Reality Hackers/High Frontiers Issue #6, Winter 1988 Psychedelic Scenarios by Bruce Eisner and Peter Stafford A psychedelic soiree to benefit the Albert Hoffman Memorial Library was recently staged at Hollywood's John Anson Ford Theater. Over two hundred psychedelic cognoscenti, at $50 a plate, milled and mingled about on the stage. They were later joined by an additional 1500 persons for a presentation called "Beyond the Doors of Perception." Dr. Oscar Janiger, the psychiatrist noted for turning on a bevy of celebrities and artists, compared the library to a time capsule, or fossil record, which will contain books and memorabilia of the half century since Hoffman made his fortuitous discovery of LSD. The library will also house a psychedelic art gallery. Some of the art will be from artists who were turned on by Janiger back in the late 50's and early 60's. Dr. Janiger used to give his subjects a Hopi Kachina doll and ask each one to paint it before LSD and again later, while on the psychedelic. The terrible triumvirate from Harvard, Leary, Alpert, and Metzner, came together publicly for the first time in a quarter century. Metzner cleared up the misconception that he, too, had been fired by Harvard. "I am happy to point out that I wasn't fired. I didn't have a job there. I was a graduate student. Subsequently, I changed my story because I realized it was much more interesting if I said I was fired..." Richard Alpert (introduced by MC Paul Krassner as "Just Plain Ram Dass") gave a progress report on his well-documented journey, promising another such report ten years hence. He began by clearing up his drug-taking status. "People have always asked me, 'Well, you have stopped using drugs, haven't you?'" He responded, "No, I take LSD about every two years to find out what I forgot and to have faith in who we are." He said that he would have remained a middle-class neurotic if not for Timothy Leary and the experiences that propelled him on his well-chronicled journey. "As long as I live, I will be growing into what happened to me on my first psychedelic experience." Timothy Leary paid homage to seminal brain explorers and predicted that in ten years, 1998 - 75% of the members of the House of Representatives and 60% of the Supreme Court judges will have been Bob Dylan fans. He declared "The fun has hardly begun!" Janiger promises the library will be open by year's end and other benefits are in the works. If you would like to donate money, psychedelic memorabilia, or exhibits or just want more information, write The Albert Hoffmann Foundation, 1328 Westwood Blvd. Suite 36, Los Angeles, CA 90024. Its phone number in L.A. is (213)470-1624 --- MDMA is in Schedule I again. The seesaw battle for MDMA's legal status may have ended in February, with the DEA adminstrator again placing it into the most severe category in the drug schedules. During the past three years, its status has resembled a ping-pong ball. Of course, the ball always ends up back in the DEA's court and they always whack it back into Schedule I. Until 1985, MDMA was as legal as table salt. After the DEA attempted to place it in Schedule I, a group of researchers protested and hearings ensued. In the midst of the hearings, the DEA used its new emergency powers to temporarily ban it. Appeals courts later found this unconstitutional because, at the time, the DEA didn't have the authority. At the conclusion of the hearings, the DEA's own judge recommended placing it in the more benign Schedule III. DEa Administrator John Lawn simply ignored the recommendation and whacked it back into Schedule I. The researchers - led by Lester Grinspoon, M.D. of Harvard - successfully appealed. The First Circuit Court ruled that it should be taken off Schedule I and reconsidered by the DEA. It did not take long for the DEA to "reconsider" and put it back in Schedule I. At this point, those who have opposed the scheduling are ready to give up. "When you're defanging a bear one tooth at a time, you still got a problem," said a noted chemist and researcher. Once diehard who is still hoping to get research going again is Rick Doblin of Cambridge, Massachusetts. His organization, MAPS, has conducted animal research to examine the charges of possible neurotoxicity lodged against MDMA. His conclusions are contained in a report titled: "Risk Assessment: The FDA and MDMA Research." (The report appears an an appendix to Bruce's book, 'Ecstasy: The MDMA Story' from Ronin Publishers in Berkeley, CA.) The non-medical use of MDMA has not stopped with its scheduling and continues at a very significant rate in the United States while, at the same time, MDMA has a great, but undeveloped, therapeutic potential. If it can be demonstrated that MDMA-induced neurotoxicity is temporary, and that there is a no-effect level around the human dose level, the risk of using MDMA infrequently in research seems very minimal. Even if neurotoxicity does occur, there are presently no behavioral or functional effects that have been associated with it. Once careful risk/benefit analyses can be conducted, rational decisions can be made concerning future research. If the data comes in as preliminary indications suggest, there can be hope that the FDA will permit direct MDMA research in humans to begin. Those of you who are interested in donating time or spinal fluid to Rick's studies can contact him at: (617)547-7271