Erowid Newsletter12 PDF

Docume nt i ng t he comp l e x R e l a t i ons h i p B e t we e n hu ma ns a nD p s y c h oa c t i v e s
Erowid Extracts
Number 12 June 2007
Carbogen: An Introduction Carbogen Redux Drug Web Cites
Nine Months at Erowid APHA Conference MKULTRA
A man has made at least
a start on discovering the
meaning of human life when
he plants shade trees under
which he knows full well
he will never sit.
Elton Trueblood
Letters & Feedback
Erowid Extracts Number 12 / June 2007 )
Im a very frequent visitor to the site and
have been so for about fve years now.
I appreciate all the work that everyone
at Erowid.org does to help ensure
everybody has complete and accurate
information about psychoactives they
are interested in. I believe in my
younger and more experimental days
your website helped me to make
responsible decisions regarding my
use of psychoactive substances, and
without the info provided there is a
possibility I wouldnt be here today to
discuss it. Though I dont use many
psychoactives anymore, I still check
your site regularly for updates and to
stay informed and educated. Once
again I would like to take this time
to thank you for your hard work and
dedication over the years.
Sean Gladue
Email
I am emailing you to thank you for
taking the time and effort to create
a website with a vast cornucopia of
information on any substance I have
ever been curious about. You helped
me save a friends life today. With the
information you provided I was able to
teach them about the drug they were
doing and the appropriate dosage. I
know maybe you dont condone the use
of drugs but you helped me save them.
[] Thank you Erowid for helping me
help others and for teaching me more
than I could have taught myself.
D.
Email
Im a law student very interested in
drug law and activism, and so far the
Erowid vaults are unparalleled as the
launching point for learning the law in
this area. Keep up the good work.
RObERT LInK
Email
I cant fnd the words to thank the
Vaults. The info I found online saved
a friends life. It has also provided me
with endless hours of learning about
the drugs that surround us. Theres no
value that amounts to all the people Im
sure it helped. Infnite thanks from me
and my friends.
KOD
Site Feedback
I work f or an organi zati on that
advocates alternatives to the failed
war on drugs. I personal l y l ove
Erowid and renewed my membership
because youre flling a crucial niche
today while giving a glimpse of what a
more sensible approach to psychoac-
tive drugs might look like in the future.
You promote honesty, open dialogue,
and personal responsi bi l i tykey
elements to ensuring that drugs cause
the least possible harm and greatest
possible goodand you do it well.
Thank you!
DaVID GLOWKa
Drug Policy Alliance
Thank you very much for the beautiful
membership gifta molecule made of
glassthat I received for my donation.
Please keep up your excellent work.
F.
Email
I m a Ph. D. candi date at Texas
Tech Uni versi ty i n the Techni cal
Communication & Rhetoric program,
and Im doing archival research for
my di ssertati onspeci fi cal l y, I m
examining the purported link between
LSD and chromosome damage and
examining the controversy through the
lens of Jrgen Habermass theories of
communication. The Hofmann archive
is an amazing scholarly resource that
fts my research to a T. Youve made
my week. no, my month. Perhaps
even my year.
J. aRnETT
Ph.D. Candidate in Technical
Communication & Rhetoric
Thank you for everything you do! The
hard work of everyone on the Erowid
staff has made a difference in so many
lives. I wish you all peace and good
luck in this new year.
D. STInSOn
Member Email
I am forever in debt to the good people
at Erowid. [] Thanks again for all
you have done, the course of my life
has been permanently altered, for the
better.
W.
Email
Send correspondence to:
extracts@erowid.org
Please include your name, title,
and city/state/country of origin to be
published with your letter.
Letters may be edited
for length and clarity.
In the november 2006 issue of
Erowid Extracts, we published a short
description of the Drug Enforcement
administrations proposed redefnition
of positional isomer. In that article,
we stated that, If this new defnition
becomes the approved legal defnition, it
would add dozens of previously unlisted
chemicals to Schedule I without [the
DEa] having to go through the normal
process.
after reading this article, alexander
Shulgin commented that he believes
the change would actually result in
thousands of new scheduled chemicals,
most of which have never before been
synthesized.
This serves as a good reminder that
the proposed defnition would completely
bypass the Schedule I requirements that
a substance have a high potential for
abuse and no medical use, since we
cant know whether those defnitions
apply to substances that have never
been made.
I am profoundly grateful that such
sites exist. We need more clarity
and more sources of information, not
lessespecially in the United States.
Far too often it appears that our
culture is designed to stife inquiry and
devalue the mind and consciousness.
It also seems there are those in our
society who feel threatened by the
people who cheerfully and tirelessly
i nvesti gatestudents, sci enti sts,
artists, engineers, etc.
M.
Email
errata
Erowid Extracts
Number 12, June 2007
Know Your Body
Know Your Mind
Know Your Substance
Know Your Source
Founder, Editor in Chief
Founder, Executive Editor
Managing Editor
Contributing Editor
Art Curator
The Erowid Review
Fire Erowid
Earth Erowid
Sylvia Thyssen
Lux
Christopher Barnaby
Erik Davis
Crew
Psilo, Stu, Bo, JL, Zhah, Embroglio, Scruff
Associate Editors
Jon, Zachawry, Fer
Report Reviewers & Triagers
Antheia, Zetetic, Kernel, Raoul
Canaana, Survival, Smash, Caliban, Roxanne,
Buttaz, Sugarmagnoliagirl, NickFlyer, sii, RevMeO,
Biglo, PsyKey, Polaris, Adolfo, Shamanix,
Jamonbread, Aqua, Metcalf, Lizard, Node, Noelle,
Ben, JHaven, Xorkoth, Optic.
Erowid Extracts is the members newsletter
of Erowid.org. It has been published twice
a year since May 2001. If you are interested
in receiving this newsletter or supporting the
Erowid website, visit:
http://erowid.org/donations/
Past issues can be read online at:
http://erowid.org/extracts/
Erowid
P.O. Box 1116
Grass Valley, CA 95945
http://www.erowid.org
info@erowid.org
ISSN 1548-8071
2007 Erowid.org
Erowid is a Registered Trademark
All rights reserved
Erowid Extracts Number 12 / June 2007
Letters & Feedback ..................................................................
)
Recent News & Updates ........................................................... 2
Conference Report: American Public Health Association ............. 3
MKULTRA: Psychedelic Mind Control and Its Legacy ................... 4
Drug Web Cites: Erowid Mentions in Print and Other Media ...... 8
Dont Mention It ................................................................ 9
A Sampling of Erowid Mentions ......................................... 10
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Graduate School ......... 11
Carbogen: An Introduction....................................................... 12
Carbogen Redux: Contemporary Explorations .......................... 18
In Their Own Words .......................................................... 19
That Old Familiar Place (T. peruvianus Experience) .................... 20
The Distillation ........................................................................ 22
Erowid Center Update ....................................................... 23
New Pharmacology Vaults ................................................. 24
Rhodium Archive Update .................................................. 25
Table of Contents
Erowid is a member-supported organization working to provide free, reliable
and accurate information about psychoactive plants, chemicals, practices, and
technologies.
The information on the site is a compilation of the experiences, words, and
efforts of thousands of individuals including educators, researchers, doctors and
other health professionals, therapists, chemists, parents, lawyers, and others who
choose to use psychoactives. Erowid acts as a publisher of new information and
as a library archiving documents published elsewhere. The collection spans the
spectrum from solid peer-reviewed research to creative writing and fction.
Subscriptions: To become a member and subscribe to Erowid Extracts, visit:
http://www.erowid.org/membership/
Change of Address?: To update your mailing address, use the form at:
https://erowid.org/donations/donations_update_address.php
Cancellations: To cancel your subscription, contact: extracts@erowid.org.
Reprints: To request permission to reproduce an article or image from this
newsletter, contact: copyrights@erowid.org.
Advertising: Erowid Extracts does not accept advertisements, but if you would
like to include a fier about a related organization or event in our mailings, contact:
extracts@erowid.org.
Cover Image Credits: 15: Erowid; 6: Psilo; 7: CIA.
2 Erowid Extracts Number 12 / June 2007
plants in the genus Cannabis, plants of the
species Papaver somniferum (the opium
poppy), leaves from any plant of the genus
Erythroxylon from which cocaine can be
extracted (coca leaves), and the newly-added
fungi that contain psiloc(yb)in.
The defense argued that a) the law
regarding the terms preparation and
product was insufficiently clear for
prosecution to proceed, and b) even if the
law was deemed clear enough, the dried
cactus material that the defendant was
selling was not a preparation or product
since the cacti were not in a state in which
they could be used.
Both the prosecution and defense
quoted from Erowid in court. Mike Jay,
author of Artificial Paradise and editor
of Emperors of Dreams, appeared as an
expert witness for the defense. He testifed
that dried cactus is not a preparation and
that, in fact, the process of drying made it
harder to digest than fresh cactus material.
Apparently much of the prosecutions
cross-examination concerned Erowid,
attempting to establish the rationale behind
the site and the status of its content. The
prosecution then cited experience reports
from Erowid in an attempt to show that
people do indeed ingest dried mescaline-
containing cacti for their psychoactive
effects. Jay and the defense countered that
further preparationrehydration, boiling,
and flteringis necessary to make dried
cacti ingestible, and that there is no history
of people eating enough dried Trichocereus
cactus chips to achieve effects.
On March 20, 2007, the case was
thrown out in pre-trial hearings. The judge
agreed with the defenses argument that the
law was not suffciently clear to proceed
with prosecution, stating that it would
amount to an abuse of process. Because
of this, he did not make a determination on
the question of whether the defendants cacti
qualifed as a preparation or product.
But the fact remains that for the time being,
dried Trichocereus cacti have been shown to
be legal to possess and sell in the U.K.
Erowid.org/extracts/n12/cactus_law
1. Regina v. Saul Sette. 2007. Kingston Crown
Court.
Recent News & Updates
U.K. Trichocereus Cacti Legal Case
A recent court case in the United
Kingdom may be the frst to look at the
legality of possessing and selling dried
mescaline-containing cacti.
1
After being
found in possession of 4.69 kg of dried
Trichocereus peruvianus cactus chips, the
defendant, Saul Sette, was arrested and
charged with possession with intent to
supply the Class A drug mescaline (along
with two other related charges).
The U.K. Misuse of Drugs Act (MDA)
states that, Any preparation or other
product containing a substance or product
that is listed in Class A (the equivalent of
U.S. Schedule I) is also controlled. The
defendant did not contest that he was selling
the dried cacti, or that it was intended for
human consumption.
In pre-trial hearings, the question was
raised whether dried mescaline-containing
cacti qualify as a preparation or product
under this law. If not, then they are not
illegal to possess or sell, even for human
consumption. Prior to his arrest, the
defendant requested information on the
legality of the material from the Home
Offce Drug Legislation and Enforcement
Unit and received a response stating that,
In itself, drying in order to preserve for
the purely botanical/horticultural/herbarium
purposesmere preservationdoes
not in law amount to preparation [].
This, along with evidence that customs
offcials have levied a Value Added Tax on
T. peruvianus cacti sold by other vendors,
was used to show that the government does
not consistently consider dried mescaline-
containing cacti to be illegal.
The defense also pointed out that a
similar legal battle was recently fought
over the status of psiloc(yb)in-containing
mushrooms. In that case, the courts ruled that
the same section of the MDA was ambiguous.
As a result, the British government added
fresh mushrooms to the list of controlled
substances, but did not add Trichocereus
cacti. The defense argued that if the
government had meant mescaline-containing
cacti to be illegal, it needed to add these
cacti to the law as it did with psilo(cy)bin-
containing mushrooms. The only plants
or fungi currently listed in the MDA are
Salvia divinorum Law Update
Salvia divinorum, designated a drug
of concern by the U.S. Drug Enforcement
Administration, is currently uncontrolled
in the United States at the federal level, but
it has been controlled at the state level in
Delaware, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma,
and Tennessee. Between November
2006 and May 15, 2007, legislation was
introduced to ban possession or sale of
Salvia divinorum in fourteen additional
states: Alaska, California, Georgia, Illinois,
Iowa, Maine, New York, North Dakota,
Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas (two
bills), Utah, and Virginia.
The majority of the pending legislation
would add the plant Salvia divinorum to
the states lists of controlled substances.
Salvinorin A, the active principle in salvia,
would also be controlled by most of these
laws, but is not specifcally mentioned in
the legislation pending in Illinois, New
York, North Dakota, Ohio, or Pennsylvania.
Pending Texas bill SB1796 does not mention
salvinorin A, and would only make it a crime
to sell salvia to minors; Texas bill HB2347
would make both the plant and salvinorin A
illegal. While many of the proposed bills are
in limbo and some will certainly not make it
through the legislative process, at least a few
are likely to pass.
Many states allow public comment on
proposed bills. California, for example,
includes in its formal bill analysis a list
of groups and individuals (either named or
anonymous) who have registered support
or opposition for pending legislation.
An Erowid crew member registered her
opposition to Californias AB 259 earlier
this year and the current bill analysis now
shows One private individual in the list
of opponents.
1
The increase in recent salvia legislation
is certainly due in part to the ongoing media
frenzy. We have been told that at least
one vendor has been repeatedly alerted
to new salvia-related media stories by the
corresponding spikes in product sales.
1. Pagan G. California AB259: Bill Analysis.

