Entheogens can they be good or bad?

by frankiespeakin 36 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  frankiespeakin

  Interresting article in the Saltlake City Weekly: http://www.slweekly.com/editorial/2004/feat_2004-09-30.cfm

  Sitting on a couch is Melissa, a woman in her mid-20s who has just taken 125 mg of methyllenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), or ecstasy, in a glass of juice. Sitting in a rocking chair to the left of Melissa is licensed psychotherapist Dr. Jane, who will work intensely with her patient over the next few hours, as Melissa?s brain bathes in the surplus neurochemicals brought on by the MDMA.

  Melissa and her therapist aren?t part of any currently approved research. They consider themselves to be conscientious, law-abiding citizens, but have decided to augment traditional psychotherapy with what the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency currently classifies as a Schedule I substance-?an illegal drug.

  But, illegal or not, Dr. Jane (not her real name) has a rationale for using this drug with her patient: MDMA eases anxiety surrounding traumatic events, allowing them to be recalled with extensive clarity, then amplified by a desire to discuss them, perhaps for the first time in the patient?s life.

  Dr. Jane is one of an informal network of a half dozen or so psychologists?licensed social workers and psychiatrists practicing from Logan to Provo?with the experience and willingness to work with patients who choose to use MDMA in conjunction with other drug-free therapy sessions.

  She and her underground clinical colleagues aren?t doing anything new. Long before its popularity blossomed under the moniker of ?ecstasy? in dance clubs and warehouses across Europe and North America, and long after its first patent by German pharmaceutical company Merck in 1914, MDMA was used by scores of psychotherapists during the 1970s and halfway through the 1980s. With its relatively minimal side effects, therapists classified the drug as an ?empathogen? for its ability to open the heart, increase awareness and foster sensations of self-love and acceptance. In addition, the drug has the added benefit of keeping the patient firmly grounded and in control, rather than orbiting Pluto as occurs with stronger drugs. From the perspective of the analyst?s chair, these are all very desirable traits.

  From its ingestion, MDMA takes about 45 minutes to take effect. During this time, Melissa nods her head in affirmation, as Dr. Jane reads aloud the goals for this session and the safety contract, both of which have been developed and agreed upon during six earlier preparation sessions.

  It is now 60 minutes past the point when Melissa unwrapped a small triangle of tinfoil, emptied the white, powdered contents into a glass of juice and drank it down in one long gulp. Her earlier, tense posture has given way to a more relaxed position on the doctor?s leather couch. The pillow she had been clutching nervously in her lap is now resting under her right leg, and her head rests gently on the back of the sofa. Melissa is both alert, and noticeably relaxed, as she talks openly about abuse that occurred early in her childhood. Dr. Jane listens intently, only occasionally asking questions that probe lightly into progressively deeper layers of her memories.

  Now two hours into her session, tears fall from Melissa?s face and into a white Kleenex she holds in her hand as she recounts one particularly strong memory. Using a succession of questions, Dr. Jane assists Melissa in understanding how her earlier trauma caused her to project certain beliefs into her present relationships?beliefs that are creating some problems.

  Towards the end of her session Melissa says: ?Reliving this incident helped me free up my emotions in a number of ways. ? I know that I have a lot more to do, but I know now that I molded my views about the world?that I now know are not true?because that one incident caused me to distrust my parents.?

  Melissa, who works as a computer programmer, seems visibly relieved, and hopeful. Weeks after the sessions, she sent a promised e-mail describing the sum of her three MDMA-assisted therapy sessions: ?I was able to dump my file ? the medicine cleared my channels ? insights and memories poured through me ? fragments and pieces of the puzzle all came together. I had a cloud of trauma that had seemed in front of me ? that for almost my whole life had been distorting my beliefs about myself ? it seems behind me now, and I?ve gotten a new sense of who I am.?

  Don?t rush out to your local psychotherapist for sessions on the couch with this ?love drug? just yet, though.

