sanford3

With thanks to the MAPS Forum for originally publishing this. - TR

=============================================

Reply-to: [email protected] (Jon Freedlander)

hello everyone,

the following is a term paper i wrote for my addictions class last
semester...i thought some of you might find it interesting, so here it is

Ibogaine: A Review of Contemporary Literature
By,
Jonathan Freedlander
PSYC 485 - Prof. John Allen, PhD
University of Maryland, Baltimore County

Introduction and History:

     Banzie (the members of the Bwiti, properly, "those of the chapel")
     ...say that eboga [sic] enables a man or woman to return to infancy
     and to birth - to life in the womb...by returning initiates to the
     uterine condition, a condition in any case very close to life in
     the land of the dead [and so] restores them to their own integrity
     - their pristine conditions. (Fernandez, 1982).

Ibogaine is a naturally occurring indole alkaloid found in a
variety of tropical shrubs of the Tabernanthe genus, the most well
known of which is Tabernanthe iboga (Shulgin and Shulgin, 1977). In the
western world, extracts of iboga root, which contain some 12 known
active alkaloids, including ibogaine, have been used medicinally for
over a century (Popik, and Skolnick, 1999). Ibogaine was first extracted
from the iboga root in 1901 by Dybowsky and Landrin (Goutarel,
Gollnhofer, and Sillans , 1993), though its chemical structure was not
determined until 1957 (Taylor, 1965). Complete synthesis of ibogaine
from nicotinamide is possible by way of a 13 or 14 step process;
however, this process is rarely used as a source of ibogaine, as
extraction from the root is a considerably less work intensive means of
obtaining the compound, and there are no known advantages to the
synthetic method (Shulgin and Shulgin, 1977).

The root of the Tabernathe iboga has been used for centuries by
various indigenous cultures of western Africa, as first reported by
French and Belgian explorers in the nineteenth century (Popik and
Skolnick, 1999). Depending on the specific culture, the root is either
chewed whole, or prepared in a mixture, with or without other
psychoactive ingredients (Fernandez, 1982). These cultures use the iboga
root as a catalyst for spiritual discovery, primarily involved in Bouti
initiation rites. In these rites, the initiate must venture into the
spiritual world, guided by those already initiated, in a complex ritual
that is centred around the effects of ingestion of the iboga root. The
effects of the ingested root propagate a voyage of self-discovery, which
is heavily imbued with Jungian archetypes, involving a return to the
womb and a journey through the domain of the tribal ancestors (Goutarel,
Gollnhofer, and Sillans, 1993). Other preparations of the iboga root in
smaller quantities are also used throughout western Africa as a
stimulant, particularly before a hunt, and as an aphrodisiac (Lotsof,
Della Sera, and Kaplan, 1995).

Ibogaine was first introduced to the Western public in France in
the 1930's, in the form of Lambarene, an extract of the Tabernathe manii
plant. It was described as a mental and physical stimulant and contained
about 8 mg of ibogaine (Popik and Skolnick, 1999). The drug was
"...indicated in cases of depression, asthniea, in convalescence,
infectious disease, [and] greater than normal physical or mental
efforts by healthy individuals," and aroused a great deal of interest
amoung post-war athletes. Eventually, Lambarene disappeared from the
market, and the sale of ibogaine was prohibited in 1966 (Goutarel,
Gollnhofer, and Sillans, 1993).

In the 1960's, a Chilean psychiatrist named Clauido Naranjo began
experiments to study the potential of ibogaine as a catalyst for the
psychotherapeutic process. He found through case studies that, with a
dosage range of between 3 and 5 mg/kg, ibogaine elicits an oneirogenic
condition which facilitates long term memory retrieval and closure of
unresolved emotional conflicts (Naranjo, 1974). The word "oneirogen"
(from the Greek, meaning "dream") is used rather than "hallucinogen" in
referring to ibogaine's psychological effects, because ibogaine is not
truly psychomimetic; it does not produce loss of consciousness or any
formal deterioration of thought (Goutarel, Gollnhofer, and Sillans,
1993).

Naranjo noted, as did ethnographers who have studied the cultures of
western Africa, that the imagery produced by ibogaine is largely Jungian
in content. That is, it involves archetypes common to all humans,
imagery that provides the basis for the human psyche. In a therapy
session, this archetypal imagery is used as a medium for mitigating
emotional insight in relation to memories most significant to the
individual's condition (Naranjo, 1974). Indeed, from a psychological
perspective, it would seem as though this relationship is likely to be a
primary factor in ibogaine's therapeutic effects.

Ibogaine was first reported to be effective in treating chemical
addictions by H. S. Lotsof, when he introduced Endabuse (NIH 10567)
(Popick and Glick 1996). He began studying the effects of ibogaine in
treating individuals with addictive disorders with a series of focus
group experiments in the early 1960's (Lotstof, Della Sera, and Kaplan,
1995). In 1985, Lotsof patented Endabuse for use in the interruption of
opiate dependence disorders (U.S. patent 4,499,096), in 1986 for use in
cocaine dependence disorders (U.S. patent 4,587,243), and in 1992 for
poly-drug use dependence disorders (U.S. patent 5,152,994) (Lotsof,
Della Sera, and Kaplan, 1995). Lotsof also developed a specific
procedure for the use of Endabuse (aptly named the Lotsof ProcedureTM),
which involves comprehensive short and long term physical, psychiatric,
psychological, and social care of the patient (Lotsof, 1994).

Pharmacodynamics :

Ibogaine's physiological actions are particularly complex, and are
still far from being fully understood. Structurally, ibogaine is a
derivative of serotonin (Dhahir, 1971). It has specific affinities for
many binding sites within the CNS, including NMDA
(N-methyl-D-aspartate), kappa, opioid, sigma, and nicotinic receptors
(Alper et al, 1999). It is known to act on many different
neurotransmitter systems, sometimes in seemingly paradoxical ways
(Popick and Glick, 1996), and does not appear to be a conventional
dopamine or opioid agonist or antagonist or and amine uptake inhibitor
(Alper et al, 1999). Noribogaine (12-hydroxyibogamine) is a metabolite
of ibogaine created by the activity of liver enzymes, and is thought to
be responsible for at least some of ibogaine's psychological effects,
which goes to further complicate the study of ibogaine's
pharmacodynamics (Mash et al, 2000).

It has long been thought that dopaminergic pathways are involved in
the reinforcement effects of addictive drugs, and ibogaine has been
shown to have some unusual effects on this system. Ibogaine does not
appear to affect binding at dopamine receptors, nor does it seem to
consistently affect dopamine transport systems. However, under certain
experimental conditions, ibogaine results in a reduction of dopamine
concentrations and an increase in dopamine metabolites DOPAC
(dihydroxyphenyl-acetic acid) and HVA (homovanilic acid) (Popick and
Skolnik, 1999). Noribogaine is likely to be involved, at least in part,
in ibogaine's dopaminergic effects, particularly that of reduced
dopamine turnover for an extended period of time after administration;
however, this relationship remains unclear (Mash et al, 2000).

Like dopamine pathways, NDMA receptors have often been sighted as
neural components implicated in addictive disorders. Ibogaine acts as an
NDMA antagonist, a competitive inhibitor of [3H]MK-801 or [3H]TCP
binding at receptor coupled NMDA ion channels (Sweetnam et al, 1995). In
support of these findings, ibogaine produces a voltage dependent block
of NDMA invoked currents in hippocampal cultures, and inhibits
glutamate-induced cell death in neuronal cultures (Popik et al, 1995).
NDMA antagonists acting at the glutamate, open channel, and glycine
binding sites have been shown to suppress symptoms of morphine
withdrawal in rodents, and attenuate drug self-administration (Trujillo
and Akil, 1991).

Ibogaine binds only mildly to opioid receptors, though its
metabolite noribogaine has a considerably higher affinity for opioid
receptor binding (Popick and Glick, 1996). Ibogaine has been reported
not to affect [3H]carfentanil or [3H]enkephalin binding at mu or delta
opioid receptors (Popick and Skolnick, 1999); however, Sweetnam et al
(1995) demonstrated that it does inhibit radioligand binding to mu
opioid receptors. In addition, ibogaine has been shown to inhibit other
compounds from binding at opioid sites, including naloxone, an opioid
antagonist (Popick and Skolnick, 1999). This may be related to the
phenomena of reduced opiate withdrawal symptoms seen in addicts treated
with ibogaine.

As is the case with many tryptamines, ibogaine's effects on the
serotonergic system are particularly complex. It has no effect on
[3H]serotonin binding (Popick and Skolnick, 1999) and does not displace
ligands acting at 5-HT1a, 5-HT1b, 5-HT1c, 5-HT1d, 5-HT2, or 5-HT3
receptors (Deecher et al, 1992). However, ibogaine does inhibit binding
of 5-HT1a, 5-HT2a, and 5-HT3 ligands with low affinity (Repke et al) and
inhibits radioligand binding to 5-HT2 and 5-HT3 receptors (Sweetnam et
al, 1995). Furthermore, ibogaine's effects on the serotonergic system may
have a role in its regulation of dopamine release (Popick and Skolnik,
1999). Clearly, there is need for much more research on ibogaine's effects
on the serotonergic system, and on its pharmacodynamics in general.

Anti-addictive Properties:

As mentioned earlier, ibogaine was first introduced by H.S. Lotsof
as an aide in breaking the addictive cycle. This claim has been
supported by numerous empirical and clinical studies. Ibogaine has been
shown to attenuate signs of morphine withdrawal in rats (jumping,
rearing, digging, head hiding, chewing, teeth chattering, writhing, and
penile licking), and to reduce self-administration of heroin, morphine,
and cocaine (Glick, Rossman, and Steindorf, 1991). Similar results have
been seen in experiments examining ibogaine's effects on morphine
addicted rats and monkeys (Alper et al, 1999). Ibogaine has also been
shown to reduce cocaine-induced motor stimulation in the mouse (Lotsof,
Della Sera, and Kaplan, 1995).

In humans, administration of ibogaine resulted in fewer
self-reported cravings for both heroin and cocaine addicts, and reduced
self-reported depressive symptoms (Mash et al, 2000). Sheppard (1994)
found that ibogaine treatment seems to remove an addicted individuals
desire to seek and use opiates, and that after treatment, several
subjects who did use heroin again found the experience to be
unsatisfying. Additionally, multiple reports have sighted that ibogaine
reduces or eliminates opiate withdrawal symptoms within 1 to 2 hours
with a complete resolution of symptoms within 24 to 48 hours (Alper et
al, 1999). Judd (1994) observed that ibogaine has significant advantages
over traditional treatment methods with respect to what she considers
the three major obstacles in addiction treatment; fear of
detoxification, lack of insight, and the inability of addicts to control
their urges to use drugs.