Mar 12, 2007. Accessed May 9, 2007;
http://info.sen.ca.gov/pub/07-08/bill/asm/
ab_0251-0300/ab_259_cfa_20070326_
094143_asm_comm.html
Erowid Extracts Number 12 / June 2007 3
Submitting an abstract would increase the
impact of Erowids participation in a future
APHA, and literature designed for the event
would be best aimed at a general audience
rather than an audience of informed peers.
Running a booth at the APHA conference
was an exploratory missionan Erowid
probe into the world of public health. There
are clear benefts both for the attendees and
for Erowid, but it was also quite expensive.
Because of the cost, its an activity we
can only justify when enough funding is
available.
Erowid.org/extracts/n12/apha
Analysis
The experience of attending the event
and the contacts we made will help inform
future work with professionals of all sorts.
Examining the response we got from
attendees can also help us to elucidate
what Erowids identity is within the realm
of public health discourse. Substance use
and abuse represents only a small subset
of public health concerns, thus Erowid is
little known among most people in the feld.
The Amer i can Publ i c Heal t h
Association (APHA) conference is the
oldest, largest gathering of public health
professionals in the world and is attended
by more than 13,000 physicians, nurses,
educators, researchers, and related health
specialists.
Years ago I saw an APHA position paper
about medical marijuana, and had since
associated this public health organization
with reasonable opinions on drug-related
issues. For the last two years, Id been
thinking about ways to bring Erowids
name and work more attention among this
group. In May 2006 I brought up the idea
of running an Erowid booth at the APHAs
November event in Boston. We decided to
go forward with the plan, and I reserved a
space, selecting to be positioned across the
aisle from the National Institute on Drug
Abuse (NIDA).
It turned out to be a good placement.
One of the biggest values we can provide
to such conferences is to represent alternate
viewpoints about the potential benefts and
risks of psychoactives. Being near NIDA
allowed us to hear how they presented key
issues such as MDMA neurotoxicity and to
provide a somewhat different point of view
on these same issues.
The event hosted hundreds of booths
run by government agencies, universities,
nonprofits, medical supply companies,
etc. The Erowid table, decked out with
comfortable furniture from the homes of
local supporters, featured a large fatscreen
monitor displaying a slide show of plant,
chemical, and drug photos, as well as
screen shots from the site. We also handed
out issues of Erowid Extracts and other
literature to visitors.
Lux and I ran the booth for four days,
assisted by several volunteers. A large
percentage of people we encountered
had not heard of Erowid, which surprised
us. Most people who stopped by were
friendly and curious. We answered a lot
of questions about what Erowid does and
what our agenda is. We spoke with about
150 visitors, giving away literature to
them and perhaps another couple dozen
people.
Visitor Comments
We did receive a few comments from
people who were clearly familiar with
Erowid.
A physician affiliated with a NIDA
work group was very complimentary, saying
he was glad to see faces behind the web
pages.
A woman said she was surprised that
this was our frst APHA, and encouraged us
to come back since its good for this group
t o b e c o me
familiar with
Erowid.
A woman
wa l k e d b y
a n d c a l l e d
out I l ove
psychoactive
plants, theyre
fun. Im a child
of the 60s!
A researcher who studies club drugs and
surveys kids about drug use complimented
us, remarking, Youd be surprised how
often your site comes up [in my work].
A young woman appeared puzzled that
we were there, saying, I thought it was
just some site some college students put
together, I didnt know it was legit!
A police department captain stopped,
shocked, and said, Ive never seen YOU
at a conference before! In the course of
conversation he added, You have great info
[] I recommend you to everyone.
American Public Health Association 2006
conFerence report by syLvia thyssen
I would only characterize a single interaction as in any way antagonistic.
That was a conversation Sylvia and I had with a nurse who was very
concerned that her teenage children might gain access to harmful
information through sites such as ours. She seemed a little agitated,
but was courteous and left on a moderately-positive note, acknowledg-
ing that the questions regarding access to information are complex.
Lux
MKULTRA
In 1955, on behalf of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) project MKULTRA,
former Federal Bureau of Narcotics offcer George White rented a three-story
building on Telegraph Hill in San Francisco. For the next ten years, the CIA paid
prostitutes to lure men to this location and surreptitiously dose them with LSD or
other psychoactive drugs. Known as Operation Midnight Climax, this project
was one of several exploring LSDs potential use as a mind control tool by the U.S.
Intelligence Community.
The Cold War Context
The CIAs interest in mind control began in the fnal days of World War II.
With the advent of nuclear weapons, the fear of mutually-assured destruction
prohibited military confict between the United States and the Soviet Union. Future
struggles would instead rely heavily on covert operations, intelligence gathering,
and propaganda.
In 1945 a U.S. intelligence offcer warned that:
[W]e must expect a very marked increase in the importance of peaceful
methods [in combating the Soviet Union]. Our enemies will be even freer
than [ever] to propagandize, subvert, sabotage, and exert pressures upon us,
and we ourselves shall be more willing to bear these affronts and ourselves
to indulge in such methodsin our eagerness to avoid at all costs the tragedy
of open war.
1
Frances Saunders, author of The Cultural Cold War, comments that this offers
a defnition of the Cold War as a psychological contest, of the manufacturing of
consent by peaceful methods, and of the use of propaganda to erode positions.
1

Just two years later, in 1947, the CIA was created, and the U.S. infrastructure for
prosecuting this new confict was established.
According to most accounts, the CIAs interest in mind control began with the
Hungarian show trial of Cardinal Josef Mindszenty. One of the highest-ranking
members of the Catholic clergy in Europe, Mindszenty was arrested by Hungarian
police and tried for treason in 1949. Before stunned global television audiences, he
confessed to crimes he had not committed, while staring off into space and showing
other signs of aberrant behavior. The CIA feared that he had been brainwashed.
In 1953 CIA Director Allen Dulles warned the American public that the U.S.S.R.
may have developed brainwashing technology. Using language similar to the 1945
report quoted above, Dulles warned that the Cold War was becoming a battle for
mens minds. [] We might call it in its new form, brain warfare.
2
That same month
Psychedelic Mind Control and Its Legacy
Its a sunny afternoon in a beautiful
residential neighborhood on San
Franciscos Telegraph Hill, just below
Coit Tower. Succulent gardens frame a
stunning view of Alcatraz and the bay.
It was in an apartment building on this
street that the CIA dosed unsuspecting
civilians on LSD over the course of a
decade.
As I walk beside the high-end condos
crowding the block, I try to imagine
what it must have been like. I picture
myself stumbling through the streets,
all the rich reds and blues of the
fowering trees kaleidoscoping around
me in fractured patterns. Blood
pounding in panic, I wouldnt know
what was happeningonly that I was
apparently losing my mind.
The more I learn about the use of psy-
choactive drugs by the U.S. Intelligence
Community and military, the more
I feel driven to try to make sense
of it on a human level. Two themes
consistently emerging in my research
are: 1) uncertainty combined with
urgency often distorts human conduct,
and 2) genuine accountability is vital
to constrain the darker impulses of
exercising power.
Lux
The Human Element
by Lux
Former MKULTRA Saf e House
4
MKULTRA
Dulles authorized Project MKULTRA
as a counter-offensive to this perceived
threat. The purpose of MKULTRA was to
investigate whether and how it was possible
to modify an individuals behavior by covert
means.
3
Sidney Gottlieb, director of the
CIAs Technical Services Staff, was placed
in charge, and existing operations in mind
and behavior control were transferred to
MKULTRA. Sub-projects investigated
hypnosis, neurosurgery, electroshock,
torture, sexual blackmail, stage magic,
and poison, but their primary interest was
psychoactive drugs.
Pseudo-Realities
A CIA behavior control psychologist
once said, The problem of every intelligence
operation is how do you remove the human
element?
3
This statement embodies the
mentality driving the CIAs interest in mind
control techniques: the desire to eliminate
complex human variables in order to
achieve certainty and control. But how can
someone control anothers mind?
When MKULTRA operative Morse
Allen studied hypnosis, he found that he
could not persuade people to do things
against their will. Subjects in a trance
would refuse to shoot their friends.
However, Allen found that he could
circumvent resistance by convincing
people that the friend was actually a
deadly enemy. He had to change their
perception of realitycreate what he
called a pseudo-realityand then let
them act naturally. If he could create the
right reality, he could manipulate people
into doing almost anything.
2

Controlling perception facilitates
control of actions, and the CIA developed
projects designed to control perception on
many scales. Projects ranged from dosing
individuals with LSD to infuencing entire
societies through planting false news
stories or covertly shaping art and culture.
1

The perception-altering properties of LSD
and other psychoactive drugs ft well with
the CIAs agenda.
The CIA focused on three potential
applications for psychoactive drugs:
truth serums that could be used during
interrogation, drugs that could induce
amnesia, and brainwashing techniques that
could create what is often described as a
Manchurian Candidate (after the popular
1959 novel). In fction, a Manchurian
Candidate is someone who has been
brainwashed to carry out covert actions
such as assassinations or sabotage against
their will, without having the awareness
that anything is amiss.
I n p u r s u i t o f t h e s e g o a l s ,
MKULTRA sci ent i st s i nvest i gat ed
dozens of psychoactive agents, including
psilocybin, bufotenin, scopolamine, DMT,
amphetamines, barbiturates, cannabis,
and cocaine. They particularly focused
on LSD, funneling hundreds of thousands
of dollars through covert channels into
LSD studies at clinics and hospitals.
Much of the basic research into LSDs
pharmacology conducted in the 1950s was
funded by either the military or the CIA.
By 1952 Boston Psychopathic Hospital
alone was receiving $40,000 a year for
such studies, overseen by LSD researcher
Dr. Robert Hyde.
A Saucerful of Secrets
MKULTRA operatives routinely
violated ethical and legal guidelines. For
at least a decade, the CIA gave many U.S.
citizens LSD without their knowledge, with
the most infamous case involving Army
offcer Frank Olson. After
being dosed with LSD on
the orders of MKULTRA
director Sidney Gottlieb
at a joint CIA/Army retreat
in 1953, Olson plunged
into a deep depression and, according to
the offcial story, committed suicide. Yet
in 1994 a forensic pathologist examined
Olsons body and found compelling
evidence that Olson was murdered.
4
Dr. Harris Isbell, director of the
Addiction Research Center at the Public
Health Service Hospital in Lexington,
Kentucky, was paid by MKULTRA to
perform basic research on psychoactive
drugs, including several psychedelics. He
drew test subjects from his captive patient
population of opiate addicts, offering them
heroin in exchange for volunteering
for his experiments. Subjects were
administered LSD, DMT, mescaline,
methamphetamine, psilocybin and other
drugs, sometimes in very large doses.
5
In
one experiment, Isbell administered LSD
to seven men for 77 consecutive days.
Dr. Ewen Cameron of McGill University
in Montreal developed experimental
techniques to rebuild personalities in his
clinic. Cameron became interested in
altering the structure of personality as
a possible treatment for psychological
disorders such as schizophrenia. He
believed that he could cure mental illness by
replacing schizophrenic personalities with
newly created ones. The CIA had no interest
in treating schizophrenia, but it was very
interested in the possibility of rebuilding
personality; MKULTRA began covertly
funding Camerons experiments in 1957.
Camerons depatterning process
consisted of two stages. In the frst stage,
amnesia was induced through an extreme
form of sleep therapy, where subjects
were heavily sedated and given daily
electroshock treatments over a period
of several weeks. Cameron would next
attempt to construct a new personality
through psychic driving during which
subjects were forced to listen to repeating
tape loops, designed to restructure their
psyches, for as long as sixteen hours a
day for another several weeks. They
were sometimes restrained in beds, and
frequently given doses of LSD.
At least 86 universities or institutions
were involved in MKULTRA projects in
varying capacities.
6
Many MKULTRA
researchers were highly regarded; Cameron
was president of the American Psychiatric
Association in 1953, and Isbells fndings
were published in scientifc journals and
his tolerance studies are cited to this day.
MKULTRA covertly funded the
Society for the Investigation for Human
Ecology, a think tank that issued grants to
leading fgures like Carl Rogers, Margaret
Mead, and Jean Piaget in exchange for their
opinions on key subjects.
7
CIA offcial
David Rhodes recalls, If we picked up
a Newsweek one morning and discovered
so-and-so was doing something exciting
in such-and-such feld, I would get on the
phone and say Im a rep of the Human
Ecology Fund, and Im excited about
what youre doing. Can I come by and
have lunch with you?which at the time
was a lot easier than saying Im from the
CIA
2

R. Gordon Wassons trip to participate
in a second mushroom velada (ceremony)
with Mara Sabina was underwritten by
MKULTRA. Wasson was contacted out of
the blue by James Moore, who had heard
of Wassons discovery of psychoactive
mushrooms and asked to accompany him
All warfare is based on deception.
Sun Tzu
on his next expedition. Wasson accepted
without knowing that Moore was a CIA
agent, who would collect mushroom
specimens for government analysis.
While not part of MKULTRA, related
psychedelic research was funded by the
U.S. Army in its investigation of chemical
weapons. George Aghajanian, a respected
professor of Psychiatry at Yale, worked
with LSD in the 1960s at the Edgewood
were offset by a critical loss of initiative.
If you have one hundred percent control,
you have one hundred percent dependency,
an MKULTRA veteran says of Allens
experiments. If something happens and
you havent programmed it in, youve got a
problem. If you try to put fexibility in, you
lose control. To the extent that you let the
agent choose, you dont have control.
3
The CIA investigated dozens of
drugs searching for
a t rut h serum, but
t hey wer e most l y
unsuccessful. Their
primary candidates,
sodi um pent ot hal ,
LSD, and THC, all
worked in roughly the
same waysubjects became bewildered
and forgot who they were talking to and
what they were saying. This technique was
successful in getting subjects to lower their
guard, but it introduced new problems.
Interrogators found that subjects, having
lost the ability to distinguish between
fantasy and reality, would sometimes
confess to things that they clearly had not
done. Two truth drug psychiatrists wrote,
In some respects the demands on [the
psychiatrists] skill will be increased by
the baffing mixture of truth and fantasy
in drug-induced output.
2
Despite early fears of communist
brainwashing, several studies concluded that
the use of psychoactive drugs behind the Iron
Curtain was negligible. In one prominent
1953 MKULTRA study,
psychiatrists Lawrence
Hinkle and Harold Wolff
concluded that China
and the Soviet Union
relied on brutality and
re-education to change
behavior. A 1956 CIA
report found that the
most reliable technique
for converting subjects to new ideologies
was a combination of sleep deprivation,
repeated interrogation, and isolation. The
prisoner invariably feels that something
must be done to find a way out. []
Ultimately, he fnds himself faced with the
choice of continuing interminably under
the intolerable pressures of his captors or
accepting the way out which the interrogator
offers.
10
While brute force achieved
impressive results, the surgical precision
sought by the Agency was not available
through this method.
Aftermath and Legacy
MKULTRA was discontinued in 1964,
and many of its sub-projectsincluding
the San Francisco LSD projectwere
incorporated into its successor MKSEARCH.
Sidney Gottlieb remained in charge. When
CIA Director Richard Helms left offce in
1972, he and Gottlieb ordered all records of
the operation destroyed.
MKULTRA came to light in 1974
following a New York Times article written by
Seymour Hersh. The article revealed that the
CIA had conducted clandestine operations
inside the U.S. in violation of its mandate,
including the commission of crimes such as
opening citizens mail. Still in the throes of
Watergate, the nation was outraged, and the
Senate responded by investigating abuses of
power by the U.S. Intelligence Community.
Committees led by Edward Kennedy
6
and
Frank Church
11
issued extensive reports
documenting MKULTRA and other illegal
operations such as the notorious FBI
program COINTELPRO. Frank Olsons
death (described at the time as a suicide)
became public knowledge, prompting
President Gerald Ford to apologize to the
Olson family.
Journalist John Marks later located
seven boxes of MKULTRA records that had
escaped destruction due to a fling error. In
1977 Marks obtained heavily-redacted copies
of the documents after fling a Freedom of
Information Act request. Those records
became the basis for his excellent 1979 book
The Search for the Manchurian Candidate.
In response to public outcry, Presidents
Ford and Reagan signed executive orders
(11905 and 12333) forbidding tests on
humans by the intelligence community
without informed consent. However,
MKULTRA already violated existing
policies and laws, which raises troubling
questions. Does covert testing on humans
continue today?
There is certainly no indication that the
CIA experienced a change of heart. In 1954
the Agency found Gottlieb responsible for
violations of Agency policy and law that led
The best safeguard against abuses
in the future is a complete public
accounting of the abuses of the past.
Senator Edward Kennedy
on MKULTRA
At least 86 universities or institutions
we r e i n v o l v e d i n MKULT R A
pr oj ect s i n var yi ng capaci t i es .
Arsenal, where the Army looked into the
use of LSD as an incapacitating agent.
Aghajanian was involved with research
investigating aerosolized administration of
LSD, a technique previously explored by
MUKLTRA.
8
Current LSD research still
prominently cites his work. Psychiatrist
Sidney Cohen, author of important early
papers on LSDs effects, also worked at
Edgewood.
9

