
Alexander Shulgin has died - infinity
http://www.erowid.org/culture/characters/shulgin_alexander/
======
allworknoplay
I had dinner with him once at a conference; he was amazing. When asked about
the safety of self-testing novel substances (he of course starts at insanely
low doses, but still), he said that he's learned to identify the signs of
grand mal seizures, and if he feels one coming on, he simply sticks himself
with a couple hundred miligrams of phenobarbital, straps himself in, and goes
for a ride. Then he gets back to work.

~~~
weatherlight
That's awesome.

~~~
sillysaurus3
Why?

~~~
WorldWideWayne
I'd venture that it's because "he said that he's learned to identify the signs
of grand mal seizures, and if he feels one coming on, he simply sticks himself
with a couple hundred milligrams of phenobarbital, straps himself in, and goes
for a ride. Then he gets back to work."

How is it not awesome that someone can detect and prevent a major infirmity
with such nonchalance and grit?

~~~
linker3000
"How is it not awesome that someone can detect and prevent a __SELF INFLICTED
__major infirmity with such nonchalance "

A bit like being impressed by a surgeon's ability to fix up his own femoral
artery when he deliberately shoots himself in the groin.

Hmm, it's a fine line...

~~~
WorldWideWayne
Where can I read about the fact that he decided to give himself grand mal
seizures?

~~~
allworknoplay
start with pihkal and tihkal; they discuss his methodologies.

~~~
WorldWideWayne
I imagine that obtaining those books might get me put onto a certain
government list or two based on what I read at Wikipedia (but thanks anyway!
... just kidding - I don't really know :)

> In 1994, two years after PIHKAL was published, the Drug Enforcement
> Administration (DEA) raided Shulgin's lab and requested that he turn over
> his DEA license. Richard Meyer, spokesman for DEA's San Francisco Field
> Division, has stated in reference to PIHKAL "It is our opinion that those
> books are pretty much cookbooks on how to make illegal drugs. Agents tell me
> that in clandestine labs that they have raided, they have found copies of
> those books," suggesting that the publication of PIHKAL and the termination
> of Shulgin's license may have been related.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PIHKAL#Impact_.26_popularity](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PIHKAL#Impact_.26_popularity)

------
idm
MDMA may have been discovered in a Merck laboratory, but Alexander (Sasha)
Shulgin devised an excellent DIY MDMA synthesis that could be attempted
outside a laboratory environment. Shulgin has been accused of intentionally
designing his MDMA synthesis in ways that may have reduced yields, but which
utilized precursors that were simpler to obtain by DIY chemists.

Shulgin's decisions to facilitate DIY may be responsible for the proliferation
of MDMA, which will only increase in importance as MDMA is given more
attention in mainstream psychological research. As a psychologist myself, I
suspect Shulgin's gentle subversion (a spirit that persists through PiHKAL and
TiHKAL) will ultimately be viewed as a heroic act that brought attention to an
important therapeutic tool.

~~~
cnp
Amazing, thanks for sharing. I wasn't aware of this fact. Discovering MDMA a
few years ago has had nothing but positive effects for just about everyone I
know and knowing that he was using his expertise in order to help facilitate
that is just so (so) cool.

~~~
leephillips
I'll admit I don't know much about this, but Sam Harris says that while he had
good experiences with MDMA in the past, he warns people against it now because
the evidence is clear that it's a neurotoxin.

~~~
cnp
This is still very (very) much in dispute.

