Author, medical chemist, pharmacologist, biochemist psychopharmacologist Dr. Alexander ‘Sasha’ Shulgin has passed away, aged 88, after a battle with cancer of the liver.
Sasha was a fiercely passionate advocate for biochemistry and neuroscience research, the safe use of psychedelics and died having compiled over 50 years of excellent work in the field. Ultimately he discovered, synthesised and bioassayed over 230 psychoactive compounds to evaluate them for their effects and potential uses. As a tribute on thankyousasha.tumblr reads:
“He was a Pioneer, of our Generation.
He was like the Nicolai Tesla of our Generation. What he discovered and what he created helped to illuminate our world. Just as Tesla’s Inventions illuminated the exterior universes. Shulgin’s discoveries illuminated the Interior universes.
The sad part about his passing is, that he never actually really received any money for any of his discoveries. He died reasonably poor.
Now I know that all of us out here, have spent money on at least one of his creations. But none of that Money ever went to him.
So please take the time out of your Day today, to remember a Hero. A Martyr whose lifes work was for us, the people. Governments will try to slowly remove every single one of his creations into the status of “illegal” for the effects it produces. He is Copernicus with the Telescope. He is Prometheus with the fire. A Genuine Individual whose studies and concepts are a part of our lives.
We don’t always take the time out of our partying to realise the science that went into it. This man was more than a Scientist. He was the Alchemist. He was the Wizard. the next time you feel good because of a substance…. Tip your imaginary hat his way… because the world has lost one of the few remaining good men.”
Not sure how much you know about the history of pingers but after Anton Köllisch first synthesised MDMA in 1912, it was then only researched sporadically, until the ‘CIA’s mind control program’ Project MKUltra; in which the drug was experimented with to see if it could be used during interrogation.
It then became recreational by 1970 throughout the United States and in 1976 Alexander Shulgin, a young student of the University of California, heard about the drug, synthesised it and tried for himself. After which he started using it for relaxation – calling it his “low-calorie martini” – and began recommending to his colleagues.
By the 1980s MDMA, which became known as ‘ecstasy,’ made it to Ibiza. For rave reasons. Then, of course, it was made illegal in Australia in 1986; meaning manufacturers went underground, the purity of the product suffered and ill effects became more likely.
If you’re further interested in the dude you can watch this fascinating documentary in which his wife states: “If we can’t make love on a drug, there’s something not quite right.” Get it, Shulgins.