It is diffcult to fnd researchers of
psychedelics in the 1950s and 1960s who
were not funded by or involved with Cold
War agendas in some capacity, either
wittingly or unwittingly. This leads to
an uncomfortable conclusion: the history
of psychedelic drugs in the United States
in the twentieth century is saturated with
infuence from the intelligence community
and military.
Mixed Results
Of the CIAs three primary objectives
for working with psychoactive drugs, the
Agency was only successful in finding
techniques to induce amnesia through the
combination of barbiturates and electroshock
therapy. Attempts to develop truth serums
and selective brainwashing techniques were
largely unsuccessful.
Cameron was unsuccessful in creating
new personalities. He found that personality
characteristics might become dormant
after inducing amnesia, but they would
consistently re-emerge. His research
suggests that personalities can be temporarily
wiped out but not recreatedat least not
through depatterning.
The hypnosis techniques developed by
Morse Allen were deemed insuffcient for
operational use, because gains in control
References
1. Saunders FS. The Cultural Cold War.
New Press. 2001. p 17.
2. Streatfeild D. Brainwash. St. Martins
Press. 2007. p 23,162,66,56.
3. Mar ks J. The Sear ch f or t he
Manchurian Candidate. W. W. Norton.
1979. p 62,53,203.
4. Starr J. A Voice for the Dead. Putnam
Adult. 2005.
5. Isbell H, Belleville RE, Fraser HF, et
al. Studies on lysergic acid diethyl-
amide (LSD-25). I. Effects in former
morphine addicts and development
of tolerance during chronic intoxica-
tion. Arch Neurol Psychiatr. Nov
1956;76:46878.
to the death of Frank Olson, yet Gottlieb
remained in charge of MKULTRA and
MKSEARCH until 1972. The CIAs sole
response to Olsons death was an internal
memo noting that Gottlieb had shown
poor judgment. In 1977 Gottlieb was
granted immunity from prosecution in
exchange for providing testimony at the
Senate hearings. No employee of the CIA
was ever terminated for dosing subjects
with LSD without their knowledge,
6
and
despite the strident tones of the Senate
hearings, no criminal charges have ever
been fled related to MKULTRA.
There is considerable evidence that
the U.S. intelligence community continues
to tolerate or even
encourage a similar
cul t ure of human
rights violations in its
execution of the War
on Terror.
12
Former
CIA Director George
Tenet has publicly
defended enhanced
i n t e r r o g a t i o n
t echni ques ( e. g.
waterboarding, stress positions) in the
wake of 9/11. Former CIA and FBI
Director William Webster advocated the
use of truth drugs on captives held in
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in 2002.
13

The lawyer for Jose Padilla, the
detained American accused of planning
to detonate a radiological dirty bomb,
has repeatedly insisted that Padilla was
given LSD or some other truth drug
during interrogation.
14
There is no clear
way to confrm or deny this claim.
Ultimately, MKULTRA was a small
and not-terribly-successful project at the
CIAs massive Directorate of Science
and Technology. While Gottlieb and
Morse were experimenting with LSD
and hypnosis, agents down the hall were
designing the worlds frst spy satellites
and managing a feet of U-2 spy planes.
15

But despite its small scope, MKULTRA
is central to the history of psychedelics
because the project touched so many
key figures involved with the early
psychedelic movement. Coming to
terms with MKULTRA helps illuminate
the shadow of psychedelic history, and
serves as a valuable reminder that where
some people see tools of liberation and
insight, others see weapons.
Erowid.org/extracts/n12/mkultra
1946 InresponsetoNaziexperimentsonconcentration
campinmates,theNurembergCodeiswritten.It
statesthatresearchersmustobtainfullvoluntary
consentfromallsubjects.
1947 The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is
created.
1950 TheCIAlaunchesMKULTRApredecessorProject
BLUEBIRD which investigates forms of mind
control including interrogation techniques and
brainwashing.
1953 Apr 13 - MKULTRA is launched under the
direction of Sidney Gottlieb. Its mission is to
investigate whether and how it [is] possible
to modify an individuals behavior by covert
means.
1953 May - MKULTRA operative George White
launches Operation Midnight Climax, opening
a safe house in New York City in order to
surreptitiouslydrugcivilians.
1953 Under the support of MKULTRA, Dr. Harris
Isbell begins performing drug tests on his
hospitalpopulation.Addictsareofferedheroin
inexchangeforvolunteering.
1953 Nov - Gottlieb dosed several U.S. Army offcers
withouttheirknowledge,includingFrankOlson,
whoreportedlybecomesdepressedfollowingthe
experiment.Ninedayslater,Olsondiesfalling
fromahotelwindowinwhatiscalledasuicide.
1955 White opens safe houses in San Francisco and
Marin, CA. Prostitutes are paid to drug their
customers with LSD, while being monitored by
CIAoperatives.
1956 Dr.EwenCameronconductsexperimentsusing
psychoactivedrugsandelectroshocktreatments
to reprogram personalities. This draws the
attentionofMKULTRA.
1956 Summer-UndercoverCIAoperativeJamesMoore
accompanies R. Gordon Wasson to Mexico and
retrievespsilocybinmushroomsfortheCIA.
1957 The CIA begins covertly issuing grants to Dr.
Camerontosupporthisresearch.
1964 Pr oj e c t MKULTRA be c ome s Pr oj e c t
MKSEARCH.
1965 TheCIAclosestheSanFranciscoMidnightClimax
safehouse.
1972 Gottlieb ends MKSEARCH, observing, It has
becomeincreasinglyobviousoverthelastseveral
years that this general area has less and less
relevancetocurrentclandestineoperations.
1972 CIADirectorRichardHelmsandGottlieborder
the destruction of MKULTRA records. Some
recordsaresparedduetoclericalerror.
1974 A New York Times article by Seymour Hersh
createsanuproarbydetailingcriminaldomestic
CIA operations. President Ford appoints the
Rockefellercommissiontoinvestigate.
1975 SenatorFrankChurchheadsaSenatecommittee
investigationofCIAmalfeasance.
1977 Senator Edward Kennedys Subcommittee on
Health and Scientific Research holds public
hearingsonMKULTRA.
1977 SidneyGottliebisgrantedimmunityinexchange
forSenatetestimony.
Erowid.org/extracts/n12/mkultra_timeline
MKULTRA Ti meli ne
Coming to terms with MKULTRA
helps illuminate the shadow of
psychedelic history, and serves as
a valuable reminder that where
some people see tools of liberation
and insight, others see weapons.
7
6. Select Committee on Intelligence and
Committee on Human Resources
[Kennedy Commission]. Joint Senate
Hearing Report. Hearing, Aug 3, 1977.
p 109.
7. GreenfeldP.CIAsBehaviorCaper.
APA Monitor. American Psychological
Association. Dec 1977:1,1011.
8. Ketchum JS, Aghajanian GK, Bing
OHL. The human assessment of
EA1729 [LSD] and EA3528 by the
inhalation route. Chemical Research
and Development Labs, Edgewood
Arsenal MD. 1964.
9. Ketchum JS. Chemical Warfare.
James S. Ketchum. 2006. p 231.
10. Cent r al I nt el l i gence Agency.
Brainwashing from a Psychological
Viewpoint. Feb 1956. p 45.
11. Senate Select Committee to Study
Government al Operat i ons wi t h
Respect to Intelligence Activites
[Church Committee]. Senate Report
Series. 19756.
12. Hersh SM. Chai n of Command.
Harper Perennial. 2005.
13. Johnson K, Willing R. Ex-CIA chief
revitalizes truth serum debate. USA
Today. Apr 26, 2002.
14. Anderson C. Judge rejects bid to
have terror charges dismissed.
Associated Press. Apr 10, 2007.
15. Richelson JT. The Wizards of Langley.
Westview Press. 2002.
Drug Web Cites
Al t hough weve t racked onl i ne
discussions of Erowid for the past eleven
years, mentions of Erowid in print, on
television, and on the radio have been harder
to spot. Still, through our own reading and
with the help of members and visitors, weve
documented more than 100 references to
Erowid published in books, 110 in peer-
reviewed journals, and 70 in newspapers,
magazines, or other media sources. Erowid
has also been mentioned in graduate school
theses, patent applications, and government
reports.
of Erowids flunitrazepam (Rohypnol)
experience reports. It was not until years
later that we were alerted to two even earlier
books (1997 and 1998) that also mention the
Erowid website.
Recently, new and expanded full-text
book search systems on Google.com and
Amazon.com have allowed us to identify
a dramatically larger number of mentions.
We can now look in books that we are
unlikely to ever read and many we might
never have heard about. These search
systems reveal, for example, that Erowid
is mentioned in a 2004 edition of Andrew
Weils The Marriage of the Sun and Moon
as suggested reading. We also discovered
that the Rape Investigation Handbook
(2004) describes Erowid as an excellent
source of information on many drugs and
is particularly valuable because it includes
many frst-hand accounts by users of their
subjective experience.
Scientifc and Medical Journals
The frst peer-reviewed journal article
we know of that mentioned Erowid was a
2000 case report about a 13-year-old female
hospitalized after taking about 20 g of dried
nutmeg. While Erowid is simply included
as an example of an easy access internet
resource that discusses nutmeg ingestion,
this was the frst in a series of articles during
that period that we jokingly describe as
representative of doctors and researchers
discovering the internet.
Information about psychoactive drugs
has long been available peer-to-peer.
Therefore it seemed quaint to fnd a number
of articles in the peer-reviewed medical
literature of the early 2000s warning readers
that their patients may now have access
to information about drugs. It seemed
that the novelty of the web blinded these
professionals to the fact that much of the
information available online simply records
the same discourse that has been happening
between individuals and within social
groups for decades. But doctors can now
eavesdrop on those conversations. Wax
and the editors of Pediatrics clearly thought
physicians were entirely unfamiliar with
the web: These drug Web sites are easily
reached by anyone with Internet access. If
the Web site URL is known, then typing
in the address will link directly to the Web
site.
2
When that article was published,
Erowid had been operating for seven years,
after taking up the baton from previous
archivists who had themselves already spent
years compiling information online.
Since that time, most journals have
become more sophisticated in their view
of the internet, treating it as simply another
communication system. In an October
2006 issue of Neuroscience, Crean, et al.
used data gathered by EcstasyData.org to
calculate dose ranges for their research.
Relevant dose ranges for MDA and METH
were determined initially by reference to
MDMA:MDA and MDMA:METH ratios in
the pills analyzed by Ecstasydata.org.
3
Anti-Information
Several articles critical of Erowid
present inherently anti-information
viewpoints, decrying the ease of availability
of information to the general public. Such
articles often project political motivations
onto our work and suggest that access to
online information about psychoactives is
dangerous. They imply that except for a
few bad eggs, the world would be free of
information about disapproved psychoactive
drugs, the genies would return to their
bottles, and problematic drug use would no
longer occur. No hard data is ever presented
to show that fewer people would come to
harm without access to online information.
Critics do not take into account that modern
culture is not a tabula rasa, where no one
knows anything about psychoactives;
instead we are faced with a chaotic mix
of entrenched errors, incomplete data, and
misunderstandings.
by Fi r e Er owi d
By drawing on the collective
knowl edge of i t s many
remote and devoted users,
Erowid has compiled one of
the worlds most exhaustive
and accurate collections of
information on recreational
drugs and their use
1
Erowid Mentions in Print and Other Media
Three Types of Mentions
Some mentions of Erowid are about
the site itself: they point out, recommend,
criticize, or discuss Erowid along with
similar websites. The most common type of
mention cites content published by Erowid
to support factual statements. The third
type of mention, the citation of articles
archived on Erowid, has increased in recent
years. This type of mention, often found in
patent applications, court cases, and journal
articles, cites documents in the Erowid
Library that are archived for public use but
not authored or published by Erowid, such
as government reports, site snapshots, and
public domain content.
Books
It was over seven years ago when we
frst ran across a book mentioning Erowid.
Published in 1999, Pills-A-Go-Go by Jim
Hogshire included an excerpt from one
In July 2006, an article was published in Drug and Alcohol Dependence
titled Pharmacological content of tablets sold as ecstasy: Results from
an online testing service.
1
The eight page article by Emily Tanner-Smith
analysed the results of Erowids pill testing project (EcstasyData.org),
which is co-sponsored by Erowid, MAPS, and DanceSafe.
Strangely, neither Tanner-Smith nor the journal editors contacted us
to discuss the project, ask for information, or request permission to
publish the results from EcstasyDatas testing. Contact information
iseasytofndonthesite.Thearticlemis-citedthesourceofthe
data, never mentioning EcstasyData and citing only the copy of the
data published on DanceSafe.org. DanceSafe no longer hosts a
copy of the lab results, but when it did it was clearly labelled with a
note stating Test results provided by EcstasyData.org with a link to
the original data.
The article also presents EcstasyDatas on-site analysis of results as
though it had been created and compiled by the author. Data about
the number of tablets tested each year, summaries of their contents
(by number of tablets and percentage of total tested tablets), number
of tablets submitted by state, and a breakdown of results into three
categories: MDMA only, non-MDMA substances only, and a
mixture of MDMA and non-MDMA substances are all misleadingly
presented in the paper as original data despite appearing on the
EcstasyData Testing Results Form Basis of 2006 Journal Article
Dont Mention It
EcstasyData Testing Statistics page in an automatically updated chart.
Tanner-Smith even goes so far as to state that this study is one of
thefrsttoanalyzesuchawidevarietyofecstasytabletsavailable
from across the United States over a period of six years without ever
acknowledging that the EcstasyData site itself is the source of all of
the data used and contains similar analysis and results.
Tanner-Smith comments that the information is publicly available
and therefore presumably available to use as the data for her paper
without appropriate credit. While the EcstasyData project is intended
to provide information to the public about the contents of street ecstasy
tablets, we had also hoped to submit the results for publication at
some time in the future. It was quite frustrating to have this article
published without our knowledge or participation and without even
crediting those who have put six years of work into collecting and
publishing this data.
This article was only recently pointed out to us. We have contacted
the editors of Drug and Alcohol Dependence and are currently awaiting
a reply.
1. Tanner-Smith EE. Pharmacological content of tablets sold as

