Author Information
Matthew Baggot
matt@baggot.net
Mr. Matthew Baggott has conducted psychopharmacology research for over
a decade,
most recently at the University of California, San Francisco. He has
published on the pharmacology of entactogens, psychostimulants, and opiates.
Katherine Bonson, PhD
Team Pharmacologist, Controlled Substances Staff, Food and Drug Administration.
kbonson@codon.nih.gov
Dr. Katherine Bonson has studied the effects of drugs on serotonergic
systems of the brain at the National Institute of Mental Health, the National
Institute on Drug Abuse and Johns Hopkins University. She is particularly
interested in hallucinogens and the ability of antidepressants to alter
their effects in animals and humans. {Note that Dr. Bonson's statements
are those of an individual pharmacologist, not an FDA representative, and
that her chapter does not present official FDA positions.}
Gary Bravo M.D.,
3322 Chanate Road, Santa Rosa, CA 95404
glbravo@aol.com.
Dr. Gary Bravo is a staff psychiatrist for Sonoma County Mental Health
in Santa Rosa, California. While on the clinical faculty at the University
of California -Irvine, he wrote about the effects of MDMA and worked with
Dr. Charles Grob on the first federally-approved MDMA protocol.
He has also written articles on psychedelics and psychiatry, and transpersonal
psychology.
Rick Doblin, PhD
rick@maps.org
2105 Robinson Avenue, Sarasota, Florida 34232
Dr. Rick Doblin is the president of MAPS, Multidisciplinary Association
for Psychedelic Studies (www.maps.org) a group he founded in 1986 in order
to develop MDMA into an FDA-approved prescription medicine.
He received his Ph.D. in Public Policy from the Kennedy School of Government,
Harvard University. His dissertation focused on the regulation of the medical
uses of psychedelic drugs and marijuana.
Alex Gamma, PhD
Research Assistant, University Hospital of Psychiatry, Zurich, Switzerland
gamma@bli.unizh.ch
Dr. Alex Gamma is a biologist specializing in neuropsychopharmacology. For the past 5 years, he has been conducting basic experimental research into the acute effects of MDMA in healthy subjects, as well as clinical studies in long-term Ecstasy users.
George R. Greer M.D.
Medical Director, Heffter Research Institute
453 Cerrillos Road, Suite E, Santa Fe, NM 87501
george@newmexico.com
George Greer, M.D., and his wife, Requa Tolbert, M.S.N. a psychiatric
nurse, administered MDMA over 100 times to 80 people as part of his clinical
psychiatric practice from 1980 to 1985. Their review of this work
remains the largest published study of the therapeutic use of MDMA to date.
In1985, Dr. Greer was involved in an extensive hearing process with the
Drug
Enforcement Administration to keep MDMA available for medical research.
Dr. Greer is a Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and Past
President of the New Mexico District Branch.
Charles S. Grob, M.D.
Director of the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Harbor-UCLA
Medical Center
Professor of Psychiatry, UCLA School of Medicine
Box 498 Harbor-UCLA Medical Center,1000 W. Carson St., Torrance, CA 90509
Dr. Charles S. Grob conducted the first FDA approved research study
examining the effects of MDMA on human volunteers, and is in the process
of obtaining approval to investigate the effects of MDMA on end-stage cancer
patients with severe psychological distress, existential anxiety and increasing
isloation and alienation. Dr. Grob has written extensively on the
history of MDMA, the putative MDMA treatment paradigm and has provided
a critical analysis of the neurotoxicity hypothesis.
Professor John A Henry, MBBS FRCP, FFAEM
Academic Department of Accident & Emergency Medicine, St Mary's Hospital, London W2 1NY
Professor Henry spent 15 years as a Consultant Physician at Guy's Hospital
and the National Poisons Information Service, London, and took up his present
post in 1997. He highlighted and provided an explanation for the
hyperthermic complications of MDMA. He was the first to describe
hepatotoxicity due to MDMA, and also described the first cases of hyponatraemia.
He has demonstrated, through clinical research, that vasopressin release
is a pharmacological effect of MDMA.
Julie Holland, MD
Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, New York University School of Medicine
drholland.com
Bellevue Hospital Comprehensive Psychiatric Emergency Program
462 First Avenue, GN-7, New York, NY 10016
Dr. Holland is a physician in the psychiatric emergency room at Bellevue
Hospital, with a private practice in New York City. She has been
researching, writing, and speaking about the therapeutic potential of MDMA
since 1985. She received the 1994 National Institute of Mental Health Outstanding
Resident Award for her clinical research on schizophrenia.
