Dr. Ecstasy

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

very cool (but long) article about the guy who created mdma (and many, MANy other drugs apparently). Apparently it's use has been approved in the US in a test to ... do something with cancer patients :P pain relief or anxiety I think

Alexander Shulgin, Sasha to his friends, lives with his wife, Ann, 30 minutes inland from the San Francisco Bay on a hillside dotted with valley oak, Monterey pine and hallucinogenic cactus. At 79, he stoops a little, but he is still well over six feet tall, with a mane of white hair, a matching beard and a wardrobe that runs toward sandals, slacks and short-sleeved shirts with vaguely ethnic patterns. He lives modestly, drawing income from a small stock portfolio supplemented by his Social Security and the rent that two phone companies pay him to put cell towers on his land. In many respects he might pass for a typical Contra Costa County retiree.

It was an acquaintance of Shulgin's named Humphry Osmond, a British psychiatrist and researcher into the effects of mescaline and LSD, who coined the word ''psychedelic'' in the late 1950's for a class of drugs that significantly alter one's perception of reality. Derived from Greek, the term translates as ''mind manifesting'' and is preferred by those who believe in the curative power of such chemicals. Skeptics tend to call them hallucinogens.

Shulgin is in the former camp. There's a story he likes to tell about the past 100 years: ''At the beginning of the 20th century, there were only two psychedelic compounds known to Western science: cannabis and mescaline. A little over 50 years later -- with LSD, psilocybin, psilocin, TMA, several compounds based on DMT and various other isomers -- the number was up to almost 20. By 2000, there were well over 200. So you see, the growth is exponential.'' When I asked him whether that meant that by 2050 we'll be up to 2,000, he smiled and said, ''The way it's building up now, we may have well over that number.''

The point is clear enough: the continuing explosion in options for chemical mind-manifestation is as natural as the passage of time. But what Shulgin's narrative leaves out is the fact that most of this supposedly inexorable diversification took place in a lab in his backyard. For 40 years, working in plain sight of the law and publishing his results, Shulgin has been a one-man psychopharmacological research sector. (Timothy Leary called him one of the century's most important scientists.) By Shulgin's own count, he has created nearly 200 psychedelic compounds, among them stimulants, depressants, aphrodisiacs, ''empathogens,'' convulsants, drugs that alter hearing, drugs that slow one's sense of time, drugs that speed it up, drugs that trigger violent outbursts, drugs that deaden emotion -- in short, a veritable lexicon of tactile and emotional experience. And in 1976, Shulgin fished an obscure chemical called MDMA out of the depths of the chemical literature and introduced it to the wider world, where it came to be known as Ecstasy.

ah, here's the cancer thing

Most of the scientific community considers Shulgin at best a curiosity and at worst a menace. Now, however, near the end of his career, his faith in the potential of psychedelics has at least a chance at vindication. A little more than a month ago, the Food and Drug Administration approved a Harvard Medical School study looking at whether MDMA can alleviate the fear and anxiety of terminal cancer patients. And next month will mark a year since Michael Mithoefer, a psychiatrist in Charleston, S.C., started his study of Ecstasy-assisted therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder. At the same time, with somewhat less attention, studies at the Harbor-U.C.L.A. Medical Center and the University of Arizona, Tucson, have focused on the therapeutic potential of psilocybin (the active ingredient in ''magic mushrooms''). It's far from a revolution, but it is an opening, and as both scientist and advocate, Shulgin has helped create it. If -- and it's a big ''if'' -- the results of the studies are promising enough, it might bring something like legitimacy to the Shulgin pharmacopoeia

http://www.wilmingtonstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050130/ZNYT04/501300378/1010/State



so, mdma being tested for medical use, and psilocybin I can't wait to be sick in the future!

skywalker

I read an article about him before in playboy (i buy it for the articles ) pretty interesting guy.

Jim10000

Interesting stuff... I have read that some psychtherepists in the U.S. frequently used to administer MDMA to their patients in sessions in order to get them to see a problem from another perspective or empathise, or get over some emotional hurdle or whatever... before it was classified as illegal obviously, but not THAT long ago.
And speaking about anxiety in terminally ill patients - I read recently that Aldous Huxley, always a good man for new experiences, took a load of LSD in the final hours of his life... for the final trip I suppose.
That kind of freaked me out though.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

afaik, MDMA and Lsd are still being used by a very small number of psyschotherapists (bleh, whatever word they're calling themselves these days) in switzerland.

only a small number though, people who were already using it for a while.. don't think new people are allowed start using it.

garthv

Yeh apparently MDMA was originaly used as a slimming pill......
crazy ass weight watcher classes eh?

Chad ghostal

that was serioulsy interesting, thanks.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

well, I took my first e tab around august of last year, took it.. every 2-3 weeks for a few months after that, and a few months later I was down 3-4 stone.

I'm sure it wasn't JUST the e that contributed to this but still, it shows what can be done when you fark off the alcohol for a while. Not all drugs need to give you a belly!