ecstasy: results from an online testing service. Drug Alcohol Depend.
2006;83(3):24754.
The anti-information bias occurs
more often in news media mentions
of Erowid, but is also present in
some peer-reviewed journal articles.
Ironically, this bias seems most present
in large-audience media sources, such
as television networks. In late 2003,
Fox News broadcast and syndicated a
truly disturbing anti-Erowid segment,
which suggested that, if not for the
U.S. Constitution, we would be in jail:
Outrage tonight over websites that
actually teach teenagers and kids how to
experiment with drugs. Experts say these
sites could really endanger impressionable
kids. [] The problem for investigators?
Most of these websites are perfectly legal
under the First Amendment.
Also in 2003, CBS Evening News
carried a segment about a young man
hospitalized after using 5-MeO-DMT
combined with harmala alkaloids. As
with many similar news stories, they
implied that the reason this young man
took risks was because he had access
to the internet: For the young man
who overdosed, and his parents, its a
cautionary tale about the freedom of the
Internet. The Web gave him access to
unlimited information, but that included
a brand new way to firt with death.
4
Positive Mentions
The small number of negative
descriptions of Erowid stand out; most
mentions of our work in print literature
and other media are neutral or positive.
One television news story about DXM
reported: [] the Poison Control Center
[said] they frequently get phone calls
from parents with questions or people
saying a friend isnt feeling well after
taking too much Coricidin. For more
information Poison Control recommends
the website erowid.org.
5
Other positive
mentions highlight the usefulness of the
site to a diverse audience:
Constable Harry Lawrenson of
the Ontario Provincial Police,
and coordinator of the Drug
Abuse Resistance Education
(DARE) program in Ontario,
agrees with Erowids approach.
Lawrenson also supports the
website as an educational resource,
and commends Erowid on the
multiplicity of the perspectives
represented. [] The global
respect that Erowid is earning is underscored
by the neutrality of the website.
6
Happy to Help
We are pleased with the balance of positive
and negative coverage we have received and are
heartened that so many authors have included
Erowid in their bibliographies and citations.
There is a lot to say about Erowid, but one of
the things we often say is that we are happy to
know that the work we do is useful to so many
people.
If you see mentions of Erowid in print or video

media, please let us know.
References
1. Grim R. High Space: An Online Interactive
Psychopharmacopoeia. Harpers. Jun 2007.
2. Wax P. Just a click away: recreational drug
Web sites on the Internet. Pediatrics. Jun
2002;109(6)e96.
3. Crean RD, Davis SA, Von Huben SN, et al.
Effects of [MDMA], [MDA] and methamphetamine
on temperature and activity in rhesus macaques.
Neuroscience. 2006;142(2):51525.
4. CBS Evening News. Eye On America: Debate on
Recreational Drug Web Sites. Jan 27, 2003.
5. KATC3 News. Teens Abusi ng Cori ci di n.
Acadania, LA. Mar 17, 2004.
6. Fraser C. Getting a High Education. Excalibur:
York Universitys Newspaper. Apr 4, 2007.
2003
Jun TV News In an Age of Exploding Information, Toxicology Web Sites Aid in Treatment, Emergency Medicine News
No discussion about street drugs and drugs of abuse is complete without a referral to www.erowid.com.
Book Absolutely American: Four Years at West Point
Describes how cadets at West Point military academy use Erowid to research the recreational drugs they use.
Journal Articles - 17 News Articles - 8 Books - 16 Gov. Reports - 1 Other - 3
2004
Apr 30 Article Erowid.org: Dont Get High Without It, LA Weekly
Feature-length article about Erowid including history, goals, interview, etc.
Apr 9 Journal Sources of information about MDMA, Drug and Alcohol Dependence
Reviews previous journal articles about the accuracy of non-governmental, online drug information.
Feb 2 News Tales From the Salvia Dark Side, Air Force Times
This military publication cites Erowid experience reports in describing the intensity of S. divinorums effects.
Journal Articles - 23 News Articles - 9 Books - 21 Articles - 14 Other - 1
2005
May 26 News Dawn raids mark crash of online designer drugs trade, Guardian Unlimited
Quotes Erowids warning about the potential risks of ingesting research chemicals.
Jan Report 20022004 Psychonaut Project, United Nations Health and Consumer Protection Directorate
Discusses the extensiveness of information provided by Erowid and details types of information provided.
Book 101 Reasons to Avoid Ritalin Like the Plague
Points readers at experience vaults to provide enlightenment about Ritalin abuse.
Journal Articles - 26 News Articles - 5 Books - 16 Graftti - 1 Other - 12
2006
Jun Journal Response of cluster headache to psilocybin and LSD, Neurology
Thanks Erowid for assistance in gathering data from cluster headache sufferers.
Mar 15 News Feelin Their Thizzle, East Bay Express
Quotes from an interview with Erowid about adulterated street ecstasy tablets and lab analysis.
Book
Char Davies Immersive Virtual Art and the Essence of Spatiality
Cites an original Erowid article about the psychoactive technology Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation.
Journal Articles - 21 News Articles - 17 Books - 21 Patent - 1 Other - 4
2007
Jun Article High Space: An online interactive psycho-pharmacopoeia, Harpers
Two-page spread about Erowid including a screenshot. Harpers circulation is over 200,000.
Apr 29 Patent 5-halo-6-aryl[1,2,4]triazolo[1,5-a]pyrimidin-7-amines, U.S. Patent Offce
References a DEA document that has disappeared from the DEA website but is archived on Erowid.
Mar Journal Hallucinatory and rewarding effect of salvinorin A in zebrafsh, Psychopharmacology
Uses Ask Erowid as citation about structural similarities of salvinorin A and Delta-9-THC (both terpenoids).
Journal Articles - 6 News Articles - 4 Books - 4 Patent - 1 Other - 3
2002
2001
2000
1999
1998
1997
Journal Articles - 5 News Articles - 3 Books - 4 Album - 1 Other - 3
A Sampling of Erowid Mentions
For a more complete list, see:
Erowid.org/mentions
A Funny Thing Happened
on the Way to Graduate School
In September 2005 I gave six weeks
notice at a small technology company where
Id been working for six years, making a
decent living doing something that really
didnt interest me. I was haunted by the line
in the movie Ed Wood where Orson Welles
asks, Why spend your life making someone
elses dreams?
I planned to return to graduate school to
study psychology. My academic background
is in philosophy, literature, and critical
theory, with a side of graduate work in
Indo-Tibetan Buddhist studies. Ive also
done a fair amount of work in cognitive
science and systems theory. This might
seem a bit eclectic, but I like to think of
myself as a generalist. The common thread
is my interest in the mind: how we co-create
experience, who we are, what we are, and
what it all means.
Over the next few months I enrolled
in several psychology courses and had an
intense couple of semesters getting up to
speed in the discipline. I became relatively
adept at reading and interpreting journal
articles and understanding experimental
design.
Even after all of these classes, I
st i l l di dnt know wher e t o f ocus.
Graduate school would likely require
specialization, and Im a big picture kind
of guy. I sometimes thought of my friend
Josh, a recovering graduate student in
computational neuroscience. Shortly
before he dropped out of the program,
Joshs advisor told him, in all seriousness,
not to spend more than 15 minutes a month
thinking about the big picture.
In September 2006 I started looking for
a job to hold me over. As a matter of due
diligence I sent an email to a community
mailing list saying that I was looking for
work. I got a reply from Earth asking, Holy
cow, I wonder if you would be interested
in working on Erowid? Minutes later, he
received my reply: Are you kidding?!? I
would love to work at Erowid. LOVE it!
A Day in the Life of Erowid
First, I met the core Erowid team. They
wanted to check me out to see if I seemed
relatively sane, and to make sure that I was
actually interested in working and didnt
have the wrong idea about what the work
would be like. Based on the jokes I hear
when I tell people that I work with Erowid,
a common impression may be that a lot of
personal research goes on here. I hope it
wont disappoint anyone to learn that the
truth is much more prosaic.
The Erowid day typically starts late
most of us arent morning people. I usually
wander into the offce I share with Sylvia
around 11:00 am. The frst thing I do is plug
my brain into the computer and download
the last twenty-four hours worth of news.
Through a combination of mailing lists
and news services I get a pretty thorough
daily account of anything big going on in
the world of psychoactives. If anything
important comes up, I look into it further
or add a link to the appropriate page on
Erowid.
Then I start digging through our
email ticket tracking system, looking at
submissions, corrections, use requests, and
random bits of you-name-it that foat into
our email addresses. We get a lot. Dozens
of colleagues and visitors write in every
day asking questions about projects were
working on, pointing out information they
think wed be interested in, or requesting
some sort of collaboration. We currently
have more than 10,000 experience reports
and 23,000 Ask Erowid questions waiting
to be processed. If you write in with
a question and it takes three months to
get a reply, I hope that you wont take it
personally and understand that we really
do our best.
After this, I go to work on whatever
projects are active. The frst major project I
undertook was an article for Erowid Extracts
on the Johns Hopkins psilocybin study. I
had a lot of interest in that experiment,
a background in psychology of religion,
and I know one of the authors of the
Psychopharmacology article, so writing
about it was a no-brainer.
At every step of the process of writing
an article, whether for the site or for Erowid
Extracts, I get valuable feedback and
direction from my colleagues. For the most
part, each person at Erowid knows what
the others are working on, which inspires
cooperation. This makes good use of our
different, and complementary knowledge
and skills.
Earth and Fire work from home a few
hours away, and we all communicate via
IRC during the work day. We also chat
daily with colleagues who have expertise in
various areas: law, pharmacology, software
applications, etc. Nearly everything
we publish is vetted by experts in the
appropriate felds, before going live.
The Erowid work day never quite ends.
I often come home long after dark, only to
fnd myself picking up a book by Shulgin
or Wasson, or attending a local talk by
someone whose work is covered on the site.
Thats the hook for memy deep love of
learning.
Random Memories
Erowid ran the psychoactive mushroom
table at the Mycological Society of San
Francisco Fungus Fair in Oakland again this
year. At one point a gentleman approached
us, hands overflowing with Psilocybe
mushrooms that he had found on the grounds
outside. He offered them to us for display on
our table. We politely declined.
At a recent social gathering, I met the
author of a book that I had reviewed for
Erowid. My review was favorable, but we
have a strong difference of opinion on some
matters, and I said as much in my writing.
This could have led to an awkward meeting,
but we ended up talking amiably for over
an hour. It quickly became clear that our
mutual love of psychopharmacology was
stronger than our disagreement.
Perhaps my happiest Erowid memory
is from my initial meeting with Earth and
Fire, when I volunteered to do whatever
degrading drudge-work they might have
languishing around, and they told me
what they would really like is for me to
help produce and process new content for
the site. At last, Id found a place that an
autodidact generalist mind-geek could call
a home.
by Lux
Nine Months at Erowid
Carbogen
What is Carbogen?
Carbogen refers to a gaseous mixture
of carbon dioxide (CO
2
) and oxygen (O
2
),
most often administered via a mask attached
to a regulator connected to a high-pressure
cylinder. The ratio of 30% CO
2
and 70%
O
2
is known as Medunas mixture,
after Ladislas J. Meduna, a psychiatrist
who pioneered its use as a therapeutic
tool in the 1940s and 1950s. Although
carbogensometimes described in the
medical literature as a panicogenis
perhaps best known for inducing anxiety,
sensations of suffocation, and unconscious-
ness, this extremely simple gas can cause
surprisingly complex psychoactive effects
when inhaled for even a few breaths. Reports
of discomfort and anxiety experienced while
The Experience
Carbogen doses are
typically measured in
number of breaths, with a
fully immersive experience
resulting from 820 breaths.
The maximum number of breaths
administered, even in extreme cases, seems
to be 3050. Inhaling more than 50 breaths
of Medunas mixture is generally considered
unproductive and increasingly dangerous.
Most people remain relatively still for
the duration of the experience. As few as
15 breaths can cause signifcant alterations
of thought, perception, and mood; rushes of
sensation in the body; and disorientation.
During these frst moments it may require
a willful effort to continue inhaling the
acidic-tasting gas. After a few
more breaths, effects increase
in intensity, and awareness
of the external world fades
away. People often close
their eyes and those who keep
them open exhibit an unseeing
stare. Breath rate generally increases and
breathing becomes somewhat labored.
When inhaled at sufficient doses,
carbogen has anaesthetic and dissociative
effects, frequently accompanied by both
open- and closed-eye visuals. These effects
include brightening or darkening of the visual
feld, kaleidoscopic or swirling changes in
color, and geometric patterning.
Some people experience visions of
more complex dreamscapes involving
recognizable people and objects, or the
sensation of being transported to another
place or being in another dimension.
Reports may include spiritual elements
such as ineffable, numinous mental states,
or encountering angelic beings.
Psychoactive effects
cont i nue t o devel op
for a short period after
the final breath. They
t hen subsi de r api dl y
with subjects returning to
near baseline within 45180
seconds after the last inhalation.
As the effects fade, the feeling of having
experienced more than can be remembered
is common. In another parallel with more
traditional psychedelics, Meduna noted
that a small number of his subjects vividly
re-experienced insights or memories that
surfaced in carbogen sessions hours later
or even the following day.
1