It is important to note that when using ibogaine in the treatment
of addictive disorders, the methods involved are considerable different
than those used in conventional addiction treatments. Often, only one
treatment of ibogaine is necessary to break the addictive pattern, while
sometimes multiple treatments are needed (Goutarel, Gollnhofer, and
Sillans, 1993). In any case, ibogaine treatment involves a more intimate
relationship between the patient and the clinician (or, more
appropriately, the team of clinicians), involving a greater level of
trust and compassion than is generally seen in typical addiction
counseling (Lotsof, 1994). This is due to the deeply personal nature of
the ibogaine experience, and the fact that at the dosage commonly used
for addiction treatment ibogaine's psychotropic effects last
approximately 24 - 38 hours (Sheppard, 1994).

Conclusion and Commentary:

Ibogaine represents a truly novel approach to the treatment of
addictive disorders; one which involves a more holistic approach,
involving simultaneous treatment from physiological, psychological, and
even sociological perspectives. Though clinical research on this
compound's anti-addictive properties is still in its infancy, at this
stage there is significant evidence to suggest that ibogaine has the
potential to address many obstacles that often prevent the successful
treatment of addictions. As one patient stated, "ibogaine is a much more
humane and dignified approach to detox [sic]" (Judd, 1994). If this
notion proves to be true, ibogaine therapy would be a major step forward
for addiction treatment, which at it's present state (particularly in
the United States) is at best often ineffectual, and at worst seriously
degrading to the addicted individual.

This is not to insult the dedicated work of countless researchers
and therapy providers, but is rather a statement to illustrate our current
lack of understanding of the addictive process in general, and more
specifically, the insurmountable difficulties that current approaches to
addiction treatment inherently possess. With standard addiction
treatment models, it typically takes 4 to 7 attempts on the part of the
patient to reach sobriety, or even temporary abstinence ( Anderson,
1996). If ibogaine does prove to be safe and effective after further
rigorous clinical investigations, and the previous findings are proven
stable in their repeatability, ibogaine will truly represent the next
step in the ever-present dilemma of the chemical addiction phenomenon.

References:

    Alper, K., Lotsof, H., Frenken G., Luciano, D., and Bastiaans, J.
(1999). "Treatment of Acute Opioid Withdrawal with Ibogaine". The
American Journal on Addictions, Vol. 8, pp 234 - 242.
    Anderson, C. (1998). "Ibogaine Therapy in Chemical Dependency and
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A Hypothesis Involving the Fractal Nature
of Fetal REM Sleep and Interhemispheric Reintegration". MAPS:
Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, Vol. 8.
    Deecher, D., Teitler, M., Soderlund, D., Bornman, W., Kuehne, M.,
and Glick, S. (1992). "Mechanisms of Action of Ibogaine and Harmaline
Congeners Based on Radioligand Binding Studies". Brain Research, Vol.
571, pp 242 - 247.
    Dhahir, H. (1971). "A Comparative Study on the Toxicity of Ibogaine
and Serotonin." Thesis, PhD. In Toxicology, Indiana University.
    Fernandez, J, Bwiti: an Ethnography of the Religious Imagination in
Africa. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 1982.
    Glick, S., Rossman, K., and Steindorf, S. (1991). "Effects and
After-Effects of Ibogaine on Morphine Self-Administration in Rats".
European Journal of Pharmacology, Vol. 195, pp 341 - 345.
    Goutarel, R., Gollnhofer, O., and Sillans, R. (1993).
"Pharmacodynamics and Therapeutic Actions of Iboga and Ibogaine".
Psychedelic Monographs and Essays, Vol. 6, pp 71 - 111.
    Judd, B. (1994). "Ibogaine, Psychotherapy, and the Treatment of
Substance-Related Disorders". 8th International Conference on Drug
Related Harm, Washington, D.C.
    Lotsof, H. (1994). "Ibogaine in the Treatment of Chemical
Dependence Disorders: Clinical Perspectives (A Preliminary Review)".
    Lotsof, H., Sera, E., and Kaplan, C. (1995). "Ibogaine in the
Treatment of Narcotic Withdrawal". 37th International Congress on
Alcohol and Drug Dependence, U. of CA, San Diego.
    Mash, D., Kovera, C., Pablo, J., Tyndale, R., Ervin, F., Williams,
I., Singleton, E., and Mayor, M. (2000). "Ibogaine: Complex
Pharmokinetics, Concerns for Safety, and Preliminary Efficacy Measures".
Neurobiological Mechanisms of Drugs of Abuse, Vol. 914, pp 394 - 401.
    Naranjo, C. The Healing Journey. Pantheon Books, New York, 1974.
    Popick, P. and Glick, S. (1996). "Ibogaine, A Putatively
Anti-Addictive Alkaloid". Drugs of the Future, Vol. 21, pp 1109 - 1115.
    Popick, P. and Skolnick, P. (1999). "Pharmacology of Ibogaine and
Ibogaine-Related Alkaloids". The Alkaloids, Vol. 52, pp 197 - 231.
    Popick, P., Layer, R., Fossom, L., Benveniste, M., Getter-Douglas, B.,
Witkin, J., and Skolnick, P. (1995). "NMDA Antagonist Properties of the
Putative Anti-Addictive Drug, Ibogaine". Journal of Pharmacology and
Experimental Therapeutics, Vol. 275, pp 753 - 760.
    Repke, D., Artis, D., Nelson, J., and Wong, E. (1994). "Abbreviated
Ibogaine Congeners. Synthesis and Reactions of Tropan-3-yl-and-3indoles.
Investigation of an Unusual Isomerization of 2-substituted Indoles Using
Computational and Spectroscopic Techniques". Journal of Organic
Chemistry, Vol. 59, pp 2164 - 2171.
    Sheppard, S. (1994). "A Preliminary Investigation of Ibogaine: Case
Reports and Recommendations for Further Study". Journal of Substance
Abuse Treatment, Vol. 11, pp 379 - 385.
    Shulgin, A. and Shulgin, A. TiKHAL: The Continuation (Tryptamines I Have
Known and Loved), Transform Press, 1977.
    Sweetnam, P., Lancaster, J., Snowman, A., Collins, J., Pershcke, S.,
Bauer, C., and Ferkany, J. (1995). "Receptor Binding Profile Suggests
Multiple Mechanisms of Action are Responsible for Ibogaine's Putative
Anti-Addictive Activity". Psychopharmacology, Vol. 118, pp 369 - 376.
    Taylor, W. (1965). "Ibogaine: Chemistry and Physiology". The Alkaloids,
Vol. 8, pp 203 - 227.
    Trujillo, K. and Akil, H. (1995). "Excitatory Amino Acids and Drugs of
Abuse: A Role for NMDA Receptors in Drug Tolerance, Sensitisation, and
Physical Dependence". Drug and Alcohol Dependence, Vol. 38, pp

=================================================================================

With thanks to the MAPS Forum for originally publishing this. - TR

=============================================

Reply-to: [email protected] (Jon Freedlander)

hello everyone,

the following is a term paper i wrote for my addictions class last
semester...i thought some of you might find it interesting, so here it is

Ibogaine: A Review of Contemporary Literature
By,
Jonathan Freedlander
PSYC 485 - Prof. John Allen, PhD
University of Maryland, Baltimore County

Introduction and History:

Pharmacodynamics :

Anti-addictive Properties:

Conclusion and Commentary:

References:

    Alper, K., Lotsof, H., Frenken G., Luciano, D., and Bastiaans, J.
(1999). "Treatment of Acute Opioid Withdrawal with Ibogaine". The
American Journal on Addictions, Vol. 8, pp 234 - 242.
    Anderson, C. (1998). "Ibogaine Therapy in Chemical Dependency and
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A Hypothesis Involving the Fractal Nature
of Fetal REM Sleep and Interhemispheric Reintegration". MAPS:
Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, Vol. 8.
    Deecher, D., Teitler, M., Soderlund, D., Bornman, W., Kuehne, M.,
and Glick, S. (1992). "Mechanisms of Action of Ibogaine and Harmaline
Congeners Based on Radioligand Binding Studies". Brain Research, Vol.
571, pp 242 - 247.
    Dhahir, H. (1971). "A Comparative Study on the Toxicity of Ibogaine
and Serotonin." Thesis, PhD. In Toxicology, Indiana University.
    Fernandez, J, Bwiti: an Ethnography of the Religious Imagination in
Africa. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 1982.
    Glick, S., Rossman, K., and Steindorf, S. (1991). "Effects and
After-Effects of Ibogaine on Morphine Self-Administration in Rats".
European Journal of Pharmacology, Vol. 195, pp 341 - 345.
    Goutarel, R., Gollnhofer, O., and Sillans, R. (1993).
"Pharmacodynamics and Therapeutic Actions of Iboga and Ibogaine".
Psychedelic Monographs and Essays, Vol. 6, pp 71 - 111.
    Judd, B. (1994). "Ibogaine, Psychotherapy, and the Treatment of
Substance-Related Disorders". 8th International Conference on Drug
Related Harm, Washington, D.C.
    Lotsof, H. (1994). "Ibogaine in the Treatment of Chemical
Dependence Disorders: Clinical Perspectives (A Preliminary Review)".
    Lotsof, H., Sera, E., and Kaplan, C. (1995). "Ibogaine in the
Treatment of Narcotic Withdrawal". 37th International Congress on
Alcohol and Drug Dependence, U. of CA, San Diego.
    Mash, D., Kovera, C., Pablo, J., Tyndale, R., Ervin, F., Williams,
I., Singleton, E., and Mayor, M. (2000). "Ibogaine: Complex
Pharmokinetics, Concerns for Safety, and Preliminary Efficacy Measures".
Neurobiological Mechanisms of Drugs of Abuse, Vol. 914, pp 394 - 401.
    Naranjo, C. The Healing Journey. Pantheon Books, New York, 1974.
    Popick, P. and Glick, S. (1996). "Ibogaine, A Putatively
Anti-Addictive Alkaloid". Drugs of the Future, Vol. 21, pp 1109 - 1115.
    Popick, P. and Skolnick, P. (1999). "Pharmacology of Ibogaine and
Ibogaine-Related Alkaloids". The Alkaloids, Vol. 52, pp 197 - 231.
    Popick, P., Layer, R., Fossom, L., Benveniste, M., Getter-Douglas, B.,
Witkin, J., and Skolnick, P. (1995). "NMDA Antagonist Properties of the
Putative Anti-Addictive Drug, Ibogaine". Journal of Pharmacology and
Experimental Therapeutics, Vol. 275, pp 753 - 760.
    Repke, D., Artis, D., Nelson, J., and Wong, E. (1994). "Abbreviated
Ibogaine Congeners. Synthesis and Reactions of Tropan-3-yl-and-3indoles.
Investigation of an Unusual Isomerization of 2-substituted Indoles Using
Computational and Spectroscopic Techniques". Journal of Organic
Chemistry, Vol. 59, pp 2164 - 2171.
    Sheppard, S. (1994). "A Preliminary Investigation of Ibogaine: Case
Reports and Recommendations for Further Study". Journal of Substance
Abuse Treatment, Vol. 11, pp 379 - 385.
    Shulgin, A. and Shulgin, A. TiKHAL: The Continuation (Tryptamines I Have
Known and Loved), Transform Press, 1977.
    Sweetnam, P., Lancaster, J., Snowman, A., Collins, J., Pershcke, S.,
Bauer, C., and Ferkany, J. (1995). "Receptor Binding Profile Suggests
Multiple Mechanisms of Action are Responsible for Ibogaine's Putative
Anti-Addictive Activity". Psychopharmacology, Vol. 118, pp 369 - 376.
    Taylor, W. (1965). "Ibogaine: Chemistry and Physiology". The Alkaloids,
Vol. 8, pp 203 - 227.
    Trujillo, K. and Akil, H. (1995). "Excitatory Amino Acids and Drugs of With thanks to the MAPS Forum for originally publishing this. - TR

