Item #41311 A collection of documents issued by SOMA, the drug research project founded in London by Steve Abrams that campaigned for cannabis law reform. SOMA RESEARCH ASSOCIATION.
A collection of documents issued by SOMA, the drug research project founded in London by Steve Abrams that campaigned for cannabis law reform.
A collection of documents issued by SOMA, the drug research project founded in London by Steve Abrams that campaigned for cannabis law reform.
A collection of documents issued by SOMA, the drug research project founded in London by Steve Abrams that campaigned for cannabis law reform.
A collection of documents issued by SOMA, the drug research project founded in London by Steve Abrams that campaigned for cannabis law reform.
A collection of documents issued by SOMA, the drug research project founded in London by Steve Abrams that campaigned for cannabis law reform.
A collection of documents issued by SOMA, the drug research project founded in London by Steve Abrams that campaigned for cannabis law reform.
A collection of documents issued by SOMA, the drug research project founded in London by Steve Abrams that campaigned for cannabis law reform.
A collection of documents issued by SOMA, the drug research project founded in London by Steve Abrams that campaigned for cannabis law reform.
A collection of documents issued by SOMA, the drug research project founded in London by Steve Abrams that campaigned for cannabis law reform.
A collection of documents issued by SOMA, the drug research project founded in London by Steve Abrams that campaigned for cannabis law reform.
A collection of documents issued by SOMA, the drug research project founded in London by Steve Abrams that campaigned for cannabis law reform.
A collection of documents issued by SOMA, the drug research project founded in London by Steve Abrams that campaigned for cannabis law reform.
A collection of documents issued by SOMA, the drug research project founded in London by Steve Abrams that campaigned for cannabis law reform.
A collection of documents issued by SOMA, the drug research project founded in London by Steve Abrams that campaigned for cannabis law reform.
A collection of documents issued by SOMA, the drug research project founded in London by Steve Abrams that campaigned for cannabis law reform.
A collection of documents issued by SOMA, the drug research project founded in London by Steve Abrams that campaigned for cannabis law reform.

106.

A collection of documents issued by SOMA, the drug research project founded in London by Steve Abrams that campaigned for cannabis law reform.

First announced in the Oxford University newspaper, Cherwell, in early February 1967, and best known for the ad. it placed in The Times in July 1967, the acronym SOMA stood for Society for Mental Awareness (it was also a nod to the ritual drink mentioned in the Rigveda and the drug described by Aldous Huxley in “Brave New World”).

Initially run as an informal organisation, it was incorporated in 1969 as the SOMA Research Organisation Ltd., whose directors included Dr. David Cooper, Francis Crick, Francis Huxley, RD Laing, Dr. Anthony Storr, and Professor Norman Zinberg. It had five employees, including Secretary and Archivist Don Aitken, psychologist Derek Blackburn, and Pharmacologist Adam Parker-Rhodes, as well as affiliations with Dr. Ian Dunbar (SOMA’s Medical Director) and Dr. Sam Hutt (Medical Correspondent). SOMA closed in 1970 and formally disbanded in 1971.

i) Cherwell - The Oxford University Newspaper (February 1, 1967). Tabloid newspaper format (12pp.). Centrespread prints “The Pot Plot” by Steve Abrams, an article that signs off with the first mention of his intention to establish “a national Society of Mental Awareness (SOMA)… concerned with consciousness expansion and its legal, moral, social, scientific, literary and religious aspects.” He later described the article as “a kind of dry run for the Times advertisement”. The front cover is headlined “A Drug Figures Revelation” (the prevalence of cannabis use at Oxford was brought to the media’s attention by Abrams’ contribution to “The Book of Grass”). Also: Jonathon Green on Mark Lane, author of “Rush to Judgement”, who spoke to the Labour Club in the Union on “The Innocence of Lee Harvey Oswald”; Robert Kennedy in Oxford; Lindsay Kemp; Tony Coe; Vivienne Verdon-Roe (later an Oscar winner for her documentary about women anti-nuclear activists).

ii) Final draft of “Text of an Advertisement to Appear in The Times, 24th July”. 3 mimeographed foolscap sheets, printed recto and verso, including release form for signatories.

