We are back from a visit to Russia, where both Christina and I presented at the X. European conference on Psychotherapy. I celebrated my 70th birthday by giving a keynote on Psychology of the Future, the topic of my last book. I encountered a remarkable combination of deep interest and outpouring of love that I was not prepared for. I was also awarded the title of Academician by the Russian-based International Academy of Psychological Sciences, an honor that they told me had been given before to only four people. On the evening of my birthday, there was a banquet in my honor for conference participants and a lovely dinner on the following night, this one an amazing reunion of the holotropic breathwork family.

Everything seemed to be going exceptionally well, until we found that (the political department of) a major Russian newspaper, Kommersant, responded to my visit and appearance at the conference by a scandalous, vicious, and severely scathing article entitled "LSD Propagandist visits Russia", inviting explicitly the attention of the secret police to my visit. If "all publicity is good publicity," as they say, I have certainly received good publicity in all its possible forms.

Fortunately, the newspaper made a major mistake. The article was full of incorrect information and distorted facts in all the personal offenses and false accusations of criminal activity. They had me conduct my research in Switzerland, which I never did, referred to my research with cancer patients, addicts, and alcoholics (official US research conducted, as you know, at the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center under the auspices of NIMH) as "underground work with illegal substances ignoring prohibition," and calling me, among others, "father of the psychedelic revolution" (sic!), "infamous researcher," and a few others. In the USA, similar personal slanders appearing in tabloid journals, let alone in official newspapers that aspire to be taken seriously as sources of trustworthy information, would justify suing for millions of dollars.

Vladimir Maikov and his friend professor Kozlov responded to the article by an open letter to the editor that they also published on the Internet. They referred to damage of my reputation as an internationally known researcher and author published in 16 languages and asked for apology. I am myself looking into the possibility of suing the chief editor of Kommersant, if something like that is feasible in Russia, unless he publishes a rebuttal with correct facts. I will translate the Kommersant article and the response by Maikov/Kozlov and put it, together with my own letter, on the Internet. The Maikov/Kozlov letter is already there, but in Russian.

PS. It will interest you that, at the time of my arrival in Moscow, a major publisher released the Russian translation of Psychology of the Future and also of Call of the Jaguar in its present version. Vladimir Maikov, the editor who published both books, believes, that even in its present extended version my science fiction might be interesting to transpersonal circles. A version meeting more traditional criteria can be published later. I have been reading the book in Russian and it is very well translated. I find this to be a very interesting opportunity to test on a fairly large scale (8,000 copies) the market for this book about which I am still trying to get some clarity.


Article in the Kommersant, July 2, 2001:
LSD Propagandist Arrived in Russia
He Appeared in the Academy of Government Service

Stanislav Grof, "father of the psychedelic revolution" and underground experimenter with the psychedelic drug LSD forbidden in the entire world, who is coming to Russia for the first time on an official visit, arrived at the Tenth European Congress "Psychotherapy West-Psychotherapy East". This congress is held in the Academy of Government Service of the RF President and those, who are familiar with the activity of Mr. Grof, were very surprised by his appearance in such a place.

Chief psychotherapist of the RF Ministry of Health, Boris Karvasarskiy presented at the congress a lecture on the successes of Russian psychotherapy. But the main event of the congress was the lecture of Stanislav Grof "Psychology of the Future: Lessons from Modern Consciousness Research". And although the international psychotherapeutic community expressed concern about the "dark spiritual crisis into which human society is sinking" and even tried to assess what measures can be undertaken "to prevent humanity from disappearing in a spiritual abyss", all participants were interested only in doctor Grof, scandalously infamous in the entire world, founder of the International Transpersonal Association and Professor of the Faculty of the California Institute of Integral Studies.

More than forty years ago, this Czech psychiatrist began in Switzerland his experiments with the psychedelic substance LSD that at that time was not yet forbidden. Toward the end of the 1960s, having personally tried tens of psychedelic preparations, among them amphetamines and LSD, Stanislav Grof moved to America, where he began to treat narcotic drug addicts and alcoholics by these already forbidden preparations. The world press became strongly interested and engaged, because at this time the young generation was drawn to psychedelics and many of them embarked on a journey without return. Tens of psychedelics began to be seen as strong narcotic means and were forbidden by law, which included medical practice. Dr. Grof received the name one of the "fathers of psychedelic revolution". Ignoring prohibitions, he continued experiments with psychedelic preparations in cancer patients and narcotic drug addicts, but this time as an underground activity. Part of his psychotherapeutic practice that was legal was his work with altered states of consciousness. Having published more than fifteen books translated into twelve languages, professor Grof now appears all over the world, causing laments of the followers of classical psychotherapy. He has been in Russia several times, but these were private visits, because many of Grof¹s treatment methods are in our country illegal and they attract interest of special services.

