Ann Shulgin, who explored psychedelics with her husband, dies at 91

The couple advocated the use of hallucinogens in psychotherapy and documented their experiences with hundreds of drugs in two widely read books.

Ann Shulgin, who alongside her husband, Alexander Shulgin, developed and experimented with hundreds of psychedelic drugs that he concocted in his California lab, then showed readers how to formulate in a pair of massive books that garnered a cult following, died July 9 at her home near Lafayette, Calif. She was 91.
Daughter Wendy Tucker has confirmed death.
People who use each other as guinea pigs to research new psychoactive drugs or to explore the mind-altering abilities of existing ones are known as psychonauts, and the Shulgins were among the most experienced in the world: Ms. Shulgin claimed to have experienced 2,000 drug-induced psychedelic episodes , a stunning nude ber who only pales in comparison to her husband's 4,000.
They took their job seriously. Whenever Alexander Shulgin, known as Sasha, who had a Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of California at Berkeley would concoct a new drug, Ms. Shulgin would try it, at a tiny dose. If it seemed to have an effect, they would convene a panel of friends - fellow chemists, psychiatrists and anthropologists - to test it at higher doses.
A friend of theirs , renowned psychologist and fellow psychonaut Timothy Leary, told the Los Angeles Times in 1995, “I consider Shulgin and his wife to be two of the most important scientists of the 20th century. ”
They believed that psychedelic drugs held tremendous promise for use in psychotherapy, and Ms. Shulgin used drugs like MDMA, better known as Ecstasy or Molly, with her clients for years as a lay therapist. For decades, this belief kept them away from the mainstream, but it turns out they were simply ahead of their time: researchers and therapists have recently begun to embrace the use of hallucinogens, including hallucinogens. ecstasy, in small doses to treat a range of psychological disorders.
ImageMs. Shulgin and her husband, Alexander, in 1979. When he invented new drugs, she tried them. "> "Sasha and I pretty much work as a team," Ms. Shulgin said in a 2001 interview with the French newspaper Liberation, published in English on Erowid, a website devoted to psychoactive drug research. both have the same interests, but our points of view are different: he has the scientific point of view, and I have the psychological and the spiritual. We complement each other in our writings."
Dr. Shulgin was known as the "godfather of ecstasy": he didn't invent the drug (it happened in 1912), but he was the first person to describe its uses potential in therapy. He never approved of its recreational use, not because it was a killjoy - he and his wife went to Burning...

Health Jul 19, 2022 0 108 Add to Reading List

Ann Shulgin, who explored psychedelics with her husband, dies at 91

The couple advocated the use of hallucinogens in psychotherapy and documented their experiences with hundreds of drugs in two widely read books.

Ann Shulgin, who alongside her husband, Alexander Shulgin, developed and experimented with hundreds of psychedelic drugs that he concocted in his California lab, then showed readers how to formulate in a pair of massive books that garnered a cult following, died July 9 at her home near Lafayette, Calif. She was 91.

Daughter Wendy Tucker has confirmed death.

People who use each other as guinea pigs to research new psychoactive drugs or to explore the mind-altering abilities of existing ones are known as psychonauts, and the Shulgins were among the most experienced in the world: Ms. Shulgin claimed to have experienced 2,000 drug-induced psychedelic episodes , a stunning nude ber who only pales in comparison to her husband's 4,000.

They took their job seriously. Whenever Alexander Shulgin, known as Sasha, who had a Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of California at Berkeley would concoct a new drug, Ms. Shulgin would try it, at a tiny dose. If it seemed to have an effect, they would convene a panel of friends - fellow chemists, psychiatrists and anthropologists - to test it at higher doses.

A friend of theirs , renowned psychologist and fellow psychonaut Timothy Leary, told the Los Angeles Times in 1995, “I consider Shulgin and his wife to be two of the most important scientists of the 20th century. ”

They believed that psychedelic drugs held tremendous promise for use in psychotherapy, and Ms. Shulgin used drugs like MDMA, better known as Ecstasy or Molly, with her clients for years as a lay therapist. For decades, this belief kept them away from the mainstream, but it turns out they were simply ahead of their time: researchers and therapists have recently begun to embrace the use of hallucinogens, including hallucinogens. ecstasy, in small doses to treat a range of psychological disorders.

ImageMs. Shulgin and her husband, Alexander, in 1979. When he invented new drugs, she tried them. "> "Sasha and I pretty much work as a team," Ms. Shulgin said in a 2001 interview with the French newspaper Liberation, published in English on Erowid, a website devoted to psychoactive drug research. both have the same interests, but our points of view are different: he has the scientific point of view, and I have the psychological and the spiritual. We complement each other in our writings."

Dr. Shulgin was known as the "godfather of ecstasy": he didn't invent the drug (it happened in 1912), but he was the first person to describe its uses potential in therapy. He never approved of its recreational use, not because it was a killjoy - he and his wife went to Burning...