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Date: Wed, 13 Jan 1999 13:22:07 EST
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Subject: MAPS: R.I.P. for the Elephant Killer
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For those interested in the psychedelic experience of animals, it is necess=
ary
to debunk the sensationalistic newpaper accounts of the elephant who died f=
rom
using LSD.  In actuality, a zoo got rid of a surplus elephant by offering i=
t
to any scientist who wanted it for experimental purposes.  Jolly West was a
psychiatrist at UCLA.  Leary claimed that West also did secret psychedelic
research for the CIA, although he lied about this involvement whenever anyb=
ody
asked him about it in public.  Jolly volunteered to shoot a giant LSD-laden
hypodermic dart into the elephant.  The missile penetrated the poor creatur=
e=92s
jugular vein.  The unfortunate beast collapsed in convulsions.  It died bef=
ore
the LSD could even take effect.  Upon publicizing this tragedy, the news
reports neglected to mention that the elephant had really been mortally
wounded by the traumatic impact of a projectile weapon.  While this so-call=
ed
"experiment" lacked any genuine scientific merit, it made Jolly famous.
Exploiting his reputation as "The Elephant Killer", he infiltrated a rural
hippie commune by pretending to be sympathetic with their "back to nature"
philosophy.  To establish rapport with people, he patted his enormous
corpulent belly, chortling "I have become quite elephantine myself!"  He to=
ok
photographs and made reports about the counterculture community over severa=
l
years.  He also ingratiated himself with bearded long-haired artists so he
could photograph them standing next to psychedelic paintings.  Later, durin=
g
his lectures at conventions of law enforcement agents, the Jolly Elephant
Killer used this evidence to portray psychedelic users as brain-damaged
degenerates.  Jolly bragged "Even though I had a crew-cut at the time, thos=
e
hippies loved me because I was known as the dude who killed the elephant wi=
th
LSD." =20

The following press release discusses the recent death of Dr. West:


Cult Expert Louis Jolyon West Dies

=2Ec The Associated Press

 LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Dr. Louis Jolyon West, a psychiatrist and cult expert =
who
conducted court-ordered examinations of Jack Ruby and Patricia Hearst, has
died of cancer. He was 74.

West, who died Saturday at his home here, headed the psychiatry department =
and
the Neuropsychiatric Institute at the University of California at Los Angel=
es
for 20 years. He retired in 1989, but remained active in research and
mentoring students.

West began studying torture and brainwashing during the Korean War, and
eventually expanded his research to include post-traumatic stress syndrome,
alcohol and drug abuse, pain, sleep problems, dreams and hypnosis.

West frequently served as a court-appointed expert psychiatrist. He testifi=
ed
that Ruby, killer of President Kennedy's assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, suffe=
red
from ``major mental illness apparently precipitated by the stress of his tr=
ial
and its aftermath.'' That opinion forestalled Ruby's death sentence, and he
died of cancer in prison.

West was also one of four psychiatrists who examined Hearst, the kidnapping
victim turned bank robber, before her 1976 trial. The panel found she was s=
ane
and able to stand trial but ``psychologically damaged as a result of
torture.'' It recommended she should be treated before the trial, a
recommendation ignored by the court.

In a speech after Hearst's conviction, West said, ``The government finished
the destruction of her life started by an anti-government group.'' Her
sentence was eventually commuted.

West was sought out by the news media for insight on cults as recently as
1997, when the group Heaven's Gate staged a mass suicide in San Diego.

A civil rights activist, West was the first white psychiatrist to go to Sou=
th
Africa to testify on behalf of black prisoners during the attempt to end
apartheid. He was a member of the White House Conference on Civil Rights in
1966, and he worked for years to abolish the death penalty.

AP-NY-01-07-99 0959EST

 Copyright 1998 The Associated Press.  The information  contained in the AP
news report may not be published,  broadcast, rewritten or otherwise
distributed without  prior written authority of The Associated Press.=20

=20

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