Although the cognitive component of
the experience varies substantially from
person to person and from experience to
experience (as with many psychedelics),
perhaps the most universally accurate
descriptor is simply intense.
Physical Effects
Physical symptoms frequently include
rapid, deep, or shallow breathing. Even
though carbogen contains more oxygen
than ambient air, its higher-than-normal
levels of carbon dioxide trigger brain
refexes associated with asphyxiation (see
Carbogen Pharmacology below).
Meduna reported other physical
symptoms, such as eyelid futtering and
body spasms, but more recent carbogen
reports do not support these as universal
or even particularly common. At 1030
breaths, some subjects flex their leg
and hip muscles, or have carpal spasms
(involuntary finger and wrist curling)
similar to those sometimes experienced
during Holotropic Breathwork. In intense
sessions (40 breaths or more), Meduna
by B. James and Earth Erowid
After a few more breaths, effects
increase in intensity and awareness
of the external world fades away.
An Introduction
breathing carbogen may be partially explained
by the set and setting of traditional carbogen
administration rather than properties inherent
in the substance itself. Recent reports of
positive, or even glowing experiences suggest
carbogen may be more properly described as
a unique psychedelic.
Although carbogen has been used safely
for over 50 years, prolonged exposure to
high levels of carbon dioxide can be fatal.
Individuals with weakened respiratory health
or any pulmonary disease are at much higher
risk of potentially life-threatening responses.
Additionally, those suffering from panic
or psychotic disorders are more likely to
experience adverse reactions (see Carbogen
in Psychiatric Research below).
Carbogen
reported that some subjects underwent
convulsions, seizures, or bicycling of
the limbs.
1
Anxiety and Discomfort
When inhaling carbogen, it is common
for subjects to feel that they are not getting
enough oxygen. A recent experimenter said,
Its like feeling like suffocating.
2
One
of Medunas patients reported: In every
case, when inhaling the gaseous mixture
I experienced a terrifying smothering
sensation; and before the moment of
narcosis I had to exert every bit of my will
power to keep from fghting the mask.
1
These feelings of suffocation can
cause mild to severe anxiety, fear, or panic,
as described by another patient: After
three or four inhalations, the feeling of
suffocation becomes intense. And then it
becomes necessary to breathe fast. About
this time I start praying, Oh, God, please
help me to go under this quick, and it
usually helps. However, there are times
when nothing helps, I am so flled with
panic.
1
In a similar spirit, Dale Pendell captures
the favor of a very unpleasant experience:
Its bad from the frst lungful. It tastes sour.
Alarm bells go off immediately. This is
bad. Will power is required to take even one
full inhalation. By the second lungful, if you
havent ripped the mask off, full panic has
set in. You need AIR! People start gasping
at this point, faces fushed and sucking in
the carbogen furiously.
3
This feeling has also been described
as generalized anxiety: I got that scary
feeling, the early tinges of the fear that I
might get as I approach the diffcult part of
a [psychedelic] trip.
4
Psychiatric research using carbogen
has found that those who have anxiety or
panic disorders are more prone to negative
reactions than the general population.
Some research has also shown that a
majority of subjects experience at least
some symptoms of increased anxiety during
extended carbon dioxide challenges.
5

Meduna found that administering carbogen
in shorter sessions (no more than 30
breaths) seemed to help. He observed that
fear often grew more intense as a session
progressed.
De s c r i p t i o n s o f c a r b o g e n s
unpleasantness abound. A 1992 book
by Trevor Trueheart briefly mentions
carbogen: Everybody I have known to
inhale carbogen experienced extreme fear
and seemed to confront all the demons
stored in his or her unconscious. This is the
stuff of nightmares.
6
Euphoria, Pleasure, and Visions
In stark contrast to the many negative
reactions are the extremely positive, sensual,
or euphoric responses. In fact, Yacorzynski,
et al. (1962) reported that more of their
subjects enjoyed the experience than
found it frightening. Recent work by B.
James (see Carbogen Redux, page 18)
involving subjects familiar with psychedelics
confrmed that a majority of those who were
administered carbogen in a friendly setting
did not have fearful reactions, and many
found the effects pleasurable. Giggling and
laughing were common and wow was
probably the most frequently uttered word
after a persons frst experience.
Immediately following his first
experience with carbogen (15 breaths), one
person took 4 breaths of normal air and then
exclaimed excitedly: Yeah, this is fucking
awesome. This is it, I love this. Fuck,
this is so cool! [breathing hard, laughing]
Thats wonderful shit. Excuse my language.
[breathing calms] It didnt feel alien to any
experience Ive had; it seems akin to the
more euphoric states of nitrous.
4
Many people report enjoying the
aesthetic effects or visions, as in these 1998
reports: It was intensely beautiful.
2
and
Oh my, it was neat. I went to this paradise
land: wow! [] I went through a brightly
starry zone, then drifted
on past that to a lush,
green paradise. It was
neat: beauty. It was
very good.
2
Some s ubj ect s
immediately comment
that theyd like to try
it again: I sure went
someplace that Ive
never been before.
Yeah, I think that Id
l ove t o go back.
2

Others comment on the experience with
superlatives: I like that stuff. It could be
the best.
2
Positive psychedelic effects have also
been reported by subjects administered
carbogen in medical settings, such as this
account from a session administered by
Meduna:
After the second breath came an onrush
of color, frst a predominant sheet of
beautiful rosy-red, following which
came successive sheets of brilliant color
and designs, some geometric, some
fanciful and gracefulpurple and rose
coloring predominant. As these sheets
came towards me they seemed to engulf
me and leave me breathless in the mad
rushing sensation. Then the colors left
and I felt myself being separated; my
soul drawing apart from the physical
being, was drawn upward seemingly to
leave the earth and to go upward where
it reached a greater Spirit with Whom
there was a communion, producing a
remarkable, new relaxation and deep
security. Through this communion
I seemed to receive assurance that
the petit problems or whatever was
bothering the human being that was
me huddled down on the earth, would
work out all right and that I had no need
to worry.
In this spirituelle I felt the Greater
Spirit even smiling indulgently upon me
in my vain little efforts to carry on by
myself and I pressed close the warmth
and tender strength and felt assurance
of enough power to overcome whatever
lay ahead for me as a human being.
1
Meduna commented that, In this
beautiful experience we can discern almost
all the constants of the CO
2
experience:
(1) Color; (2) Geometric pattern; (3)
Movement; (4) Doubleness of personality;
and (5) Divination or feeling of esoteric
importance.
1
Al t hough t he U. S. Food and Drug
Administration and other health agencies
regulate administration of gases for medical
purposes, we are unaware of any laws in
the U.S. prohibiting the possession or use
of carbon dioxide as a psychoactive.
Expectation and Mindset
The disparity between panicky,
uncomfortable experiences and pleasurable,
spiritual ones raises questions about what
accounts for these differences. The bias
towards negative descriptions may be partially
the result of the fact that Meduna administered
carbogen primarily to individuals seeking
treatment for emotional or mental problems.
It may also result from the expectations of
researchers and participants.
Yacorzynski, et al. (1962) found that the
majority of their subjects did not experience
feelings of fear, speculating that was due to
differences in the briefngs given beforehand.
7

After administering carbogen to dozens of
participants, B. James came to believe that
the quality and type of experience may be
as strongly affected by methods, contexts,
and expectations as they are with most
psychedelics. Set and setting may be critical
factors in the experience of carbogen.
Psychiatric research into anxiety using
carbogen confrms this, with a number of
papers showing that a sense of safety, feeling
in control of the administration of the gas,
an understanding of carbogens effects, and
having a professional present during the
session can all lead to reduced anxiety.
8

Although the literature is dominated
by descriptions of anxiety and discomfort,
it may actually be that most people who
breathe carbogen in an appropriate setting do
not experience strong unpleasant effects.
Carbogens History in Medicine
Inhaled carbon dioxide has been known to
have psychoactive effects since at least 1827,
when Henry Hickman demonstrated that a
dog exposed to an atmosphere containing
carbon dioxide became anaesthetized.
1
In
1856, the author Sir James Simpson stated
that, Carbon dioxide is recognized by
toxicologists as a very powerful narcotic
poison when inhaled in suffcient quantity.
1

Carbon dioxide was explored as a medical
and psychiatric tool in the late nineteenth
and early twentieth centuries.
The golden age of carbogen research
in psychiatry arrived in the 1940s and
1950s, spearheaded by the work of Ladislas
Meduna. Born in 1896, Meduna was a
Hungarian psychiatrist who emigrated to
Chicago in 1938. He developed a deep
interest in psychiatric therapies involving
sleep, coma, and related non-ordinary states
of consciousness and was an early pioneer in
chemical and electroconvulsive therapies.
Meduna began researching carbogen
therapy in 1943 and over the course of
his career conducted more than 15,000
carbogen treatments.
1
His standard
procedure consisted of administering
between 10 and 50 inhalations of the 30%
CO
2
/ 70% O
2
mixture in short sessions,
three times per week.
Meduna reported success in using
carbogen to treat several psychoneurotic
conditions including stuttering, anxiety,
spastic colitis, frigidity, and homosexuality.
He reported that carbogen frequently
induced the surfacing of repressed emotional
responses, which he considered unrelated to
carbogens therapeutic effects. Meduna
discussed the possibility that the intensity
of the experience, coupled with the brief
unconsciousness it induced, might help
desensitize patients to anxiety or fear, but
largely considered carbogens benefts to
be a result of direct physiological action
on the brain.
1
In 1950 Meduna published the first
edition of the definitive monograph on
carbogen in psychiatry, Carbon Dioxide
Therapy. In the 1950s carbon dioxide
therapy research expanded and was used
by other psychiatrists in conjunction
with electroconvulsive therapy (also
known as electroshock therapy). It was
also co-administered with
psychoactive drugs such as
atropine, barbiturates, and
ant i hi st ami nes, al t hough
Meduna argued that combining
carbogen with depressants
could be dangerous.
While Meduna reported successes
with carbogen, other researchers ultimately
recommended against its use as an adjunct
to psychotherapy. For example, Hargrove,
et al. reported in 1954 that, The use of
carbon dioxide therapy in our hands added
no specifc therapeutic effect but did add
problems of transference and resistance that
retarded or prevented recovery.
9

Carbogen use was investigated in the
mid-twentieth century for a remarkable
breadth of maladies ranging from depression,
neuroses, psychoses, and dementias,
to rheumatoid arthritis, cerebral palsy,
Parkinsons disease, asthma, pneumonia,
hiccups, and whooping cough.
7,10,11
In recent
years, several studies have indicated that
carbogen may help make certain cancerous
tumor cells more susceptible to radio- and
chemotherapies.
12
Carbon dioxide also
continues to be used in medicine for its
ability to stimulate breathing and cause
vasodilation.
Carbogen in Psychiatric Research
Interest in carbogen as a psychothera-
peutic tool waned in the 1960s. It was then
increasingly investigatedin carbon
dioxide challengesfor its capacity to
cause anxiety and panic rather than treat
them. In contemporary psychiatric research,
carbogen has been extensively used
13
in
this type of study at concentrations of 535%
carbon dioxide. It is notable, however, that
recent research does not use the strong doses
administered by Meduna, instead delivering
high concentrations for only brief periods.
As Zvolensky, et al. describe in a 2001
review of this feld of research: 5% CO
2

typically is administered steadily for 15 min,
20% CO
2
for 2025 [sec], and 35% CO
2
in
a single vital capacity breath.
8

One typical research protocol, published
in 2001, administered 5% CO
2
for twenty
minutes to subjects lying in a respiratory
canopy and rated them for symptoms of
panic. They found that 52.0% of those who
had previously been diagnosed with panic
disorder had a panic reaction, while 8.8% of
the normal comparison subjects exhibited
symptoms of panic.
5
Other researchers have
found an even wider disparity.
Carbogens capacity to trigger
anxiety has been used to evaluate
treatments for anxiety disorders.
Carbogens capacity to trigger anxiety
has been used to evaluate treatments for
anxiety disorders as well as the etiology
(source) of panic reactions. In one double-
blind study, panic responses triggered
by carbogen were dramatically reduced
in subjects with panic disorder by pre-
treatment with 1 mg alprazolam (Xanax).
5

Several carbogen studies have also shown
that the closer ones familial relationship
to a panic disorder sufferer, the more likely
I mage f rom Oxygen and
Carbon Di oxi de Therapy ( 1934)
one is to experience panic during a carbon
dioxide challenge.
14
Carbogen and Psychedelics
Alfred Al Hubbard, an important early
advocate of psychedelics, appears to have
been one of the frst major proponents of
carbogen within the psychedelic subculture.
Hubbard traveled the world introducing
famous and infuential people to LSD and
carbogen. As Jay Stevens describes in
Storming Heaven, One of Als favorite
break-the-ice devices was carbogen, a
mixture of carbon dioxide and oxygen, which
came in a small portable cylinder. Carbogen
was what therapists referred to as a potent
abreactor: ten or ffteen lungfuls and you
tended to relive your childhood traumas.
And judging on how well you handled them,
Al would either offer to run an LSD session
for you, or he wouldnt.
15
Carbogen was,
literally, Hubbards (pre-) acid test.
Aldous Huxley, who received his frst
dose of LSD from Hubbard, recounts
in Heaven and Hell:
[] carbon dioxide produces,
in those who inhale it, certain
physical and psychological
changes, which have been
exhaust ivel y descri bed by
Meduna. Among these changes
the most important [] is a marked
enhancement of the ability to see
things, when the eyes are closed. In
some cases only swirls of patterned
color are seen. In others there may be
vivid recalls of past experiences. (Hence
the value of CO
2
as a therapeutic agent.)
In yet other cases carbon dioxide
transports the subject to the Other
World at the antipodes of his everyday
consciousness, and he enjoys very
briefy visionary experiences entirely
unconnected with his own personal
history or with the problems of the
human race in general.
16
Huxley and others speculated that
spiritual practices involving the breath such
as chanting or yogic breathing may induce
religious visions through altering CO
2

concentrations in the blood.
16
Stanislav
Grof, a well-known researcher into LSDs
psychotherapeutic effects, and Christina
Grof later developed Holotropic Breathwork,
a method of hyperventilation designed
to legally mimic some of the benefcial
effects of LSD. Holotropic Breathwork also
produces its effects by directly manipulating
CO
2
levels, though by decreasing rather
than increasing CO
2
concentration in the
blood.
Hubbard claimed to have conducted
1,700 LSD sessions by 1959, and his
reputation piqued the interest of Myron
Stolaroff, who went on to become an
important fgure in research into non-ordinary
states of consciousness. Stolaroff writes,
Hubbard made a deeper impression on
me than anyone I had ever met. It was
an impression that radically altered my
whole value-belief system, and completely
changed the course of my life.
17
The frst
day they met, Hubbard gave Stolaroff a
tablet of methedrine and a few inhalations
of Medunas mixture. No doubt reading
me quite accurately, Stolaroff recalls,
he gave me only a few breaths, but it was
enough to give me a glimpse, and especially
a feeling, of another world.
17
Stolaroff was
profoundly impressed, and they arranged an
LSD session.
Stolaroff s LSD session was life-
changing. Convinced of its therapeutic
potential, he set up the International
Foundation for Advanced Study in Menlo
Park, California in 1961. Stolaroff continued
to work with carbogen: In our Foundation
work with clients, we found that several
treatments with [Medunas] mixture was
an excellent procedure to introduce novices
to altered states of consciousness. Many
discovered unconscious contents of their
mind for the first time. The procedure
also cleared away a good deal of repressed
material, thus freeing the subject for a
smoother, more profound psychedelic
experience.
17
Although he considered
carbogen benefcial, he noted [] it was
such a drastic and dramatic procedure that
no one underwent it eagerly.
17
As a counterpoint, however, Stolaroff
also describes a person who had a positive
reaction to carbogen as a complete standout.
[] Jeffrey was quite an exception. He
loved it. He would take an enormous number
of breathsup to 50.
17
Such positive
experiences were considered distant outliers.
As legal psychedelic research became
less common, interest in this potentially
dysphoric psychoactive outside of research
contexts was minimal, and carbogen experi-
mentation largely disappeared.
Carbogen Pharmacology
The mechanisms of action for carbogens
psychoactive effects have not been fully
established. During the 1950s and 1960s,
the primary mechanisms proposed were
alterations in blood pH and inhibition of
neuronal function by the slowing of cellular
metabolism. More recent research paints a
complex picture of interconnected systems,
including activation of serotonin (5-HT)
neurons in the raphe nuclei (located in the
mid-brain) where most serotonin neurons
have their cell bodies.
18,19,20
The air we breathe normally contains
2021% oxygen and 0.020.06% carbon
dioxide, with nitrogen and trace gases
constituting the other 78.9+%. Medunas
mixture is 30% CO
2
and 70% O
2
, giving
it much higher concentrations of both than
normal air. Although some people have
reported mildly calming psychoactive
effects from breathing pure oxygen, it is
the extremely high levels of carbon dioxide
(around 1000 times normal levels) to which
carbogens effects are attributed.
Counterintuitively, the physiological
urge to breathe is mostly a response to high
levels of CO
2
rather than to low levels of
oxygen in the blood. While the body has
some oxygen-based triggers, these account
for only a small portion of the impulse
to breathe. The carbon dioxidedriven
breathing reflex explains why taking a
lungful of 100% helium or nitrous oxide
does not immediately cause the sensation
of suffocation. In humans, central and
peripheral chemoreceptors (chemical
sensors inside and outside the brain)
constantly monitor carbon dioxide levels
in the blood to determine how strongly to
breathe. Cells produce carbon dioxide as
they use energy. When a person holds his or
her breath, carbon dioxide levels rise in the
blood and the chemoreceptors send breathe
[] we found that several treatments
wi th [ Medunas] mi xture was an
excellent procedure to introduce novices
to altered states of consciousness.
Myron Stolaroff
more alerts to the body and brain with
increasing urgency. Carbogen triggers this
response even though oxygen levels in the
lungs and blood are higher than normal.
21

