The California countercultural figure Ann Shulgin, in partnership with her chemist husband, Alexander (Sasha), created, documented and explored a vast array of psychedelic drugs from the 1970s onwards, both for recreational purposes – to access inner consciousness – and as psychedelic-assisted therapy for anxiety and related disorders. Decades later, results from current trials using MDMA (the active ingredient in ecstasy) to help people with post-traumatic stress and other disorders are promising, endorsing Ann’s view that it and other such drugs can have a key role in psychotherapy.
Ann, who has died aged 91, had been interested in the potential of psychedelic substances since living in San Francisco in her 20s, describing the first time she took the cactus-derived drug mescaline as “one extraordinary blessed day”.
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