Tag Archives: MDMA

Treating Trump? State Change II?

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We needed to talk. We needed self-therapy. Jay was depressed. Bill was despondent. I was in tears thinking of my granddaughters and the billions of others who would need to survive on an increasingly destroyed planet.

Diana and I were in Monterey for several weeks, escaping Salt Lake City’s cold and its winter air inversions and polluted air. Thanks, gods, for Skype.

Bill and Jay were at the Roasting Company, in a second floor secluded corner. I was in a corner of Book Works Cafe in Pacific Grove. We decided earlier to give Trump the benefit of our doubts – for a few weeks. That time was now over.

 

“It’s all over the Net now,” Bill started. “Tillerson is the international oil dealmaker par excellence – and knows Putin well. As Trump’s new Secretary of State he could lift the economic sanctions on Russia, allowing a whole new level of deals for Siberian oil.”

“And thus for creaming the planet,” Jay groaned. “… our worst fears – the worst scenario imaginable.”

“Yes, horrible for the planet – both physically and humanistically,” I added. “Cheap Siberian oil, with the backing of Russia and the USA, could flood the market, economically devastating the Middle East, Nigeria, and Canada.”

“And the Secretary of State orchestrates the whole transformation – from deals to production, sales, and economic devastation.”

“A new world order,” Bill said. “Exactly what Cheney, Rumsfeld, Bolton, and Bush wanted – but via oil rather than war.”

“Dollars for ISIS and Al Qaeda dry up. Saudi Arabia goes under – or gets transformed via a new Arab ‘Spring’ – also Iran.”

“Another Nobel Peace Prize!” Jay noted.

“Not a bad plan,” I smiled, “were it not for the death of the Planet as a side effect.”

“But as global warming isn’t really real, it isn’t a concern for climate deniers and agnostics – certainly not for Trump, Putin, or even Tillerson.”

“The melting of the tundra, the massive release of ancient trapped methane, the leaks and fires due to tundra-disrupted oil pipelines – all collateral damage on the way to a new world order, controlled by powerful white guys, of European ancestry.”

“Hitler would have loved it, assuming Germany’s chemical industry played a leading role.”

 
We looked at each other, via Skype.

 
“I’m not sure Ananda’s Chocolates are up to the task,” Bill offered. “We tried that – and many of those we treated are back, their old ideologies and prejudices intact.”

“Agreed. We have to use more effective, more permanent, means – but perhaps we can use Ananda’s approach as a ‘cover’,” I suggested. “Not MDMA; something more powerful, more effective.”

“You do mean lethal, don’t you?” Jay asked. “Assassination?”

“That’s real exorcising of evil,” Bill smiled, “but without drones.”

“And it shouldn’t be instantaneous. It should play out over several days, perhaps appear like a bad pathogen,” Jay suggested. “That way there might be publicity, incitement of fear, concern for God’s wrath, etc.”

“Diana and I saw another Sherlock Holmes video the other night, where he was apparently afflicted with Sumatran River Virus – death in three days.”

“Viral chocolates, with a little LSD thrown in – to facilitate visions, hallucinations.”

“I think we have a plan,” I concluded. “Treating Trump – Exorcizing Evil.”

 

 

Midwest Book Review, Diane Donovan, Aug., 2016

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Reviewed by D. Donovan, Senior Reviewer

Midwest Book Review (Aug., 2016)

 

State Change – A Chemical Fantasy

Joe Andrade

Andrade Self-Publishing

978-1-4951-9851-9

Price: $0.00 (Free) – only available online. Bound book copies available from author, for free, to qualified reviewers and libraries.

Website: www.statechange.us

 

Novels typically do not contain manifestos – but State Change incorporates both. In a future world gone mad (a world akin to our own), the very boundaries of social and political process are tested as humanity’s trials and errors demand that traditional leadership be rebuilt and replaced.

