Not only does he admit to using narcotics, but he says he has made special trips to the dark, uncivilized regions of the Amazon to find them.

In fact, he says, if you approach the natives in the correct way, they may even "be good enough" to offer you their hallucinogens.

If so, "you should take them. It's a good way to establish a rapport," advises Jeffrey Professor of Biology Richard E. Schultes '37.

Schultes, however, is not under indictment for illicit drug trafficking, nor has he come in for criticism of his research. On the contrary, he is widely regarded as one of the world's most prominent ethnobotanists, and has made contributions to several areas of science ranging from medicine to crop development during his eventful 45-year career.

In fact, his extensive array of accolades includes the naming of a species of Amazonian cockroach (Schultesia ramundiana) and several tropical plants in his honor.

Although working with hallucenogins comprises only one aspect of Schultes' work, it marks one of his several areas of groundbreaking experimentation.

Throughout his 35-year teaching career and during his 15-year residence in the remote regions of the Amazon jungle--including some regions which are accessible only by plane or boat--he has pioneered several areas: rubber plant studies, crop development, narcotics and orchid study. He has also identified, classified and conducted experiments with approximately 24,000 plant species. In all, he has brought back to Harvard more than 48,000 varieties of plants from areas ranging from Mexico to Afghanistan.

Schultes draws praise from his colleagues primarily for his advancements in narcotics and rubber plant studies.

"His greatest contribution has been to put ethnobiology on a solid scientific basis by being both an outstanding chemist and botanist," says Peter S. Ashton, Arnold Professor of Botany and director of the Arnold Arboretum, adding that Schultes has developed "an unusual level of capacity" to identify plants of potential economic interest. "He's demanding in the sense that he always wants the right answer, but he's also a very congenial person," says a Northeastern University professor of pharmacology, Robert Rattauf, who has worked with Schultes for the past 30 years.

His primary goal has been to discover the properties and possible applications of the plants used by the Amazon natives. And, as a result, some of his work has had revolutionary impact.

For example, after learning how the South American Indians create poisonous curare, with which they tipped their darts and arrows, Schultes and other scientists used the same plants to create, tubocuranin, a muscle relaxant now used extensively in hospitals worldwide.

Another breakthrough is rotenon, a widely used biodegradable insecticide that has replaced DDT. While the Indians used the chemical to kill fish, it is now effectively applied to the new purpose.

Schultes' work with narcotics has led to developments such as mescaline, which causes a "beautifully colored visual hallucination," he says, and psilocybin, which is extracted from a mushroom plant native to Mexico. Both drugs have been used in psychiatry.

The hallucinogenic plants, he adds, are regarded among the natives as the most important because they feel the plants allow them to "communicate with the spirits. It's their medication par excellence."

But Schultes says the narcotics "are not misused as they are in our drug culture." Because the Indians associate the narcotics with the divine, "their culture does not allow them to misuse them," he says.