Several of the volumes in the series represent a departure from the above description. These also represent challenging issues, and issues of current interest; they are, however, virtually unexplored areas which have received little attention from the research world. For example, the subjects of drugs and the visual arts, science fiction, and fiction—aspects of contemporary life which impact on all of us—are explored here by writers who have been deeply involved in those fields. Their content is perhaps provocative, and certainly stimulating. The Research Issues series is a group project of staff members of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, Division of Research, Behavioral and Social Sciences Branch. Special thanks are due to the continued guidance and support of Dr. Louise Richards and Dr. Norman Krasnegor. Selection of articles for inclusion was greatly aided by the suggestions of a peer review group, researchers themselves, each of whom reviewed a topic of particular interest. It is my pleasure to acknowledge their contribution to the project here. Dan J. Lettieri, Ph. D. Project Officer National Institute on Drug Abuse Robert Silverberg is the author of many science-fiction novels, including _The Masks of Time_, _Son of Man_, _A Time of Changes_, _Dying Inside_, and others, as well as numerous short stories. He has won two Hugo Awards and three Nebulas for novel and short story. He is a past president of the Science Fiction Writers of America. Mr. Silverberg has also written several non-fiction books on historical and archaeological subjects, including _The Pueblo Revolt_, _Mound Builders of Ancient America_, _The Challenge of Climate_, and _The Realm of Prester John_. Born and educated in New York City, Mr. Silverberg now lives in Oakland, California. PREFACE The explosive upsurge in the use of mind-altering drugs by middle-class Americans in the past decade has been a conspicuous and much-discussed phenomenon of our times. Beginning in the mid-1960’s and peaking, perhaps, about 1970, the use of marijuana, LSD, and even heroin has taken on the character of an epidemic, not only among the young but among many citizens of mature years. Though at present the spread of heroin addiction appears to be once more confining itself to low-income groups and LSD has become less fashionable among the experimental-minded, certainly marijuana has established itself as an almost universal drug used regularly by millions of Americans, and use of more potent mind-alterers remains heavy if no longer greatly accelerating.