 

But how do rulers and leaders evolve beyond preset assumptions which are contributing to the fall of mankind? Replacements take time and are likely to arrive contaminated by the same perceptions as their predecessors. There’s only one quick solution: change the mindsets of existing world leaders through chemistry. This approach is not only in the public interest. It’s in the interest of humanity’s survival.

 

This is the basic concept of this quasi-novel, in a nutshell. It’s time to sit back and enjoy the ride through the process (and ultimately, the call to action) that blends the forms of a novel and a social statement in State Change.

 

In the opening act, the state of the nation is deteriorating, the planet is falling apart, and change must happen if humanity is to survive. “The Challenge” opens with the narrator’s introduction to political interests and the basic foundations of the concept of “State Change”, which are built and explored throughout the events that transpire.

 

How can revolutions be engineered? How do belief systems evolve, and how do social and political circles support them? What are the failings of education and awareness when faced with entrenched dogma and blind ideologies?

 

Even though the word ‘fantasy’ is in this book’s subtitle, readers shouldn’t expect work of traditional fantasy or entertainment here. State Change is about how real change occurs at its most fundamental levels, the barriers to realization and effective evolution, and the efforts of individuals to transcend the juggernaut of political ineffectiveness. As such, it’s a serious work that blends ideology with a dose of fiction that revolves around Utah protagonists and their daring attempts to not just change, but transform the world into something better.

 

State Change is no light production. It demands a higher level of thought, political and social interest from its readers, and not a little acceptance of some radical ideas about chemistry’s applications in the name of lasting solutions that belays the usual intention of a novel to entertain in some manner.

 

There’s a solid coverage of history along the way, analysis of political process, and the growing conviction of a myriad of characters who envision a new world evolving from the virtual end of civilization as we know it. As chapters rush through a mix of familiar-sounding modern dilemmas and futuristic concerns, they come steeped in much research and explanation and thus require slow reading and time for contemplation as they present a satisfying blend of complex activist and scientific concerns with characters concerned about changing the world in the best possible way.

 

There is no competitor to State Change. It stands in a class by itself (one perhaps occupied by Huxley, Vonnegut, and other authors of classics on social change) in presenting a different kind of futuristic possibility that rises from the ashes of the Koch Brothers and other political special interests familiar in today’s world.

 

Discriminating fiction readers with a penchant for more than entertainment will relish its approach, diversity, and complex observations on the processes and challenges of mental enhancement.

 

Why the Increase in MDMA ‘Problems’?

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I was on the phone with Lucien and Peter, who were at a coffee shop in Portland.

“My Google Alert on ‘Ecstasy’ shows more issues, problems with street Ecstasy,” Peter reported.

“Yes, I’ve also seen some reports on more ER admissions and even deaths,” Lucien added.

“I’ve seen them, too,” I said.

“The Chinese?” Peter asked.

“Have you been listening to Trump? The Chinese aren’t responsible for everything, but they are connected.”

“So you’ve dome some homework?” Lucien asked.

“Yes. I came across a UK psychopharmacologist, a Valerie Curran with University College, London. She was on the BBC recently warning users about high dose Ecstasy.”

“And?” Peter asked.

“Patience!” I said. “She was almost immediately criticized, even vilified, by the drug control crowd for advising users to cut current pills in half, because street pills in UK and rest of Europe may now have 200 mg or more of pure MDMA.”

“That doesn’t make sense,” Peter said. “Why would dealers use excess drug?”

“Good question. Apparently there’s a new precursor readily available – from China, of course – that makes it easier and cheaper to produce MDMA. So there’s now sort of a competition to produce, provide more potent pills.”

“Why?”

“It may be a macho thing – kind of a pissing contest between producers or dealers?” Lucien asked.

“That’s been suggested. But there’s probably another – a better – reason.”

“Go on,” Peter said.

“In some European countries the possession of a pill or two is often ignored. So if you’re a small scale user – or dealer – you can have just a few pills on you which can supply many normal doses – you just break up the pill.”