  First of all, these renegade therapists will allow only certain patients to use the drug, and only after a careful screening and analysis process of several therapy sessions in advance of taking the drug. The drug?s therapeutic effects have been found especially beneficial to those suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

  Second, don?t go thinking that your time on the couch will amount to some sort of drug-crazed party of one. Most patients take MDMA during therapy twice at least, maybe three times at most. Perhaps most discouraging of all is the fact that you will have to score the drug yourself. Patients who desire this type of therapy assume all the responsibility in obtaining, possessing and ingesting the drug. Finding authentic MDMA, free of adulterants and of known strength, takes some work, but is not difficult. Dr. Jane cautions any prospective MDMA patient against running down to the local warehouse or club to buy a hit from a raver sporting an X on his shirt. You?re more likely to end up with a fake drug or sometimes-harmful counterfeit. Some have had luck procuring legitimate samples from undergraduate chemistry students who?ve figured out that MDMA is not all that difficult to synthesize.
• 

  frankiespeakin

  http://www.mdma.net/mdma.html

  from PiKHAL [ Phenethylamines i Have Known and Loved ] by Alexander Shulgin

  #109 MDMA; MDM; ADAM; ECSTASY; 3,4-METHYLENEDIOXY-N-METHYLAMPHETAMINE

  SYNTHESIS: (from MDA) A solution of 6.55 g of 3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDA) as the free base and 2.8 mL formic acid in 150 mL benzene was held at reflux under a Dean Stark trap until no further H2O was generated (about 20 h was sufficient, and 1.4 mL H2O was collected). Removal of the solvent gave an 8.8 g of an amber oil which was dissolved in 100 mL CH2Cl2, washed first with dilute HCl, then with dilute NaOH, and finally once again with dilute acid. The solvent was removed under vacuum giving 7.7 g of an amber oil that, on standing, formed crystals of N-formyl-3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine. An alternate process for the synthesis of this amide involved holding at reflux for 16 h a solution of 10 g of MDA as the free base in 20 mL fresh ethyl formate. Removal of the volatiles yielded an oil that set up to white crystals, weighing 7.8 g.

  A solution of 7.7 g N-formyl-3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine in 25 mL anhydrous THF was added dropwise to a well stirred and refluxing solution of 7.4 g LAH in 600 mL anhydrous THF under an inert atmosphere. The reaction mixture was held at reflux for 4 days. After being brought to room temperature, the excess hydride was destroyed with 7.4 mL H2O in an equal volume of THF, followed by 7.4 mL of 15% NaOH and then another 22 mL H2O. The solids were removed by filtration, and the filter cake washed with additional THF. The combined filtrate and washes were stripped of solvent under vacuum, and the residue dissolved in 200 mL CH2Cl2. This solution was extracted with 3x100 mL dilute HCl, and these extracts pooled and made basic with 25% NaOH. Extraction with 3x75 mL CH2Cl2 removed the product, and the pooled extracts were stripped of solvent under vacuum. There was obtained 6.5 g of a nearly white residue which was distilled at 100-110 ° C at 0.4 mm/Hg to give 5.0 g of a colorless oil. This was dissolved in 25 mL IPA, neutralized with concentrated HCl, followed by the addition of sufficient anhydrous Et2O to produce a lasting turbidity. On continued stirring, there was the deposition of fine white crystals of 3,4-methylenedioxy-N-methylamphetamine hydrochloride (MDMA) which were removed by filtration, washed with Et2O, and air dried, giving a final weight of 4.8 g.

  (from 3,4-methylenedioxyphenylacetone) This key intermediate to all of the MD-series can be made from either isosafrole, or from piperonal via 1-(3,4-methylenedioxyphenyl)-2-nitropropene. To a well stirred solution of 34 g of 30% hydrogen peroxide in 150 g 80% formic acid there was added, dropwise, a solution of 32.4 g isosafrole in 120 mL acetone at a rate that kept the reaction mixture from exceeding 40 ° C. This required a bit over 1 h, and external cooling was used as necessary. Stirring was continued for 16 h, and care was taken that the slow exothermic reaction did not cause excess heating. An external bath with running water worked well. During this time the solution progressed from an orange color to a deep red. All volatile components were removed under vacuum which yielded some 60 g of a very deep red residue. This was dissolved in 60 mL of MeOH, treated with 360 mL of 15% H2SO4, and heated for 3 h on the steam bath. After cooling, the reaction mixture was extracted with 3x75 mL Et2O, the pooled extracts washed first with H2O and then with dilute NaOH, and the solvent removed under vacuum The residue was distilled (at 2.0 mm/108-112 ° C, or at about 160 ° C at the water pump) to provide 20.6 g of 3,4-methylenedioxyphenylacetone as a pale yellow oil. The oxime (from hydroxylamine) had a mp of 85-88 ° C. The semicarbazone had a mp of 162-163 ° C. .......