Simply holding ones breath does not cause
carbogen-like effects.
Carbon dioxide dissolved in blood
is acidic, just as it is in carbonated
soda. Inhalation of carbogen rapidly
increases acidity (lowers pH) of the blood,
cerebrospinal fuid, and brain, creating a
condition called respiratory acidosis or
hypercapnia. In 1938 Gibbs and Gibbs
repeatedly measured arterial and venous
blood pH while administering a 35-breath
session with Medunas mixture. They found
that arterial blood pH dropped from 7.37
at the start of the session to 6.94 after 35
inhalations,
1
a level that could be dangerous
if maintained for prolonged periods.
Blood pH rapidly returns to normal after
carbogen administration ends. Although
many researchers believe that lowered pH
directly causes reduced brain activity and
anaesthesia,
22,23
acidosis alone probably
does not explain carbogens visual and
visionary effects.
Interestingly, high levels of carbon
dioxide also lead to rapid dilatation of
cerebral vessels and increased cerebral
blood fow.
23,24
For brief periods, increases
in blood fow in the brain are generally
associated with improvements in cognitive
performance.
Recent advances in understanding the
identity and location of the brains carbon
dioxide chemoreceptors may provide
better explanations for the anxiogenic and
visionary effects of carbogen. Over the
last decade, a number of researchers have
verifed that a subset of serotonin neurons in
the raphe nuclei respond to hypercapnia.
18

Because of the many brain areas to which
they extend, such serotonin neurons are
well-placed to not only trigger autonomic
responses, such as breath and cerebral
blood fow, but also interact with the parts
of the brain responsible for cognition and
emotions.
19
Severson, et al. proposed in
2003, that a major role of serotonergic
neurons throughout the brainstem is to
monitor the acid/base status of blood and
to initiate multiple responses aimed at
restoring pH to normal, including changes
in behavior, breathing, and autonomic
control.
19
The highly-networked serotonin
neuronsbetter known for their involvement
with psychedelics, antidepressants, and
higher brain functionare also valuable
as CO
2
detectors because of their wide
connection to many brain systems. When
high CO
2
levels are detected, one might not
only need to change breathing or increase
heart rate, but may also need to be able to
make complex, life-preserving decisions
about how to get to a safer location.
18,19,25
Ongoing research into the neuro-
physiology of anxiety and panic disorder
has revealed that carbogen-activated
chemoreceptor neurons may directly affect
many parts of the brain, triggering several
receptor systems, including the adrenergic,
cholinergic, and dopaminergic systems.
Kaye, et al. (2004) summarize the results
of recent brain imaging research showing
hypercapnias widespread effects: humans
exposed to CO
2
have shown activation of
numerous centres, including medullary,
limbic and paralimbic (amygdala ad peri-
amygdala), cerebellar, insula and prefrontal
cortical areas.
26,27
Carbogen psychopharmacology is
still quite speculative and continues to
be actively explored. Although there are
thousands of papers listed in PubMed
looking at the physiological and mental
effects of increased carbon dioxide in the
blood, including hundreds from the last few
years, as far as we know, as of May 2007,
the mechanisms of carbogens psychedelic-
like effects have not been examined in the
scientifc literature since the 1950s.
Carbon Dioxide Safety Questions
Carbogen mixtures have been safely
administered in medical and psychiatric
procedures many thousands of times.
While it appears to be relatively safe when
administered in brief sessions, prolonged
exposure to high levels of CO
2
is suffcient
to cause lethal respiratory or circulatory
failure, as evidenced by the fact that CO
2
is
used to euthanize lab animals.
28,29,30
Hypercapnia is initially stimulating,
but longer-term exposure to high levels of
carbon dioxide leads to carbon dioxide
narcosis: lethargy, confusion, and
sleepiness. Exposure to levels of carbon
dioxide around 10% causes dizziness and
higher levels cause unconsciousness within
minutes.
1
There have been a number of
reported deaths where accidental exposure
to high carbon dioxide levels caused the
victims to black out before they could reach
safety.
28
Complicating the safety picture is the
fact that most real-world cases involve
not only high levels of carbon dioxide, but
hypoxia (low levels of oxygen) as well.
Most information provided by governmental
agencies about CO
2
dangers is related to
oxygen displacement. Serious accidents
have been reported related to: dry ice
(frozen CO
2
) sublimating into CO
2
gas, beer
brewing forming CO
2
, and malfunctioning
ventilation systems increasing CO
2
levels
Carbon dioxide and oxygen are readily available as compressed gases;
mixtures of CO
2
and O
2
are sold in cylinders for various industrial,
farming, and grocery uses.
Carbogen Tank Label , Phot o by Erowi d
in submarines, among others. All of these
involve hypoxia and are not exclusively
attributable to CO
2
poisoning.
As Gill, et al. clarify in their 2002
article, it is important to distinguish between
simple asphyxiants and toxic gases. For
example, nitrogen is a simple asphyxiant,
meaning that if it displaces too much
oxygen, it can cause suffocation, but as long
as around 20% oxygen is maintained, it is
safe to breathe indefnitely. Other gases,
like carbon monoxide, hydrogen sulfde, or
carbon dioxide can be fatal because of their
chemical effects alone.
28
Research with animals has convincingly
shown that adequate concentrations of oxygen
do not prevent death from CO
2
poisoning.
One research protocol administered 80%
CO
2
and 20% O
2
to dogs, causing death in
1015 minutes. The same researchers also
euthanized dogs with 50% CO
2
and 50% O
2
,
causing death in 3090 minutes.
29
Because
of differences in metabolism as well as the
long durations and high concentrations used,
the animal research into CO
2
poisoning is not
easily translatable to human health concerns
for short-term inhalation of carbogen.
A primary danger of short-term inhalation
of carbogen is accidental over-exposure, like
the tragic but recurring unsupervised nitrous
oxide suffocations caused by masks, garbage
bags, or stuck tank valves. People with
weakened respiratory systems, such as those
with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
or cystic fbrosis, are at much higher risk of
life-threatening complications from inhaling
carbogen. Further, many heavy smokers have
undiagnosed lung dysfunction that would
severely weaken their ability to recover from
acidosis caused by carbogen, putting them at
much higher risk of respiratory failure than
healthy individuals.
31
Because carbogen
inhalation causes a spike in cerebral blood
flow, those with weak cardiovascular
systems or health issues related to cranial
blood pressure may be at higher risk of
problems. Other populations may also be
at higher risk, including schizophrenics or
those suffering from anemia.
Ubiquitous Entheogen?
The psychoactive effects produced by a
mixture of the common gases carbon dioxide
and oxygen remind us that consciousness
is a fragile knitwork of body, mind, and
environment. Alexander Shulgin, the
renowned psychedelic chemist, describes
teaching a class in San Francisco after which a
young man expressed interest in synthesizing
15. Stevens J. Storming Heaven. Atlantic Monthly
Press. 1987. p 58.
16. Huxley A. Heaven and Hell. Harper &
Brothers. 1956. p 612.
17. Stolaroff M. Thanatos to Eros. Thaneros
Press. 1994, p 21,22,30,122.
18. Veasey SC, Fornal CA, Metzler CW, et al.
Single-unit responses of serotonergic dorsal
rapheneuronstospecifcmotorchallenges
[]. Neurosci. 1997;79(1):1619.
19. Severson CA, Wang W, Pieribone VA, et
al. Midbrain serotonergic neurons are
central pH chemoreceptors. Nat Neurosci.
2003;6(11):113940.
20. Gillette R. Evolution and Function in
Serotonergic Systems. Integr Comp Biol.
2006;46(6):83846.
21. Levitsky MG. Pulmonary Physiology. McGraw
Hill. 2003.
22. Kohler I, Meier R, Busato A, et al. Is
carbon dioxide (CO
2
) a useful short acting
anaesthetic for small laboratory animals?
Lab Anim. 1999;33:15561.
23. Martoft L, Stdkilde-Jrgensen H, Forslid A,
et al. CO
2
induced acute respiratory acidosis
and brain tissue intracellular pH. Lab Anim.
2003;37:2418.
24. Olsen AK, Keiding S, Munk OL. Effect of
hypercapnia on cerebral blood flow and
blood volume in pigs []. Comp Med.
2006;56(5):41620.
25. Kl ei n DF. Fal se suffocati on al arms,
spontaneous panics, and related conditions.
An integrative hypothesis. Arch Gen
Psychiat. 1993;50(4):30617.
26. Kaye J, Buchanan F, Kendrick A, et al. Acute
carbon dioxide exposure in healthy adults.
J Neuroendocrinol. 2004;16(3):25664.
27. Gorman JM, Kent JM, Sul l i van GM,
et al. Neuroanatomical hypothesis of
panic disorder, revised. Am J Psychiatr.
2000;157(4):493505.
28. Gill JR, Ely SF, Zhongxue H. Environmental
Gas Displacement: Three Accidental Deaths
in the Workplace. Am J For Med Path.
2002;23(1):2630.
29. Ikeda N, Takahashi H, Umetsu K, et al. The
course of respiration and circulation in death
by carbon dioxide poisoning. Forensic Sci
Int. AprMay 1989;41(12):939.
30. Danneman PJ, Stein S, Walshaw SO.
Humane and practical implications of
using carbon dioxide mixed with oxygen for
anesthesia or euthanasia of rats. Lab Anim
Sci. Aug 1997;47(4):37685.
31. Mannino DM, Gagnon RC, Petty TL, et al.
Obstructive lung disease and low lung
function in adults in the United States. Arch
Intern Med. 2000;160(11):16839.
LSD. Dr. Shulgin replied that LSD chemistry
is very complex and that he should start off
with something simple, like carbon dioxide.
When the young man replied incredulously,
Dr. Shulgin led him downstairs to a lab where
tubs of dry ice were stored and suggested the
student put his head down next to one of the
tubs, inhale deeply through his mouth, and
see how he felt. After taking two deep breaths
and experiencing the psychoactive effects, he
said, Point taken.

References
1. Meduna LJ. Carbon Dioxide Therapy.
Charles C. Thomas. 1950. p 33,18,100,127,
28,3,18,61,9,46.
2. James B (ed.). Carbogen Logbook 1
(unpublished). 1998. s23,s37,s17,s41,s5.
3. Pendell D. Pharmaco/Gnosis. Mercury
House. 2006. p 271.
4. James B (ed.). Carbogen Logbook 2
(unpublished). 2007. s4,s3.
5. Kent JM, Papp LA, Martinez JM, et al.
Specificity of panic response to CO(2)
inhalation in panic disorder. Am J Psychiat.
Jan 2001;158(1):5867.
6. Trueheart T. Triplepoint: LSD in Group
Therapy. 1992. p 11.
7. Yacorzynski , Atki nson, Cohen, et al .
Investigation of Carbon Dioxide Therapy.
Charles C. Thomas. 1962. p 261,13.
8. Zvolensky MJ, Eifert GH. A review of
psychological factors/processes affecting
anxious responding during [] inhalations
of carbon dioxide-enriched air. Clin Psychol
Rev. 2001;21(3):375400.
9. Hargrove EA, Bennet AE, Steele M. An
investigation of carbon dioxide as an adjunct
to psychotherapy in some neuroses. Am J
Psychiatr. 1954 May;110(11):8449.
10. Campbell A, Poulton EP. Oxygen and
Carbon Dioxide Therapy. Oxford Medical
Publications. 1934. p 82,111.
11. Hazardous Substances Data Bank: Carbon
Dioxide. National Library of Medicine.
Accessed May 2007.
12. Minchinton AI, Tonn DA, Sutherland DP,
et al. Carbogen breathing after irradiation
enhances the effectiveness of tirapazamine
in SiHa tumors [] in mice. Radiat Res.
2002;158(1):94100.
13. Schmidt NB, Maner JK, Zvolensky MJ.
Reactivity to challenge with carbon dioxide
as a prospective predictor of panic attacks.
Psychiatry Res. 2007;151(12):173-6.
14. Coryell W, Pine D, Fyer A, et al. Anxiety
responses to CO
2
inhalation in subjects at
high-risk for panic disorder. J Affect Disord.
2006;92(1):6370.
See Carbogen: An Introduction (page 12)
for information about the health risks,
dosage, and history of carbogen.
Subjects and Materials
In the last nine years, I have administered
carbogen to over ffty people, aged 22 to 65
years old. Nearly all of them were well-
accustomed to profound psychedelic states
of consciousness, but none had previously
experienced carbogen. Most participated
in multiple sessions each consisting of
2 to 26 inhalations. I have used three
different concentrations: Medunas mixture
(30% CO
2
/ 70% O
2
) and two slight
variations: 28/72 and 34/66. The 34/66
mixture produced a faster onset of effect,
with no other noticeable differences.
All sessions involved pre-mixed gases
in a single, high-pressure gas cylinder. For
most sessions I used a pressure regulator
and a mask with both a demand regulator
and an extra exhaust valve. I added the
extra exhaust valve to accommodate rapid
exhalations (characteristic in carbogen
subjects) that the standard valve couldnt
handle. In a later setup I replaced the
demand regulator with a bladder that was
flled before the inhalations began. This
The Sessions
In my role as sitter, I answered any
questions I could, but tried to avoid unduly
infuencing peoples expectations. I warned
subjects that the carbon dioxide in the mix
could trigger an intense feeling of suffocation,
but that they would not be in danger because
they would be breathing more oxygen than
is in ambient air. Sometimes, I used an
analogy of an idiot light in the brain that
checks for CO
2
concentration but ignores O
2

