Acid test : LSD, Ecstasy, and the power to heal /

It's no secret that psychedelic drugs have the ability to cast light on the miraculous reality hidden within our psyche. Almost immediately after the discovery of LSD less than a hundred years ago, psychedelics began to play a crucial role in the quest to understand the link between mind and matter. With an uncanny ability to reveal the mind's remote frontiers and the unmapped areas of human consciousness, LSD and MDMA (better known as Ecstasy) have proven extraordinarily effective in treating anxiety disorders such as PTSD - yet the drugs remain illegal for millions of people who might benefit from them.

Anchoring Tom Shroder's Acid Test are the stories of Rick Doblin, the founder and executive director of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), who has been fighting government prohibition of psychedelics for more than thirty years; Michael Mithoefer, a former emergency room physician, now a psychiatrist at the forefront of psychedelic therapy research; and his patient Nicholas Blackston, a former Marine who has suffered unfathomable mental anguish from the effects of brutal combat experiences in Iraq. All three men are passionate, relatable people; each flawed, each resilient, and each eccentric, yet very familiar and very human.

Acid Test cover the first heady years of experimentation in the fifties and sixties, through the backlash of the seventies and eighties, when the drug subculture exploded and uncontrolled use of street psychedelics led to a PR nightmare that created the drug stereotypes of the present day. Meticulously researched and astoundingly informative, this is at once a personal story of intertwining lives against an epic backdrop, and a compelling argument for the unprecedented healing properties of drugs that have for decades been characterized as dangerous, illicit substances.

Praise for Acid Test

' Acid Test is a superb book. The people Tom Shroder introduces us to are across-the-board fascinating, the reporting he's done is deep and persuasive, and the writing is dazzling. Best of all, though, is what any open-minded reader will feel after finishing Acid Test - In a world of hurt, here is a new version of hope.' David Finkel, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Good Soldiers and Thank You for Your Service

'If you think LSD is a relic of the sixties, or good for nothing except getting high, you need to read this riveting and important book. Tom Shroder is a fine journalist and a terrific writer; in Acid Test , he's written a book that should start a long-overdue national conversation, and someday may help to end a lot of unnecessary suffering.' Dave Barry, author of You Can Date Boys When You're Forty

'A captivating narrative with irresistible characters. It will leave you wondering whether we have the moral right to oppose this breakthrough therapy.' Gene Weingarten, two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Fiddler in the Subway

' Acid Test is a trip of a different kind. Tom Shroder makes the hunt for relief from modern wars' biggest killers - depression and posttraumatic stress disorder - come alive in bright, unforgettable colors, characters, and emotions.' Dana Priest, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter and co-author of Top Secret America

'I read Acid Test with wonder and excitement. Wonder at seeing a controversial topic through Tom Shroder's fresh and lucid eyes. And excitement at the promise of healing that he reveals.' David Von Drehle, author of Rise to Greatness- Abraham Lincoln and America's Most Perilous Year

'Tom Shroder has written a book that is at once captivating and utterly