Doctor Ecstasy

By Sam Boykin, Creative Loafing

Contrary to what it may sound like, we haven't lifted the above passage from some radical pamphlet written by Timothy Leary in the 60s. Rather, it describes what Rick Doblin is hoping will one day become the norm -- or at least legal -- using psychedelics such as Ecstasy and LSD for medical and therapeutic purposes.

Doblin is the founder and president of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), an organization he started in 1986. For most of the 90s, the organization was headquartered in Doblin's Plaza/Midwood home in Charlotte. Lately, Doblin's efforts have received a good deal of national publicity, specifically in articles in Rolling Stone and the Boston Phoenix. Doblin describes MAPS as a membership-based, non-profit research and educational organization that assists scientists in the study, design and approval of MDMA, psychedelic drugs and marijuana for therapeutic and medical purposes. Doblin would probably take exception to our comparison of him with Timothy Leary. In fact, one of Doblin's criticisms of the whole 60s psychedelic era was the simplified notion that the psychedelic experience in and of itself was all you needed to achieve some kind of therapeutic breakthrough. Doblin says it's not that simple.

"Psychedelics like Ecstasy create a sense of well-being and foster empathy and introspection," Doblin said. "But part of the therapy is that you acknowledge your mistakes and make reparations to the people you've wronged. So it brings out things you've repressed, and you have to deal with that. That's what happens sometimes when people have bad trips. But if you do it in a safe environment, and there are people there to help you deal with it, it's not so much of a burden."

These qualities, Doblin says, make the drug particularly useful in confronting a wide variety of difficult or emotionally challenging issues, such as post-traumatic stress disorder, the trauma of sexual assault, coming to terms with a terminal illness, and even working out relationship problems. Obviously, this isn't a popular belief in mainstream medical and psychological circles, and organizations like the National Institute on Drug Addiction warn that MDMA produces long-term changes in serotonin function, which can lead to a host of behavioral problems.

In 1998, CL interviewed Doblin about a MAPS study that focused on renowned Los Angeles psychiatrist Oscar Janiger. During the 50s, Janiger conducted a series of experiments to observe the effects of the mind-altering drug lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) on approximately 900 volunteers, including celebrities like Cary Grant, Jack Nicholson and James Coburn. MAPS tracked down 47 of these original "patients," and based on the subjects' original notes describing their experiences as well as a series of interviews, discovered that nearly all the subjects vividly remembered their psychedelic experiences, and felt that they had gained some valuable insight into who they were.

We recently caught up with Doblin again, who has since moved to Belmont, MA where the 47-year-old lives with his wife and three kids, and where he recently earned a Ph.D. in Public Policy at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. He has also moved the MAPS headquarters to "Arcturus," a house he built in Sarasota, Florida 27 years ago to "help with his tripping." (More on that later.)

Over the years, with Doblin as its driving force, MAPS has emerged as the most active and prolific agency in the promotion of psychedelics and marijuana for medical purposes, personal growth, creativity and therapy. And against all odds, the group seems to be making some headway.

Tripping Out

The path that led Doblin on his unique and controversial mission started when he was just a teenager. It was 1971, and Doblin was a 17-year-old freshman at New College in Sarasota, FL, where there were lots of parties, lots of girls, and lots of drugs. Rick took to them all with equal zest, especially the drugs.

"I took a whole bunch of acid," Doblin said. "The thing about acid is back in the 60s and 70s you did it for religious and spiritual reasons, to explore who you were, and where you were going. And back then doses were a lot higher. LSD was like 200 micrograms; today doses are like 50. So it was a very different era."

After diving headfirst into this journey of psychedelic self-exploration, it didn't take long before things started getting a little too weird, even for Rick.

"It was a bit too much for me," he said. "I was using acid for personal growth, to try to better understand myself. But it was a very tricky and difficult process. I wanted too much too fast. I ended up dropping out of college to deal with my difficult psychedelic experiences. I had been exploring so much of my inner world, I felt that if I were to get into the physical world and build things, it would be a healthy way to get grounded."

To that end, and with the financial help of his dad, Rick built a handball court at the college. Rick derived such comfort and reassurance from the simple act of working with his hands and creating something physical and lasting, that a few years later, in 1974, he decided to build a house, and in the process create a haven for his psychedelic experiences -- hence Arcturus was born. While the house is situated in a typical Florida neighborhood, surrounded by stucco ranches and bungalows with red-tiled roofs and neatly manicured lawns, Doblin's cedar-sided, rambling two-story house is a little different.

"I built the house as both a place where a family could live, but also to help with my tripping," Doblin said. "The materials and design both conduce and enhance psychedelic experiences."

Doblin describes the unique abode as a "beautiful wood house with lots of artistic touches, natural materials, stained glass windows, granite walls, odd angles and moveable closets." Scattered throughout the house is psychedelic artwork by the Mexican tribe "Huichol," which use peyote in their religious rituals, and create yarn paintings depicting their peyote visions.