concentration. I also told them that the gas
could taste pretty bad, almost like drinking
a Coke and burping through the nose.
I asked each participant to select a
maximum number of inhalations for their
session, recommending between 10 and 25.
I had participants lie down in a comfortable
position and told them that I would count
each breath out loud until I reached their
chosen number. I told them I would then
remove the mask, adding that if they made
the slightest gesture during the session,
I would immediately stop administering
the gas. I mentioned that a new sensation
could occur at around 7 or 8 breaths,
replacing the initial discomfort, making
it worthwhile to try to hold on through at
least 10 inhalations. (One subject had a
tremendously deep reaction
to 2 breaths, so I agreed he
could choose a low limit of 6
for his second attempt. At the
sixth breath, when I removed
the mask, he clutched at it,
calling out more, more . . .
the angels!)
I did not measure pulse or blood
pressure during sessions, as physiological
responses are well described in Medunas
Carbon Dioxide Therapy. My primary
goal was to gather information about the
subjective mental state of the experience, but
I will briefy describe carbogens physical
effects. Subjects generally exhibited one of
three breathing patterns:
1) Deep and desperately rapid breathing
starting by the second breath, and lasting
into the teens. Somewhere before breath 20
the urgency tapers off and the subject settles
into deep, rhythmic breaths.
2) Deep, rapid breathing with a gagging
pause, as if to swallow, every 3 or 4 breaths
into the 20s.
3) Calm, deep, slow breathing, through
the 20s. One subject displayed this pattern
during each session; another adopted it
after his second session, and reported that it
required quite a bit of will power.
Involuntary eye movements often
started in the teens and lasted for 10 to
30 seconds after the last inhalation. If
a subjects eyes were open during the
session, they were apparently not focusing
on anything external. None of the subjects
I worked with experienced anything that I
would classify as an abreaction (release
of repressed subconscious material) as
described in the literature from the 1950s
and 1960s. When I removed the mask after
the fnal breath, people consistently breathed
hard for up to a minute, as though they had
just run a short sprint.
Different Set & Settings
As part of the protocol for the first
U.S. group I worked with, I decided to
direct potential subjects questions about
carbogens effects to those who had already
experienced it. I learned a great deal from
listening to these accounts, and was surprised
to hear sessions described in increasingly
positive terms. The descriptions of ecstatic
states were far beyond what I had expected.
I later conducted sessions with a large
number of participants in the Netherlands.
The setting was a dedicated spiritual space
among seekers who had gathered for a
psychoactives-oriented conference taking
place in Amsterdam. I truncated the verbal
part of my protocol for this group, since
Carbogen Redux
by B. James
Contemporary Exploration of a Ubiquitous Inhalant
My investigation of carbogen grew out of my fascination with
Al Hubbard and his work, but it was through Myron Stolaroffs
warmth and limitless academic generosity that I gained a
personal link to the original era of carbogen therapy.
allowed me to turn off the gas cylinder prior
to carbogen administration, eliminating the
risk of problems caused by open valves or a
stuck demand regulator.
Before administering carbogen to
others, I considered it essential to experience
it myself. I tried carbogen twice to gain
the first-hand experience necessary for
administering it to others.
the subjects generally did not speak much
English. They were asked to pick a number
of breaths, but there was little discussion
about expectations and potential effects.
In this group, no subject stopped before
their selected number of breaths. As with
the U.S. group, the predominant reaction
was wow. There was no indication that
any of these subjects experienced negative
effects.
I hosted additional sessions in the United
States, one with a small group of drug
geeks curious about the effects of carbogen.
They had researched and discussed carbogen
with one another and had a sense of what they
might expect. Individuals in this group were
fairly conservative in the number of breaths
they chose: between 5 and 22. Although I
expected this group to choose higher numbers
of inhalations, their collective opinion
seemed to be that there was no clear beneft
in going for more breaths; most thought that
over 10 or 15 would not necessarily be more
interesting or valuable.
Sometimes I saw what appeared to be
terror or deep concern on peoples faces,
only to have them describe their experiences
as wonderfully positive or at least neutral.
For example, one subjects eyes shot open
immediately after the mask was removed in
what looked to observers to be an expression
of fright or astonishment, yet he related
an extremely positive, numinous mental
state.
Closing Thoughts
In early sessions, I felt it was best to
fully disclose the potentially uncomfortable
physical sensations often experienced in
the frst 10 breaths. After administering
carbogen dozens of times, I found that most
people did not have much trouble with the
experience. Because of this, I felt it was
less necessary to spend time describing
possible negative reactions to later subjects.
I wonder what the reactions would be if
pre-session preparation focused on positive
aspects of the carbogen experience.
Clearly, the profound experiences
generated by psychedelics can be highly
infuenced by suggestion. It seems this is
true for carbogen as well. Although some
early authors reported frequent negative
reactions to carbogen, in my sample of
more than 50 subjects, only one exhibited an
obvious negative reaction and none appeared
to abreact. This may be because my subjects
previous work with psychedelics left them
clear of psychic debris. Or they may
simply have been accustomed to powerful
psychoactive effects, and thus better prepared
for the experience. Also, all of the subjects
to whom I administered carbogen were
specifcally interested in having a carbogen
experience rather than receiving it as a
part of therapy or research. Finally, when
carbogen is presented as an extraordinarily
powerful but intrinsically neutral or positive
experience, it appears to be less likely to
produce a negative reaction.
Erowid.org/extracts/n12/carbogen_redux
After completing a session, many subjects attempted to put what
they had experienced into words
After 26 breaths, subject uttered in a profound tone, Death is very
personal. He later described that he had experienced every cell
in his body dying. He said that after the seventeenth inhalation he
could have gone on and on in that state. It was very peaceful,
very serene, kind of like postcards from heaven.
Subject took 25 fast, deep breaths of carbogen with loud exhalations.
His breathing quieted in about a minute and a half, and another minute
later he exclaimed, surprised, The masks off? How many? At his
fourth inhalation he had seen something coming oncolors. He
and the other subjects in the room agreed, Its essence-oriented.
Subject took 13 breaths and then said, Oh my, it was neat. I went
to this paradise land. Wow. [I was in a] brightly starry zone, I drifted
past that to lush, green paradise. [] After about 4 breaths I saw the
stars and didnt think much about the breathing discomfort. [] It was
very, very visual once I got past the star land. Then I was coming
back and its like, wait a minute! [] Similar to but totally different
from DMT, even as far as the feeling of being just yanked.
Subject took 24 inhalations and announced with a wide smile,
Oh, that was wonderful.
Subject chose to take 13 inhalations, but stopped at 6, saying,
I cant imagine pushing it beyond that. It was incredible! Bright
light, brighter than nitrous, and very alive. Impressive color.
Subject found the entire experience uncomfortable, describing it as
dreadful. At 65 years old, this was the oldest subject. When asked
to pick a number of inhalations, he blithely replied, Why wouldnt I
choose 25?. He emitted a low howl on every exhalation for about
30 seconds after the last breath. He described that it felt like he
would suffocate and could not get over the discomfort. He said,
Glad I did it, but Im not ready to do it again. He later explained that
he had furiously resisted ether anesthesia as a child, and several
doctors and nurses were required to hold him down before he went
unconscious. Similarly, he fought his carbogen experience with all
his will, in order to avoid giving up control.
Subject took 10 inhalations, then giggled, That was great.
Subject took 25 breaths. During the experience, his body shook,
seizure-like, then his left leg went up, then his right hand went
into the air and he vocalized something unintelligible. After two
minutes, his eyes changed to a look of recognition and his arm
lowered and he said, Wow, that was really intense! There was a
whole blast of light and an interaction, thats why I had my hand
up a whole dream sequence like something out of Star Wars.
Subject took 15 breaths and later wrote, It was very different
from my expectations. I barely even noticed the taste of the gas.
I wasnt aware of any feeling of not having enough oxygen. I felt
a surprisingly gentle sensation of drifting into a deep place of
contentment,likeIwasfoatingdownunderthewater,andcolors
wererisinguptoreceiveme.Iwasfoatinginaplaceoutsideof
gravity, outside of boundedness.
In Their Own Words
That Old Familiar Place
I am a forty-something-year-old male
who used numerous drugs in college:
marijuana daily, various forms of hashish,
alcohol, caffeine, cocaine, methamphet-
amine, mushrooms, and a little too much LSD.
Thereafter, I used only moderate amounts of
marijuana and a little alcohol for the next
ffteen years. Some life changes inspired
me to resume my work with hallucinogens,
this time as a spiritual learning tool rather
than as a party device. This led me to the
legal-to-possess hallucinogens, including
Salvia divinorum and the Trichocereus
cacti, both T. pachanoi and T. peruvianus.
The following report documents my ffth
exploration with mescaline-producing cacti
in the past three years.
THE PREPARATION
After four previous cactus trips, I found
that the two I did by myself were very
therapeutic and deep, whereas the two I did
with a good friend were enjoyable, but not
very deep. Ive been feeling a need for a
therapy session, so the upcoming trip will be
solo. Ive scheduled this trip for a time when
I will be the only one in my house for a few
days, and I have followed a restricted diet for
the past three days similar to that suggested
before ingesting MAOIs (particularly
avoiding foods with tyramine, such as aged
cheese and avocados). Although there are
no strong MAOIs in Trichocereus cacti, they
do have a high tyramine content, which can
cause headaches, so the less in my system,
the better. I decided to use 70 g of dried
T. peruvianus from the same batch that I
have used three times before (40, 50, and
65 g trips).
Past experience cooking cacti has
taught me to start the oven vent hood frst
to reduce the lingering odors, which can be
a potent nausea trigger even days afterward.
Seventy grams of dried cactus with 1.5 qt
of water are boiled for an hour in a steel
pot. The now-softened cactus is ground up
in a blender, then put back in the pot along
with the juice of six lemons, returned to a
boil briefy, and left to soak for two hours.
It is then returned to a low boil for 2.5 more
hours, and then the whole mess is strained
through a cotton t-shirt. I note that the
strained solids have a slightly sweet taste,
but no bitterness. Since the alkaloids are
bitter, this is a good indication that they are
in the very bitter liquid. The fltered liquid
is returned to the pot for two more hours
of boiling until the volume is reduced to
eight ounces of a brownish green liquid the
consistency of maple syrup. The liquid is
divided evenly between two Mason jars and
refrigerated for the next day.
THE EXPERIENCE
T=0
First thing in the morning, I prepare for
takeoff. I eat a bit of dry cereal to ready
my stomach. Assessment of me: no pains,
some sinus congestion, mind is calm. It
is a clear, beautiful day, predicted to be
warm and windy. It takes several minutes
to overcome my aversion to drinking this
awful, bitter liquid. Now that my body
has experienced it several times, I have a
Pavlovian gag response when I even think
about committing felonious cactophagy. I
hold my nose and drink the frst containers
liquid in three swallows, followed by a shot
of straight grapefruit juice to kill the taste.
Fortunately, the expectation is worse than
the actual consumption.
T=+0:45
Im beginning to feel some queasiness
in my stomach and a sense that things are
subtly changing. I smoke a bit of marijuana
to arrest the nausea and then drink the
contents of the second Mason jar. The
second jar is much harder to get down
and my body twists and finches like the
mad scientist in a horror flm as he drinks
The Potion. I quickly wash the Mason
jar to reduce the cooked cactus odor and
then immediately walk around outside in
the garden, trying to sneak away from my
churning stomach.
T=+1:15
Its definitely starting to happen. I
feel a warmth resonating in me. My hands
appear to be ever so slightly larger and
time is slowing. Writing requires more
effort as my motor skills become rubbery,
almost like being drunk on alcohol. I am
calm and open, very relaxed and ready for a
mescaline adventure. I take another puff of
the marijuana anti-nausea medicine.
T=+1:45
The walls are vibrating with light colors
and hints of geometric patterns. Nothing
looks quite level.
T=+2:15
The mindscapes are incredible! Im
seeing cities foating in space. Mescaline
is appearing in most of my thoughts and
beginning the relentless push to enter each
cell of my body. The come-up is slow but
steady, and I fade in and out of meditation
space.
T=+4:15
Full blown ON!!! Plus three on the
Shulgin scale, and my mind state is in that
totally different place I call tripping,
which cant (so far) be felt or described
when sober. With open eyes I see the
empty spaces in front of me completely
flled with pulsating bands of multicolored
lights and geometric patterns. My whole
body is moving with these pulses. Soon my
thoughts become highly erotic, crowding
out any hopes I may have had about this
An Experi ence wi th Tri chocereus peruvi anus
by Curious
being a therapeutic trip. So I go with it,
enjoying the sensations my body and mind
experience along with the elaborate mental
pictures.
T=+5:15
I stagger outside to the hammock and
lie there watching the trees dance with each
other in the wind. I feel intimate with the
trees and notice how each branch moves
relative to the others. The wind blows right
through me, showing me that I am an infnite
being connected to everything. I realize that
this is always the case, but that Im usually
not aware of it.
T=+5:45
I smoke some more weed to settle the
angry natives in my stomach. I continue
thinking about how mescaline connects me.
Just that: connected. Empathy is easy with
whatever or whomever I think about or look
at. It would be no more possible to weed
the garden or do any pruning than it would
be to cut off my own fngers.
I wander back to the kitchen to stare at
the linoleum foor, which is now flled with
fantastical foating cities in three dimensions
with clear details as small as the windows on
the many tall, silver buildings. It reminds
me of looking at those Magic Eye pictures
when I get into the space where things
start to appear, although at the moment it
takes no such special effort to seeIm just
there. Unfortunately there is just enough
lingering cooked cactus odor in the kitchen
to keep me from staying very long, so I head
out for a walk.
With sunglasses shielding my dilated
pupils, wearing a fedora hat and tie-dye
shirt, I look the part of what I amquite
fucked up! Crossing streets is anxiety-
provoking, as it should be, since I retain an
awareness of their danger and am aware that
I cant judge depth or speed very well.
I arrive safely at a fve-acre wood flled
with walking paths near my home. Here I
wander calmly and rhythmically through the
woods. My mind is fying while my body
moves on autopilot. The walking is peaceful
and purposeful, providing a platform from
which my mind leaps and twists and turns;
the forest is an extension of my mind and
provides structure.
My navigational skills, not being very
good when sober, are really bad now and I
end up taking a side path that goes a long
way in a direction not helpful to my return.
Eventually I fgure this out and wander
back in the correct direction. Much of this
wandering back and forth occurs in a low,
marshy area. It becomes symbolic of my
personal growth and the collection of past
life wreckage (lessons learned)Every
man has his own mangrove swamp to tend
to. Symbolically tramping over healed
wounds shows me both how they helped
shape me, and how they no longer plague
me. I can just walk right over them.
And that is just the part I could put
into words.
T=+7:45
Back at home, finally! That was a
really long walk and I am exhausted. I
hang out with the dog (my universal ground
to everything), and munch a little food. I
speak with an old trip buddy and babble
semi-incoherently for a while about how
everything is still vibrating, and why doesnt
that reality just stand still so you can get a
good look at it?
T=+10:45
The trip is now in a more introspective,
quiet phase. I watch the movie Satchmo,
a documentary about Louis Armstrong,
and it brings me to tears many times. I am
moved by how Louis retained his genuine
warmth and love for all people despite
facing American racism. I feel connected
to him through love.
T=+12:45
Im listening to jazz and drinking tea
to soothe my stomach. Food is finally
appealing again. While I wait for my eggs
to boil, I try to fgure out what it all meant:
the initial erotic surge of energy, the trees
dancing with my feelings of connection,
the long walking meditation, the phone
call to an old friend, and really missing
Satchmo, a surrogate for the closer people
and animals who have left my life. I do
some writing, but mostly I just sit and think.
My contemplations are gently productive
and reach conclusions rather than racing
and looping into a twisted despair as often
happened with LSD.
T=+18:45
Im mostly back down and am fnally
heading for bed. I take an Ultram (tramadol)
and three ibuprofen tablets to fend off a
growing headache.
THE RECOVERY
The next day I wake up late, feeling a
bit groggy and tired, with a mild headache.
At noon I take another Ultram and three
ibuprofens, which work pretty well; no
further pain medicine is needed. This is a
great relief since some of my cactus trips
have resulted in excruciating headaches
the next day. My guts, however, are not
happy with what they consumed yesterday
and I experience mild diarrhea for the next
four days. This is the frst time for this
aftereffect, and I fnd that acidophilus pills
help some.
Though I was concerned early in the trip
that it wasnt turning out to be a therapy
session, the process of writing down
my experience over the following days
showed me what I learned. The dedication
of such a large block of time to these
experiences (each consumes three days
between preparation, tripping, and complete
return to normal space) continues to be a
worthwhile investment in myself.
Erowid.org/experiences/exp.php?ID=61618
The wi nd bl ows ri ght
through me, showing me
that I am an infinite being
connected to everything.
T. peruvianus, Photo by C. Butler
Visionary Art
The
Distillation
Summary
General Content Pages 14,526
Archived Site Pages 4,628
Experience Reports 13,178
References 6,632
Ask Erowid 548
The Erowid Review 167
Content Images 4,748
Visionary Art 1,853
Total 46,280
Erowid Files on Server 440,241
Erowid Disk Footprint 23.0 GB
Current Members 1,321
Daily Visitors 53,124
The Distillation includes updates, statistics, and information
that we hope will offer insight into the ongoing site additions,
traffc, and projects currently underway at Erowid.
General Content
General Content Pages 14,526
Number of substance vaults 297
Most popular substance vaults (with change)
C a n n a b i s ( ) ; L S D ( ) ; MD MA ( ) ;
Mushrooms (); Cocaine (); Salvia divinorum ();
Methamphetamine (); Morning Glory (); DXM ();
DMT (); Opiates (); Oxycodone (); Ketamine ();
Heroin (); Peyote (); 2C-B (); Amphetamine ();
Nitrous Oxide(); Ayahuasca (); Amanitas ();
Datura (); Hydrocodone (); GHB (); Cacti ().
Most accessed documents
Drug Testing Basics; LSD Effects; Cannabis Effects;
Mushroom Effects; MDMA Effects; Cocaine Effects;
Salvia Effects; Cannabis Drug Testing; Mushroom Basics;
LSD Basics; Cannabis Basics; Mushroom Dosage.
Blue Star Bearer (Acrylic on Canvas Paper)
by Adam Scott Miller CorpusCallosum.cc
Stings of the Lash (Artists Blood)
by Vincent Castiglia vincentcastigliaart.com
In Dreams 3 (Digitally Enhanced Photo)
by Shannon Henricksen
Convergence
by Adam Szoke
Experience Reports
Published reports 13,178
Published in last 6 mo. 1,733
Fully triaged reports 18,290
Partially triaged reports 1,295
Un-triaged reports 13,434
Viewed each day 87,273
Submitted each day 30
Substances included 418
Active triagers/reviewers 33
Published art pieces 1,853 New pieces in last 6 mo. 48
Number of artists 514 New artists in last 6 mo. 10
Viewed per day 7,006 Curated by Christopher Barnaby
Erowid Center
Erowid Center, the new non-proft corporation we
formed to take over the majority of Erowids projects,
has moved another step toward launch: we submitted the
application for tax deductibility to the Internal Revenue
Service on April 19, 2007 (Bicycle Day!).
After forming Erowid Center as a non-profit
corporation in July 2005, we began the application
process to be designated as an educational public beneft
corporation as defned in 501(c)(3) of the IRS Code. This
designation will allow Erowid supporters in the U.S. to
make tax-deductible contributions to the project.
Because 501(c)(3) status is considered a privilege,
not a right, qualifying as a public beneft corporation
requires significant documentation, work, and legal
understanding. In addition to other requirements, an
educational 501(c)(3) must be organized and operated
for purposes benefcial to the public interest and must
meet an educational purpose test.
Wed never before been faced with trying to formally
list all of Erowids sub-projects, let alone describing how
they ft into IRS charitable purpose defnitions. It was a
long, but worthwhile process to carefully catalog what the
non-proft will do and think about how various projects
will ft into the overall evolution of Erowid.
Although we know that Erowids mission is in the
public interest, it felt like exacting work to demonstrate
to an unknowable IRS reviewer that we, in fact, provide
reliable information and serve such disparate communities
as toxicologists, entheogen users, researchers, and the
general public. We were told that an IRS reviewer could
reject an application if they believe the non-proft takes
a position that is either contrary to one advocated by the
federal government or is not in the public interest.
With help from our attorneys, friends, and a patient
board of directors, we put the fnishing touches on the
application and submitted it last month. Now we wait.
We expect that it will take somewhere between six and
twelve months for the IRS to respond to our application.
Well be sure to keep members up-to-date on our progress,
and we thank you for your patience.
When Mescalito Spoke to Me (Pencil and Charcoal on Paper)
by Dennis Konstantin Gerigk denniskonstantin.com
Blue Star Bearer (Acrylic on Canvas Paper)
by Adam Scott Miller CorpusCallosum.cc
Stings of the Lash (Artists Blood)
by Vincent Castiglia vincentcastigliaart.com
Image
Vaults
Published images 4,748 Published in last 6 mo. 187
Image vaults 255 Submitted each day 6
Viewed per day 64,332 Awaiting processing 6,967
Ongoing Project: Pharmacology Vaults
One of the most common questions Erowid visitors ask
is how various psychoactive substances cause their effects.
After failing to find any concise, up-to-date resources to
direct our members and visitors to, we decided to take the
plunge and distill the confusing, widely diffuse data into new
Pharmacology Vaults. Over the last few months, we have begun
drafting pages that summarize the pharmacological details of
a number of psychoactive chemicals.
We intend to include well-referenced information
describing how the substances are known to act with receptor
systems, what their half-lives are, what metabolites are formed
as they move through the body, etc. Researchers are still
not able to paint a coherent picture of how relatively simple,
microscopic molecules interact with the body to cause complex
macroscopic effects on the mind. However, enormous progress
has been made over the last twenty years towards understanding
how these drugs work.
Because they are highly technical, the pharmacology
pages require expert review before they are published. The
substances that currently have pharmacology information
ready for review are: cannabis, cocaine, DMT, DXM,
ketamine, LSD, MDMA, mescaline, and salvinorin A. If
you have the expertise necessary to help review these
pages, please let us know! Wed love help in ensuring
that these documents are clear and accurate.
The Erowid Review
Published reviews 167
Published in last 6 mo. 12
Viewed each day 1135
Hypericum perforatum, Photo by Michael Knott
Amani ta muscari a, Photo by Mitchell McKenzie
Bromo-Dragonfly Blotter, Photo by Darkalan
Erowid Traffic Statistics
D
A
I
L
Y
Visitors 53,124 File Hits 3,548,160
Transfer 24.16 GB Page Hits 445,647
B
Y

