Psychedelic outlaws The movement revolutionizing modern medicine

In this enlightening report, Kempner (Not Tonight), a sociology professor at Rutgers University, sheds light on the individuals and organizations working to legitimize and legalize the medical use of LSD, psilocybin mushrooms, and other psychedelic drugs. Her account centers on Clusterbusters, an online community for individuals suffering from cluster headache (a disease that causes excruciating bouts of acute pain). Kempner describes how Chicago construction worker Bob Wold founded the group in 2002 after discovering that small doses of psychedelic mushrooms gave him the relief that dozens of prescription treatments had failed to provide. Clusterbusters was initially focused on sharing how to grow and use mushrooms to treat headaches, but the group's ambitions swiftly expanded to include convincing the medical establishment to take psychedelic therapies seriously. Kempner profiles major players in Clusterbusters' campaign, including Rick Doblin, whose psychedelics advocacy organization MAPS helped Wold interface with medical research institutions, and R. Andrew Sewell, a renegade Harvard doctor who in the mid-aughts worked with Wold and Doblin to research psychedelics' efficacy in treating cluster headaches. Kempner's empathetic reporting illuminates how collaborations between patients and medical professionals are reviving scientific interest in psychedelic therapies, and she provides historical background showing how moral panics around drugs in the 1970s and '80s halted promising research on medical applications of MDMA and LSD. This will open readers' minds to the health benefits of psychedelics. Agent: Bridget Wagner Matzie, Aevitas Creative Management. (June)

A compelling account of the promise of psychedelic drugs to treat crushing pain. Kempner, a sociology professor at Rutgers University, has a special interest in chronic migraine, so when she heard of an underground network that was working toward effective treatment options to treat a related disease, cluster headache, she began to investigate. This led her to Clusterbusters, a support group that advocates and organizes the use of psychedelic drugs, especially mushrooms, that give relief to many. However, this is not a stereotypical tale of zoned-out acid trips of New Age wandering. Kempner notes that most of the people in the group "would blend in at any suburban mall. There's not a hint of spirituality to be found….Not a single namaste." The author traces how the group began and progressed, held together by online communication but also via annual in-person conventions. Even though "magic mushrooms" are illegal, the authorities often look the other way. Most Clusterbusters members take only small, calibrated amounts, and the success rate has been encouraging. A near-universal complaint is a lack of help with chronic migraine from conventional medical professionals, and the pharmaceutical companies show little interest in undertaking research into the area. The Clusterbusters developed their own protocol to standardize doses and treatment methods, but they realized that more in-depth research is needed. Kempner explains how they garnered support for clinical tests from academics at Harvard and Yale, but legalization of therapeutic psychedelic drugs is a long way off. She concludes: "The path to heaven from hell starts with hope….Pain isolates, but knowing you are not alone can make all the difference." Kempner tells a convoluted story with sympathy and respect, adding her personal experience to solid research. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.