Pubdate: Tue, 29 May 2012
Source: Philadelphia Daily News (PA)
Copyright: 2012 Philadelphia Newspapers Inc.
Contact: http://www.philly.com/dailynews/about/feedback/
Website: http://www.philly.com/dailynews/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/339
Author: Jason Nark

SUDDENLY, IN PHILLY, KEEPING TABS ON LSD

With a Big Bust in January and a Major Conference This Fall, We've 
Been Psychedelicized

IT TOOK A POLICE battering ram to bust down the door of the West 
Philadelphia apartment. Once inside, police discovered a colorful 
cache of psychedelic drugs - enough LSD to open thousands of "doors 
of perception" for six to eight hours at a time.

The Jan. 31 raid appeared to be a true flashback to a bygone era, 
with the federal Drug Enforcement Administration calling the 9,500 
hits of LSD on tie-dyed images of Homer Simpson and Jerry Garcia an 
"anomaly" in Philadelphia. And since two of the five suspects 
arrested were Drexel students, the raid became known as the "Drexel 
LSD bust" in the media, with reporters interviewing students and 
getting statements from university officials.

Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams cautioned the public 
from equating Drexel with Haight-Ashbury.

"It is sad that this was taking place on a campus of higher learning, 
but I hope that the actions of a few do not tarnish the image of 
educational excellence that we associate with Drexel University," 
Williams said in a statement the day after the raid.

That small apartment on Florence Avenue was much closer to the 
University of Pennsylvania than Drexel, though. And Williams likely 
didn't know that institutions of higher learning across the country 
are delving into psychedelics. Meanwhile, Penn professors, students 
and curious residents are trying to wipe away psychedelics' tarnished images.

"People who 10 years ago would never be caught dead talking about 
psychedelics in a serious way are having conversations about it," 
said Nese Lisa Senol, a Penn doctoral student studying "visionary and 
mystical poetry."

They're talking about a "psychedelic renaissance" in Philly reading 
groups and yoga shops, in classrooms, and at gatherings "for the 
expansion of your horizon" throughout the city. Come September, 
researchers, authors and artists will gather at Penn to discuss 
psychedelics en masse at Psychedemia, an academic conference on 
"visionary art and psychedelic culture."

"It seems irresponsible not to ... have an academic discussion of 
it," said Rebecca Lee, a 22-year-old writer/poet who attends the 
Theorizing Psychedelics reading group with Senol at the Chapterhouse 
Cafe, in Washington Square West.

News of research studies - successful research studies - involving 
psychedelics at major universities have trickled up through 
mainstream media. Last month, the New York Times Magazine wrote about 
a study at Harbor-U.C.L.A. Medical Center, where researchers are 
using psilocybin, a component that makes some mushrooms magic, to 
help alleviate the fear of death in cancer patients. Similar studies 
are being conducted at New York University and Johns Hopkins.

"It was a shame that for so many years there was a halt in scientific 
study in substances that might have a great benefit," said Steve 
Beyer Ph.D, a scheduled presenter at Psychdemia who's written about 
ayahuasca, a powerful psychedelic brew used by some indigenous people 
in the upper Amazon.

One Harvard researcher found that LSD has helped alleviate cluster 
headaches in some groups. The most promising research, one 
psychotherapist said, is the use of both LSD and MDMA (Ecstasy) in 
conjunction with treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder.

"That's the poster child," said Neal Goldsmith, a Psychedemia 
presenter who's hosted similar conferences in New York. "People have 
been cured from PTSD they've had for 25 years. 'Cured' is a word I 
don't use casually. The data are coming in, and it's really difficult 
to put the cat back in the bag."

Professor Jonathan Moreno, who teaches medical ethics and health 
policy at Penn, said there was promising psychedelic research being 
done in the 1950s and '60s before the government began poking around. 
When Harvard researcher Timothy Leary morphed into the Technicolor 
Johnny Appleseed of LSD, Richard Nixon called him the "most dangerous 
man in America." And the doors to psychedelic research, Moreno said, 
were locked for decades.

"It was extremely destructive. It created a major stigma," Moreno, a 
Psychedemia presenter, said of Leary's legacy.

Though Philadelphia is now treating possession of small amounts of 
marijuana as a lesser summary offense, and New Jersey is thinking 
about decriminalizing small amounts of marijuana, too, there's been 
no such discussion nationwide about psychedelics such as LSD.

Psychedemia, Senol emphasized, isn't about activism and had no 
connection to the West Philly LSD ring.

"We're not trying to legalize anything," she said.

The three alleged "masterminds" in the West Philly LSD ring have a 
preliminary hearing next week and are looking at a maximum of 10 
years in prison. They're also likely getting a great amount of 
pressure to give up the source of the difficult-to-make LSD. Police 
uncovered the ring after two Drexel students became informants.

"Historically, cases involving LSD in this area have involved sources 
of supply in California; however, that has yet to be determined 
definitively in this case," said Laura Hendrick, field intelligence 
manager of the DEA's Philadelphia division.

One of the defendants, Joshua Dassay, is originally from Washington, 
where he had a lengthy criminal record. The D.A.'s office said he was 
wanted in nine states when they found him inside the Florence Avenue 
apartment with his young child, girlfriend and $10,000 in cash. 
Neighbors on Florence Avenue had no idea that Dassay, who also goes 
by the name Barrett Turkington, was allegedly selling LSD. They found 
it hard to believe that he could have been making big money.

"He just seemed like a dirtbag," said a neighbor who asked not to be 
identified. "He was a terrible neighbor."

Dassay's girlfriend declined to comment, and his attorney did not 
return phone calls for comment. He remains in jail.

West Philly native Raphael Zappala, 33, was not a dirtbag, though 
he's also one of the alleged ringleaders, authorities said. Zappala 
worked at Philadelphia's Coalition Against Hunger, and both he and 
his mother, Celeste Zappala, became strong antiwar activists after 
his brother, Sherwood Baker, was killed in Baghdad while serving with 
the National Guard in 2004. Zappala, who is out on bail, appeared in 
court in March in a suit with his long hair trimmed and beard shaved 
off. He declined to comment after.

The third alleged mastermind was Wesley Crawford, 34, an Ardmore man 
with a Rastafarian bent who was well known by Philly skateboarders 
for being one of the founders of FDR skate park, under Interstate 95 
in South Philly. Crawford, who was arrested last year at a Phish 
concert in Virginia, remains in prison.

The D.A.'s office said that the LSD ring was making $5,000 to $15,000 
a week selling single doses for up to $30, prices that made some in 
online-drug and jam-band forums chuckle. Many believe that the West 
Philly acid was being circulated far and wide, not just among college 
students at Drexel or Penn, or among the music scene here. The 
availability of acid in Philly, one source familiar with the scene 
said, is about the same as it's always been - if you want it, you can find it.

"This isn't something like LSD is raining down on Philly," said Kyle 
McKay, who helps create "visual electronic dream-scapes" at shows and 
events with the Philly-based Psy-Fi Productions. "It's not something 
the average person is looking for."

But Daniel Shankin, a Psychedemia organizer and yoga instructor from 
Manayunk, wonders if it can turn an average person into something 
more. No one debates the legacy of Steve Jobs, he said, and the Apple 
founder said that taking acid was one of the most important things 
he'd ever done.

"Culture and society clearly benefit," Shankin said, "from people 
exploring themselves and growing."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom