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46-604: The Shulgin Rating Scale (or "quantitative potency scale") is a simple scale for reporting the subjective effect of psychoactive substances at a given dosage, and at a given time. The system was developed for research purposes by the American biochemist Alexander Shulgin , and published with co-authors Ann Shulgin and Peyton Jacob, III, in a 1986 issue of the journal Methods and Findings in Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology . It

92-495: A chemical synthesis laboratory in a small building behind his house, which gave him a great deal of career autonomy. Shulgin used this freedom to synthesize and test the effects of potentially psychoactive drugs . In 1976, Shulgin was introduced to MDMA by a student in the medicinal chemistry group he advised at San Francisco State University. MDMA had been synthesized in 1912 by Merck and patented in 1913 as an intermediate of another synthesis in order to block competitors, but

138-403: A May 31 update on Facebook she said that, although appearing frail, he seemed to be experiencing his last moments in peace and without pain. Shulgin died at his home on June 2, 2014, at the age of 88. In a 2014 review of the synthesis of designer drugs , the effects of Shulgin's work were described as "by far the most far-reaching" effects associated with the cultural climate of interest at

184-442: A brief period, he began work at Dow Chemical Company , One of his early achievements at Dow was the invention of the first known biodegradable pesticide ( mexacarbate ). At this time he had a series of psychedelic experiences that helped to shape his further goals and research, the first of which was brought on by mescaline . "I first explored mescaline in the late '50s ... Three-hundred-fifty to 400 milligrams. I learned there

230-496: A comparable value relating to the subjective intensity of the experience, including auditory, visual, emotional, mental, physical and other sensory effects. The narrative may include various Shulgin ratings, noting the time to achieve various levels, for instance: (with 22 mg) A slow onset. It took an hour for a plus one, and almost another two hours to get to a +++. Very vivid fantasy images, eyes closed, but no blurring of lines between "reality" and fantasy. Some yellow-grey patterns

276-430: A curiosity and at worst a menace", but Bennett goes on to say that "near the end... [Shulgin's] faith in the potential of psychedelics ha[d] at least a chance at vindication", going on to note the various clinical trials underway on compounds of interest to Shulgin. The early 2000s also was a period where Shulgin was witness to a series of incidents in which young men overdosed on a novel psychoactive agent whose preparation

322-422: A highly contentious part of the magazine. In 2004, The New York Times Magazine began publishing an entire supplement devoted to style. Titled T , the supplement is edited by Deborah Needleman and appears 14 times a year. In 2009, it launched a Qatari Edition as a standalone magazine. In 2006, the magazine introduced two other supplements: PLAY , a sports magazine published every other month, and KEY ,

368-719: A highly profitable product. In his book PiHKAL , Shulgin limits his pesticide days at Dow Chemical to one sentence in 978 pages. Dow Chemical Company, in return for Zectran's valuable patent, gave Shulgin great freedom. During this time, he created and patented drugs when Dow asked, and published findings on other drugs in journals such as Nature and the Journal of Organic Chemistry . One of these patents, approved in 1970, involved phenethylamines. Eventually, Dow Chemical requested that he no longer use their name on his publications. In late 1966, Shulgin left Dow in order to pursue his own interests. He first spent two years studying neurology at

414-410: A la psilocybin. Acute diarrhea at about the fourth hour but no other obvious physical problems. Erotic lovely. Good material for unknown number of possible uses. Can explore for a long time. Better try 20 milligrams next time. 5-MeO-DMT is a candidate entheogen substance for consistent plus four experience as it is known to bring one of, if not the highest mystical subjective experience comparable to

460-577: A real estate magazine published twice a year. In September 2010, as part of a greater effort to reinvigorate the magazine, Times editor Bill Keller hired former staff member and then-editor of Bloomberg Businessweek , Hugo Lindgren , as the editor of The New York Times Magazine . As part of a series of new staff hires upon assuming his new role, Lindgren first hired then–executive editor of O, The Oprah Magazine Lauren Kern to be his deputy editor and then hired then-editor of TNR.com, The New Republic magazine's website, Greg Veis , to edit

506-424: A rotating basis (including diagramless crossword puzzles and anacrostics ). In January 2012, humorist John Hodgman , who hosts his comedy court show podcast Judge John Hodgman , began writing a regular column "Judge John Hodgman Rules" (formerly "Ask Judge John Hodgman") for "The One-Page Magazine". In 2014, Jake Silverstein , who had been editor-in-chief at Texas Monthly , replaced Lindgren as editor of

