LSD 'helped' Beatle

LONDON (AP) - Beatle Paul McCartney says LSD made him "a better, more honest, more tolerant member of society."

"But I would like to make it perfectly clear," he stressed, "that I do not advocate LSD."

"I don't want kids running to take it when they hear I have."

Confronted by reporters Saturday, McCartney said he has taken the drug four times in the last year but is not taking it any more.

McCartney, the only bachelor in the popular British singing group, declined to say where he got the LSD or where he took it. Each "trip" he said, lasted about six hours.

LSD stands for lysergic acid diethylamide. It is a hallucinatory drug used in psychiatry but illegal if used outside medical control.

"I just decided to experience it like a man decides to experience sex -- just like that," the Beatle said. "I don't believe this drug should be taken from the banned list."

- End of article. Copyright by the Associated Press, June 19, 1967.