Samuel Gershon: Events and Memories

Samuel Gershon’s reply to Michael Goldberg’s comments

         I appreciate Mike Goldberg’s very kind comments on our alkaloid compound work. I am sorry that I did not know of his earlier work with these compounds. There was one small, and to us, odd finding with yohimbine.  We found that when it was injected to an anesthetized dog it produced a fall in blood pressure. Then we produced a dog with an exteriorized carotid artery and injected the yohimbine IV; we produced a major rise in  blood pressure and the behavioral analog of anxiety. We looked at the other compounds in this series and ibogaine had hallucinogenic properties as well. I am exceedingly sorry that we did not do “due diligence” back then and become informed of their work; I am sure we could have learned much more than we did.

August 13, 2020