You will find serious scientific evidence on both sides arguing for and
against, but since three beers floors me the next day and completely destroys
my ability to think clearly, where MDMA refreshes and revitalizes pretty much
every mental and sensory organ, I'll just go with my own findings on the
matter :)

This is the article I always like to post whenever the discussion comes up:

"Pure MDMA can be 'safe' for adults", says BC's top health official
[http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/pure-
ecstasy-...](http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/pure-ecstasy-can-
be-safe-for-adults-health-official-says-1.1229517)

...And this video from 60 Minutes ("Ecstasy Rising") pretty much describing
the demonization of MDMA as an elaborate government frame-up:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNpFqJcJcps&feature=kp](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNpFqJcJcps&feature=kp)

~~~
leephillips
The article doesn't mention the neurotoxicity issue at all.

The fact that you enjoy taking it doesn't mean that it is not a neurotoxin,
just as the fact that I enjoy a martini doesn't mean that alcohol is not
carcinogenic.

Again, not my area of expertise, but I think it's notable that a
neuroscientist with a rational attitude toward drugs who recounts his own
positive experiences with MDMA says that he wouldn't take it now specifically
because of what he claims is conclusive evidence that it kills nerve cells.

~~~
Nursie
MDMA is (as the great man showed) just a small part of a whole family of
compounds. It's no doubt a very magical part, but it's just one of many.

IIRC there are others that have been found to have similar action but without
the neurotoxicity. MBDB was one I think.

Personally I'd love to try EVE and EDEN too... but that's a pipedream in a
world where it's rare you can ever know what you're getting.

~~~
girvo
Eve (MDEA) was quite an amazing experience, though (as always) lacking in a
certain quality that MDA/MDMA have.

The ones that have similar action (though subjectively don't really come that
close) are the aminoindane-class analogues. They're interesting in their own
right, too.

~~~
Nursie
Which ones?

MDAI is odd and not all that much fun (on its own at any rate), and AFAICT
from reading various forums, 2-AI and NM-2-AI don't really seem to do much for
people either.

------
raaxe
"(with 100 mg) I had weighed correctly. I had simply picked up the wrong vial.
And my death was to be a consequence of a totally stupid mistake. I wanted to
walk outside, but there was a swimming pool there and I didn't dare fall into
it. A person may believe that he has prepared himself for his own death, but
when the moment comes, he is completely alone, and totally unprepared. Why
now? Why me? Two hours later, I knew that I would live after all, and the
experience became really marvelous. But the moment of facing death is a unique
experience. In my case, I will some day meet it again, and I fear that I will
be no more comfortable with it then than I was just now. This was from the
comments of a psychologist who will, without doubt, use psychedelics again in
the future, as a probe into the unknown."

[http://www.erowid.org/library/books_online/pihkal/pihkal020....](http://www.erowid.org/library/books_online/pihkal/pihkal020.shtml)

~~~
bemused
Please note that these extended comments in Pihkal are not based on personal
experience by Shulgin, but from letters he received from other persons. His
approach to testing new substances has been a very careful (scientific) one -
you will barely find any reports like this in Pihkal/Tihkal among his own
comments

~~~
samwilliams
While some of the commentary is not from himself or Anne, some of it was.

I believe the quoted experience was not Alex Shulgin's though.

------
codeshaman
Some of the most amazing moments I've had in life were on MDMA. I'm sure this
is true for hundreds of millions of other people who've taken it. This
substance has revolutionised our word in many ways - music, fashion, art,
architecture, etc.

Apart from MDMA, Shulgin has synthesised, experimented with and wrote about
countless substances and plants which affect the mind or spirit.

A great explorer, and from what I've read, a great human being as well.

Rest in peace & Keep exploring ;)

~~~
bemused
[http://www.erowid.org/library/books_online/pihkal/pihkal020....](http://www.erowid.org/library/books_online/pihkal/pihkal020.shtml)

~~~
dfc
Can you provide some context for this link?

~~~
bemused
there are more suited places to talk about things like this, but since the OP
was talking about MDMA and mentions "countless substances" \- this is quite a
nice one

[https://www.google.de/#q=shulgins+favourite+drug](https://www.google.de/#q=shulgins+favourite+drug)

although you could argue that synthesising and experimenting with unknown
substances might have been his real favourite thing

------
Nanzikambe
“There he goes. One of God's own prototypes. Some kind of high powered mutant
never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live, and too rare to
die.”

RIP Shulgin, a singular being.

------
fear91
It's a great shame.

I recommend the "Dirty Pictures" \- a documentary about his life:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5q1bBVzDpc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5q1bBVzDpc)

~~~
Lapsa
thanks for sharing the link

------
jjj222
Today I work in IT security- in my former life, he was a great inspiration.

