''Psychedelics and Civilisation, Light and Darkness'' by Graham Hancock

''In all the technological cultures of the 21st century the mere possession of a psychedelic substance such as LSD, psilocybin or DMT can result in public humiliation, loss of property and reputation, and lengthy jail penalties. But things were very different in antiquity.

Many of the greatest civilisations of the past, from ancient Egypt to ancient Greece, and from ancient India to the ancient Americas, enshrined the use of psychedelics as a sacred practise and found immense value in the visions that ensued.

Further back still, archaeological evidence is mounting that the shamanistic use of psychedelics may have been instrumental in the birth of the modern human mind.

In this talk Graham Hancock investigates the possibility, that by demonising and criminalising the use of psychedelics, rather than seeking out ways to harness their power for altering consciousness in safe and nurturing spaces, our society may have set itself on a profoundly negative path -- a path that might even deny us the next step in our own evolution as a species.

He issues a warning though. Psychedelics have their dark side -- as in their use in rituals of human sacrifice by the Aztecs of ancient Mexico. Ultimately our intentions and the settings we create are at least as important as the substances themselves in determining the outcome of the experience both for the individual and for society at large.

The talk will finish with a Q & A, and Graham will also be available for a meet-and-greet , to sell/sign copies of his latest book Magicians Of The Gods, the sequel to his multi-million bestseller Fingerprints Of The Gods.