Here is a conversation between Aldous Huxley and Timothy Leary on this issue. They were tripping at the time. It comes from page 44 of Leary's autobiography, Flashbacks:

Aldous looked at me quizzically. "So you don't know what to do with this bloody philosopher's stone we have stumbled onto? In the past, this powerful knowledge has been guarded in privacy,
passed on in the subdued, metaphorical obscurantism of scholars, mystics and artists".

"But society needs this information", I said, passionately. My anti-elitist button had been pushed.

"These are evolutionary matters. They cannot be rushed. Work privately. Initiate artists, writers, poets, jazz musicians, elegant courtesans, painters, rich bohemians. And they'll initiate the intelligent rich. That's how everything of culture and beauty and philosophic freedom has been passed on. Your role is quite simple. Become a cheerleader for evolution. That's what I did and my grandfather before me. These brain-change drugs, mass-produced in the laboratories, will bring about vast changes in society. This will happen with or without you or me. All we can do is spread the word. The obstacle to this evolution, Timothy, is the Bible".

"I don't remember any discussion of brain-change drugs in the Bible".

"Timothy, have you forgotten the very first chapters of Genesis? Jehovah says to Adam and Eve, 'I've built you this wonderful resort eastward of Eden. You can do anything you want, except you are forbidden to eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge'".

"The first controlled substances".

"Exactly. The Bible begins with Food and Drug prohibitions".

"So, the Fall and Original Sin were caused by the taking of illegal drugs".

By this time Aldous was chuckling away very pleased with himself and I was rolling on the floor with laughter.

"Timothy, you must expect opposition. There are people in this society who will do anything within their considerable power to stop our research. The managers of consciousness, from the Vatican to Harvard, have been in this business for a long time and they're not about to give up their monopoly. And after all, they're the experts and we're the amateurs. They're the pros and we're just the lovers".

Allen Ginsberg, a leader of the Beatniks in the 1950's had a little different opinion. The way he saw it, who has the right to stop someone else from tripping? This isn't about elitism and controlling others. That's what the sick society is about. This is about freedom. According to Ginsberg, everyone has a right to get a shot at this.

It was up to Leary to decide on how to proceed and in what direction. It was his call because he was the one with the Harvard credentials, doing research and he was a man of action. The others were more like thinkers, philosophers, writers and in general, observers, not movers and shakers like Leary. Ginsberg was also a committed, mover and shaker type, but he realized that he is viewed as some crazy, beatnik poet and that the Harvard name is solid gold which would make people listen to Leary.