Sep
26

SiHKAL: Shulgins I Have Known and Loved

After spending days, weeks, months poring over the work of psychonaut-in-chief, Alexander Shulgin, Hamilton Morris mustered up the chutzpah to give him a call and request an interview. The result is this: an epic love-fest on the man who birthed Ecstasy in a test-tube. Hamilton visits the Shulgin residence (in San Francisco, naturally) and tempers his fanboy freakout with a rare and intensive look at the home and laboratory that caused the balls of millions to trip.

via morningstar

(via morningstar-deactivated20120201)

Source vice.com

Reblogged from morningstar-deactivated20120201

Sep
26

Alexander Shulgin - Time for Change
interview with Daniel Pinchbeck

The pharmacologist and chemist Sasha Shulgin talks to Daniel Pinchbeck about the power psychedelics have to “open doors that have been closed.” He discusses his pioneering work, including the re-synthesization of MDMA in the late 60’s and the discovery of nearly 300 new psychedelic substances.

Jun
08

“Use them with care, and use them with respect as to the transformations they can achieve, and you have an extraordinary research tool. Go banging about with a psychedelic drug for a Saturday night turn-on, and you can get into a really bad place, psychologically. Know what you’re using, decide just why you’re using it, and you can have a rich experience. They’re not addictive, and they’re certainly not escapist, either, but they’re exceptionally valuable tools for understanding the human mind, and how it works.”

Alexander Shulgin - Pihkal (via crucifytheego)

Source crucifytheego

Reblogged from crucifytheego

Mar
08

SXSW Trailer: “Dirty Pictures”
about Alexander “Sasha” Shulgin

DIRTY PICTURES is a documentary about Dr. Alexander Sasha Shulgin, the rogue chemist who discovered the effects of MDMA (aka Ecstasy) and over 200 other mind-altering drugs. Shulgins alchemy has earned him the title The Godfather of Psychedelics, and a reputation as one of the great chemists of the 20th century. Working from a lab in his home, and using himself and his wife Ann as test subjects, Shulgin’s discoveries have brought him into conflict with the law but made him a worldwide underground hero.

http://dirtypicturesthefilm.com/

Jan
09

ahypotheticaladventure: I’ll see you monday,can’t wait to meet you.:) DOSAGE: 1.5 - 3.0 mg. DURATION: 12 - 24 h. QUALITATIVE COMMENTS: (with 1.6 mg) I was hit with a slightly light head; the effects were quite real. I was disconnected, and somehow spacey, but this was a favorable spacey which was kind of fun. Somewhere at about the sixth hour I realized that I was beginning to drop off a bit, but six hours later yet, there was still a lot of memory. This is a long thing. (with 2.4 mg) This is what I might call an archetypical psychedelic. Everything is there in spades, with few if any of the subtle graces, the `gentle images’ and `gentle fantasies’ of the 2-carbon phenethylamines. This is the works. There are visuals, and there are interpretive problems with knowing just where you really are. The place where nothing makes sense, and yet everything makes sense. I have just slept for a few hours, and now I am awake and it has been eighteen hours, and there is a lot still going on, although I have a relaxed, good feeling. Anyone who uses this had better have 24 hours at their disposal. (with 2.4 mg) Here I am at the sixth hour, and I am still roaring along at a full plus three. I have established that this material is neither anti-erotic nor anorexic. The body is very comfortable, and so is the mind. There is an interesting aspect, perhaps peculiar only to this experiment and under these conditions. With my eyes closed the fantasy is a completely dark screen, lovely and seductive, subtle, and yet light must be deliberately brought in. This is not in any way negative for being in the dark, but is just unusual. I will have to try this in the daylight next time, to see what the eyes-closed brings to the mind-screen. At 24 hours, I have found that my sleep was not too great. My dreams were tight, and I kept defending against trouble; the nervous system was too alert. I was in a good humor, though, and I still am. This is excellent stuff, but start early in the day. - Alexander Shulgin (from Pihkal)

ahypotheticaladventure:

I’ll see you monday,
can’t wait to meet you.
:)

DOSAGE: 1.5 - 3.0 mg.

DURATION: 12 - 24 h.

QUALITATIVE COMMENTS: (with 1.6 mg) I was hit with a slightly light head; the effects were quite real. I was disconnected, and somehow spacey, but this was a favorable spacey which was kind of fun. Somewhere at about the sixth hour I realized that I was beginning to drop off a bit, but six hours later yet, there was still a lot of memory. This is a long thing.

(with 2.4 mg) This is what I might call an archetypical psychedelic. Everything is there in spades, with few if any of the subtle graces, the `gentle images’ and `gentle fantasies’ of the 2-carbon phenethylamines. This is the works. There are visuals, and there are interpretive problems with knowing just where you really are. The place where nothing makes sense, and yet everything makes sense. I have just slept for a few hours, and now I am awake and it has been eighteen hours, and there is a lot still going on, although I have a relaxed, good feeling. Anyone who uses this had better have 24 hours at their disposal.

(with 2.4 mg) Here I am at the sixth hour, and I am still roaring along at a full plus three. I have established that this material is neither anti-erotic nor anorexic. The body is very comfortable, and so is the mind. There is an interesting aspect, perhaps peculiar only to this experiment and under these conditions. With my eyes closed the fantasy is a completely dark screen, lovely and seductive, subtle, and yet light must be deliberately brought in. This is not in any way negative for being in the dark, but is just unusual. I will have to try this in the daylight next time, to see what the eyes-closed brings to the mind-screen. At 24 hours, I have found that my sleep was not too great. My dreams were tight, and I kept defending against trouble; the nervous system was too alert. I was in a good humor, though, and I still am. This is excellent stuff, but start early in the day.

- Alexander Shulgin (from Pihkal)

May
01