I had almost forgotten him..... I was in a closed circle of psychonauts, we
where about 60 people.

We would get our hands on the most exotic substances and share amongst us, and
compare trip reports.

It was my entire life, 2cb,2ci,2c-t7,2ce,DIPT,5-meo dipt, lsd etc. So I have
tried many of hes creations, and i idolised him. Then in 6 months 4 of the
group died, 1 suicide, 3 ODs(not on any of shulgins creations of course). Then
I quitted, dropped all my friends, started taking life seriously....

But I have one thing to remind of that time in my life...a book I inherited
from one of my now dead friends:

[http://i.imgur.com/S2pCuux.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/S2pCuux.jpg)

He actually wrote with Shulgin himself, doing experiments using cactusses
injected with ummm...some variety of DMT I think- to make the cactus
metabolise it into something else. Shulgin adviced him, and my friend did the
experiments.

RIP DEX! RIP SHULGIN!

~~~
jimejim
It's a pity about your friends, so I get your decision and am sorry for your
losses. I don't see why taking occasional trips means you can't take life
seriously though. I still live a normal life and like to occasionally try out
stuff.

On that note, I finally got to do some 2cb, 2ci, and 2ce about 2 years ago.
Amazing stuff.

~~~
jjj222
Memories are starting to come back...

Alot of shit happened that do not mix with my new life...

Two of my close friends where busted for having secret illegal chemlabs- and a
huge investigation followed. Alot of my friends where talked to by the police.

Today the police is a client of mine....

And alot of my friends never progressed in their development- i needed to move
on. It isnt the drugs, it is the subculture that is the problem...it is
wonderfull, lots of great people- but...you know :)

Anyway, my point is, it isnt the fact that I dont do drugs that means I am
taking life seriously. It is that i cutted off that part of my life, the
people, the mindsets, the illegal aspects of many things involved in that
life.

~~~
jimejim
That makes sense. Thanks for the clarification.

------
pmoriarty
The BBC obituary on Shulgin[1] calls him the "Godfather of Ecstasy"[2], but he
was far more than that.

He synthesized and carefully chronicled the effects of hundreds of
psychoactive compounds on himself and a small, dedicated core group of
explorers of human consciousness.

His efforts were published in two massive, definitive tomes called _PiHKAL_
[3][4] and _TiKHAL_ [5][6], the titles of which stand for _" Phenethylamines I
Have Known and Loved"_ and _" Tryptamines I Have Known and Loved"_,
respectively.

These volumes contained detailed chemical synthesis instructions for the
compounds he created, along with "trip reports" and ratings[7] of the
compounds' psychoactivity, ranging from:

PLUS / MINUS (+/-) _" The level of effectiveness of a drug that indicates a
threshold action. If a higher dosage produces a greater response, then the
plus/minus (+/-) was valid. If a higher dosage produces nothing, then this was
a false positive."_

to

PLUS FOUR (++++) _" A rare and precious transcendental state, which has been
called a 'peak experience', a 'religious experience,' 'divine transformation,'
a 'state of Samadhi' and many other names in other cultures. It is not
connected to the +1, +2, and +3 of the measuring of a drug's intensity. It is
a state of bliss, a participation mystique, a connectedness with both the
interior and exterior universes, which has come about after the ingestion of a
psychedelic drug, but which is not necessarily repeatable with a subsequent
ingestion of that same drug. If a drug (or technique or process) were ever to
be discovered which would consistently produce a plus four experience in all
human beings, it is conceivable that it would signal the ultimate evolution,
and perhaps the end of, the human experiment."_

His chemistry lab was DEA-licensed to handle "illegal" (scheduled) compounds,
though he often synthesized entirely novel compounds which were not scheduled
because neither the compounds nor the laws scheduling them existed yet.

Shulgin tirelessly educated the public and the law-enforcement community on
the effects and value of psychedelic and psychoactive compounds, and wrote a
highly informative Q&A column.[7]

Shulgin's pioneering work inspired generations of chemists, self-
experimenters, and explorers. He was well known, loved, and respected as one
of the most highly accomplished psychedelic chemists in history. His presence
and guidance will be deeply missed.

[1] -
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Shulgin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Shulgin)

[2] -
[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-27676669](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-27676669)

[3] -
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PIHKAL](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PIHKAL)

[4] -
[http://www.erowid.org/library/books_online/pihkal/pihkal.sht...](http://www.erowid.org/library/books_online/pihkal/pihkal.shtml)

[5] -
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TIHKAL](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TIHKAL)

[6] -
[http://www.erowid.org/library/books_online/tihkal/tihkal.sht...](http://www.erowid.org/library/books_online/tihkal/tihkal.shtml)

[7] -
[http://www.cognitiveliberty.org/shulgin/blg/index.html](http://www.cognitiveliberty.org/shulgin/blg/index.html)

