MAPS has made a small donation of $1,000 to a pilot project about drugs and families, directed by Adele Getty. This project is in the early research development stages. No government approval needs to be obtained for this interview study. People interested in supporting the Second Generation Project financially or with personal accounts may contact MAPS directly or Adele Getty at huxley@nets.com.

The Second Generation Project

This study focuses on the experiences of children--mainly teenagers and young adults--whose parents value psychedelics. In general the children have grown up in an open and honest environment concerning their parents' drug use. A number of the parents ceremonially initiated their children into their first psychedelic journey. During preliminary conversations with several of the children, I realized that contrary to my own assumptions some have never used any form of mind altering substance, including marijuana. When I asked a seventeen year old boy why he had never tried anything, he responded by saying "I don't think I have the temperment for that kind of thing." Another nineteen year old said that he has taken psychedelics in ceremony with the adults several times but has never smoked marijuana and doubted that he would ever try it. This conversation inspired me to look more closely into the drug habits of these children. From simple observation these young adults seem to be extremely well adjusted, healthy physically, and emotionally stable, at least as stable as a teenager can be. I suspect that this stability may be the result of highly functioning parents who have made an effort to maintain honest communication. In general, the parents who have raised teenagers into adulthood seemed to have had a pretty easy time of it all, with no major rebellions or addictions on the part of the kids. Little or no research has been done on what I call the "second generation," the children of the 60s generation. The Second Generation Project will use a semi-structured interview technique. I anticipate interviewing 30 to 40 young adults. My primary criteria is that their parents' drug of choice be of the psychedelic variety. The project will be designed as a longitudinal study. At the moment the project is being envisioned in two phases, first a pilot study and then a more comprehensive study. It is in the development stage; creating the research team, establishing the protocol, and fund raising.