If Sasha Were Alive Today, He'd Have a Lot to Say About the Psychedelic Renaissance.
Today we are not just celebrating the birth of the legendary Sasha Shulgin. We are celebrating the legacy he left behind. Not just because of his findings or the discoveries he left behind for the exploration of psychedelics, but for the legacy his research brought for the reform and awareness we are living today.
What a moment to be alive in.
The man who made his backyard a frontier
Sasha was not one to need a grandiose institution to do his most important work and recognisably one of the most important advancements in the psychedelic field of 20th century psychopharmacology. In his most badass way, Sasha built a lab in his backyard, with a DEA licence, a Rachamaninov soundtrack and an unfaltering commitment that boarded on a sacred accord. There was no way around the research. If he was going to be synthesizing anything, rest assured, he would be the first and most enlightened guinea pig. Not for just one of his discoveries. But every single one of them. All 230 compounds. You can have your own perspective about this. It could be reckless or it could be the highest standard of integrity most researchers wouldn't dare to hold themselves.
A chemistry textbook that made us all cry
In sharing the life of Sasha and Ann, we can’t go without mentioning the memories left from their time in the lab. What most people don't know about PiHKAL and TiHKAL is that they truly are love stories. Each books opens with a remembrance of Ann and Shasha’s stories, their life together, the real, the tender and the psychedelic. You stay because somewhere between the chemistry notes and the love they had for each other you notice you are reading more than just what they lived. You are reading about two people who continuously chose each other and this work, every single day, in a way to defy everything the world was telling them.
Shasha’s Lab was raided by the DEA in 1994, revoking his licence in the process. The book exists because, in part, he knew his research may be taken, villainized, hidden from the public at any point. They are not just a way to remember their legacy, they are a way to keep truth alive.
The foundation no one gives credit for
When we look at our current scope, every clinical trial, every decriminalization measure passing through city councils and state legislatures. Every psychedelic assisted therapy program. Every conversation about set, setting and informed use. All these conversations are thanks to Sasha’s work. He not only advocated for psychedelics, but for synthetic substances like MDMA at a time when nobody wanted to hear it. A time when people were trying to demonize substances that are now being used to heal us. He moved something radical and simple. That people deserve to know what they are putting in their bodies and why. The whole point was to reform awareness.
If Sasha were alive today
He would most definitely be surprised with the psychedelic state of the world. Maybe a little part delighted and a little part completely confused. Delighted that the conversation has finally crack open into mainstream minds. Confused because it took so long. A tad exasperated that the foundational work is still being rediscovered rather than incorporated into our daily lives. Rest assured, Sasha would most definitely be back at the bench, synthesising the next molecule no one has ever tried yet.
This is why having his books in our bookshelf is a reminder of the hard work it took to get us here. Because they are the source code to knowledge we may never get again. The psychedelic renaissance is happening and most people are building its foundations on information they leave on the haystack. PiHKAL covers the phenethylamines. TiHKAL covers the tryptamines. Together we have a comprehensive map of our inner space, left behind for us all to work with. Written in the voice of Sasha himself, warm, precise, funny and completely unafraid.
Reading his legacy is not nostalgia. It is our walk into orientation.
Happy Birthday dear Sasha.
Thank you for your curiosity, your daringness and your visions. We are grateful you wrote it all down.
