glory seeds, following the Newsweek articles about that. We went down to the local seed shop and bought up the entire supply! Nope, Terence turned me on first--to weed--in the city park across from our house (he was home on summer vacation with his girlfriend).

(Rev:)
Any success with the seeds? I have only had mild success with morning glories...I enjoy Baby Hawaiian Woodrose quite a bit more.

(DM:)
I went to Berkeley, where T was living at the time, and San Francisco for the “summer of love” in 1967. That summer was the first time I'd taken LSD No, my encounters with morning glories were inglorious, to say the least. Mostly, I just got sick. Didn't do enough. I since had much better luck with baby woodrose, I agree. I think woodrose are kind of neglected. I thought they were pretty good, though I did have one harrowing experience when I took too much.

(Rev:)
Could you explain?

(DM:)
Well, I was living in Boulder at the time, with my girlfriend. I must have been about 19. We went up to a lake outside town, and I must have taken about 25 seeds. She took maybe half as much. It was very strong, but also very physically uncomfortable, something like ergotism. Lots of CV type symptoms, for both of us even though she had taken less, the weight difference evened it out...and there was also lots of paranoia. We were in a cafe in this town and became convinced that the cops were in there, and trailing us...so we fled, and managed to get on the highway and hitch a ride...but it was fairly hair-raising, in a kind of “furry freak bros” kind of way...