  EXTENSIONS AND COMMENTARY: In clinical use, largely in psychotherapeutic sessions of which there were many in the early years of MDMA study, it became a common procedure to provide a supplemental dosage of the drug at about the one and a half hour point of the session. This supplement, characteristically 40 milligrams following an initial 120 milligrams, would extend the expected effects for about an additional hour, with only a modest exacerbation of the usual physical side-effects, namely, teeth clenching and eye twitching. A second supplement (as, for instance, a second 40 milligrams at the two and a half hour point) was rarely felt to be warranted. There are, more often than not, reports of tiredness and lethargy on the day following the use of MDMA, and this factor should be considered in the planning of clinical sessions.

  With MDMA, the usual assignments of activity to optical isomers is reversed from all of the known psychedelic drugs. The more potent isomer is the "S" isomer, which is the more potent form of amphetamine and methamphetamine. This was one of the first clear distinctions that was apparent between MDMA and the structurally related psychedelics (where the "R" isomers are the more active). Tolerance studies also support differences in mechanisms of action. In one study, MDMA was consumed at 9:00 AM each day for almost a week (120 milligrams the first day and 160 milligrams each subsequent day) and by the fifth day there were no effects from the drug except for some mydriasis. And even this appeared to be lost on the sixth day. At this point of total tolerance, there was consumed (on day #7, at 9:00 AM) 120 milligrams of MDA and the response to it was substantially normal with proper chronology, teeth clench, and at most only a slight decrease in mental change. A complete holiday from any drug for another 6 days led to the reversal of this tolerance, in that 120 milligrams of MDMA had substantially the full expected effects. The fact that MDMA and MDA are not cross-tolerant strengthens the argument that they act in different ways, and at different sites in the brain.

  A wide popularization of the social use of MDMA occurred in 1984-1985 and, with the reported observation of serotonin nerve changes in animal models resulting from the administration of the structurally similar drug MDA, an administrative move was launched to place it under legal control. The placement of MDMA into the most restrictive category of the Federal Controlled Substances Act has effectively removed it from the area of clinical experimentation and human research. The medical potential of this material will probably have to be developed through studies overseas.

  A word of caution is in order concerning the intermediate 3,4-methylene-dioxyphenylacetone, which has also been called piperonylacetone. A devilish ambiguity appeared in the commercial market for this compound, centered about its name. The controversy focused on the meaning of the prefix, piperonyl, which has two separate chemical definitions. Let me try to explain this fascinating chaos in non-chemical terms. Piperonyl is a term that has been used for a two-ring system (the methylenedioxyphenyl group) either without, or with, an extra carbon atom sticking off of the side of it. Thus, piperonylacetone can be piperonyl (the two-ring thing without the extra carbon atom attached) plus acetone (a three carbon chain thing); the total number of carbons sticking out, three. Or, piperonylacetone can be piperonyl (the two-ring thing but with the extra carbon atom attached) plus acetone (a three carbon chain thing); the total number of carbons sticking out, four.

  Does this make sense?

  The three carbon sticking out job gives rise to MDA and to MDMA and to many homologues that are interesting materials discussed at length in these Book II comments. This is the usual item of commerce, available from both domestic and foreign suppliers. But the four-carbon sticking out job will produce totally weird stuff without any apparent relationship to psychedelics, psychoactives or psychotropics whatsoever. I know of one chemical supply house which supplied the weird compound, and they never did acknowledge their unusual use of the term piperonyl. There is a simple difference of properties which might be of value. The three carbon (correct) ketone is an oil with a sassafras smell that is always yellow colored. The four carbon (incorrect) ketone has a weak terpene smell and is white and crystalline. There should be no difficulties in distinguishing these two compounds. But unprincipled charlatans can always add mineral oil and butter yellow to otherwise white solids to make them into yellow oils. Caveat emptor.
• 

  frankiespeakin

  Just got "Feet in the Soil" by Asher,, CD nice to have a little mj and head phones while listening to this,,puts me in a deep trance with little estatic moments of deep love and mystery. Highly recommend the CD.
• 

  frankiespeakin

  Interesting link on Ayahuascas:

  http://www.biopark.org/peru/kidder-vine.html
• 

  frankiespeakin

  Ayahuasca Icaro recordings:

  http://www.biopark.org/peru/icaros.html#icarorecordings
• 

  avishai

  asdkrlfjweoruao GORG!!!$*%&$(& WOOOHOOO!!! OHGODOHGODOHGOD!!!OHMAN!!!!WOW!KSHIF IWUER IAJSDF JDK!!!!!!@ SDO{F EGL MFMgah;
• 

  frankiespeakin

  Ash,

  I found some places to get RC on the net. Have you tried and of Shulgin RC?