=============================================

Reply-to: [email protected] (Jon Freedlander)

hello everyone,

the following is a term paper i wrote for my addictions class last
semester...i thought some of you might find it interesting, so here it is

Ibogaine: A Review of Contemporary Literature
By,
Jonathan Freedlander
PSYC 485 - Prof. John Allen, PhD
University of Maryland, Baltimore County

Introduction and History:

Pharmacodynamics :

Anti-addictive Properties:

Conclusion and Commentary:

References:

==============================================================================

Interesting list from a Canadian friend. Of course this is short of a
"Democratic Party" list, leaving out Star Wars, the illegal war against
Afghanistan, etc. Of course, it is also a good reminder to those of us in the
pacifist or socialist movements that there are a WHOLE LOT of bad things
coming down from Bush . . . worth sharing around. David

<< PLEASE FORWARD THIS TO AS MANY PEOPLE AS YOU CAN -
>IT MAY JUST HELP GET OUT THE NEXT VOTE!
>
>In George W. Bush's First year in office he:
>
>1. Significantly eased field-testing controls of genetically engineered
>crops.
>2. Cut federal spending on libraries by $39 million.
>3. Cut $35 million in funding for doctors to get advanced pediatric
>training.
>4. Cut by 50% funding for research into renewable energy sources.
>5. Revoked rules that reduced the acceptable levels of arsenic in
>drinking water.
>6. Blocked rules that would require federal agencies to offer bilingual
>assistance to non-English speaking persons. This, from a candidate who
>would readily fire-up his Spanish-speaking skills in front of would- be
>Hispanic voters.
>7. Proposed to eliminate new marine protections for the Channel Islands
>and the coral reefs of northwest Hawaii (San Francisco Chronicle, April
>6, 2001).
>8. Cut funding by 28% for research into cleaner, more efficient cars and
>trucks.
>9. Suspended rules that would have strengthened the government's ability
>to deny contracts to companies that violated workplace safety,
>environmental and other federal laws.
>10. OK'd Interior Department appointee Gale Norton to send out letters
>to state officials soliciting suggestions for opening up national
>monuments for oil and gas drilling, coal mining, and foresting.
>11. Appointed John Negroponte - an un-indicted high-level Iran Contra
>figure to the post of United Nations Ambassador.
>12. Abandoned a campaign pledge to invest $100 million for rain forest
>conservation.
>13. Reduced by 86% the Community Access Program for public hospitals,
>clinics and providers of care for people without insurance.
>14. Rescinded a proposal to increase public access to information about
>the potential consequences resulting from chemical plant accidents.
>15. Suspended rules that would require hardrock miners to clean up sites
>on Western public lands.
>16. Cut $60 million from a Boy's and Girl's Clubs of America program for
>public housing.
>17. Proposed to eliminate a federal program, designed and successfully
>used in Seattle, to help communities prepare for natural disasters.
>18. Pulled out of the 1997 Kyoto Treaty global warming agreement.
>19. Cut $200 million of work force training for dislocated workers.
>20. Eliminated funding for the Wetlands Reserve Program, which
>encourages farmers to maintain wetlands habitat on their property.
>21. Cut program to provide childcare to low-income families as they move
>from welfare to work.
>22. Cut a program that provided prescription contraceptive coverage to
>federal employees (though it still pays for Viagra).
>23. Cut $700 million in capital funds for repairs in public housing.
>24. Appointed Otto Reich - an un-indicted high-level Iran Contra figure
>- to Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs.
>25. Cut Environmental Protection Agency budget by $500 million.
>26. Proposed to curtail the ability of groups to sue in order to get an
>animal placed on the Endangered Species List.
>27. Rescinded the rule that mandated increased energy-saving efficiency
>regulations for central air conditioners and heat pumps.
>28. Repealed workplace ergonomic rules designed to improve worker health
>and safety.
>29. Abandoned campaign pledge to regulate carbon dioxide, the waste gas
>that contributes to global warming.
>30. Banned federal aid to international family planning programs that
>offer abortion counseling with other independent funds.
>31. Closed White House Office for Women's Health Initiatives and
>Outreach.
>32. Nominated David Lauriski - ex-mining company executive - to post of
>Assistant Secretary of Labor for Mine Safety and Health.
>33. OK'd Interior Secretary Gale Norton to go forth with a controversial
>plan to auction oil and gas development tracts off the coast of eastern
>Florida.
>34. Announced intention to open up Montana's Lewis and Clark National
>Forest to oil and drilling.
>35. Proposes to re-draw boundaries of nation's monuments, which would
>technically allow oil and gas drilling "outside" of national monuments.
>36. Gutted White House AIDS Office.
>37. Renegotiating free trade agreement with Jordan to eliminate
>workers's rights and safeguards for the environment.
>38. Will no longer seek guidance from The American Bar Association in
>recommendations for the federal judiciary appointments.
>39. Appointed recycling foe Lynn Scarlett as Undersecretary of the
>Interior.
>40. Took steps to abolish the White House Council on Environmental
>Quality.
>41. Cut the Community Oriented Policing Services program.
>42. Allowed Interior Secretary Gale Norton to shelve citizen-led grizzly
>bear re-introduction plan scheduled for Idaho and Montana wilderness.
>43. Continues to hold up federal funding for stem cell research
>projects.
>44. Makes sure convicted misdemeanor drug users cannot get financial aid
>for college, though convicted murderers can.
>45. Refused to fund continued cleanup of uranium-slag heap in Utah.
>46. Refused to fund continued litigation of the government's tobacco
>company lawsuit.
>47. Proposed a $2 trillion tax cut, of which 43% will go to the
>wealthiest 1% of Americans.
>48. Signed a bill making it harder for poor and middle-class Americans
>to file for bankruptcy, even in the case of daunting medical bills.
>49. Appointed a Vice President quoted as saying "If you want to do
>something about carbon dioxide emissions, then you ought to build
>nuclear power plants." (Vice President Dick Cheney on "Meet the Press.")
>50. Appointed Diana "There is no gender gap in pay" Roth to the Council
>of Economic Advisers. (Boston Globe, March 28, 2001.)
>51. Appointed Kay Cole James - an opponent of affirmative action - to
>direct the Office of Personnel Management.
>52. Cut $15.7 million earmarked for states to investigate cases of child
>abuse and neglect.
>53. Helped kill a law designed to make it tougher for teenagers to get
>credit cards.
>54. Proposed elimination of the "Reading is Fundamental" program that
>gives free books to poor children.
>55. Is pushing for development of small nuclear arm to attack deeply
>buried targets and weapons, which would violate the Comprehensive Test
>Ban Treaty.
>56. Proposes to nominate Jeffrey Sutton - attorney responsible for the
>recent case weakening the Americans with Disabilities Act- to federal
>appeals court judgeship.
>57. Proposes to reverse regulation protecting 60 million acres of
>national forest from logging and road building.
>58. Eliminated funding for the "We the People" education program which
>taught School children about the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and
>citizenship.
>59. Appointed John Bolton - who opposes nonproliferation treaties and
>the U.N. - to Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International
>Security.
>60. Nominated Linda Fisher - an executive with Monsanto - for the
>number-two job at the Environmental Protection Agency.
>61. Nominated Michael McConnell - leading critic of the separation of
>church and state - to a federal judgeship.
>62. Nominated Terrence Boyle - ardent opponent of civil rights - to a
>federal judgeship.
>63. Canceled 2004 deadline for automakers to develop prototype high
>mileage cars.
>64. Nominated Harvey Pitts - lawyer for teen sex video distributor - to
>head SEC.
>65. Nominated John Walters - strong opponent of prison drug treatment
>programs - for Drug Czar. (Washington Post, May 16, 2001.)
>66. Nominated J. Steven Giles - an oil and coal lobbyist - for Deputy
>Secretary of the Interior.
>67. Nominated Bennett Raley - who advocates repealing the Endangered
>Species Act - for Assistant Secretary for Water and Science
>68. Is seeking the dismissal of class-action lawsuit filed in the U.S.
>against Japan by Asian women forced to work as sex slaves during WWII.
>69. Earmarked $4 million in new federal grant money for HIV and drug
>abuse prevention programs to go only to religious groups and not secular
>equivalents.
>70. Reduced by 40% the Low Income Home Assistance Program for low-income
>individuals who need assistance paying energy bills.
>71. Nominated Ted Olson- who has repeatedly lied about his involvement
>with the Scaiffe-funded "Arkansas Project" to bring down Bill Clinton -
>for Solicitor General.
>72. Nominated Terrance Boyle - foe of civil rights - to a federal
>judgeship.
>73. Proposes to ease permit process - including environmental
>considerations - for refinery, nuclear and hydroelectric dam
>construction. (Washington Post, May 18, 2001.)
>74. Proposes to give government the authority to take private property
>through eminent domain for power lines.
>75. Proposes that $1.2 billion in funding for alternative renewable
>energy come from selling oil and gas lease tracts in the Alaska National
>Wildlife Reserve.
>76. Plans on serving genetically engineered foods at all official
>government functions.
>77. Forced out Forest Service chief Mike Dombeck and appointed a timber
>industry lobbyist.
>
>>

=======================================================================================

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2001-11/uow-acf112601.php
--
'Odem yesode meofe vesofe leofe' - beyno-lveyno iz gut a trink bronfn.

Public release date: 26-Nov-2001

Contact: Rob Harrill
[email protected]
206-543-2580
University of Washington

Ancient Chinese folk remedy may hold key to non-toxic cancer treatment

Two bioengineering researchers at the University of Washington have discovered a promising
potential treatment for cancer among the ancient arts of Chinese folk medicine.

Research Professor Henry Lai and assistant research Professor Narendra Singh have exploited the
chemical properties of a wormwood derivative to target breast cancer cells, with surprisingly
effective results. A study in the latest issue of the journal Life Sciences describes how the derivative
killed virtually all human breast cancer cells exposed to it within 16 hours.

“Not only does it appear to be effective, but it’s very selective,” Lai said. “It’s highly toxic to the
cancer cells, but has a marginal impact on normal breast cells.”

