The Eaton T. Fores Research Center
Reading
Room
Psychotropic Chemistry
and
Psychoalchemy
Pihkal: A
Chemical Love Story by Alexander Shulgin and Ann Shulgin.
The Shulgins' classic story of "Phenethylamines I Have
Known and Loved" has to be owned by anyone who's into psychoalchemy. Many of
the materials listed in Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act are actually Sasha
Shulgin's inventions (although contrary to popular belief, MDMA [Ecstasy] is not one of
them). The first 2/3 of the book tells the story of the evolution of Sasha and Ann's
relationship, all the while filling us in as to who these people are, what they believe,
and how they came to believe it. The final third contains chemical, synthetic, and
subjective information on a large number of psychotropic phenethylamine compounds.
Note: this is not a "cook book!" If you're not a chemist, don't try the
syntheses described in this book or you'll probably hurt yourself and/or others.
Pihkal deserves the ETFRC's highest rating, and is a shining example of what genuine
psychopharmacology is (lets not forget what the root of psycho is).
Tihkal: The
Continuation by Alexander Shulgin and Ann Shulgin.
The companion book
to PIHKAL, "Tryptamines I Have Known And Loved" describes the other half of the
known psychedelics, those derived from tryptamines. The great majority of, though by
no means all, known psychedelics are either phenethylamines (the classic example being
mescaline) or tryptamines (the classic example being LSD). Included in this
wonderful book are stories ranging from the bone chilling (The Shulgins' home and lab is
trampled by the DEA, and Sasha is stripped of his Schedule I license) to the humorous (A
chapter on stamp-collecting -- complete with Marihuana Tax Act stamps) and includes a good
deal of sociological and political commentary by the authors. Most fascinating of
all, IMO, but buried in an Appendix, is Sasha's suggestion for future directions
for his work -- studies of potential psychotropic histamines. HIKAL,
anyone?
