Escape of the Drug Guru

The ‘High Priest of LSD’, Timothy Leary, made a daring escape from the California Men's Colony on September 13th, 1970. A prominent counterculture figure and advocate for psychedelic substances, Leary had been incarcerated for possession of marijuana - and was labeled ‘The Most Dangerous Man in America’ by Richard Nixon.
His escape was orchestrated by the Brotherhood of Eternal Love, a drug trafficking organization, and the Weather Underground, a far-left Marxist militant group. They provided Leary with a cable to scale the prison wall, a getaway car, new clothing, and false ID papers; then bungled him off to Algeria in the care of the Black Panthers.
In this episode, Arion, Olly and Rebecca consider Leary’s famous slogan, ‘Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out’; explain how his controversial LSD experiments at Harvard were legitimately concerning to the academic system that initially supported him; and reveal what Susan Sarandon did with his remains at Burning Man…
Further Reading:• ‘Will Timothy Leary's papers turn us on to LSD?’ (The Guardian, 2011): https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/jun/18/timothy-leary-papers-sale-lsd• ‘Nixon's Manhunt For The High Priest Of LSD In 'The Most Dangerous Man In America'’ (NPR, 2018): https://www.npr.org/2018/01/05/575392333/nixons-manhunt-for-the-high-priest-of-lsd-in-the-most-dangerous-man-in-america• ‘Dr Timothy Leary’s Ranch’ (ABC News, 1967): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSLRA1Ub9mA
#60s #Crime #Protest #Celebrity
Love the show? Join 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS 🌴 to DITCH THE ADS and get an additional full-length episode every SUNDAY!Plus, get weekly bonus bits, unlock over 70 bits of extra content and support our independent podcast.Join now via Apple Podcasts or Patreon. Thanks!podfollow.com/Retrospectors The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Sophie King.Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2023.<br /> Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.