~~~
easy_rider
I'm glad i'm getting the news through a mutual friend like Erowid, and not the
media. The BBC is responsible for labeling his empathogenic 2c-b as one of the
most dangerous drugs there is. [1]

While 2C-B has actually been one of the most loveliest, caring and care-free
drugs I've ever used in a responsible dose and many of Shulgins trials will
undoubtedly confirm.

Shulgin has thaught us that we should have freedom inside our body and mind,
and that there are responsible ways of exploring the depths.

BBC has taught me to never pay attention to U.K. news when it comes to the
things they are obviously clueless about and don't care of getting their facts
straight, just some tabloudish headlines..

[1] [http://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/jan/11/six-in-
hospit...](http://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/jan/11/six-in-hospital-
hallucinogen-2cb)

~~~
beedogs
It always annoys me how drugs are blamed by the news outlets whenever ignorant
people use them irresponsibly. (Is it a news item when someone drives their
car recklessly and injures themselves? Almost never, unless they're of some
notoriety.)

~~~
electromagnetic
I grew up in the UK, the media loved sensationalizing a drug death. 1 pretty
white girl dies from water toxicity while on ecstacy (AKA not a drug overdose,
a death due to lack of information on safe usage), whilst organizations like
MADD are fighting like crazy to reduce the daily manslaughter caused by people
knowingly and irresponsibly using alcohol.

When one of the big scandals was going on I remember there was an advert on TV
warning against binge drinking. The advert was this girl saying how her and
her friend were out at a club, her friend was staggering about so they went
back to her apartment because she was closest. They laid on the bed and went
to sleep, she woke up the next morning and her friend was ice cold. Dead,
choked on her vomit in her sleep. The UK has almost 9000 deaths a year related
to alcohol.

The UK in 2011 had 6 deaths where ecstacy was a possible contributing factor.
Drugscope is an interesting if skewed view.

[http://www.drugscope.org.uk/resources/faqs/faqpages/how-
many...](http://www.drugscope.org.uk/resources/faqs/faqpages/how-many-people-
die-from-drugs)

~~~
collyw
I also read before that the majority of "ecstasy deaths" are actually a
cocktail of substances.

~~~
easy_rider
There is a huge problem currently with xtc-pills containing PMMA[1] in Europe.
Also a lot of the deaths are during festival peak season. Overheating and as
often a response drinking too much can cause critical health issues. This just
shows how providing free tests at party's, more honest and thorough education
etc can safe lives.

[1] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Para-Methoxy-N-
methylamphetamin...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Para-Methoxy-N-
methylamphetamine)

------
VonGuard
An amazing man. Truly the Copernicus of his time: persecuted for his pursuit
of science. In 100 years, this man will be considered one of the most
important neural science researchers ever.

~~~
blhack
Persecuted by whom? He had a DEA schedule 1 license, meaning he could pursue
whatever research he wanted, and he was seemingly universally loved by
everyone who knew who he was.