M
O
N
T
H
Avg Daily
File Hits
Avg Daily
Page Hits
Avg Daily
Visitors
Apr 2007 3,551,170 439,074 52,326
Mar 2007 3,433,123 436,143 52,743
Feb 2007 2,987,922 447,454 52,321
Jan 2007 3,376,057 426,749 44,420
Dec 2006 3,115,268 390,040 45,928
Nov 2006 3,233,727 413,227 50,807
B
Y

Y
E
A
R
2007 3,453,012 437,355 51,988
2006 3,025,185 409,796 48,443
2005 2,544,202 402,567 41,412
2004 1,799,694 405,528 31,241
2003 1,421,815 349,530 25,997
2002 1,206,855 283,541 23,042
2001 798,400 207,427 17,300
Membership
Current Members 1,321
Recently Expired Members (0-6 mo.) 515
Older Expired Members (6+ mo.) 2,396
Members in U.S. 981 (74%)
Members in other countries 334 (26%)
Countries with members 37
Top membership countries
USA (981); Canada (79); UK (64); Australia (44);
Germany (23); Norway (16); Netherlands (15);
Sweden (13); France (12); Finland (9); Belgium (7);
Mexico (6); S. Africa (6); Israel (5); Denmark (4);
Switzerland (4); Spain (4); New Zealand (3)
EcstasyData Summary
2
0
0
7Daily Visitors 3,652 Daily Page Hits 27,939
Tablets Tested 20 Daily File Hits 435,187
B
Y

Y
E
A
R
Tablets Tested Testing Results (19992007)
2006 30 Total Tablets Tested 1,517
2005 133 MDMA Only (38%) 581
2004 151 MDMA + something (17%) 263
2003 148 No MDMA (44%) 673
2002 301 Nothing 97
2001 332 Unidentifed 46
Rhodium Archive Update
Erowid began hosting a historical archive of the
Rhodium chemistry and pharmacology site in May 2005,
after the site disappeared in November 2004. While we
had saved several versions of the downloadable zip archive
provided on Rhodium, we had not examined them closely.
Unfortunately, a large number of documents were missing
from the zip fles and thus missing from our online archive
version as well.
We found several collections of Rhodium documents
on the net, but each used a different fle naming convention.
This made it slow going to try to assemble the confusing
mass of fles into one coherent set.
Several Erowid volunteers offered their assistance,
but the nature of the problem made it diffcult for anyone
to jump in to help. In February and March, we fnally
found the time to dive into our Rhodium archive and sort
out the tangle of versions to locate the missing fles. We
systematically went through the archive and were able to
fx perhaps 90% of the broken links.
We are still missing around 200 html pages and PDFs.
If you think you have a complete copy, please let us know!
25
Daily Erowid Visitors (19952007)
VERBATIMVERBATIMVERBATIMVERBATIMVERBATIMVERBATIMVERBATIMVERBATIMVERBATIMVERBATIMVERBATIM
The morning cup of coffee has
an exhilaration about it which the
cheering infuence of the afternoon
or evening cup of tea cannot be
expected to reproduce.
Oliver W. Holmes Sr. (18091894)
Often coffee drinkers, fnding the
drug to be unpleasant, turn to other
narcotics, of which opium and alcohol
are most common.
T. D. Crothers (18421918)
Good communication is just as
stimulating as black coffee, and just
as hard to sleep after.
Anne Lindbergh (19062001)
The perception of a problem is
always relative. Your headache feels
terrifc to the druggist.
Ramona E. F. Arnett
I have yet to see any problem,
however complicated, which, when
you looked at it in the right way, did not
become still more complicated.
Poul Anderson (19252001)
Some problems are so complex that
you have to be highly intelligent and
well informed just to be undecided
about them.
Laurence J. Peter (19191990)
Nothing in the world can take the
place of persistence. Talent will
not; nothing is more common than
unsuccessful people with talent.
Genius will not; unrewarded genius is
almost a proverb. Education will not;
the world is full of educated derelicts.
Persistence and determination alone
are omnipotent. The slogan press
on has solved and always will solve
the problems of the human race.
Calvin Coolidge (18721933)
There is no such thing as recreational
drug use.
Alan Leshner
It is important to use all knowledge
ethically, humanely, and lovingly.
Carol Pearson
Nothings easier than believing we
understand experiences weve never
had.
Gwen Bristow (19031980)
I deal i sm i ncr eases i n di r ect
proportion to ones distance from
the problem.
John Galsworthy (18671933)
There is always an easy solution
to every human probl emneat,
plausible and wrong.
H. L. Mencken (18801956)
I can understand that memory must
be selective, else it would choke on
the glut of experience. What I cannot
understand is why it selects what it
does.
Virgilia Peterson (19041966)
Librarians are the secret masters of
the world. They control information.
Dont ever piss one off.
Spider Robinson (b. 1948)
History is a vast early warning
system.
Norman Cousins (19151990)
It is a capital mistake to theorize
before one has data. Insensibly one
begins to twist facts to suit theories,
instead of theories to suit facts.
Arthur Conan Doyle (18591930)
Information is the currency of
Democracy.
Thomas Jefferson (17431826)
Bad research is worse than no
research, for it takes much tedious
repetition to correct it. As research
it conveys an aura of reliability, and
eventually it comes to be quoted
and requited in publications as
established fact. It is the curse
of every science, especially the
behavioural sciences.
Sidney Cohen (19181986)
Be less curious about people and
more curious about ideas.
Marie Curie (18671934)
I was brought up to believe that the
only thing worth doing was to add to
the sum of accurate information in
this world.
Margaret Mead (19011978)
The most beautiful experience we
can have is the mysteriousthe
fundamental emotion which stands
at the cradle of true art and true
science.
Albert Einstein (18791955)
[Alcohol is the king
of all medicine.]
Japanese proverb
VERBATI M

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