“But if you don’t know – or you’re already partly stoned?…”

“Right – if you take the full pill, which can be 200 or even 300 or more mg, then you have a serious overdose.”

“Especially if you’re a woman, small, or have a bad liver.”

“Yep. This has all hit the media,” I continued, “because the 2016 Global Drug Survey was just released – I’ll send you the link, but here’s a short summary:

2016 is the worst time to be using MDMA in a generation: Increase in use of both MDMA and cocaine over the last 3 years. Concerns over high dose MDMA pills leading to increased risk of acute harm. 4-fold increase in British female clubbers seeking emergency medical treatment in last 3 years. Women 2-3 times more likely to seek emergency treatment than men. UK users take more MDMA in a night than anyone else (almost half a gram). Most people use less than 10 times per year. Less is more (more fun with less MDMA).”

“Has the recommended or optimum dose changed?” Peter asked.

“Not really,” I answered, “although Adam Winstock, who does the Global Drug Survey, has suggested that 80 mg may be the optimum dose for ‘the pleasurable effects of energy, euphoria and empathy.’ So Ananda’s 100 mg is still appropriate for our ex-patients.”

“If only we’d known about the Chinese precursor – the new synthesis approach – Tom could have made much more. There are so many needy patients,” Lucien said.

“We each still have a small personal stock,” I said. “Dispense it wisely.”

We then changed the subject – and discussed our collective plans for the family 2016 Oregon coast reunion.

 https://www.globaldrugsurvey.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/GDS2016-Press-Release-1.pdf

 

MDMA Machine could be next?

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On demand drug synthesis has been demonstrated by an MIT team and several affiliated spin-off companies.

The 1 April 2016 issue of SCIENCE includes a paper by Andrea Adamo and 13 co-authors describing a refrigerator size continuous flow chemistry machine for the automated synthesis/production of four drugs, including the generics to Benadryl, Valium, and Prozac. One of the syntheses utilizes methylamine.

A commentary in the same issue titled Going with the flow suggests that one key issue is ‘how to avoid the the production of illicit substances’. The on demand, programmable system includes built-in on line spectroscopy as well as key purification steps, like ‘ … phase separation, precipitations, and crystallizations, …’.

“Cool,” Bill said. “That was one of our final discussions with Tom – right at the end of State Change.”

“Yes, we referred to it as Robo-Chem. We talked about the possibility when we also discussed ‘brewing’ and genetic engineering to produce organisms which could directly produce drugs of interest,” I added.

“So the Dilbert cartoon we noted is not fantasy or even prophecy ..,” Jay added.

Bill, interrupting: “…No, it’s now an almost certainty, if not quite fact.”

“There’s still the ‘illicit substance’ concern,” I cautioned. “That won’t stop lots of hackers and chemical engineers,” Jay said.

“Maybe search for MDMA machine on the dark web in a year or two.”

Moral Enhancement and DaVinci

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We were at the Roasting Company – this time for lunch.

“Happy Leonardo’s Birthday!” I greeted.

“Yes, his 564th,” Bill said. “And this year The Leonardo is celebrating it with a lecture and party tonight and tomorrow.”

“I wonder what he’d think about our empathic enhancement activities,” Jay said.

“I think he be fascinated with cognitive enhancement – and certainly an advocate for cognitive liberty,” I said.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if some notes and sketches are found someday which suggest he dabbled with mushrooms during those botanical treks in the Italian alps.”

“New Scientist this week has an intriguing book review – The Myth of the Moral Brain: The limits of moral enhancement,” I noted.

“Sounds like something ideal for harmless – any discussion of MDMA?” Bill asked.

“I just got it on my Kindle. There’s nothing in the index on empathogens, ecstasy, or MDMA.”

“That’s incredible – then what is she talking about?” “It’s a he – a Harris Wiseman. And it’s an MIT Press book.”

“Perhaps not a very wise man,” quipped Jay. “I’ll read it and report back – maybe the index is misleading.”

“You are forever the optimist,” Jay smiled.