Jim10000

the e-plan diet

Blub2k4

Mordeth wrote:

well, I took my first e tab around august of last year, took it.. every 2-3 weeks for a few months after that, and a few months later I was down 3-4 stone.

I'm sure it wasn't JUST the e that contributed to this but still, it shows what can be done when you fark off the alcohol for a while. Not all drugs need to give you a belly!

Heroin is quicker.

Goodshape

Never really gave ecstasy the time of day. Tried it a few times alright, but I'm just not into the whole 'clubbing' scene that seems to go along with it - the fact it makes you appreciate music you know for a sober fact is a load of old ****e has always been a stickler of mine. The psychedelic side of it interests me, but it's nothing to a good dose of 'shrooms.

That's just my two euro-cents anyway... I'll give that article a read when I've got the time.

As for weight-loss, I could personally do without it (already somewhat underweight, always have been) but I've seen many people go from reasonably health to overly skinny after a couple of months of ecstasy-fueled weekends.

KlodaX

Blub2k4 wrote:

Heroin is quicker.

LMAO

KlodaX

Goodshape wrote:

Never really gave ecstasy the time of day. Tried it a few times alright, but I'm just not into the whole 'clubbing' scene that seems to go along with it - the fact it makes you appreciate music you know for a sober fact is a load of old ****e has always been a stickler of mine. The psychedelic side of it interests me, but it's nothing to a good dose of 'shrooms.

That's just my two euro-cents anyway... I'll give that article a read when I've got the time.

As for weight-loss, I could personally do without it (already somewhat underweight, always have been) but I've seen many people go from reasonably health to overly skinny after a couple of months of ecstasy-fueled weekends.

agreed, nothing like a good dose of shrooms ... I like being happy ... don't get me wrong .. not downing the mdma ... but for mind expansion shrooms hold the key.

I am MAN

I took when I was 14 at first and still take it on and off, it does catch up on you and expect to be left with anxiety attacks if you over do it, scientists dont recommend doing it more than 4 times a year although ive took over the recommended yearly allowance in one night easily.

Whoever said about you needing to be into the club scene to enjoy it, thats not true at all.

If you can avoid doing it you may aswell

Jim10000

I've never actually taken mushrooms, but would be interested in dong some research into the subject on an upcoming trip to Ireland. Is there anywhere where collection and advice might be discussed? or is this an approrriate forum?

I did a forum search, but it was taking so long i stopped it, and i am aware of the proposed Legal High forum, but I don't think it got off the ground (?)

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

few links here to look up mushroom info

www.shroomery.org
www.erowid.org (fantastic site for drug info, loads of drugs.. experiences, thoughts, law, history.. etc etc)

to purchase magic mushrooms online

www.kingbong.com www.potseeds.co.uk


if you're interested in mushrooms, do a bit of searching for "hawaiian baby woodrose seeds"
http://www.iamshaman.com/eshop/10Browse.asp?Category=Seeds:Hawaiian%20Baby%20Woodrose

the last link there at the bottom. They contain LSA (kinda like lsd, but obviously 3 letters removed). I took 7 of them a while ago, and it was lovely. they do cause a bit of nausea, but that's preventable.. or at least controllable, and the trip is kinda like acid/mdma.. very very nice, when it works. Check them out


(edit)

ah yeah, I've taken e a few times. and I've never once entered a club under the influence.. in fact, I haven't been in a nightclub once since I started taking it

Jim10000

thanks for those links, i'll certainly have a look - I've seen the eowid one before alright and have found some of the first hand experience blurbs to be fascinating.... people taking things i'd never even heard of...

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

yah..some dude on the site smoked catnip and wormwood, and posted a trip report.

crazy ****

I am MAN

I've just finished up my bag of woodrose seeds, I would say go with some good mushrooms if you're after a trip.

The effects of the seeds vary each time some people even report them doing nothing, I have always got something off them but it was more like an mdma sort of feeling combined with confusion. As for the sickness thing, I dont even scrape the coating off and this still doesnt make me feel sick(I eat 10-15 each time).

Get a gram of proper MDMA, thats what ya want

Executive Steve

theres reports of israeli therapists using it with some success to treat people with post traumatic stress disorder.

i think its potentially a very promising drug in a clinical setting, but since there's no money to be made on it [the patents expired years ago] no one is going to go to the trouble of doing all the testing etc that would be required to approve the drug for human clinical use.

big up dr shulgin anyway, i you have any interest in the neuroconsciousness frontier at all you should read PIHKAL and TIHKAL asap.

Wertz

Anyone see the show (think it was Horizon) about the guy with Parkinson's disease, who took mdma in an experiment to see if it could help him regain fine muscle movement? Fascinating stuff...

Ecstasy was legal in the US (and hence every place else since the FDA more-or-less leads the field in detrmining what get's banned/doesn't) up until the mid-80's when a huge rise in use among teens in a Dallas suburb lead to an outcry amongst parents who had their senator propose a bill for it to be made illegal.

