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Shulgin's DEA license promptly revoked after the publication of PiHKAL

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red22

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Nov 23, 2009
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I heard this... Anybody know of any opinions that were voiced of Shulgin by DEA employees after the publication of PiHKAL? Just curious.
 
the story that you mention is in Tihkal (i think). i have read the story but lack a copy of Tihkal. this is my best recollection:

Sasha worked with the DEA testing samples and publishing various research papers. Sasha also received samples from other people that he could test. he worked out of his own lab at his home with Ann. the Shulgins were friends with various DEA employes, some of whom were higher up. a particular ranking DEA employee was a family friend and would visit on occasion. this friend was visiting one day and warned Sasha he should get rid of some of the older samples of schedule 1 drugs he had. Sasha didn't think much of the situation at the time. some time later the DEA had a surprise inspection. Sasha was detained (i don't know how long), lost his license, and was fined. the situation was peaceful and i think involved Ann serving the DEA agents coffee at their kitchen table.

the above is only my memory and could be flawed. times were different and this was in California. things wouldn't go so smoothly these days or in another state. you should email Ann and ask how she remembers the situation or purchase Tihkal.
 
On October 27, 1994, the Drug Enforcement Administration, along with other Federal, State and local agency representatives, showed up unannounced, with search warrants, at Sasha and Ann's home in Lafayette, California. The raid followed on the footsteps of a DEA inspection which had been conducted a month earlier. There were approximately thirty persons in the raiding party along with eight vehicles that included a fire engine, a "decontamination unit" and marked police cars. The stunned Shulgins were informed that this was not a criminal action, but rather an "administrative investigation" to determine if Sasha was in regulatory compliance with the stipulations of his DEA license that allows him to be in possession of, and to work with, Schedule I substances.

Administrative and environmental infractions were found; which is not surprising as Sasha's lab (a former basement) is as well known for its pet spiders as for important research and the creation of new molecular structure. It's also fair to say that housekeeping is not one of Sasha's big priorities.

After the raid, the DEA made its findings and terminated Sasha's DEA license. It was this license which had allowed Sasha to work with Schedule I materials. After consulting with a lawyer, the Shulgin's eventually decided not to challenge the termination of the license due to the high costs of such a legal battle, combined with the fact that they would be unlikely to win.

The termination of Shulgin's DEA license seemed arguably justifiable, given the list of record keeping and administrative infractions found during the raid. What is interesting is that in more than 15 years of holding a DEA license, two previous, announced and scheduled reviews of the same lab and records, produced no adverse comment. It should be noted that previous inspections were prior to the publication of PIHKAL in 1991.

Sasha was also fined $25,000 by the local district attorney. The $25,000 fine was attributed to a collection of unsolicited "anonymous drug samples" that people had sent to Sasha with the hope that he might test them. While some people think that such a testing program is beneficial, the DEA does not. Licensees are expressly forbidden (not by law, but by an unpublished DEA administrative rule) from providing such anonymous quantitative testing. The allowable fine is $25,000.00 per sample. Sasha and Ann paid the fine, as well as an addition $15,000 in legal and related expenses. Because the money came out of their retirement funds, and over Sasha's initial protest, a trust account was set up and donations were solicited to help pay the fine. At least $28,000 was collected.
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from - https://www.erowid.org/culture/characters/shulgin_alexander/shulgin_alexander_raid.shtml
 
And look where WE all are at today in this wonderful world filled with all kinds of drugs... They keep coming by the dozens thanks to legistations. Its ironic isnt it?
 
kman1898 said:
He also had a fire going when the raided. That's a MAJOR infraction in a lab. He couldn't have won that case
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Good Lord. Really? That strikes me as rather dangerous but considerably hilarious!

For anyone else with a well built sense of humour, there's some footage of the Shulgin DEA raid filmed on the day it happened & there's a priceless moment where an agent asks Ann about Mescaline & she points at a cactus that the agent is standing next to... & the dumb bastard jumps away from the cactus as if it were to reach out for him & poison him with a trip. The fact this supposedly intelligent man has such irrational fear of a fucking PLANT is an indication of the kind of drugs paranoia that infests those who work to suppress us & support prohibition.

I think the scene appears in Dirty Pictures but I've only seen that once so I'm not certain...
 
There's footage of a raid in "Dirty Pictures", but Sasha looks pretty old in that bit. It could be *the* raid, but maybe there was another one later on -- a mini-raid -- and that's what we see in the film. The cops definitely didn't look like they were going to sit down and have coffee with Ann. In fact, they were pretty freakin' hostile. Be that as it may, the cactus part isn't shown in the film; rather, it's told by Ann while being interviewed in her living room.
 
greengummybear said:
you should email Ann and ask how she remembers the situation or purchase Tihkal.
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I get most of my books on an online book club where unauthorized copies are sold at a discount of 95%. The website has complete versions of PiHKAL and TiHKAL (the versions on Erowid are only the second "technical" segments of the books). It is the only website where I've seen complete versions of both of Shulgin's books and indeed the website's selection of ebooks is bigger than any other website I've ever seen. Why would I pay $20 for a book? If I worked a minimum wage job, I'd have to work four hours (when you include the cost of shipping) just to buy one of Shulgin's books. Why would I give away four hours of my life just to obtain a book that may in fact be one of the least pertinent for me among other psychedelic literature? And why do authors want to significantly suppress the availability of useful information and completely prevent those in third world countries from seeing that information, where such cultures have increasing access to the Internet, but certainly don't have the money to access exclusive areas of the Ineternet or to mail order books.

I should have known this information would have been addressed in TiHKAL. Thanks for the comments guys.
 
red22 said:
I get most of my books on an online book club where unauthorized copies are sold at a discount of 95%. The website has complete versions of PiHKAL and TiHKAL (the versions on Erowid are only the second "technical" segments of the books). It is the only website where I've seen complete versions of both of Shulgin's books and indeed the website's selection of ebooks is bigger than any other website I've ever seen. Why would I pay $20 for a book? If I worked a minimum wage job, I'd have to work four hours (when you include the cost of shipping) just to buy one of Shulgin's books. Why would I give away four hours of my life just to obtain a book that may in fact be one of the least pertinent for me among other psychedelic literature? And why do authors want to significantly suppress the availability of useful information and completely prevent those in third world countries from seeing that information, where such cultures have increasing access to the Internet, but certainly don't have the money to access exclusive areas of the Ineternet or to mail order books.

I should have known this information would have been addressed in TiHKAL. Thanks for the comments guys.
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get a job you bum, and stop stealing
 
ya i don't know why you would brag about depriving the shulgin family of money.
 
Thanks. If Shulgin wrote a fiction book, I would certainly feel obligated to buy an official copy of it; but not non-fiction books...
 
^i don't feel obligated to buy shit personally. i'm the poorest person i know. i don't even know why i passed judgement on you, i suppose it's because i admire shulgin.
 
red22 said:
Thanks. If Shulgin wrote a fiction book, I would certainly feel obligated to buy an official copy of it; but not non-fiction books...
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So if I sit down and type gibberish, you find that more worthy of compensation than someone who spends YEARS educating themselves, doing research, and finally communicating their findings in a book?
 
red22

the Shulgins research saved my life. their research involved enormous risk and legal troubles. many people including myself are extremely loyal because of this. any person supporting stealing from Sashas widow and children wouldn't receive drugs from me nor receive drugs from anyone within my sphere of influence. my compassion and loyalty towards Sasha remains after his death. lets show compassion and keep the remaining Shulgins safe. please reconsider.
 
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