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552-508: A series of N-allylated tryptamines including 5-MeO-DALT and 5-MeO-MALT . Shulgin was married to Nina Gordon until her death from a stroke in 1977. He then married author Ann Gotlieb in 1981. He spent most of his later life at the Farm in Lafayette, California . On April 8, 2008, at the age of 82, he underwent surgery to replace a defective aortic valve . On November 16, 2010, he suffered

598-504: A stroke, from which he largely recovered. Also at the close of 2010, a skin-grafting surgery saved his left foot from being amputated. Around this time, Shulgin began showing early signs of dementia, mostly severe loss of short-term memory. With progression of the dementia since 2010, his wife, Ann Shulgin, had been trying to sell part of their property to raise more money to cover care costs. On April 17, 2014, Ann Shulgin reported on Facebook that her husband had developed liver cancer, and in

644-488: A viola player, and would I be interested in sitting in for a couple of evenings? ... The Club proved to be a group of gentlemen from a broad array of political and professional backgrounds, leaning somewhat toward the political right and the well-to-do. ... At my first evening at the Club... Andrew was appointed my Pater Familias ..." The New York Times Magazine Its first issue was published on September 6, 1896, and contained

690-529: Is acknowledged to have introduced to broader use, in the late 1970s, the prior synthesized compound, MDMA ("ecstasy") in research psychopharmacology and in combination with conventional therapy, the latter through presentations and academic publications, including to psychologists; and for the rediscovery, occasional discovery, and regular synthesis and personal use and distribution, possibly of hundreds of psychoactive compounds (for their psychedelic and MDMA-like empathogenic bioactivities ). As such, Shulgin

736-498: Is generally more challenging than its counterparts featured on the other days of the week. Usually, a second puzzle is included with the crossword puzzle. The variety of the second puzzle varies each week. These have included acrostic puzzles, diagramless crossword puzzles, and other puzzles varying from the traditional crossword puzzle. The puzzles are edited by Will Shortz, the host of the on-air puzzle segment of NPR 's Weekend Edition Sunday , introduced as "the puzzlemaster". In

782-434: Is indeed there inside us, and there are chemicals that can catalyze its availability." Shulgin's professional activities continued to lean in the direction of psychopharmacology , furthered by his personal experiences with psychedelics. But during this period he was unable to do much independent research. His opportunity for further research came in 1961 after his development of Zectran , the first biodegradable pesticide,

828-432: Is seen both as a pioneering and a controversial participant in the emergence of the broad use of psychedelics. In 1991 and 1997, he and his wife Ann Shulgin compiled the books PiHKAL and TiHKAL ( Phenethylamines I Have Known And Loved , likewise for Tryptamines ), from notebooks that extensively described their work and personal experiences with these two classes of psychoactive drugs . Shulgin documented

874-541: The 2C* family ), and tryptamines (family containing DMT and psilocin ). There are a seemingly infinite number of slight chemical variations, which can produce variations in effect — some pleasant and some unpleasant, depending on the person, substance, and situation — all of which are meticulously recorded in Shulgin's lab notebooks. Shulgin published many of these objective and subjective reports in his books and papers. About 2C-B he said in 2003: "It is, in my opinion, one of

920-534: The University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine , leaving to work on a consulting project. He set up a home-based lab on his property, known as "the Farm", and became a private consultant. He also taught classes in the local universities and at the San Francisco General Hospital . Through his friend Bob Sager, head of the U.S. DEA 's Western Laboratories, Shulgin formed a relationship with

966-452: The chemical synthesis of many of these compounds. Some of the syntheses catalogued by Shulgin in his books include chemicals in the 2C family (such as 2C-B ), compounds of the DOx family (such as DOM ), and tryptamines (such as 4-HO-MET and 4-HO-MiPT ). In describing Shulgin's work in psychedelic research and his preparation and experimentation with psychedelic drugs , he has been dubbed

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1012-425: The "front of the book" section of the magazine. In December 2010, Lindgren hired Joel Lovell, formerly story editor at GQ magazine, as deputy editor. In 2011, Kaminer replaced Cohen as the author of the column, and in 2012 Chuck Klosterman replaced Kaminer. Klosterman left in early 2015 to be replaced by a trio of authors, Kenji Yoshino , Amy Bloom , and Jack Shafer , who used a conversational format; Shafer

1058-415: The "godfather of ecstasy" (and to a much more limited extent, the "godfather of psychedelics" ). Writing in 2005—in the decade before Shulgin's death—a retrospective by Drake Bennett of The New York Times Magazine noted that as a consequence of Shulgin's testing his various synthetic compounds "for activity by taking the chemicals himself... most of the scientific community consider[ed] Shulgin at best