I haven't done E in years and I don't really miss it but I can honestly say I've had some of the best nights out whilst on it. Does mess with your head and emotions though, not to mention your appetite.

BTW whoever said heroin was the way to lose weight forgot to mention speed

Jim10000

is it widely available?

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

yes, it's pretty much in every town in Ireland.

also

i think its potentially a very promising drug in a clinical setting, but since there's no money to be made on it [the patents expired years ago] no one is going to go to the trouble of doing all the testing etc that would be required to approve the drug for human clinical use.

well if you'd actually read the article I'd linked to, you'd know that they ARE doing tests with mdma and humans.

actually if you'd even read my first post, I quoted the relevant part there.

. A little more than a month ago, the Food and Drug Administration approved a Harvard Medical School study looking at whether MDMA can alleviate the fear and anxiety of terminal cancer patients

GaRtH_V

GaRtH_V wrote:

Yeh apparently MDMA was originaly used as a slimming pill......
crazy ass weight watcher classes eh?

Nope it never was. This is a fairly commn myth. You might be confusing it with amphetamines which were at one point and perhaps still are.
It was syntasised by accident first by a chemist around 1920 and forgotten. Inbetween the US armed forces tried to make a chemical weapon out of it. It was rediscovered by another chemist in America in the late 70s. He used it in group therapy sessions for its empathic properties. It then spread as a recreational drug when people realised it was fun.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

http://www.erowid.org/library/books_online/e_for_ecstasy/e_for_ecstasy-3.shtml

history of ecstasy

The father of MDMA - or 'stepfather' as he describes himself - is Alexander Shulgin.(2) After obtaining a PhD in biochemistry from the University of California at Berkeley, Shulgin got a job as a research chemist with Dow Chemicals, for whom he invented a profitable insecticide. As a reward, the company gave him a free hand and his own lab. Having had an exciting experience on Mescaline, Shulgin used the opportunity to research psychedelic drugs. An accepted test for psychedelic effects was to observe how fighting fish change their behaviour. But there were problems: fish don't say when they are under the influence and, well, have you ever seen a fish that doesn't look stoned? His answer was to 'suck it and see'.
.
.
.
However, it was only after hearing glowing reports from other experimenters who had also synthesised and tried MDMA that Shulgin took an interest. He describes how in 1977 he gave some to an old friend who was about to retire from his career of psychotherapy.

He phoned me a few days later to tell me he had abandoned his plans for a quiet retirement. I know none of the details of the increasingly complex network which he proceeded to develop over the following decade, but I do know that he travelled across the country introducing MDMA to other therapists and teaching then how to use it in their therapy. They had all began, of course, by taking the drug themselves. He believed (as I do) that no therapist has the right to give a psychoactive drug to another person unless and until he is thoroughly familiar with its effects on his own mind. Many of the psychologists and psychiatrists whom Leo instructed developed small groups or enclaves of professionals who had been similarly taught, and the information and techniques he had introduced spread widely and, in time, internationally.

in the article I linked to in the first post, shulgin says he only resynthesized MDMA because a lab assistant of his told him she thought he oughta... and he still isn't sure how she heard of it

AngryBadger

Mordeth,any chance you'd procide a link to the complete article?

edibility

Read the original post.

Zombrex

ronoc wrote:

Inbetween the US armed forces tried to make a chemical weapon out of it.

Always a good sign ... the US Army stamp of approval

Going down behind the chipper to score some Antrax ... now that is some good sh*t

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

yah man, you heard their latest album ? ;D

garthv

ronoc wrote:

Nope it never was. This is a fairly commn myth. You might be confusing it with amphetamines which were at one point and perhaps still are.
It was syntasised by accident first by a chemist around 1920 and forgotten. Inbetween the US armed forces tried to make a chemical weapon out of it. It was rediscovered by another chemist in America in the late 70s. He used it in group therapy sessions for its empathic properties. It then spread as a recreational drug when people realised it was fun.

Naa naa naa,
I read this on erowid that it was used as a slimming pill back in the 1940's
Ill try and dig up the link when I get off work

Jim10000

here's a bit more on the subject.

(at least they don't have to worry about the any long-term negative affects)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/feature/story/0,13026,1415685,00.html

Chad ghostal

i just thought i'd bump the thread with this news

http://www.breakingnews.ie/2005/03/09/story192900.html

I am MAN

Chad ghostal wrote:

i just thought i'd bump the thread with this news

http://www.breakingnews.ie/2005/03/09/story192900.html

Nice one thanks.

Could I go to that even though ive nothing to do with Trinity college?

Chad ghostal

i cant find any information about it anywhere on trinity's site.>?
so i dont know tbh..

im guessing it is..these kinds of things usually are, are they not???

perhaps somebody who goes to trinity would be able to give more information..

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

sounds cool, almost makes me wish I went to trinity.

Seraphina

you can go to those kind of lectures when you're not in the college, they're open discussions. the philosophical society might have more info since they seem to be organising it. wish i wasn't in work so i could go