iii) A full-size offprint from The Times, dated July 24th 1967, headlined “The Law Against Marijuana is Immoral in Principle and Unworkable in Practice”. Printed offset litho, recto only. 60.8x45.9cm. Designed by Mike McInnerney, whose layout eschewed contemporary psychedelia in favour of a sober appearance more in keeping with The Times newspaper’s traditional look. The chain of events leading up to the full-page petition (which set out SOMA’s proposals for the decriminalisation of cannabis) began with the arrest on cannabis charges of John ‘Hoppy’ Hopkins on December 30, 1966, and the Stones’ bust at Redlands in February 1967, combined with the sense that the establishment would soon target the Beatles following the release of “Sgt. Pepper”, a record saturated with references to cannabis and LSD (the last track, ‘A Day in the Life’, was banned from airplay on the BBC). The advertisement, first suggested by Steve Abrams at a meeting at Indica on June 2 and subsequently funded by the Beatles at the instigation of Paul McCartney, was signed by sixty-five eminent people in the arts and sciences, including Francis Crick; Graham Greene; David Hockney; Richard Hamilton; David Bailey; Peter Brook; RD Laing; fifteen doctors of medicine; one member of the Wootton Committee; two members of Parliament; Brian Epstein and all four Beatles. Its appearance created an uproar (the issue was debated in the House of Commons on the day of its publication) and immediate repercussions. It almost certainly influenced the appeal court’s decision on July 31 to quash Keith Richards’s conviction for allowing his Redlands home to be used for smoking pot, and to reduce Mick Jagger’s sentence to a conditional discharge (though it did not help Hoppy’s predicament). Old central vertical and horizontal folds; some creasing and handling wear; a few short edge-tears; two old tack holes to upper left edge; o/w Very Good.

iv) SOMA: A Constitution for the Psychedelic State. October 1967. Three mimeographed foolscap sheets, printed recto and verso, stapled at top corner. SIGNED on the first page by Steve Abrams. A discussion of drugs and public policy; the research aims of SOMA; services offered, including its cooperation with Release; and a subscription form intended for mailing to Mike Henshaw.

v) SOMA - research on psychotropic drugs. Undated (c. 1967). Octavo booklet, 8pp., stapled at spine. Front cover lists the Advisory Council of SOMA (Dr. Francis Crick, Francis Huxley, RD Laing, and others). Includes a text on “Utopiates and Public Policy” (3pp.), and 5pp. on the organisation and aims of SOMA. Subscription form laid in.

vi) A Significant Announcement: Research on Legal Forms of Cannabis (THC). June 1968. 2 mimeographed foolscap sheets, stapled at top corner. The document announces that “SOMA is now in a position to begin research on the social and medical uses of synthetic forms of cannabis which are not prohibited by law. The main object of this research will be the development of safe and reliable euphoriant preparations from cannabis which could be placed on general sale”. Details of SOMA’s arrangement with Avalon Botanicals Ltd. follow. The document continues with a section on “The First Year of SOMA”, beginning with a denial of suggestions made in the press “that SOMA is a large organization supported by vested interests, presumably the Mafia. This is untrue”, followed by an account of the change in public opinion effected by the Times ad., and SOMA’s other activities, including its sponsorship of the upcoming Legalise Pot Rally in Hyde Park.

vii) SOMA Newsletters #1-3 [of four published], August 1968, September 1968, and October 1969. Mimeographed foolscap and quarto sheets; #2 and #3 stapled at top corner. In the third issue, Abrams gives his opinion that, following the Wootton Report, the Home Secretary, Jim Callaghan, has little option other than to change the law.

viii) SOMA Research Association Ltd. Undated (c. 1969). Five quarto sheets, printed recto and verso, side-stapled. Prints a text on SOMA and the Wootton Report, and information on the organisation, research programme and services provided by SOMA. Back cover reprints the Times ad. SIGNED by Abrams on the front cover.

ix) The SOMA Manifesto. Undated (c. 1970).Three quarto sheets, printed recto only, stapled at top corner. SIGNED by Steve Abrams on the first page. “The rate of increase in the head population is accelerating, and the concept of the ‘Underground’ is becoming outmoded… Soma has two aims: to perform practical research into the process of turning-on and allied subjects; and to provide extensive Communication facilities to organize and serve the interests of head power.”

Provenance: Steve Abrams.

Sold