The second floor is where the hexagon-shaped master bedroom, or "main tripping spot," is located, Doblin explains. "It's got a 12-foot-high ceiling, a giant skylight, and 360-degree windows, so you can see out in all directions."

As the 70s gave way to the 80s, Doblin continued to experiment and explore the effects of psychedelics, and eventually gravitated toward the work of Stanislav Grof. A noted LSD researcher and therapist, Grof talked about the scientific, spiritual and therapeutic qualities of psychedelics, and stressed that they could be used to help people deal with difficult emotions. So impressed was Doblin by this philosophy, he went to study with Grof at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, CA.

It was there, in 1982, that 28-year-old Doblin first came in contact with 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, better known as MDMA or, in current vernacular, "Ecstasy." At the time, MDMA was legal, and was being used by a small group of psychedelic therapists, psychologists and counselors who had long used drugs like LSD and mescaline in their practices. However, as those drugs had found their way out of academic labs and therapists' offices and into the street -- thanks in some part to Dr. Timothy Leary and his "tune in, turn on, drop out" message -- the government reacted. In 1970, the Controlled Substances Act made most of the drugs illegal and drove underground the few therapists willing to take the risk. But MDMA wasn't well known enough to be outlawed. So, for more than a decade, a select number of therapists continued to use MDMA, and the drug became known as a powerful therapeutic agent that rarely had negative side effects.

Despite the growing support for the therapeutic use of MDMA, in 1984 -- thanks in large part to the burgeoning rave scene -- the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) declared its intent to outlaw it. Not willing to give up without a fight, a group of MDMA therapists, researchers and clinicians banded together and served the DEA with a petition (hand-delivered by Doblin, no less, who at the time was a college student) asking for a hearing on the subject, which was held in 1985. After a tumultuous three years, and despite an administrative law judge's recommendation that MDMA be made a regular prescription drug, the DEA prevailed, and MDMA was permanently placed on Schedule One in 1988, the same category designated for heroin and marijuana. In May, the United States Sentencing Commission, as instructed by Congress, adopted an emergency amendment to increase the penalty for selling Ecstasy. Previously, if you were caught with 11,000 Ecstasy pills [about three kilograms] or more, you'd receive a five-year prison sentence. Now, the same punishment is leveled if you're caught with 800 pills, approximately 200 grams.

It was during this legal battle that Doblin was prompted to start MAPS in 1986. Today, the organization has about 1,850 members, which Doblin says consists of doctors, therapists, academic researchers, college students and people who just enjoy using psychedelics. Doblin explains that the organization is funded by its members, including a select few who give upwards of $100,000 a year, which help keep the group's educational and research missions going. Doblin says MAPS is currently focusing on what he calls his "five year, $5 million dollar plan" to turn MDMA into a prescription medicine.

To this end, MAPS has been working and campaigning in earnest for permission to conduct further MDMA research, focusing on its therapeutic uses. And while progress has been slow, they've had some major success. Doblin received a letter from the FDA in 1999 indicating that the agency had granted MAPS permission to undertake a "proof-of-principle" study without further "preclinical data." In other words, the FDA, on the basis of its analysis of the data (some of it generated by MAPS-sponsored research) about MDMA's neurological effects, has decided that it is safe enough to give to humans in order to investigate its therapeutic effects.

Doblin also has a project scheduled to start this fall -- the only one of its kind in the country -- at the University of Arizona using psilocybin, the active ingredient in psychedelic mushrooms, in the treatment of patients with obsessive compulsive disorder.

"The study was approved by the FDA, but we spent a year trying to get it (mushrooms) from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), both of which refused," Doblin said. "I found a lab here in Boston, and purchased the world's most expensive gram of mushrooms -- $12,250. There had to be a lot of analytical work and tests done to get it approved by the FDA, and the entire process was very costly."

MAPS is also helping to run a research project in Madrid in which MDMA is being used to treat female victims of sexual abuse who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. Also, a MAPS supported researcher has designed a study of the effects of MDMA on pain and depression in terminal cancer patients. MAPS will also submit a request to the FDA sometime this month to explore using MDMA for the treatment of post-traumatic stress at the Medical University of SC in Charleston.

"In 1990 the FDA had a change in policy and personnel," Doblin said. "The good news is that they've been approving more projects that involve giving psychedelics to humans. The FDA's institutional mission is to develop medicines to treat patients. They don't see themselves primarily as an agent of the drug war. The NIDA is an agent of the drug war, and they fund research, but only research that supports their claims that drugs are always bad and why they should stay illegal. It's all done to justify the criminal penalties."

Ecstasy and Raves All night dance parties known as raves have become synonymous with drugs like MDMA and LSD, and millions of young kids have unquestionably been introduced to mind-altering drugs at these kinds of events. Doblin says this is a development that carries some serious consequences if not handled correctly.

