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100 * CONCEPTION AND BIRTH this commonly used painkiller has abuse potential "less than" Schedule I and II drugs, as well as fewer and less severe adverse consequences when used under medical supervision. Schedule IV drugs like Xanax and Valium possess abuse potential "less than" Schedule III and have "limited" prob- lems associated with their medical use. In the case of the psychedelics, the high abuse potential that lawmak- ers noted was not the compulsive, out-of-control use commonly seen with drugs like heroin and cocaine. Psychedelics don't cause craving or with- drawal. In fact, one of their hallmarks is that they produce almost no effects after three or four daily doses, and abruptly stopping them causes no withdrawal. Rather, it was their acute effects that were so profoundly disruptive and at times disabling. Because of those highly destabilizing effects, Congress decided psychedelics must be tightly regulated. Clinical research scientists in the 1950s and 1960s recognized and usually took into account the unique dangers of LSD and other psychedelics. By doing so, they could successfully prevent or quickly deal with any adverse psychological reactions to these drugs. However, uncontrolled public use, and media-intensive breaches in research pro- tocols by Leary and his colleagues at Harvard, brought the expected responses. These drugs were causing highly publicized problems, and the door had to be shut for damage control. In order to turn this tide of abuse, Congress emphasized psychedelics' negative properties at the expense of their positive or neutral ones. What one day was "safety under medical supervision" became "lack of safety under medical supervision" the next. "Medical utility" as research and training tools and aids to psychotherapy quickly changed into "no cur- rently acceptable medical use." It was into this black hole I peered as I prepared to shepherd the DMT protocol through the regulatory system. The process began in December 1988. I kept a log during the next two years of every phone call, letter, meeting, fax, and discussion related to 89-001, the DMT protocol. From my notes, I summarized and extracted the most relevant information obtained from these interactions and wrote