1104-464: The 15 years preceding the publication of PIHKAL , two announced and scheduled reviews failed to find any irregularities. Richard Meyer, spokesman for DEA's San Francisco Field Division, has stated that, "It is our opinion that those books are pretty much cookbooks on how to make illegal drugs. Agents tell me that in clandestine labs that they have raided, they have found copies of those books." Prior to his 2010 health issues, Shulgin had been working on

1150-582: The DEA and began holding pharmacology seminars for the agents, supplying the DEA with samples of various compounds, and occasionally serving as an expert witness in court. In 1988, he authored a then-definitive law enforcement reference book on controlled substances, and received several awards from the DEA. In order to work with scheduled psychoactive chemicals, Shulgin obtained a DEA Schedule I license for an analytical laboratory, which allowed him to synthesize and possess any otherwise illicit drug. Shulgin set up

1196-457: The September 18, 2005, issue of the magazine, an editors' note announced the addition of The Funny Pages , a literary section of the magazine intended to "engage our readers in some ways we haven't yet tried—and to acknowledge that it takes many different types of writing to tell the story of our time". Although The Funny Pages is no longer published in the magazine, it was made up of three parts:

1242-649: The Strip (a multipart graphic novel that spanned weeks), the Sunday Serial (a genre fiction serial novel that also spanned weeks), and True-Life Tales (a humorous personal essay , by a different author each week). On July 8, 2007, the magazine stopped printing True-Life Tales. The section has been criticized for being unfunny, sometimes nonsensical, and excessively highbrow ; in a 2006 poll conducted by Gawker.com asking, "Do you now find—or have you ever found— The Funny Pages funny?", 92% of 1824 voters answered "No". Of

1288-461: The Sunday Times from the 1920s through the 1950s, encouraged the idea of the magazine as a forum for ideas. During his tenure, writers such as Leo Tolstoy , Thomas Mann , Gertrude Stein , and Tennessee Williams contributed pieces to the magazine. When, in 1970, The New York Times introduced its first op-ed page, the magazine shifted away from publishing as many editorial pieces. In 1979,

1334-454: The Sunday magazine. U.S. Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey selects and introduces poems weekly, including from poets Tomas Tranströmer , Carlos Pintado , and Gregory Pardlo . The magazine features the Sunday version of the crossword puzzle along with other puzzles. The puzzles have been very popular features since their introduction. The Sunday crossword puzzle has more clues and squares and

1380-498: The description of Samadhi . Alexander Shulgin Alexander Theodore "Sasha" Shulgin (June 17, 1925 – June 2, 2014) was an American biochemist , broad researcher of synthetic psychoactive compounds , and author of works regarding these, who independently explored the organic chemistry and pharmacology of such agents—in his mid-life and later, many through preparation in his home laboratory, and testing on himself. He

1426-473: The first photographs ever printed in the newspaper. In the early decades, it was a section of the broadsheet paper and not an insert as it is today. The creation of a "serious" Sunday magazine was part of a massive overhaul of the newspaper instigated that year by its new owner, Adolph Ochs , who also banned fiction , comic strips , and gossip columns from the paper, and is generally credited with saving The New York Times from financial ruin. In 1897,

Shulgin Rating Scale - Misplaced Pages Continue

1472-410: The juice and, assuming that crystals at the bottom of the glass were a sedative , "fell unconscious". Upon waking he learned that the crystals were undissolved sugar, and that doctors had administered anesthesia after he was already unconscious—an experience Drake Bennett of The New York Times Magazine referred to as "revelatory", and a "tantalizing hint of the mind's odd strength", as "his collapse

1518-407: The magazine began publishing Pulitzer Prize –winning journalist William Safire 's " On Language ", a column discussing issues of English grammar, use and etymology . Safire's column steadily gained popularity and by 1990 was generating "more mail than anything else" in the magazine. In 1999, the magazine debuted "The Ethicist", an advice column written by humorist Randy Cohen that quickly became

1564-499: The magazine published a 16-page spread of photographs documenting Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee , a "costly feat" that resulted in a wildly popular issue and helped boost the magazine to success. In its early years, The New York Times Magazine began a tradition of publishing the writing of well-known contributors, from W. E. B. Du Bois and Albert Einstein to numerous sitting and future U.S. Presidents . Editor Lester Markel , an "intense and autocratic " journalist who oversaw