Karl Jansen, MD, PhD, MRCPsych
K@BTInternet.com
52 Fellows Rd, Belsize Park, London NW3 3LJ
Dr. Karl Jansen is a medical doctor and consultant psychiatrist who
was engaged in full-time study of the human brain for 6 years. He also
has a PhD in clinical pharmacology and is a member of the Royal College
of Psychiatrists. He has made a special study of persons who use very large
quantities of MDMA (20 pills per weekend) and ketamine, and often appears
in Court as an expert witness.
Andrew M. Kleiman M.D.
Dept. of Psychiatry, Bellevue Hospital, 462 First Avenue, Room 20N11, NY, NY, 10016
Dr. Andrew Kleiman is a fourth year resident in Psychiatry at New York
University Medical Center, Bellevue Hospital, in New York City. He is interested
in clinical psychiatric research and is planning on establishing a private
practice in psychiatry.
Mark Kleiman, PhD
Professor of Policy Studies, UCLA
Research Fellow, Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Management,
Harvard
kleiman@ucla.edu
3250 Public Policy Building, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA 90095
Dr. Mark Kleiman is an internationally recognized expert on policy for
substance abuse control. He edits the Drug Policy Analysis Bulletin
and chairs the Drug Policy Project of the Federation of America.
Matthias Emanuel Liechti,MD
mliechti@bli.unizh.ch
University Hospital of Psychiatry Zurich, Research Unit, PO Box 68,
CH-8029 Zurich, Switzerland
Dr. Liechti is a medical doctor working in internal medicine and psychiatry.
As a postdoctoral fellow and researcher he specialized in neuropsychopharmacology
and elucidated the neuropharmacological mechanisms of MDMA's effects in
humans.
Jessica E. Malberg, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Associate, Dept. of Psychiatry, Yale University
jessica.malberg@yale.edu
34 Park St. , Dept. of Psychiatry, Room S-310,
Connecticut Mental Health Center, New Haven, CT 06508
Dr. Jessica Malberg received her Ph.D. from the University of Chicago
in 1998, where she worked in the laboratory of Dr. Lewis Seiden and published
the first papers investigating the interaction of environmental temperature,
core body temperature and MDMA-induced neurotoxicity in the rat. She is
currently a Post-Doctoral Associate at Yale University in the Department
of Psychiatry, working in the laboratory of Molecular Psychiatry.
Ralph Metzner, Ph.D.
Professor of Psychology, California Institute of Integral Studies
rmetzner@svn.net
Dr. Ralph Metzner is a consciousness researcher and psychotherapist
who worked with MDMA in psychotherapy prior to its prohibition. He is the
pseudonymous editor of Through the Gateway of the Heart (1984), a compilation
of experiential accounts of MDMA assisted therapy and meditation. He is
also the co-author of The Psychedelic Experience (1964) with Timothy Leary,
and the editor of Ayahuasca- Human Consciousness and the Spirits of Nature
(1999).
John Mendelson MD
Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Medicine,
Drug Dependence Research Center, University of California at
San Francisco
Langley Porter Institute, Box CPR 0984
San Francisco, CA 94143
jemmd@itsa.ucsf.edu
Dr. Mendelson is an Internist interested in the human pharmacology of
abused drugs. He is among the first to study the effects of controlled
doses of MDMA on cardiovascular function and to investigate the pharmacokinetics
of MDMA in people.
Michael Montagne, R.Ph., Ph.D.
Rombult Distinguished Professor of Pharmacy, Massachusetts College
of Pharmacy & Health Science
Massachusetts College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences,179 Longwood
Ave., Boston MA 02115
mmontagne@mcp.edu
Dr. Michael Montagne has researched and taught on the social-cultural
aspects of psychedelic drugs and their use for 25 years. His research also
has focused on the role of meaning, symbolism, and metaphors in depression
and the use of anti-depressant medications.
Claudio Naranjo, MD
hermesalud@euskalnet.net
President and program coordinator of SAT Institute (an integrative pycho-spiritual
school
for psychotherapists and educators)
Fellow of the Institute for Cultural Research, London
Adviser to Lama Gangchen's World Peace Foundation
Dr. Claudio Naranjo was originally trained in psychiatry and psychoanalytic
therapy, and became one of the three successors to Fritz Perls at Esalen
Institute. He later became known as an author, an educator and an integrator
between the world of psychotherapy and that of the spiritual traditions.
He was the first to observe the characteristic effects of MDA and to point
out the usefulness of MDA in psychotherapy. He was the first to point out
the characteristic effects of the ' feeling enhancers' (now called empathogens)
and to conduct clinical research with them.
