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HIGHLY LIKELY
FAMED PSYCHIATRIST
Highly Likely highlights Cannabis pioneers who have paved the way to greater herbal acceptance. Dr. Jacques-Joseph Moreau
THIS MONTH’S COLUMN TELLS THE TALE of a little-known French psychiatrist who would document one of the modern world’s first experiments with Cannabis in a social-scientific setting: - Dr. Jacques-Joseph Moreau (no relation to the mad scientist in H.G. Wells’ The Island of Dr. Moreau).
RECOMMENDED READING “CANNABIS”
Jonathon Green
MOREAU’S STUDIES IN THE MIDDLE EAST IN THE LATE 1830s led to his fascination with hashish – so deep was this interest (not just by him, but much of the French military) that when he came back to Paris, he started to share his love with friends and close acquaintances. Soon, an underground group was formed for the study of this miraculous substance.
The group was known as The Club Des Hashischins, which translates roughly to English as “The Club of the Hash Eaters.” Other prominent members of the club included the poet Baudelaire, the artist Eugene Delacroix, and writers like Victor Hugo, Theophile Gautier and Alexandre Dumas of “The Three Musketeers” fame. While the club was named for the potent hashish that was ingested, its members also used opium in addition to Cannabis extracts. For about five years in the 1840s, members of this secret club would meet to conduct experiments with altered states of consciousness produced by consuming copious amounts of hashish, and engaging in a sort of occult séance-like rituals. These meetings occurred (with the participants clad in ritualistic Arab clothing) at the Hotel Lauzun on the river Seine – which at the time was said to have a sort of pastoral setting inside the bustling city of Paris.
The club’s activities were primarily conducted by Dr. Moreau, who would become through his association with the club the first scientist to publish a study about recreational drug use. Moreau would describe his keen interest in Cannabis as a counter to what he called the “ignoble heavy drunkenness” of consuming alcohol, as opposed to the “intellectual intoxication” of hash.
Just what was the favorite method for consuming Cannabis for these literary elite? A green paste called Dawamesc, made from ice-water extracted hash mixed with pistachios, lard and honey. The paste was then mixed with strong coffee, which would have produced a sort of ‘speedball’ like effect for the participant. Gautier, the journalist of the group, kept a sort of diary of the proceedings that was later published in the Revue Des Mondes in 1846.
In it he describes the preparation as such: “The doctor stood by a buffet on which lay a platter filled with small Japanese saucers. He spooned a morsel of paste or greenish jam about as large as a thumb from a crystal vase, and placed it next to the silver spoon on each saucer. The doctor’s face radiated enthusiasm; his eyes glittered, his purple cheeks were aglow, the veins in his temples stood out strongly, and he breathed heavily through dilated nostrils. ‘This will be deducted from your share in Paradise,’ he said as he handed me my portion...”
After that, a large meal ensued, after which the potent dose of hash had begun to take effect. As you can imagine with a mega-dose of hashish to the uninitiated – most of the participants experienced what many of us have when we’ve ‘had too much’ when consuming a homemade edible.
The gatherings (and observation of them) continued for almost five years, culminating in 1846 with Moreau’s publication of “De Hachish et de l’Alienation Mentale - Études Psychologiques” (Hashish and Mental Illness - Psychological Studies), a 439-page book.
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