The compound, artemisinin, isn’t new. It apparently was extracted from the plant Artemesia annua
L., commonly known as wormwood, thousands of years ago by the Chinese, who used it to combat
malaria. However, the treatment was lost over time. Artemisinin was rediscovered during an
archaeological dig in the 1970s that unearthed recipes for ancient medical remedies, and has become
widely used in modern Asia and Africa to fight the mosquito-borne disease.

The compound helps control malaria because it reacts with the high iron concentrations found in the
malaria parasite. When artemisinin comes into contact with iron, a chemical reaction ensues,
spawning charged atoms that chemists call “free radicals.” The free radicals attack cell membranes,
breaking them apart and killing the single-cell parasite.

About seven years ago, Lai began to hypothesize that the process might work with cancer, too.

“Cancer cells need a lot of iron to replicate DNA when they divide,” Lai explained. “As a result,
cancer cells have much higher iron concentrations than normal cells. When we began to understand
how artemisinin worked, I started wondering if we could use that knowledge to target cancer cells.”

Lai devised a potential method and began to look for funding, obtaining a grant from the Breast
Cancer Fund in San Francisco. Meanwhile, the UW patented his idea.

The thrust of the idea, according to Lai and Singh, was to pump up the cancer cells with maximum
iron concentrations, then introduce artemisinin to selectively kill the cancer. To accommodate a rate
of iron intake greater than normal cells, cancer cell surfaces feature greater concentrations of
transferrin receptors – cellular pathways that allow iron into a cell. Breast cancer cells are no
exception. They have five to 15 times more transferrin receptors on their surface than normal breast
cells.

In the current study, the researchers subjected sets of breast cancer cells and normal breast cells to
doses of holotransferrin (which binds with transferrin receptors to transport iron into cells),
dihydroartemisinin (a more water-soluble form of artemisinin) and a combination of both compounds.
Cells exposed to just one of the compounds showed no appreciable effect. Normal breast cells,
exposed to both compounds, exhibited a minimal effect. But the response by cancer cells when hit
with first holotransferrin, then dihydroartemisinin, was dramatic.

After eight hours, just 25 percent of the cancer cells remained. By the time 16 hours had passed,
nearly all the cells were dead.

An earlier study involving leukemia cells yielded even more impressive results. Those cells were
eliminated within eight hours. A possible explanation might be the level of iron in the leukemia cells.

“They have one of the highest iron concentrations among cancer cells,” Lai explained. “Leukemia
cells can have more than 1,000 times the concentration of iron that normal cells have.”

The next step, according to Lai, is animal testing. Limited tests have been done in that area. In an
earlier study, a dog with bone cancer so severe it couldn’t walk made a complete recovery in five
days after receiving the treatment. But more rigorous testing is needed.

If the process lives up to its early promise, it could revolutionize the way some cancers are
approached, Lai said. The goal would be a treatment that could be taken orally, on an outpatient
basis.

“That would be very easy, and this could make that possible,” Lai said. “The cost is another plus – at
$2 a dose, it’s very cheap. And, with the millions of people who have already taken artemisinin for
malaria, we have a track record showing that it’s safe.”

Whatever happens, Lai said, a portion of the credit will have to go to unknown medical practitioners,
long gone now.

“The fascinating thing is that this was something the Chinese used thousands of years ago,” he said.
“We simply found a different application.”

###

For more information, contact Lai at (206) 543-1071 or [email protected]. For more
information on the journal Life Sciences, check the Web at: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/lifescie

================================================= http://www.enn.com/news/enn-stories/2001/11/11282001/s_45678.asp
--
'Odem yesode meofe vesofe leofe' - beyno-lveyno iz gut a trink bronfn.

=====================================================================================

Pubdate: Sun, 16 Dec 2001
Source: Washington Post (DC)
Copyright: 2001 The Washington Post Company
Contact: [email protected]
Website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/491
Author: Ted Gup
Note: Ted Gup is the author of The Book of Honor: The Secret Lives and
Deaths of CIA Operatives and is a professor of journalism at Case Western
Reserve University.

THE COLDEST WARRIOR

Sid Gottlieb experimented with brainwashing, injected toothpaste with
toxins, dosed unsuspecting Americans with LSD-all in the name of defending
the free world. Which raises an uncomfortably relevant

We cannot afford methods less ruthless than those of our opposition.- John
Le Carre, The Spy Who Came In From the Cold

On a sunny afternoon in 1984, a 66-year-old retired CIA chemist named
Sidney Gottlieb prepared for a most unusual visitor. Three decades earlier
he had promised a widow named Alice Olson that if ever she wished to see
him she need only pick up the phone.

Now, out of the blue, she had called to redeem the pledge, asking if she
and her two sons could come to his remote retreat in Rappahannock County,
Va. What she wanted was answers-answers to what really happened to her husband.

The fate of Frank Olson, long stamped 'Top Secret,' was a dark and
cautionary tale of the Cold War. On November 19, 1953, Olson, a 43-
year-old scientist at Fort Detrick, had joined other government researchers
at Deep Creek Lodge in Western Maryland. There, an unseen hand had slipped
70 micrograms of LSD into his glass of Cointreau and the glasses of others.
The meeting soon degenerated into hours of drug-induced hilarity. But days
after, Olson was said to be sullen and withdrawn. A government official had
escorted him to New York to 'take care of him'-words his son Eric would
later use with grim irony. Shortly after 2:30 on the morning of November
28, 1953, Olson's body was discovered, bloodied and broken, on the pavement
of Manhattan's Seventh Avenue, clothed only in underpants and a T-shirt.The
government asked the family to believe that he had hurled himself through a
closed window on the 10th floor of the Statler Hotel, while a government
scientist assigned to keep an eye on him had slept in the next bed.

Soon after Olson's death, Gottlieb, posing as a Pentagon employee, paid his
respects to Alice Olson at her home in Frederick. He said if ever there was
anything he could do, just give him a call.

That visit unnerved her. Her coffee cup rattled in her hand. Twenty- two
years later, on June 11, 1975, she inadvertently discovered from a
Washington Post article describing her husband's death-without naming
him-that Frank Olson had been an unwitting guinea pig in an experiment in
mind control conducted by the CIA. Olson's sons, Eric and Nils, would reach
an even darker conclusion-that what happened to their father was no
accident. Only the man who headed the CIA's LSD program knew the whole
story. That was Sidney Gottlieb.

That sunny Virginia day in 1984, Gottlieb was anxious about the impending
visit. So were the Olsons. From the headlines, Gottlieb had emerged as a
kind of Dr. Strangelove. He had overseen a vast network of psychological
and medical experiments conducted in hospitals, universities, research
labs, prisons and safe houses, many of them carried out on unsuspecting
subjects-mental patients, prostitutes and their johns, drug addicts, and
anyone else who stumbled into the CIA's web. Some had been subjected to
electroshock therapy in an effort to alter their behavior. Some endured
prolonged sensory deprivation. Some were doped and made to sleep for weeks
in an attempt to induce an amnesia-like state. Others suffered a relentless
loop of audiotape playing the same message hundreds of thousands of times.

As the CIA's sorcerer, Gottlieb had also attempted to raise assassination
to an art form. Out of his labs had come a poisoned handkerchief designed
to do in a Libyan colonel, a bacteriological agent for a Congolese leader
and debilitating potions intended for Cuba's Fidel Castro. (None of these
toxins are known to have found their mark.) Hounded by reporters,
congressional investigators and his victims, Gottlieb had virtually
vanished from Washington in the mid-1970s. And now, there was a knock at
his door.

I began my quest in Washington, Va., population 192. 'Little Washington,'
it's affectionately called to set it apart from the more querulous
Washington an hour east. It is an idyllic landscape of hills and meadows
and clear brooks. People here dote on history, but not one another's past.
For Gottlieb, it was less Elba than Brigadoon. I stayed in an inn a pasture
away from the modest brick bungalow on Mount Salem Avenue where Gottlieb
passed his final year. I walked across the damp field to his back yard, the
air heavy with honeysuckle. A sundial lay on the ground beside an herb
garden. A tiny Oriental warrior stood watch. A wooden ramp was put in to
make Gottlieb's final comings and goings easier. This was archaeology,
sifting through the artifacts of another man's life.

Who was Sid Gottlieb? Early on I discovered that someone else had already
spent a lifetime asking that very question. That was Gottlieb himself.

He was born August 3, 1918, in New York City, to Louis and Fanny Gottlieb,
Hungarian immigrants and Orthodox Jews. Gottlieb was born with two
clubfeet. A cousin, Sylvia Gowell, recalls that when the blanket covering
his feet was first removed, his mother screamed. For years he was unable to
walk and was carried everywhere by his mother. Three times he underwent
surgery. Like his father, Louis, and brother David, Sidney stuttered.
Gottlieb studied Hebrew, was bar mitzvahed, and distinguished himself as a
student. His father ran a sweatshop, and later worked as a tailor. His
father's struggles doubtless helped mold his son's socialist vision of the
world.

At the University of Wisconsin, Gottlieb and roommate Stanley Mehr were
active in the Young People's Socialist League. In 1940, he graduated magna
cum laude with a degree in agriculture. His senior thesis: 'Studies on
Ascorbic Acid in Cowpeas, Vigna Sinensis.' Three years later, Gottlieb
earned a doctoral degree in chemistry from the California Institute of
Technology. There he met his wife, Margaret Moore, the daughter of a
Presbyterian missionary.

The couple moved to Washington, where Gottlieb went to work for the
Department of Agriculture. In the summer of 1944, while Mehr was in Europe
in the Army, he received a letter from Gottlieb boasting that his wife had
produced eight ounces of milk for their baby. Mehr wondered how Gottlieb
had measured the output of milk. He put the question to him in a letter.
Replied Gottlieb, he simply weighed the infant before and after nursing.
Vintage Gottlieb, ever the scientist.

In 1951, after jobs with the Department of Agriculture, the Food and Drug
Administration and the University of Maryland, Gottlieb joined the CIA.
John Gittinger conducted the agency's initial assessment of Gottlieb and
recalls, 'He always had a certain amount of 'guilt'-if you want to use that
word-about not being able to be in the service during World War II like all
his contemporaries because of his clubfoot, so he gave an unusual amount of
patriotic service to make up for that.'

Mehr remembers the day Gottlieb told him he had joined the CIA. 'I was
shocked,' recalls Mehr. 'How in the hell would they accept someone who was
a socialist?' he asked Gottlieb. 'Do they know you are a member of the
Young People's Socialist League?'

That, said Gottlieb, was the first thing he told the agency. CIA Director
Allen Dulles 'was astute enough to know that no one hated Communists more
than socialists,' observes Mehr.

At the time Gottlieb joined the agency, he and his wife owned 14 acres on
Beulah Road near Vienna, Va. They lived in a log cabin that had neither
running water nor an indoor toilet. Gottlieb rigged up an outdoor shower,
using a 50-gallon metal drum filled with icy cold water from a well. Over
time, Gottlieb modernized the house. The family sold Christmas trees and
goat's milk.

