Timothy Leary made headlines nationwide in August '67 when he told an audience @ the University of Maryland that taking acid "is playing Russian roulette with the nervous system but worth the gamble." Leary was speaking before a convention of the National Student Association and Jack Drake was there representing BAMA. Drake wrote about Leary in the first issue of FARRAGO in December '67 (the article contains a picture of Leary with the caption "Local boy makes good- Timothy Leary: the Flower Power man who attended the University of Alabama- not cuts the "grass" out on the farm.") :

...Everyone knows Leary- the ex-Harvard professor, graduate of the University of Alabama, who has recently become the high priest of the psychedelic mysticism. Leary is a fine showman with a better than average sense of the dramatic. When first introduced, Leary himself did not come onto the stage. Instead a Negro man, dressed in white sari and barefooted, came out and said, "Well, you've heard about the effect of LSD upon people's genes- well, look what it did to me." Leary then came out to speak, dressed in the same manner as Chuck, his Negro friend.

While Leary spoke, Chuck listened to the Beatle's "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" through earphones and would occasionally burst into song, often repeating the words, "You've got to realize that it's all within yourself, one one else can make you change."

Leary advised the audience to turn on, tune in and drop out- meaning that everyone should take LSD or smoke pot and then drop out of society.

"Take out a year from school, learn to play a musical instrument or go to Europe. Don't give colleges any of your money- just leave, they can't run without you. And don't buy any of America's goods; then maybe they'll listen to you," the prophet of flowerdom said.