~~~
VonGuard
The DEA eventually got upset with him and took away that license, raided his
house, and ruined his lab. In the end, they closed him down based on a single
reading of slightly elevated mercury levels in his yard. Read his books.

~~~
blhack
Wow, I did not know that. That's nuts.

Although it sounds like he just violated the terms of the license:
[http://www.erowid.org/culture/characters/shulgin_alexander/s...](http://www.erowid.org/culture/characters/shulgin_alexander/shulgin_alexander_raid.shtml)

~~~
VonGuard
Yeah, well, they'd never bothered him until he wrote 2 books that contained
the recipes for making lots of psychedelic drugs. Shortly after publishing
these books (TIHKAL and PIHKAL) the DEA came down on him. In his book he
writes that it was very, very clear someone had basically flipped the switch
at the DEA and said "shut him down any way you can." The fact that it was the
mercury readings in his soil points to the fact they were grasping at straws,
especially because they took dozens of soil samples and only one was mildly
above normal limits. The DEA was pissed at him for disseminating knowledge,
and after they took his license, he basically stopped doing chemistry full
time.

------
alx
"The Shulgin Rating Scale is a simple scale for reporting the subjective
effect of psychoactive substances at a given dosage, and at a given time. The
system was developed for research purposes by the American biochemist
Alexander Shulgin and detailed in his book PiHKAL"

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shulgin_Rating_Scale](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shulgin_Rating_Scale)

PLUS FOUR (++++) [...] If a drug (or technique or process) were ever to be
discovered which would consistently produce a plus four experience in all
human beings, it is conceivable that it would signal the ultimate evolution,
and perhaps the end, of the human experiment.

------
jongold
How many people can say they've altered the course of human conciousness? What
a hero. RIP.

~~~
sehr
MDMA is growing more and more popular as we speak, quickly replacing cocaine's
position as the most popular party drug in my experience.

His biggest contributions are probably yet to be seen tbh, an entire
generation is growing up alongside them

~~~
exDM69
> MDMA is growing more and more popular as we speak, quickly replacing
> cocaine's position as the most popular party drug in my experience.

It's also worth mentioning that MDMA is manufactured from Sassafras oil which
comes from an endangered species of trees. There's a risk of the Sassafras
trees becoming extinct because of MDMA manufacture in clandestine chemical
plants in the jungles of south east Asia.

~~~
logfromblammo
I recently donned my foil hat and became convinced that safrole (the major
component of sassafras oil) was banned as a food additive for being a
carcinogen because of MDMA.

The study determining carcinogenicity, which would ban the substance
automatically due to a 1960 FDA rule, occurred in 1977. The substance itself
was not found to be carcinogenic, but two metabolites--found in rodents but
not humans--were.

Shulgin began research on MDMA in 1976.

Foil hat is the best psychoactive drug.

~~~
rmrfrmrf

        1976 --> 1 + 9 + 7 + 6 = 23
    

O__O

~~~
logfromblammo
"MDMA" = char[5] {77,68,77,65,0}

5 characters.

77+68+77+65+0 = 287 = 7*41. 7 and 41 are the 4th and 13th primes. 13-4 = 9.
The 9th prime? 23.

------
h1karu
RIP to one of the true heros of our generation.

thank you Alexander Shulgin!

gone by not forgotten

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-4L5vRZ_g8](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-4L5vRZ_g8)

------
waterfowl
what a legend. One of the few people who actually bases their opinions of
psychoactives on controlled experiences with them.

------
jMyles
I had the incredible fortune to have met Sasha and Ann several times, and
always enjoyed their company enormously. Good work, man!

~~~
Scoundreller
Story time?

------
Nursie
One of my heroes has died today.

RIP to a great chemist and experimenter.

------
azurelogic
The original brain hacker is no longer with us. RIP Dr. Shulgin.