Given his background, Gottlieb was assigned to the CIA's chemical group. He
secretly worked out of a brick building catty-corner to the Department of
Agriculture on 14th Street. It was years before Mehr, an Agriculture
employee, discovered that his friend worked across the street.

Gottlieb was held in high esteem at the agency. 'Sid kept us from doing
crazy things when some of our case officers had crazy ideas,' recalls Sam
Halpern, former executive assistant to the head of clandestine operations.
One scheme Gottlieb is said to have helped nix was a 1960 plan to expose
Castro to an aerosol spray of LSD. Gottlieb argued that LSD was too
unpredictable, that Castro might take some action inimical to the United
States. 'Very resourceful, very intelligent and completely loyal to the
activity we were in,' says James Drum, Gottlieb's former boss.

The origins of Gottlieb's research into drugs and mind control date back to
the Korean War. American POWs appeared inexplicably compliant in the hands
of the enemy. Amid Cold War hysteria, reports circulated of POWs being
doped and 'brainwashed.' Intelligence reports suggested the Communists were
sinister puppet-masters holding sway over innocent Americans-the
'Manchurian Candidate' syndrome.

'The impetus for going into the LSD project,' Gottlieb would later
acknowledge, 'specifically rested in a report, never verified, I must say,
but it was there, that the Russians had bought the world supply' of LSD.
What kind of threat was this?'Somebody had to bell the cat and find out,'
says Halpern. 'That's how we all looked at it. We were all stumbling in the
dark.' So the CIA launched its own research. The most notorious project was
MK-ULTRA, created in 1953. It was, in Gottlieb's words, intended to explore
'various techniques of behavior control in intelligence operations.' It
funded an array of research, including electric-shock treatments, hypnosis
and experiments designed to program or deprogram a subject's memory.
Sometimes research bordered on the ludicrous. A top magician was retained
to help the agency practice sleight of hand, in part so that researchers
could slip LSD to the unsuspecting. Another trick: swizzle sticks
impregnated with the hallucinogen.

Gottlieb had primary say over the direction and funding of the program. It
was Gottlieb who decided to give doses to the unwitting. He even approached
agency colleagues asking for permission to dose them without notice. Many,
including Halpern, declined. In most instances it was not Gottlieb, but
rather a network of researchers on contract to the CIA who actually
administered the drugs. Gottlieb would later claim that he could not
personally be held accountable for any abuses, that he trusted in the
professionalism of the researchers.

By distancing himself from the specifics, he had hoped to immunize himself
and the agency. Gottlieb justified giving psychedelics to the unwitting on
the grounds that to do otherwise would skew the results. If the subject did
not know what was happening, he might well imagine that he was losing his
mind and unravel. That might undermine his capacity to resist interrogation.

Gottlieb himself told friends that he personally took LSD more than 200
times. He would lock himself in his office and record his every sensation.
It was not always clear where he drew the line between research and
recreational drug use. He once described how LSD affected him: 'I happened
to experience an out-of-bodyness, a feeling as though I am in a kind of
transparent sausage skin that covers my whole body and it is shimmering,
and I have a sense of well-being and euphoria for most of the next hour or
two hours, and then it gradually subsides.'

Gottlieb was present that night at Deep Creek Lodge when Olson,
unsuspecting, sipped his LSD-laced Cointreau-but nobody has ever proved
that Gottlieb's own hand mixed the drug with the drink.

Yet there is little doubt that he had approved the experiment.

'He was a wild man,' remembers covert operative Eloise Randolph Page, once
chief of the CIA's scientific operations branch. Page remembers John
Schwab, the scientific director at Fort Detrick and Olson's superior,
telling her he blamed Gottlieb for Olson's death. Shortly afterward, Schwab
told her, 'As long as I am head of Fort Detrick, Sid Gottlieb will never be
allowed inside the gates.'But despite a formal reprimand, Gottlieb's career
continued to evolve. Early in 1957 Gottlieb temporarily moved from
technical support to espionage. 'I propositioned him,' recalls William
Hood, a veteran operative. 'I said, 'You don't understand much of what goes
on in the boonies where the work is being done. If I get a job overseas,
why don't you come along and look at it from the inside out?' 'Gottlieb
liked the idea. For months he studied the tradecraft of spying. In
September 1957, he and his family moved to Munich. For two years, he worked
under cover, running foreign agents. One CIA officer recalls his help in
the case of a chemist who had escaped from East Germany. For months the CIA
had debriefed the chemist in a safe house. He claimed that he had provided
technical support to Communist intelligence services, but CIA headquarters
was not convinced that he was who he said he was. So Gottlieb was asked to
interrogate him. Within a single session, the officer recalls, Gottlieb
established that the chemist was telling the truth, and, in so doing,
exposed a system of 'secret writing' then in use by 'the other side.'

As chief of base in Munich, Hood was both Gottlieb's superior and his
friend. But Hood and Gottlieb had differences when it came to the subject
of drugs. 'Sid and I had a long debate about the use of drugs in
interrogations,' recalls Hood. 'He thought that-I hope I'm not slandering
the poor bastard-that it would be possible with the right drug . . . I
don't know what part of the brain screens indiscretions, but that it could
be suspended somehow, and that under some euphoria a person might be
responsive to whatever questions were asked.'

At the time, Hood's objections were more technical than moral: 'My view was
that 'seeing was believing.' He wasn't going to move me unless he came up
with a wonder drug of some kind, and I wasn't going to stop him from
continuing his research.'When the full extent of Gottlieb's drug research
came to light decades later, Hood was stunned. 'I do think he was entirely
out of line with some of the stuff they were doing,' says Hood. Still, he
defends his friend. 'It's the kind of thing I don't think anyone could
understand unless they had been involved in it,' he says. 'Intelligence
services should not be confused with the Boy Scouts.'

Ultimately, however, even Gottlieb gave up on LSD. In 1961 or 1962, in what
came to be known as the 'Gottlieb Report,' he concluded that as 'an
intelligence tool-it was inherently not effective.' Beyond that, he noted,
'there was a large disinclination on the part of the American intelligence
officers to use it-they found it distasteful and strange. They had moral
objections.'

In the fall of 1960, Gottlieb was secretly dispatched to Leopoldville, the
Congo. On September 19, 1960, a message went out from CIA headquarters
classified 'Eyes Only.' It was to Lawrence Devlin, the CIA's station chief,
advising him that he would be receiving a visitor-'Joe from Paris.' Days
later, Gottlieb intercepted Devlin near the U.S. Embassy. Devlin recognized
him at once. Gottlieb was familiar to Devlin and other operatives who had
come to rely upon him for the exotica of spycraft-recording devices, hidden
cameras, bugs, invisible ink, whatever was needed for a 'tech op.' Gottlieb
was to Devlin what 'Q' was to James Bond.

The two got into Devlin's Peugeot 403 and drove to a safe house. Devlin
turned up the volume on a radio while Gottlieb delivered his instructions.
What Gottlieb said left Devlin dumbfounded: Devlin was to assassinate
Patrice Lumumba, a charismatic leftist leader. 'Jesus Christ!' Devlin
thought. He had long worried about Soviet efforts to gain a foothold in the
Congo and had lobbied to get rid of Lumumba. But this was not what he had
in mind.

Gottlieb carefully withdrew a small kit containing a deadly toxin- whether
it was anthrax, tuberculosis or tularemia, Gottlieb could not later recall.
It was con-cealed within a tube of toothpaste. Gottlieb also set out a
hypodermic syringe-in case the toothpaste scheme failed-as well as rubber
gloves and a gauze mask. 'And just who authorized such a mission?' Devlin
asked. 'The president,' said Gottlieb. 'And how do you know that?' pressed
Devlin. 'Richard Bissell,' answered Gottlieb, naming the head of covert
operations.

Devlin now says Gottlieb showed no reluctance. But Devlin says he had no
intention of carrying out the assignment. Late one night, soon after
Gottlieb returned to Washington, Devlin tossed the bacteriological agent
into the Congo River, where it was carried over the cataracts and
disappeared. Four months later, Lumumba was killed, apparently by a rival
faction.

Devlin never blamed Gottlieb for the unsavory assignment. 'I thought he
[Gottlieb] got a bum rap for things his seniors knew were done,' he says.
'He was acting under instructions from his superiors.' Then he pauses.
'But, as we both know, as indicated by the boys who got hung at Nuremberg,
that is no excuse.'Gottlieb would later be held answerable before public
tribunals, but the private trials were most painful. His daughter Rachel
married Joel Samoff, a noted scholar of African affairs. Samoff feared that
Gottlieb's notoriety in Africa would impede his own scholarship and make
him a pariah on that continent. That animosity, say Mehr and other Gottlieb
friends, strained Gottlieb's relationship with Rachel.'I am not interested
in talking about my dad,' says Rachel. 'I don't want to be connected with
that history.'

In 1966 Gottlieb was named CIA chief of the technical services division.
His oversight was far-ranging. He supervised some of those who secretly
opened Americans' mail. He saw to it that a psychological profile of the
skipper of the Pueblo, the intelligence vessel captured by North Korea in
1968, was prepared for the president. His staff briefed the president's
medical personnel, prior to overseas trips, on the perils of an LSD attack.

In 1973, after two decades in the CIA, 55-year-old Gottlieb retired from
the agency. Prior to retirement he had been awarded the Distinguished
Intelligence Medal, one of the CIA's highest honors. He and his wife sold
their house in Vienna and most of their possessions. In May 1974, with two
suitcases, they commenced a two-year worldwide trip across Asia and Africa.
For months, Gottlieb volunteered in an Indian hospital. In July 1975 he and
his wife began an overland bus tour of the Mideast. A month later, Gottlieb
received a letter in Istanbul informing him of impending congressional
investigations of CIA covert operations.

That was the beginning of a series of front-page exposes revealing a long
list of CIA abuses. Americans were horrified. The war in Vietnam had just
ended. It was the era of post-Watergate revelations, a time of revulsion
and reform. It was also a time when the Olson family was offered some
measure of relief. On July 21, 1975, President Gerald Ford personally
apologized to the Olson family. Three days later, CIA Director William
Colby handed the family previously classified documents. A year later
Congress provided the Olsons a financial settlement of $750,000.Sid
Gottlieb had not been forgotten. He would be needed to testify, the
Istanbul letter informed him. Two days later Gottlieb returned to the
United States. He soon accepted a grant of immunity to testify before a
Senate committee. Unlike other witnesses, Gottlieb was allowed to testify
in private sessions. He had a weak heart, it was argued, and could not
stand the stress of public hearings.

Gottlieb did not allow himself any show of emotion, but inside he seethed.
He bristled at the long-ago reprimand he had received from Dulles in the
aftermath of the Olson episode. 'You exercised poor judgment in this case,'
Dulles had scolded. Gottlieb had reluctantly conceded that LSD may have
triggered what he called 'the suicide' but argued that 'it is practically
impossible for this drug to have any harmful effects.' Later he asserted,
'Lots of people get depressed.'