Nevertheless, several of Grof's students work anonymously in our country. The professor's visit at the congress held at the Academy of Government Service was initiated by the Russian Institute of transpersonal psychology. At the time of the congress, professor Grof, who came with his wife and colleague Christina, is celebrating his seventieth birthday and conducts in St. Petersburg a practical seminar (without the use of psychedelic preparations). The reaction of special services to this event is at this point unknown.


E-mail to Andrey Vasilyev:

Dear Andrey Vasilyev,

As per our telephone conversation, I have written a response to the article describing my visit in Russia that appeared in the Kommersant on July 2, 2001. I will send you a hard copy with all the material mentioned in the letter, such as my curriculum vitae and the description of the conferences of the International Transpersonal Association and the names of the scientists, spiritual figures, and political leaders who have participated in them, many of whom are my personal friends.

But since time seems to be of essence (I understand that Alena Antonovna just published another vitriolic article about me in the periodical Vlast), I am sending you a preview of my letter by e-mail. I hope that after seeing this material, you will agree that if anything deserves the term "propagandist", it is the Kommersant article and the highly unprofessional, hateful, and libelous writing of Alena Antonovna,

Sincerely, Stanislav Grof, M.D.

Stanislav Grof, M.D.
38 Miller Ave, PMB # 216
Mill Valley, CA, 94941
USA


Letter to Andrey Vasilyev:

Andrey Vasilyev
Chief Editor
Kommersant
Horoshevskoye shosse, 41,
Moscow 123308
Russia

Mill Valley, California,
July 12, 2001.

Dear Andrey Vasilyev:

I am writing to you because of a serious incident that occurred during my recent visit to Moscow, where I was officially invited to present a keynote lecture at the Tenth European Conference of Psychotherapy. On the occasion of my presentation, which was also my seventieth birthday, I was awarded the title Academician by the International Academy of Psychological Sciences for my life¹s work in the area of non-ordinary states of consciousness.

On July 2, your newspaper Kommersant published a highly unprofessional article written by Alena Antonova, describing the events at the conference. It carried the sensational title "LSD Propagandist arrived in Russia", and contained a large number of incorrect statements that ranged from simple sloppy disregard for facts to outrageous lies and false accusations that are seriously damaging to my reputation.

I have no doubts that when I describe to you the nature and scope of this misinformation, you will agree that articles of this kind should not appear in a journal that aspires to be taken seriously by its readers. You might also consider if you want to employ reporters who produce articles of this quality. In my experience, the worst of American tabloids specializing in gossip pay more attention to facts than Alena Antonova did in the article she wrote for your journal. Here are some of the erroneous facts and false accusations:

1. I am not and have never been an "underground experimentator with LSD". The research with psychedelics that I conducted between 1956 and 1973 involved official projects conducted first at the Psychiatric Research Institute in Prague, Czechoslovakia, and later at the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center in Baltimore, Maryland. The results of this research have been published in professional journals and scientific books translated into 16 languages. I also received for my research the national Kuffner Award, given in Czechoslovakia for the most important psychiatric discovery of the year, and the prestigious Czechoslovakian Purkynje Award.

2. Although I consider psychedelics to be very valuable tools in the hands of professionals, as I have shown in my books, I have never advocated unsupervised use of these substances. I have never to my knowledge been called "father of the psychedelic revolution". When I was conducting my research in Czechoslovakia, LSD was listed in the official pharmacopeia with indications and contraindications, together with penicillin, insuline, and tetracycline antibiotics. When I arrived in the USA, the psychedelic revolution (unsupervised use of psychedelics by the young generation) was already well underway. The title "father of psychedelic revolution" has always been linked with the name of Timothy Leary.

3. My appearance at the conference was not a "surprise", as depicted by your article. As I mentioned before, I was officially invited by professor Victor Makarov and Dr. Vladimir Maikov to deliver a keynote lecture. This was announced in the conference program and fully expected by the participants from throughout Russia and abroad. As you will see from my curriculum vitae that I enclose, my reputation is backed by academic credentials. The term "infamous" (the best translation I can find for the Russian "scandalously known" or "known for scandals" used in your article) has never been used in connection with my name in the past. It is incorrect, offensive, and represents serious libel.