Dave Nichols, PhD
Professor of Medicinal Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology,
School of Pharmacy & Pharmacal Sciences, Purdue University, West
Lafayette, Indiana 47907.
Dr. David Nichols has been at Purdue University since 1974 where he
has published more than 200 scientific research articles on various aspects
of the medicinal chemistry and neuropharmacology of drugs that act in the
brain. He is internationally recognized for his research on understanding
how changes in brain neurochemistry affect behavior, through the use of
specific molecular probes. His laboratory carried out the first studies
to establish the pharmacological mechanism of action of MDMA, and he has
published numerous articles elucidating details both of the mechanism of
action and of the biochemistry related to the neurotoxic effects of MDMA
seen in rodents. Dr. Nichols' work has clearly shown that MDMA is
neither an hallucinogen or a psychostimulant, and it was he who coined
the term "entactogens" as a name for the novel pharmacological class of
which MDMA is the prototype.
June Riedlinger, Pharm.D.
Assistant Professor of Clinical Pharmacy and Director, Center for Integrative
Therapies in Pharmaceutical Care, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and
Health Sciences
Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, 179 Longwood
Avenue, Boston, MA 02115-5896.
Dr. June Riedlinger is a registered pharmacist. She took the witness
stand to testify as to the therapeutic effects of MDMA in 1985 and subsequently
authored and co-authored articles on MDMA that have been published in the
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs and has presented at the Drug Policy Foundation
International conferences. Dr. Riedlinger is presently working in the Complementary
and Alternative Medicine field through which she has been able to offer
educational programs that include topics relating to psychedelic drugs
and MDMA.
Joseph G. Rella, MD
Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine, Department of Surgery
University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey at Newark
UMDNJ Newark,150 Bergen Street, C-384, University Heights, Newark NJ 07103
After training in emergency medicine and completing a fellowship in
medical toxicology in New York City, Dr. Joseph Rella collected data regarding
MDMA toxicity in patients who were reported to the New York City poison
center for 7 years. He is well-acquainted with the acute toxicity of MDMA
and is continuing resesarch into its physiologic effects.
Douglas Rushkoff, PhD.
Professor of Virtual Culture at New York University's Interactive Telecommunication Program.
http://www.rushkoff.com
New York University Interactive Telecommunications Program, 721 Broadway,
4th Floor
New York, NY 10003
Prof. Douglas Rushkoff is the author of seven best-selling books on
culture and technology, including Coercion, Media Virus, Cyberia, Playing
the Future, and the novels Ecstasy Club and Exit Strategy, that have been
translated into 13 languages. He writes a column for the New York Times
Syndicate, delivers commentaries on National Public Radio, and makes documentaries
for PBS Frontline. He has been studying psychedelic subcultures since he
became friends with Timothy Leary in 1988.
José Carlos Bouso Saiz
Psychologist, PhD candidate, Facultad de Psicologia, Universidad Autonoma de Madrid
Departamento de Psicologia Biologica y de la Salud
Facultad de Psicologia, Universidad Autonoma de Madrid
28049 Cantoblanco, Madrid, Spain
Mr. José Carlos Bouso Saiz graduated with a degree in Psychology
from the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid in 1994. From 1994 to 1998,
he collaborated in research related to psychotherapy, psychopharmacology
and computerized cerebral cartography at the Department of Biologic Psychology
and Health at the Faculty of Psychology. Mr. Bouso is currently developing
the first officialy authorized MDMA/PTSD controlled psychotherapy study
at the Psychiatric Hospital of Madrid, and will focus on this work for
his PhD dissertation.
Rabbi Zalman Schacter-Shalomi
Professor of Religious Studies at Naropa University
Professor Emeritus of Religion at Temple University.
1720 Lehigh St.
Boulder, CO 80305
Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi is an ordained Lubavitch-trained rabbi
whose belief in the universality of spiritual truth led him to study with
Sufi Masters, Buddhist teachers, Native American elders, Catholic monks,
and humanistic and transpersonal psychologists. As such he also experienced
psychedelics and wrote about his experience in The Ecstatic Adventure.
He is
founder of the trans-denominational Spiritual Eldering Institute headquartered
in Boulder Colorado, which sponsors workshops providing the psychological
and spiritual tools for people of all ages to grow into elderhood. On the
faculty at Naropa University, he is the author of Spiritual Intimacy, and
co-author of Paradigm Shift with Ronald Millerand From Age-ing to
Sage-ing.