But it was not the criticism that had stung most. In a 1983 deposition in a
civil suit, Gottlieb would note: 'I remember feeling: 'Why don't these
people talk to me?' ' In testimony before a Senate committee, he admitted
that 'the specter of the suicide had haunted me many, many times since
November 1953.' He had considered quitting the CIA and taking up the study
of psychiatry 'to better understand the meaning of this tragic incident.'

But Olson's death didn't end CIA-funded experiments with LSD. Indeed,
according to records made public in the mid-'70s, the funding and scope of
that research expanded. Many of the details will likely never be known.
Gottlieb had destroyed the MK-ULTRA files just before retiring. The records
might be 'misunderstood,' he had said.

Among family and friends, Gottlieb blamed the CIA for failing to protect
him. In depositions, he revealed that he had urged the agency not to
release his name. 'I became aware after a while that the names of
essentially everybody but myself were deleted, but mine was left in, and I
asked my lawyer to object to that practice,' said Gottlieb. It did no good.
Gottlieb felt he had been made a scapegoat.

Margaret Gottlieb viewed the press and Congress with a measure of contempt:
Her husband, patriotic to a fault, had been treated no better than a war
criminal. As the hearings pressed on, Gottlieb might well have reflected on
the very different path taken by his brother David. Both were brilliant
researchers with PhDs. Both investigated plants for their medicinal
properties. Both were severe stutterers. But while Sidney had turned his
talents to searching for deadly toxins and potent hallucinogens with which
to do the CIA's bidding, David had become co-discoverer of lifesaving
antibiotics. Today, on the campus of the University of Illinois, where
David Gottlieb was a professor, a bronze plaque celebrates his achievements.

Outwardly, Sidney Gottlieb appeared unfazed by events. 'He certainly didn't
express it, but we don't know what went on inside this guy,' recalls David
Gottlieb's widow, Amy Zahl Gottlieb. 'Don't forget he was used to keeping
his feelings to himself, away from his family.' But there is little to
suggest that Gottlieb was racked by guilt. He had done what the nation had
asked of him. He wrote off the criticism as demagoguery and hypocrisy. Some
of the schemes for which he and the agency were blasted-for example,
assassination scenarios against Castro euphemistically called 'executive
action' capabilities- originated in the Oval Office of President John F.
Kennedy. A little more than a decade later, brother Ted, the senator, was
grilling Gottlieb for those very actions.

'Sid was being crucified,' says Ken Fienup, a close friend. 'He was doing
things that at the time were considered necessary and proper by our
government.' Fienup draws an analogy to his own career as an engineer who
worked on dams, once widely viewed as of great social benefit and now seen
by many as an affront to nature. It was as if history were a game of
musical chairs, and Gottlieb had been caught standing when the music stopped.

Other friends share that view. 'I don't think Sid was particularly
apologetic about things,' says Mehr. 'I don't see why he should have been.
I mean this was the Cold War-W-A-R.'

But a congressional committee headed by Sen. Frank Church rejected such
arguments. In the epilogue to its report, the committee concluded, 'The
United States must not adopt the tactics of the enemy. Means are as
important as ends. Crises make it tempting to ignore the wise restraints
that make men free. But each time we do so, each time the means we use are
wrong, our inner strength, the strength which makes us free, is lessened.'

After the congressional hearings, Gottlieb and his wife moved to California
to reassemble their lives. Gottlieb enrolled at San Jose State University
and earned a master's degree in education with a focus on speech pathology.
In 1980, he moved back east, to Rappahannock County. No longer cast as the
malevolent CIA scientist, Gottlieb was free to reinvent himself, to indulge
his passions for farming and his socialist's interest in communal living.

Gottlieb had become more withdrawn. In college he had ribbed Stanley Mehr
for quoting the Matthew Arnold poem 'Dover Beach,' dismissing it as
pessimistic. But in his last years, Gottlieb recited it to Mehr, having
committed the spectacularly dark final lines to memory:

. . . for the world, which seems

To lie before us like a land of dreams,

So various, so beautiful, so new,

Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,

Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help from pain;

And we are here as on a darkling plain

Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,

Where ignorant armies clash by night.

Even as his health deteriorated, he faced additional lawsuits from the
ghosts of his past. In 1952 Stanley Milton Glickman was an artist living in
Paris. Years later, Glickman would remember an American with a clubfoot who
had slipped LSD into his drink at a cafe, leaving him with recurrent
hallucinations-in essence, driving him mad. In the early '80s, Glickman
sued Gottlieb. When Glickman died in 1992, his sister continued the suit.

There was no evidence placing Gottlieb in Paris at the time, nor any other
evidence linking him to Glickman. When Gottlieb died, the suit was brought
against his estate. In time, even the judge passed away. Finally, in
1999-two months after Gottlieb's death-the suit was dismissed. Gottlieb's
estate prevailed.

'I just feel badly with what he had to put up with in the latter part of
his life,' recalls Mehr. 'He gradually became depressed, and it's hard to
say how much was due to his heart ailment and how much was due to the
endless lawsuits. He was not the same man the last few years of his life.'

When he died on March 6, 1999, secrecy descended once more. The Clore
English Funeral Home in Culpeper declined to disclose details of final
arrangements, not even the disposition of his ashes. The local paper, the
Rappahannock News, observed his passing with one terse paragraph. The last
line read, 'Services will be private.'

'It was the shortest obituary in history,' remembers editor Barbara
Wayland. The family had feared refueling old controversies. Nonetheless,
old recriminations resurfaced almost immediately. Major newspapers through
the United States and abroad dredged up the lurid details of Gottlieb's CIA
past. His obituary in the Times of London began, 'When Churchill spoke of a
world 'made darker by the dark lights of perverted science' he was
referring to the revolting experiments conducted on human beings by Nazi
doctors in the concentration camps. But his remarks might with equal
justice have been applied to the activities of the CIA's Sidney Gottlieb.'
The Guardian of London headlined its obituary 'The Real Manchurian
Candidate.' The Toronto Sun's obituary ran under the headline 'CIA Acid
Guru Dies.'

Such accounts found their way back to Rappahannock County. 'People were
tearing their hair out and beating their breasts saying he was evil
personified, and how could they reconcile that with the man they knew?'
recalls Lois Manookian, a close friend of Gottlieb's.

Many rallied to Gottlieb's defense. Bob Scott wrote a letter to the
Rappahannock News. 'The big city newspapers were not able to know the Sid
Gottlieb we knew so well,' Scott wrote. 'Sid Gottlieb personified the
spirit of the selfless servant.' For others, it was more difficult coming
to terms with the news. 'What we read about him was not the man we knew,'
says Kathy Clements, who ran the hospice.'It was hard for me to square that
up with the person I knew,' recalls the Rev. Phillip Bailey. 'It just kind
of floored me that he would have been involved in anything that would have
endangered people without them knowing it. He was a very gentle, caring
person.'

Says attorney Frank Reynolds, 'If he did the things that he did-that they
say he did-how do I put this? If he did the things he did, it requires an
ability to put research above other things and it sure looked to me like he
put human things above other things in the time I knew him.'

Many have reached the same inexorable conclusion, the one articulated by
Rose Ann Sharp, who worked in the preschool where Gottlieb volunteered: 'I
always thought that a lot of Sid's later life was spent atoning, whether he
needed to or not, for how he had been exposed publicly as some sort of evil
scientist.'

'I felt that he was on a path of expiation, whether consciously or
unconsciously,' agrees Rabbi Carla Theodore. In part she came to that
conclusion after the revelations of Gottlieb's CIA past, but there were
earlier hints. Theodore remembers him commiserating with a friend who said
she had a past that had to be kept hidden.

'I, too, have done things I really regret,' Gottlieb told her. 'But I am
learning to keep it to myself.' For a time, Gottlieb told Theodore, his own
adult children were not speaking to him. 'There were enough cries of horror
from near and far,' says Theodore. 'It was an extremely big fact of his
past. Somehow he was living around it. It was there like a pink elephant.

'I once asked him if I could talk to him about it, and he said, 'Yes, not
many people asked.' But the thing was, his answers were so defended that I
gave up after a few minutes. It was a barrier. I wasn't going to get the
truth. He was a delightful person to interact with, but at the same time I
feel he grieved and suffered and that that was always there. Maybe in
retrospect he was as puzzled by what he had done as we were who heard about
it.'

Says Lois Manookian, 'He had given his heart and soul to the CIA, and
because he made some mistakes, he suddenly found himself to be a national
demon.'But 'he was always the same person,' insists Manookian. 'He did not
become a different person 20 years ago. He was a man of great honor and
great integrity.'What Manookian saw in Sid Gottlieb was a man of deep faith
who sometimes put it in the wrong place. 'He was not a monster but a man,'
says Manookian, 'He was, and is, us, and we didn't want to see it.'

In the end, his life, like many, was riddled with contradictions. He rarely
spoke of the CIA, and when he did, he sometimes uttered what would have
been apostasy to a younger Sidney Gottlieb. Gottlieb friend Butch Zindel
says that Gottlieb told him he had never really believed that communism was
the threat it was made out to be. 'We wasted a lot of money and a lot of
people fighting it,' he once said.

In 1993 Gottlieb declined an interview with U.S. News & World Report,
saying only that he was 'on the side of the angels now.'

Gottlieb's two worlds came together for one brief afternoon in the gym of
the old schoolhouse across from Gottlieb's home. There, perhaps 200
gathered for his memorial service, bearing casseroles and covered dishes.
Most who spoke were neighbors and friends from his second life, but there
were also white-haired men from Langley who did not speak publicly but
mingled afterward. The arc of his life had stretched from one Washington to
the other. The first had all but branded him a monster. The second all but
canonized him.

'Ah-poor Sid Gottlieb,' says Richard Helms, a former director of the CIA.
'He has been heavily persecuted, but to bail him out of the troubles he's
in would take a lot more than just a few minutes and I'm not sure I'd be
much of a contributor to it. The nation just saw something they didn't like
and blasted it, and he took the blame for it.'

Now 88 and editing his own memoirs, Helms has chosen to delete all
reference to MK-ULTRA. 'I see no way to handle it in the amount of space I
have available,' he says.

Gottlieb's CIA associate John Gittinger maintained his friendship with
Gottlieb after retirement, but the two rarely spoke of their travails.
Still, Gittinger believes Gottlieb suffered from the investigations and
lawsuits. 'His was twice as bad as mine, and mine was terrible,' says
Gittinger. 'I have a feeling that Sid was left out on a limb as far as
support from the agency was concerned.'Even now, Gottlieb has not fully
escaped his past. Eric Olson, who lost his father 48 years ago, is
preparing to sue the government, claiming that his earlier settlement was
tainted by lies. His father's skeleton, potential evidence, rests under
lock and key in the office of forensic pathologist James Starrs. Tissue
samples are in labs in Florida and Pennsylvania.