1610-475: The most graceful, erotic, sensual, introspective compounds I have ever invented. For most people, it is a short-lived and comfortable psychedelic, with neither toxic side-effects nor next-day hang-over." In 1994, two years after the publication of PIHKAL , the DEA raided his lab. The agency requested that Shulgin turn over his license for violating the license's terms, and he was fined $ 25,000 for possession of anonymous samples sent to him for quality testing. In

1656-471: The time in hallucinogenic compounds generally and mescaline in particular, with which various artists and writers had experimented. Shulgin said that mescaline made him aware of a world submerged in human spirit, whose "availability" was "catalyzed" by such chemicals; the consequences of his insights were called "devastating" by the reviewers. In the same review, an example of his insights was given by his description of MDMA as "his low-calorie Martini". Shulgin

1702-419: Was a great deal inside me." Shulgin later reported personal revelations that "had been brought about by a fraction of a gram of a white solid, but that in no way whatsoever could it be argued that these memories had been contained within the white solid ... I understood that our entire universe is contained in the mind and the spirit. We may choose not to find access to it, we may even deny its existence, but it

1748-459: Was a handsome, proper gentleman with a small grey moustache and the residues of an English accent. During coffee, after the music was over, he struck up a conversation. He asked me if I had ever heard of The Owl Club in San Francisco? I had not, so he began painting a picture of a rather fascinating group, with many interests in all sorts of art, drama and music. He mentioned that there was need for

1794-569: Was a member of Mensa International and frequently attended Mensa events in California. Alexander was a Bohemian Club member . The Bohemian club is located in California where Alexander lived. Alexander refers to "The Owl Club" in chapter 11 of PiHKAL : One evening in the late 1950s, I was invited to a musical soiree at an old comfortable home in the Berkeley Hills. I brought my viola with me... The only person I can remember from that evening

1840-584: Was born in Illinois . Theodore and Henrietta were public school teachers in Alameda County . Shulgin studied organic chemistry at Harvard University as a scholarship student, and was enrolled there at the age of 16. He dropped out to join the U.S. Navy , during his second year at Harvard. In 1944 a military nurse gave Shulgin a glass of orange juice prior to a surgery for a thumb infection, while serving on USS Pope during World War II ; he drank

1886-422: Was caused entirely by the placebo effect". After serving in the armed forces, Shulgin returned to California, and earned his PhD in biochemistry from the University of California, Berkeley , Through the late 1950s, Shulgin completed post-doctoral work in the fields of psychiatry and pharmacology at University of California, San Francisco . After working at Bio-Rad Laboratories as a research director for

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1932-530: Was disclosed by Shulgin in one of his books. Before his death (and before the onset of his late life dementia), Shulgin expressed sadness over the deaths, but argued that all drugs, including aspirin, carry risks with incorrect use. Shulgin was born in Berkeley, California , to Theodore Stevens Shulgin (1893–1978) and Henrietta D. (Aten) Shulgin (1894–1960). His father was born in Chelyabinsk , Russia; his mother

1978-575: Was her fourth marriage, and she had four children. After judicious self-experiments, Shulgin enlisted a small group of friends with whom he regularly tested his creations, starting in 1960. They developed a systematic way of ranking the effects of the various drugs, known as the Shulgin Rating Scale , with a vocabulary to describe the visual, auditory and physical sensations. He personally tested hundreds of drugs, mainly analogues of various phenethylamines (family containing MDMA , mescaline , and

2024-678: Was later described in the Shulgins' popular 1991 book PIHKAL: A Chemical Love Story . Shulgin Ratings typically include three components. An identification of the chemical being ingested, a dosage, and a descriptive narrative including the ratings themselves used to describe various moments in time. The chemical itself must be clearly identified, preferably using chemical nomenclature, as opposed to popular or "street" names. The dosage must be known and communicated, as substances may result in wildly different ratings at different doses. The rating itself gives

2070-468: Was never explored in its own right. Shulgin went on to develop a new synthesis method, and in 1976, introduced the chemical to Leo Zeff , a psychologist from Oakland, California . Zeff used the substance in his practice in small doses as an aid to talk therapy . Zeff introduced the substance to hundreds of psychologists and lay therapists around the nation, including Ann (born Laura Ann Gotlieb) , whom Alexander Shulgin met in 1979, and married in 1981. It

2116-467: Was replaced three months later by Kwame Anthony Appiah , who assumed sole authorship of the column in September 2015. "Consumed", Rob Walker 's regular column on consumer culture, debuted in 2004. The Sunday Magazine also features a puzzle page , edited by Will Shortz , that features a crossword puzzle with a larger grid than those featured in the Times during the week, along with other types of puzzles on

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