MDMA Godfather Alexander ‘Sasha’ Shulgin, Passes Away #rollon

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MDMA Godfather Alexander ‘Sasha’ Shulgin, Passes Away #rollon

MDMA pioneer Alexander ‘Sasha’ Shulgin, who heralded a new era of research and study of the drug, has sadly passed away aged 88.

The news broke by life-long partner and fellow researcher Ann, who posted on Facebook that he was fittingly “surrounded by family and caretakers and Buddhist meditation music”.

Although the compound was originally, and accidentally discovered in 1912 by German pharmaceutical Merck, it was never fully explored within the realms of humans and its potentially positive effects were filed away, almost lost for decades. Following his work at the Dow Chemical company in 1966 where he discovered a biodegradable pesticide, he moved on and put his biochemistry pHD to good use further exploring the compound. Shulgin began trials on himself and once fine-tuned turned its euphoric powers onto others including psychologist Leo Zeff, who introduced him to a therapist Ann, who went on to become his wife – score!

Zeff went on to offer small doses to fellow psychologists and patients to add therapy and kickstarted wider knowledge and use of the drug we know today that finds rampant use within the dance and electronic music scene. Shulgin continued his research into synthesising and discovering over 200 psychoactive compounds, with the aim to help people while earning the title ‘The Godfather of Psychedelics’ and a reputation of one of the greatest chemists of the 20th century.

Although be warned, Prof David Nutt, professor of neuropsychopharmacology at Imperial College London and a former government adviser, believes fewer people would have died from the combination of the drug found these days if we’d “listened and learned from Shulgin rather than tried to suppress his knowledge and ideas”. #rollon

source: BBC

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