But Gottlieb's life raised a question broader than any that will ever be
addressed in court. It was the subtext of every obituary, the unspoken
question on the lips of mourners: how to reconcile the two Sid Gottliebs.
One is humble and compassionate, an altruist eager to ease the miseries of
the weak and sick. The other, a heedless Cold Warrior, is willing to
experiment on innocents or unleash anthrax in the name of national security.

It is hard to argue that Sid Gottlieb was not a product of his time. His
life reflected the same polarities that defined the Cold War, the virtues
and vices of extreme patriotism, the promise and perversion of science. He
inhabited another era-a time of smothering conformity, loyalty oaths, witch
hunts, segregation, lobotomies, sterilizations and radiation experiments.

As recently as August, many might have found it easy to look back at those
excesses as virtually medieval and call them 'unthinkable,' a handy term to
distance ourselves from unsavory elements of our own past. But what was
unthinkable in summer is no longer so in autumn. This season, we don't need
Gottlieb or anyone else to convince us of the hidden threats and potential
horrors we face. We can see it in the endless loop of the news.

The revulsion felt at secret American schemes of assassination has given
way to the fervent hope of some that our assassins will be more successful
this time. A recent national poll revealed that one in three Americans is
ready to sanction torture in the interrogation of terrorism suspects. Once
again, the good we do and the evil we are capable of glide within the same
tight orbit.
___________________________________________________Pubdate: Sat, 08 Dec 2001
Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Copyright: 2001 The Vancouver Sun
Contact: [email protected]
Website: http://www.canada.com/vancouver/vancouversun/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477
Page D5
Author: Ross Crockford

B.C.'S ACID FLASHBACK

Long before Timothy Leary and the Summer of Love, patients at Hollywood
Hospital in New Westminster were being treated with LSD.

Ross Crockford connects the microdots

To Rick Doblin, New Westminster's Hollywood Hospital was a far-off place of
myth and legend. It was 1972, and being a college student in Florida, he
was keen to expand his mind. So he wrote to the hospital to see whether he
could undergo its most famous treatment; a 12-hour trip into his
consciousness, under the influence of pure Sandoz LSD.

"It was the only place left where you could have a guided LSD experience in
a controlled setting," Doblin says. But the hospital told him it would
cost $600, more than an 18-year-old could afford, and the trip never happened.

He never forgot about that hospital, though. After doing a PhD in public
policy at Harvard, he became director of the Multidisciplinary Association
for Psychedelic Studies, a Florida-based research group that designs
experiments using mind-altering drugs in psychiatric therapy. Last month
Doblin was in the news because the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had
approved a MAPS-designed study using MDMA (better known as Ecstasy) for
post-traumatic stress disorder. Now Doblin is helping create an experiment
using LSD - which, like MDMA, was successfully used by therapists for years
before it was outlawed. So he's set his sights once again on Hollywood
Hospital - or at least the files for the thousands of patients who were
treated there with LSD between 1957 and 1975.

"Mystery hung over it like a cloak," says Ben Metcalfe. Back in the 1950s,
Hollywood Hospital - located inside an enormous mansion obscured by holly
trees - was known mainly as an alcoholic treatment centre, the place Wacky
Bennett's ministers went to dry out after too many meetings around the
liquor cabinet. But in 1959 Metcalfe, a staff writer at The Province,
started hearing strange stories about a powerful drug being tessted at the
hospital, and he decided to check it out.

Lysergic acid diethylamide was perfectly legal back then. First
synthesized in 1938 by the Swiss pharmaceutical firm Sandoz AG, the drug
was first marketed to psychiatrists after the Second World War as a tool to
"elicit release of repressed material." By the 1950s, reports of miracle
cures started to circulate, especially from Saskatchewan, where
psychiatrists claimed that up to 60 per cent of their alcoholic patients
stopped boozing after one huge dose of LSD.

Hollywood Hospital's new medical director, Dr. J. Ross MacLean, started
using the same technique. But the B.C. College of Physicians and Surgeons
was skeptical, and it petitioned the government to revoke the hospital's
funding. MacLean needed some good press. That's why one morning Ben
Metcalfe found himself in Hollywood Hospital's therapy suite, downing 400
micrograms of liquid Sandoz LSD - 20 times the average hit of today's
illegal street acid - served up in a crystal chalice.

"For a long time I took it to be the great experience of my life," says
Metcalfe, who later became one of the founding members of Greenpeace, then
a Zen monk, and now is 82 and living on Vancouver Island. "Then I woke up
again to the fact that life itself is a great experience. And that
includes the LSD experience."

For 12 straight hours, Metcalfe was thrust into "the blastfurnace of
truth," as he described it in a series of articles for the The Province -
weeping at the beauty of his hands, replaying every memory of his life,
wading into the Milky Way and measuring his own insignificance against the
infinite majesty of the cosmos. "Then I became part of men again and
joined their quarrels, not as a so-called civilized man, but as a
frightened, primitive thing looking into the faces of all the gods," he
wrote. As he discovered, LSD therapy forced patients to realize that they
were utterly alone, and responsible for their fate. It packed years of
psychoanalysis into a single day.

But it worked best when the trip was directed by a good therapist, and in
that respect Metcalfe was lucky. His guide was Al Hubbard, "the Johnny
Appleseed of LSD," the guy who turned on Timothy Leary for the first time a
year later, in 1960, Hubbard, the gregarious owner of a Vancouver-based
uranium mining company and a devout Catholic, first experienced LSD in the
late 1940s, and had made it his life's mission to spread the gospel of
psychedelics around the world. Though he hailed from the backwoods of
Kentucky, Hubbard was a full-blown mystic. He'd discovered that a massive
dose of LSD opened up a profound and terrifying spiritual awareness, and
he'd started developing techniques to guide patients tothe Other World -
getting them to write out extensive autobiographies recounting their
hang-ups and traumas beforehand, and then, while they were on LSD, using
religious icons, the music of Bach, or artwork (Salvador Dali's
vertigo-inducing "Christ of St. John of the Cross" was a favourite) to
evoke spiritual associations. Hubbard had helped design the successful
therapies used in Saskatchewan (a story documented in this month's issue of
Western Living magazine) so when he turned up at Hollywood Hospital,
MacLean let him build an LSD suite, complete with a fireplace and a giant
womb-like sofa.

"He knew more about life than the average person," says Metcalfe of
Hubbard, who died in 1982. "He had an affectionate contempt for social
schemes or psychological designs. He was a believer, but a sophisticated
Catholic - what the French call les elus, the 'elect.' He knew that God
winks at the occasional sin."

Indeed, God seemed to be on Hubbard's side. In December of 1957, Hubbard
inspired a monsignor at Vancouver's Holy Rosary Cathedral to write a letter
of introduction for those taking the LSD journey. Just to be safe, the
letter asked "Our Heavenly Mother the Virgin Mary, [and] all who call upon
Her to aid us to know and understand the true qualities of these
psychedelics - and according to God's laws to use them for the benefit of
mankind here and in eternity."

With that kind of approval and Hubbard's business contacts, LSD became
legit. As Metcalfe later reported, Vancouver Sun publisher Don Cromie
enjoyed an LSD session at Hollywood, as did the Sun's fashion editor. The
courts and the Salvation Army started referring alcoholics to the hospital,
and a few church leaders even took the trip themselves. "LSD therapy
enabled patients to see themselves differently, and to 'happen' in another
way," says Ray Woollam, who was a 32-year-old United Church minister when
he visited Hollywood Hospital in 1958, and now is a self-help author in
Duncan. "That's what human change is about, not from the insights of an
analyst."

In academic papers, Hubbard and MacLean claimed a success rate of 80 per
cent with their alcoholic patients. Whether that number could stand up to
scrutiny is debatable, but their techniques certainly brought about some
extraordinary conversions. Metcalfe did follow-up interviews with 15
patients - radio executives, lawyers, prostitutes - and they all told him
they'd been transformed by LSD therapy. "Drunken housewives, the
sherry-party ones up in the British Properties, they were the most
pathetic. I saw several of those women changed completely."

One of the patients, Barrie Leggatt remembers he was so riddled with
anxiety that he could barely hold his job as an inventory clerk. But
during his LSD session, Hubbard showed him a bouquet of roses. "He said,
'Now hate them.' They withered and the petals fell off, and I started to
cry. Then he said 'Love them,' and they came back brighter and even more
spectacular than before. That meant a lot to me," Leggatt says at his home
in Victoria. "I realized that you can make your relationships into
anything you want. The way I was having trouble with people was coming
from me."

"It's kind of like being reborn," he continues. "You're ready to see
things anew. But little by little you keep running up against the same
problems, because the outside world's the same. There was no follow-up,
and that's a shame, because the expeience was so good. I still think LSD's
got great potential."

Leggatt also spent some time with Hubbard tootling around town in Hubbard's
two-tone Rolls Royce, and flying over to his three-bedroom retreat on
Dayman Island, in the southern Gulf Islands, in one of his private planes.
Legend has it that Hubbard kept an LSD lab on the island, but Leggatt says
he didn't see anything of the kind - although Hubbard did keep ducking out
to take mind-bending hits of carbogen a mixture of carbon dioxide and
oxygen he kept in scuba tanks in the boathouse.

"The front was always benign, but you always felt there was a hell of a lot
going on behind him," says Leggatt. As Metcalfe fund out, Hubbard served
with the Office of Strategic Services (the predecessor to the U.S. Central
Intelligence Agency) during the war, and had been involved with shipping
uranium for the Manhattan Project - connections leading some to speculate
Hubbard was really working for the CIA, which experimented with LSD as a
mind-control drug in its notorious MKULTRA program. (In 1980 the B.C.
government actually investigated possible CIA involvement at Hollywood
Hospital, but was unable to find any conclusive evidence.)

Metcalfe says Hubbard always maintained that LSD should be used for the
enlightenment and betterment of mankind. But Hubbard did become a
government agent again: When "bathtub" acid started showing up on the
street, he was so enraged that the holy sacrament was being defiled by
criminals that he went to work for the FDA, and in 1963 he particapted in a
sting operation against two Vancouver LSD dealers who'd beaten Metcalfe
near to death.

Hubbard had left Vancouver by then, reportedly because he'd argued with
MacLean about the extravagant fees that hospital charged for an LSD session
- anywhere from $500 to $1,000 - and he moved to California and started
dosing business executives. (For more of this story, check out "Storming
Heaven: LSD and the American Dream" by Jay Stevens.) MacLean continued the
paid sessions, and soon became so wealthy he was able to plunk down enough
cash to buy Casa Mia, the most extravagant property on Southwest Marine
Drive. But he needed more staff, and he hired Frank Ogden, a helicopter
pilot from Toronto who'd shown up on the hospital's doorstep after reading
about LSD in Maclean's magazine.

