Shulgin, Ann
Person
Laura Ann Gotlieb was born on March 22, 1931 in Wellington, New Zealand. The daughter of an American diplomat, she grew up in Italy, the US (Texas), Cuba, and Canada. In college, she studied art in California, a talent which she had fostered throughout the course her life. She went on to work as a medical transcriber at various hospitals in California, while supporting her children. In 1978, having married and divorced three times, she met Sasha Shulgin, a chemist who created and researched psychedelic drugs. They married in 1981, and together, wrote PiHKAL (Phenethylamines I Have Known and Loved) and TiKHAL (Tryptamines I Have Known and Loved) – two standard texts in the psychedelic research repertoire. Together, they also developed the Shulgin rating scale, which systematically ranked the effects of psychoactive drugs. She is well known as a pioneer for the therapeutic potential of MDMA and 2C-B and described herself as a lay therapist, providing emotional support for those exploring the use of the substances, while Sasha created novel compounds.