During his work in Dow Chemistry, Shurkin first tried to take mescaline (a powerful hallucinogenic drug), and since then, his interest in pharmacology has been out of control. Shurkin, his wife and friends often try drugs by themselves.
From 65438 to 0976, Shurkin began to study an amphetamine stimulant called MDMA, commonly known as "ecstasy", and recorded various reactions of human body after taking it. Since then, this psychedelic drug has become popular in major bars and dance halls.
Shurkin's most famous story in medical history is that he invented a new method to synthesize "ecstasy" and promoted it vigorously, making it an important auxiliary drug in psychiatry. This practice was the basis for the subsequent abuse of ecstasy. He also won the title of "Father of Ecstasy". Shurkin's work has been controversial. He is a famous "mad scientist".
He and his wife live about 30 minutes' drive from San Francisco harbor. Behind the wooden house is his private laboratory. In the past 26 years, he, his wife and chemists have gone through a series of brain chemistry trips here. Up to now, 82-year-old Shurkin has developed more than 300 kinds of psychotropic drugs, making him the most scientist in the world. In 1930s, Shurkin was born into a Russian immigrant family in Berkeley, California. He liked chemistry since he was a child and studied organic chemistry at Harvard University. Until 1943, he gave up his studies at the age of 19 and joined the US Navy in World War II.
During the war, his thumb was infected by injury. The nurse gave him a glass of orange juice. Shurkin noticed that there was a small piece of unmelted crystal at the bottom of the cup, which was judged to be a sedative. After taking the medicine, Shurkin soon fell into a coma. But he didn't know until he woke up that it was just a piece of candy. It was this experience that made him interested in pharmacy.
After the war, Shurkin returned to school, became a young doctor of biochemistry at the University of California, Berkeley, and began to work for Doyle Pharmaceutical Company. Shurkin has always been interested in the chemical composition of mescaline. This phenylethylamine derivative extracted from cactus seeds has hallucinogenic effect. One afternoon, accompanied by several friends who were in charge of observation, he tried Mascarin for the first time. Shurkin was in a frenzy all afternoon. He later wrote: "It seems that everything we see comes from a white solid, but memories cannot be stored in that white solid. The whole universe exists in the brain and spirit. We can choose not to look for it, or we can choose to ignore its existence, but it is really in our body, and chemicals can let us come into contact with it. "
Shurkin's interest in hallucinogenic drugs exploded. He is addicted to making these things. "Like a rich and undeveloped land, I have to farm." Two years later, he developed the world's first biodegradable pesticide Zectran. In return, his Doyle pharmaceutical company gave him a large patent fee and unlimited free time, so that he could study freely.
Shurkin began to publish papers in some authoritative academic journals such as Nature and Organic Chemistry. At first, Doyle did not interfere with the signature of the paper. Gradually, the company decided to prohibit Shurkin from using the company's name and address when publishing his papers. Shurkin drifted away from the company, at the same time, he built a private chemical synthesis laboratory behind his home. Finally, he left Doyle and began to fight alone. For most of the following decades, he locked himself in the laboratory behind his home, making and trying various psychotropic drugs. In 19 12, Merck obtained a by-product MDMA when developing another compound. At that time, Merck was systematically producing synthetic chemicals and applying for patents on a large scale. They believe that this drug has great potential in human health. After the outbreak of World War I, these drugs were used as stimulants for soldiers, but they had serious side effects. Soon, it was abandoned, no one studied it again, and few people knew about it.
From 65438 to 0967, Shurkin was exposed to a drug called ecstasy. This is an amphetamine-type stimulant. Many years later, it got another name "ecstasy".
In 1976, Shurkin developed a new synthesis method. He found that MDMA is similar to some components in nutmeg plant and has the effect of affecting brain waves. At his suggestion, Zef, a psychotherapist in Oakland, began to contact MDMA for the first time and slowly introduced it to hundreds of psychotherapists in the United States as a low-dose auxiliary drug in his own dialogue therapy. It was not until the 1980s that this drug became the most widely used drug by American psychotherapists.
In the mid-1980s, MDMA was included in the list of controlled drugs in the United States. But it was also popular for a while, first in Dallas, Texas, and then in various gay bars and electronic music bars, and gradually penetrated into the mainstream population. In the 1990s, after rave electronic music appeared, MDMA began to spread among young people and even high school students in the name of "ecstasy", and soon became one of the four most widely used illegal drugs in the United States and the most widely used synthetic psychotropic drugs in the world. Because of the "rediscovery" of this drug, he is called "the father of ecstasy" or regarded as a hero scientist in underground culture. However, in the scientific community, he is considered a maverick. Shurkin's research method is completely unorthodox, working in a laboratory built by an individual and doing experiments on himself. These methods are regarded as crazy by many traditional scientists.
Since 1970s, Shurkin has been continuously producing psychotropic drugs and then testing them on himself, his wife and friends. Ecstasy is just one of many drugs. So far, Shurkin * * * has developed more than 300 drugs to change consciousness, more than anyone else in the world.
Gradually, a private circle appeared around Shurkin. Besides Mr. and Mrs. Shurkin, there are some psychiatrists and chemists among them. They tried drugs one by one and recorded their reactions. Shurkin tried 200 to 250 of them himself. According to his wife Anna, she had more than 2,000 hallucinations, while Shurkin had more than 4,000.
Shurkin himself will try the medicine first, and he will increase the dose bit by bit until he reaches the most active dose. Once he finds a drug interesting, he will try it with Anna. If he feels that he needs more "clinical observation", he will invite his "research group", a close circle of friends including 6 to 8 people, to be "mice" together. In experiments, Shurkin often holds a bottle of anticonvulsants to prevent possible dangerous situations. However, I only used this potion twice, both of which happened to Shurkin himself.