Ogden, who's now 81 and calls himself "Dr. Tomorrow," making
prognostications about the future from his wired Coal Harbour houseboat,
was Hollywood's resident therapist from 1961 to 1968. During that time, he
recalls, a New York clinic recruited Hollywood's doctors to speculate about
the possible ways LSD could be used as a terrorist weapon. "There was a
big fear that someone would throw a bucket of juice into a reservoir and a
whole city would go crazy," Ogden says, but they determined it wouldn't
work because LSD is neutralized by the iron in tap water. Clearly the U.S.
government was worried. Timothy Leary was campaigning for the widespread
public use of psychedelics, and alarming (though utterly false) stories
about chromosome damage and blindness caused by LSD were apearing in the
news. In 1966, the U.S. banned LSD completely. But it was still leagal in
Canada, and curious Yankees started showing up at Hollywood Hospital, cash
in hand.

"We had a big clientele from California," Ogden says. "Out of the 1,100 or
so we did, certainly a hundred were household names." He's coy about
revealing exactly who they were, though. Cary Grant? "Let's say he was in
the area," Ogden replies. But there are stories in print: the 1985 book
"Acid Dreams: The CIA LSD and th Sixties Rebellion", for example, mentions
that Robert Kennedy's wife Ethel underwent LSD therapy at Hollywood
Hopsital. And earlier this year, the easy-listening singer Andy Williams
told the British newspaper, The Guardian, that he dropped acid "three or
four times" in New Westminster to deal with his marital problems.

"It was interesting," the Moon River crooner said. "You go back and see
yourself being born, see yourself pooping in your diapers, you go through a
lot of stuff. It changed me - I came out realizing that the only things
important to me were family, friends and love. Maybe that's why I'm so cool."

Celebrities also worked at the hospital. Mimsy Farmer, a starlet whose
oeuvre mainly consisted of biker films, told Variety early in 1967 that she
was heading to Vancouver to become a "psychedelic therapeutic assistant."

Ogden recalls that Farmer was only at the hospital briefly, because she'd
had a bad trip during her "training." But the experience informed her
work: in her next picture, Riot on Sunset Strip, she performed one of the
most outrageous LSD-freakout scenes ever committed to celluloid.

Vancouver's establishment was not amused. In 1967, led by crusading Point
Grey MLA (and UBC neurologist) Pat McGeer, the provincial government passed
a law banning LSD, although a judge later struck it down because it was
unconstitutional. New Westminster politicians also started pressuring
MacLean, threatening to have the hospital shut down for violations of the
fire code. Ottawa started putting more and more restrictions on LSD, and
the province pulled all its funding from Hollywood Hospital in 1975. So
when developers made a lucrative offer to MacLean that year, he sold the
property, and six months later it was torn down and replaced by the the
Westminster Mall.

The hospital's files still exist, however-just before he died, MacLean gave
them to Frank Ogden, the patients' lengthy autobiographies included. As
you'd expect of a man with an eye on the future, Ogden's holding out for a
TV deal.

"There's more than a book," he says. "Any one of these stories is bigger
than an episode of the X-Files. And this is reality." Actually, a movie
featuring Hollywood Hospital is already in the works: Ogden was recently
interviewed by the National Film Board, which is completing a documentary
on the history of LSD due to be released in February.

Of course, Rick Doblin and MAPS are also interested in the Hollywood files;
Doblin says that could help confirm that, used in a controlled setting, LSD
therapy is safe and effective. But after all that's happened, would the
U.S. government ever let anyone experiment with LSD?

Doblin thinks so. The widespread use of anti-depressants has made people
more aware about the relationship between consciousness and chemistry. "But
Prozac you're supposed to take every day, forever, and MDMA and LSD you're
only supposed to take a few times under controlled therapy - they're really
designed to go beyond drugs, they're designed to deal with causes as
opposed to symptom relief," Doblin says.

And mainstream culture has changed a great deal since the 1960s. "Now
we've got football players doing yoga.

"All sorts of people are familiar with the idea of near-death experience -
we've adopted that into our culture. The high-dose mystical psychedelic
experience isn't so alien to us any more."

Like it or not, a long-repressed part of Vancouver's history may be due for
a flashback.
__________________________________________________________________________
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in
receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
---
MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart

_______________________
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in
receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom

=================================================================================

http://www.uudpr.org/uuasoc.pdf

This contains a draft statement on drug policy that is being circulated among UUA groups for
possible changes before it is brought up at the UUA General Assembly next summer.

====================================================================================

http://www.yahooka.com/
--
'Odem yesode meofe vesofe leofe' - beyno-lveyno iz gut a trink bronfn.

====================================================================================
Dear MAPS Members & Friends~

We are sending this e-mail message to you now to call your attention to
an article about MAPS and MDMA psychotherapy research which will appear in
the upcoming Sunday New York Times (11/18) in the ŒWeek in Review¹ section.
We're also writing to request that you please consider MAPS in your
end-of-year charitable donations.

On November 2, 2001, the FDA approved MAPS¹ protocol for the study of
MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for the treatment of patients suffering from
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). This is a historic development because
MAPS has been working to initiate MDMA-assisted psychotherapy research for
15
years, since MAPS was founded in 1986. The protocol itself is posted on the
MAPS website.
http://www.maps.org/research/mdma/protocol/index.html

FDA approval of MAPS' MDMA/PTSD protocol has garnered a considerable
amount of media attention. There have been stories in the New York Times,
the
Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, newspapers across the country, the
London Times and the Guardian, Israel's Haaretz newspaper, Time Magazine,
and on
CNN, BBC, and the CBC in Canada. The Denver Post even editorialized in
favor
of the research and applauded the FDA for approving the study. Many of these
articles are posted on the MAPS website in the 'MAPS in the Media' section.
http://www.maps.org/media/index.html

MAPS is now starting a campaign to raise $250,000 to fund the
FDA-approved MDMA/PTSD research project and to complete MAPS' Spain
MDMA/PTSD
dose-response study. Donations for other research projects and for
educational and organizational efforts are also needed.

MAPS is contributing to a study investigating the use of psilocybin in
the
treatment of obsessive/compulsive disorder (OCD), at the University of
Arizona. This study is the first time in over 27 years that psilocybin has
been administered to patients in the context of an FDA-approved protocol.
http://www.maps.org/news/1099news.html
MAPS is also contributing to groundbreaking research in Russia into the use
of ketamine-assisted psychotherapy in the treatment of heroin addiction.
http://www.maps.org/research/ketamine/ketrussia.html

The current issue of the MAPS Bulletin is at the mailing house. MAPS
members will be receiving it in about 3 weeks. Also, MAPS is proud to
announce the publication of our latest book, "Drawing It Out," written and
illustrated by Sherana Harriette Frances. Sherana participated in LSD
research in the early 1960s and illustrated her experiences in a series of
61
drawings. The book is printed in 8 1/2 X 11 size. MAPS now has six books
available see our website for ordering information.

Now, more than ever before, MAPS needs and can strategically use your
renewed support. In these challenging times of war, grieving and economic
stress, please consider making a generous donation to MAPS so that we can
expand our educational efforts and conduct research into the healing
potential of psychedelics and marijuana.

Proudly and Persistently and Psychedelically Yours,

Rick Doblin, Ph.D.
MAPS President

====================================================================================

This is a prepublication draft of my review to be
published in the February 2002 issue of the MAPS Bulletin, which focuses on the theme of "Sex,
Spirit, and Psychedelics." — TR
=====================

Myth, Mind, and Molecule

"ENTHEOS: The Journal of Psychedelic Spirituality"

A welcome addition to scholarly and scientific publications about entheogens is "Entheos", whose
printed-on-demand premier issue came out in July 2001. As it presents itself: "Entheos is a
community of enthusiasts, scholars and
scientists who share a common interest in the role of entheogens as it pertains to human spirituality."

The first article is a reprint of the 1979 article which proposed the word "entheogen" as a more
socially acceptable
replacement for the word "psychedelic." With its "strong ‘Wassonian’ slant toward academic
questions in anthropology, religious studies, art history, and history," "Entheos" hopes to span at least
two readerships, both specialists and a wide popular readership. Judging from
its premier issue, it looks like it will be able to accomplish this.

Among the shorter more popular articles, are two brief tributes to entheogenic pioneers (R. Gordon
Wasson and Richard Schultes), an informal dialogue between the editor and his mother about
folk traditions of Amanita muscaria use in northern Germany, and Blaise Staples’s reminisces about a
visit to Wasson in his Danbury, CT., home.

Other short articles are an interview with Rick Strassman and Staples’s new translation of "The
Phoenix" by early Roman-Christian Lactanius. In addition to a colorful cover, both back and front,
visual attractions of this issue include several pages of color photographs of Amanita muscaria near
the center of this issue. These are, I suppose, "Entheos’s" contributions toward erotic centerfolds.

Two articles "Conjuring Eden" and "Old Gods in New Bottles" are scholarly additions to the growing
literature which gives a Wassonian interpretation to classical times and Western religious history.
Both are heavily referenced,
but numbered by endnotes so that reading flow is not interrupted. I particularly liked the presentation
of the numerous pictures in a two-step process. First the whole item (painting, sculpture, artifact) is
shown; nearby is a detailed close-up of, say, the mushroom depicted in the larger work. Doing a nice
job of harmonizing print publication with electronic publication, another enriching touch is that
additional images are "web-cited"; that is, they can be found at the publisher’s website.

In keeping with their impressive scholarship in "The Apples of Apollo" — which examines with
admirable thoroughness leads on entheogens in ancient Greek and related area cultures— in this
issue of "Entheos" Ruck, Staples, and Heinrich extend their myco-sleuthing into the Middle Ages and
Renaissance. I expect we are getting an early view of information that will make its way into another
book on the hidden story of entheogens during these periods. I hope
so.

Mark Hoffman, "Entheos’s" editor, has recruited an interdisciplinary group which establishes
"Entheos’s" credibility and its promise of future intellectual contributions. Its Executive Committee is
Ruck, Staples, and Heinrich, and its Advisory Board consists of Frank Barron, Jay Fikes, Robert
Forte, Mark Kasprow, Stanley Krippner, Dale Pendell, Daniel Perrine, and Peter Webster. These
pretty well sample entheogenic interests from myth to mind to molecule.

I hope "Entheos" will be able to publish articles from these
specialties for the general reader without getting too specialized in its vocabulary or without requiring
its readers to have specialized background knowledge. The premier issue manages it.

"Entheos: The Journal of Psychedelic Spirituality" joins "Eleusis: Journal of Psychoactive Plants and
Compounds" and "The Heffter Review" (pray for its rebirth) as the strongest journals dedicated to
general
entheogenic/psychedelic scholarship. It’s a welcome contribution, and its appearance marks another
milestone in psychedelic/entheogenic scholarship.

Entheos
PO Box 40023
San Diego, CA. 92164-0023

tel: (619) 999-6086
http://www.entheomedia.com
[email protected]

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