------
whtrbt
That's sad to hear - Pikhal and Tikhal are fascinating works, and reading them
I got the sense that he was a very kind, patient and curious person.

------
dmerrick
My favorite quotation from the man:

"How long will this last, this delicious feeling of being alive, of having
penetrated the veil which hides beauty and the wonders of celestial vistas? It
doesn't matter, as there can be nothing but gratitude for even a glimpse of
what exists for those who can become open to it."

~~~
mzemel
I believe the 'veil' he references is from this poem by Shelley (which he
quotes in PiHKAL):

    
    
      "Lift not the painted veil which those who live
      Call Life: though unreal shapes be pictured there,
      And it but mimic all we would believe
      With colours idly spread,--behind, lurk Fear
      And Hope, twin Destinies; who ever weave
      Their shadows, o'er the chasm, sightless and drear."

------
sehr
Whether or not you approve, this man had changed the face of human kind
forever. An amazing man, will be missed

------
muloka
Cross posting this for Erowid:

\---

We are trying to collect a record of all tweets and retweets of hashtag:

#ThanksSasha

and

#Shulgin

We want to continue to track these. So we don't want just an output, but a way
to grab all existing tweets and collect them going forward.

We would also like to grab google plus matching posts as well, but twitter is
the first target.

If someone has PHP and twitter experience, it seems like a pretty easy
application to write a scraper that saves the data to sql, xml, or text.

We want a downloadable data file that can be updated over time.

I spent a while looking for existing tools and didn't find anything that could
provide a downloadable, reliable format that we could use to try to track
this.

Thanks for any help or suggestions of services that would provide that data as
a lump, without having to have one of us manually slog through many, many
clicks and parsing extremely obscure HTML/js.

earth

earth@erowid.org

~~~
ChristianBundy
As much as I love Erowid, I've had an impossible time trying to contact them
for using their experience vault for research. I have the time and the
skillset to make the application they're looking for, but I highly doubt Earth
would get back to me.

------
dzhiurgis
It would be interedting to have 'Ask HN' about drug use, especially correlated
with age.

Jobs has taken many different drugs, but I can't stop wondering how long did
he continue to do so. I really doubt he did any after age of 30 or so.

------
contingencies
Can we start a crowdfunding campaign for a museum of ecstasy with legal public
samples? Anyone know German law? How would this go down in Darmstadt, where it
was first discovered by Merck? I for one will donate significantly.

~~~
j_jochem
I haven't seen any drug samples behind bullet-proof glass yet at the
Mathildenhöhe exhibition (the expressionism display only had old Merck Cocaine
adverts), but I imagine it should be possible to get an exemption permit.

------
rurban
Not to be mixed up with Alexei Shulgin, the popular internet artist from
Moscow: [http://www.easylife.org/](http://www.easylife.org/) He is well and
alive.

------
ph4
A one of a kind, once in a generation human being.

------
andywood
Would somebody be kind enough to tell me whether I've been hell-banned? Thank
you.

~~~
owenversteeg
Why did you think you were?

~~~
andywood
I just have been having trouble with Paul's software, and thought I was being
moderated unintentionally. I forgot there's dang now. He seems kind of new to
an "old timer" like me :)

------
igivanov
With all the praise of self-experiments (or experiments on a dedicated core
group), there is this fact: we know that even a single use of a psychedelic
drug may be "a life-changing experience". We also know that some substances
may cause irreversible changes in the brain (e.g. glue-sniffing). So IMHO it
doesn't sound like a rigorous science, who knows what changes those countless
tests had caused and how those changes affected subsequent tests.

~~~
Scoundreller
Evidently the "100% of users experience instant terribly painful hyper-death"
mantra many would like to believe just isn't true.

His book is mainly case reports, but that doesn't mean that higher level
evidence doesn't exist.

------
weatherlight
A true pioneer.

------
Myrmornis
I believe he was a hero.

------
danelectro
it can be amazing what a non-institutional researcher can do

------
dingdingdang
WIP, there is no death