4. The term infamous is used in the article in close connection with the International Transpersonal Association (ITA), an organization that I founded. As you will see from the enclosed material, this association and its European branch have held conferences in many countries of the world and featured as speakers prominent scientists and other public figures, including Nobel Prize winners, such as Mother Teresa, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and Ilya Prigogine. The Prague ITA conference was held under the auspices of the Czech President Vaclav Havel. The ITA meetings also included US presidential candidate Jerry Brown and former maharaja of Kashmir and Jammu and independent Indian politician Karan Singh.

5. The fact that I have never conducted my research in Switzerland, as incorrectly stated in your article, is such a petty detail in the sea of lies which it contains, that it is hardly worth mentioning.

6. As I have already mentioned, the psychedelic research with terminal cancer patients, alcoholics, and narcotic drug addicts was an official US project conducted at the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center in Baltimore with the permission of the US government and under the auspices of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) in Bethesda, MD. To describe it as illegal and as an underground criminal activity is not only grossly incorrect, but represents serious libel deserving legal action, unless satisfactorily corrected. Under similar circumstances, victims of such damaging publicity have successfully sued the irresponsible journals involved for millions of dollars.

7. Another serious error in your article concerns my previous visits to Russia and the status of my work there. I quote from your article: "He has been in Russia several times before, but these were private visits, because many of Grof's treatment methods are in our country illegal and attract interest of special services. Nevertheless, several of Stanislav Grof¹s students anonymously work in our country". Contrary to this statement, two of my three previous visits in Russia were the result of official invitation by the Soviet Ministry of Health. I presume that you are familiar with the strict professional criteria applied by this institution. I hope you agree that it is highly implausible that the ministry would have extended its invitation to the "infamous father of the psychedelic revolution". It is also relevant to mention in this context that the first official editions of my books "Realms of Human Unconsciousness" (1991) and "The Human Encounter with Death" (1995) were published by the Soviet and Russian Academy of Sciences respectively by circulation of 1000 copies for scientific purposes. The second book describes my work with cancer patients that Alena Antonova explicitly calls underground and illegal. Do you really believe that the Russian Academy of Sciences would publish the work if it were true?

The research with psychedelics has been just a small part of my professional activity. My keynote lecture at the conference, entitled Psychology of the Future: Lessons from Modern Consciousness Research and based on my recent book with the same name, explored a large spectrum of non-ordinary states and their revolutionary implications for the theory and practice of psychiatry. Since 1975, my wife and I have been working with holotropic breathwork, a non-drug method that we have developed. This is also a method that we taught our Russian students in well-established international training programs. It is not only legal in Russia and other countries, but its therapeutic effects has been explored and confirmed in many research projects and doctoral dissertations. The results of some of these studies were presented at a special symposium of the Moscow conference dedicated to holotropic breathwork, which was attended by more than hundred professionals. Our Russian students (and, for that matter, students in other countries) therefore do not have the need to work anonymously.

8. Just a small comment to put the more general facts straight. Psychedelic substances are not "forbidden in the entire world", as incorrectly stated in the Kommersant article. They are among strictly controlled compounds and their use for research requires special permission; this is why we were able to conduct our large scale research at the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center. Receiving this permission became difficult, partially due to mass unsupervised use of psychedelics by the young generation, partially as a result of sensationalist reporting by irresponsible journalists, of which the article by Alena Antonovna in the Kommersant is a salient example. In the last fifteen years, a large group of Swiss psychiatrists and psychologists conducted official research of psychedelic therapy and currently another research project is beginning in the famous Burghoeltzli University Clinic in Zurich. Several research projects have recently been conducted in the United States. In Brazil, the psychedelic potion ayahuasca is being used with the government's permission by millions of people in the ceremonies of the Santo Daime Church, Union de Vegetal, and native ayahuasqueros.

These are the most serious errors in your article ­ quite an impressive collection considering its size. A little additional detail; Alena Antonova claims that her papers are based on an interview she did with me; this is an outright lie. She did not have an interview with me and drew only on my lecture and possibly books. So much for honest reporting! I hope that realizing what a sloppy, amateur, and scandalous job Alena Antonova has presented for publication in your journal you will feel at least as outraged as I did reading it. Do you really want this kind of person and this kind of reporting to represent your journal? After all, appearance of such an article in your journal raises the question of the quality of reporting in the rest of your paper­ something that should be of concern to any responsible chief editor. I ask you for correction of the misinformation in a prominent place in your journal; publication of this letter in extenso followed by a brief apology would give me full satisfaction and settle the matter. Otherwise, I would have to seek legal action and, if suing for libel is not a common practice in Russia, I would use the Internet, other journals, and my friends in Russia and abroad to make this situation publicly known. I hope we can find an amiable solution for this unfortunate matter.

Sincerely,

Stanislav Grof, M.D.

cc.: Jack Silver, Attorney-at-Law