Interview for Daily Mirror

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On June 16, 1967, Life Magazine, in the US, published an article where Paul McCartney is quoted saying:

After I took [LSD], it opened my eyes. We only use one-tenth of our brain. Just think what all we could accomplish if we could only tap that hidden part! It would mean a whole new world. If the politicians would take LSD. there wouldn’t be any more war, or poverty or famine.

Paul McCartney – Interview with LIFE Magazine, June 16, 1967

The UK press immediately seized upon it, and Paul gave various interviews to explain his views.

BEATLE Paul McCartney admitted last night that he has experimented several times recently with the drug LSD.

At his home in St. Johns Wood — on the day before his twenty-fifth birthday — he said:

“One of the reasons I am telling you this is that my experiences with LSD have made me a much more honest person. I find it very difficult now to tell a lie.”

But last night the Sunday Mirror doctor emphasised that LSD should be used only under professional supervision, and where it was necessary for a patient’s well-being. Said Paul:

“I have taken LSD four times. I became interested because here I am not 25 years old yet, I have made a lot of money, I’m famous you would think I have got it made. But I realised there was something else. Well, anyway, I had heard about drugs and I saw that a number of people in show businesspeople I looked up to and respected — were on drugs of some kind.

“So I thought: ‘If these people dabble in drugs, who am I to write the whole thing off?’ At one time, say when I was eighteen, I would have thought that what I have now would be the height of my ambition. But it isn’t, by a long shot. I don’t know exactly what I’m still after, but when you get a man with millions saying he just feels lonely, you don’t laugh.

“I had read a lot about LSD and finally I decided to try it. It was right here in this room. Each session lasted about six hours. It was the experience in my mind, and if you like, my soul, that was the shattering thing. I simply cannot explain what the experience was. It was different each time, and yet in a way it was always the same. All I can say is that it has shown me that there is something more to life than I have experienced before, call it love or God or what you will.

“But — and I want to make this very clear — I do not advocate the use of LSD or any drug for anybody else. I have no idea what effect it could have on someone else. I only know what it does to me. I regard it as a purely personal thing. I would rather not have talked about it at all, but now that the subject has come up and I am asked a direct question I find it impossible to lie about this thing. One thing I’m quite sure of is that LSD is definitely not addictive. I am not a junkie or anything like that. I have no intention of messing about with all kinds of drugs to see what they will do to me.”

But last night the Sunday Mirror doctor insisted: “This is a dangerous thing to play with and it is not for Paul McCartney to say it is or is not addictive. There is not only a danger of increasing tolerance, but a terrible risk of personality changes of a lasting character. Used properly and in skilled hands, LSD can still have dangers, but can also bring benefits. But no one can play with fire and expect to avoid burning. It is a great pity that someone of this popularity should be associated with drug-taking of this kind. Anyone who takes LSD except under proper medical or psychiatric supervision is asking for terrible trouble. It should NEVER be so used by ANYONE.”