"When the rave scene goes well, it's really an attempt by our young culture to create an environment that is similar to what's been going on for thousands of years," Doblin said. "So there's something healthy about it. But you have to be careful. When it (Ecstasy) is used at raves, it's more dangerous than when used in therapy. I don't promote the recreational use of acid, but I don't condemn it. I don't think it should be illegal, and people should have the right to use it as they choose. The big risk at raves is overheating. Typically you're in a poorly ventilated room, there's lots of dancing and physical exertion, and this can lead to things like dehydration, fevers, organ failure and in some extreme cases death."

Doblin stresses that these risks can be minimized. He points out that MAPS is a major supporter of DanceSafe, an organization that, among other things, sets up a small chemistry lab at raves to test the purity of ravers' Ecstasy tablets and provide information on the dangers of dehydration and overheating. When I told Doblin about Charlotte's recent enactment of the so-called rave ordinance, which imposes licensing requirements and curfews at certain clubs, he had the same reaction as many area club owners and patrons.

"To criminalize it makes it riskier," Doblin said. "We deny younger people the guidance of those who are older and know more about it and how to do it safely."

Everybody Must Get Stoned

Another big component of the MAPS mission is the push for the legalization and medical use of marijuana, and according to Doblin they're making progress there as well. After six years of work, MAPS succeeded in helping get a marijuana study approved in 1997 -- the first in 15 years -- at the University of California at San Francisco.

"After the '96 Medical Marijuana Initiative in California and Arizona, the federal government threatened to throw doctors in jail who were prescribing marijuana," Doblin said. "The American Civil Liberties Union sued the government, and won. So the federal government was facing a series of other state initiatives, which they thought they could prevent if they agreed to support some smaller research projects on a limited basis."

Doblin said that the San Francisco study was initially supposed to be focused on how marijuana could help cure nausea and increase appetites in AIDS patients. But in the end a compromise had to be made.

"The federal government kept saying that pot damages the immune system, and therefore was terrible to give to AIDS patients," Doblin said. "So the study eventually turned into a safety study, and in fact showed pot does not hurt the immune system. So we had to compromise a bit, but we did get a federal grant, which shows progress."

Doblin says he's also working on a study about marijuana vaporizers. Essentially, there are two variations; one is a device similar to a hot air gun used to peel paint off walls, the other is basically a converted car cigarette lighter with heated electric coils.

"We want to demonstrate that if you use a vaporizer, it heats the marijuana up, but doesn't burn it, so a lot of the harmful materials in marijuana smoke are not present. What you get is a marijuana vapor."

Doblin said he's also lobbying to get a license for a marijuana production facility at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

"The NIDA has a monopoly on the supply of marijuana that can be used in research," Doblin said. "They grow it on a farm at the University of Mississippi, and it's the only place you can get marijuana for research. But they'll only provide it if your study is out to prove what's bad about marijuana. So we want to break up their monopoly."

Psychedelic Daddy

While Doblin knows he's fighting an uphill battle, he says he's convinced our country will one day come to its senses and call off the $18 billion a year war against drugs.

"These drugs are not inherently good or bad," he says. "The drug war says they're inherently bad. We're saying they're potentially good if used in the right way."

If indeed the day ever does come when doctors and therapists can freely use and prescribe psychedelics in their practice, Doblin has the way it will work all figured out. In fact, his Harvard doctoral dissertation includes a plan for how to regulate and bring to market a psychedelic drug.

First, he thinks drugs like MDMA will have to be stringently regulated, and available only by direct mail to specially certified clinics that will administer the drug on-site and carefully prescreen and monitor their patients. Doblin also envisions a licensing process, in which people who have used psychedelics under supervision without incident and who have no history of mental illness get a license to buy and take the drugs independent of any physician or clinic. The government would provide neutral information about the dangers of drugs, rather than what he says are hyperbolic claims that currently are issued from the federal and state agencies.

"Things will change if people work together," Doblin said.

As I'm interviewing Doblin over the phone, among the shuffling of papers and the constant electronic beeps of incoming email, I hear his kids -- ages 6, 5 and 2 -- playing in the background. This prompts me to ask him about his personal use of Ecstasy, and how he plans to handle the issue with his kids. Doblin replied that over the last 20 years he's probably done Ecstasy about 100 times, but in recent years he's just been too busy. However, Doblin added that he does anticipate "having a life-long relationship with acid."

As far as what he plans to tell his kids, Doblin says it's simple. "If you've found some value in psychedelics, and are honest about it with your kids, then they won't see it as this tool of rebellion; it's not this cool, forbidden thing. So education is very important. My kids already tease me about working with 'Ecstapee,' they're sort of into the bathroom humor thing right now."

And if one day your kids inform you that they want to try acid?

"I'll ask why, under what circumstances, and with whom?" Doblin responded. "The biggest concerns I have about my kids trying drugs is not the drugs themselves, but the drug war. They have to worry about the police, about going to jail, getting ripped off, and violence in the underground market. So I'm much more terrified of the drug war than drugs. Drugs have been tremendously useful to me in my life. So how can I look at my kids and not want them to find some value as well?"

Contact Sam Boykin at (704) 944-3623 or Sam.Boykin@cln.com.
© 2001 Creative Loafing Charlotte, Inc. - charlotte@creativeloafing.com