MAPS Researcher Accused of being a DEA Informant

[Walkaway]

At last week's LSD Symposium in Basel, allegations emerged that John Halpern, a leading psychedelics researcher affiliated with both Harvard University and MAPS, was a DEA informant in the case of Leonard Pickard. Attentive readers may remember that Pickard was accused of being responsible for the manufacture of 90-95% of the LSD being consumed in the United States in the late 90s.

At the conference, Mark McCloud confronted Halpern about his role in the Pickard case, along with allegations that Halpern had tape recorded phone conversations about the Pickard case with other individuals, subsequently turning them over to the DEA; that Halpern had turned over personal communications between himself and Dr. Hoffman and the Shulgins; and that the extent of Halpern's continuing involvement with the DEA is unknown, among other charges.

As of this time, it is confirmed that John Halpern was an informant for the DEA in the Pickard case. The other accusations are still in dispute.

Individuals contributing money or information to MAPS might wish to be mindful of this.

[Bevo]

God I hate narcs.

[TODD BLANKENSHIP]

if anyone is going to hell its that man

[libel]

Here is a video concerning this matter.

http://s10.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=0N45H8A...AN091R90GLCOWMH (http://s10.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=0N45H8AABY7AN091R90GLCOWMH)

[torque]

Here's an article on Halpern and his work ... fuck, you can't trust anybody ...
Psychedelic Medicine (http://www.newscientist.com/channel/health/mg18524881.400)

[void]

http://www.cjonline.com/indepth/missilesil...n_lsdsilo.shtml (http://www.cjonline.com/indepth/missilesilos/stories/021903_kan_lsdsilo.shtml)

Sting and Paul Simon footing the court bill for a witness against Pickard? Wow. Gets stranger and stranger...

[eatingflowers]

Its too bad everyone he fucked is probably pacifist, He should get his tongue removed or some such.

[Poss]

What is this world coming too? Why does the government fight a war on it's own citizens? It could be fighting a war on poverty, which would probably help the drug problem and deffinatly help the crime rate in this country. Right now they are being counter-productive using spys to infiltrate harmless research groups. That is fucking low.

[Walkaway]

Poss, the thing of it is, Rick Doblin of MAPS claims he knew from the start that Halpern was an informant.

There was certainly no 'infiltration', and this leaves me wondering how 'harmless' MAPS really is...

(I should note here that Doblin claims Pickard gave him permission to work with Halpern, though I don't see that this significantly alters the material facts in this case, given: my own distaste for Pickard; given MAPS' lack of disclosure of these facts 'til they were brought up in public by other people; and given a whole bunch of other things that I'll gladly go into if anyone wants me to do so)

[stile]

Does this mean things will get dry?

[Shameful]

Things have been dry.

[DarkStar]

Well, there goes my plan to join MAPS. As for things being dry, i'm starting to see L again, a lot, but its more expensive. people just have to accept that the $5 a hit days are for the most part over. Still, $7-10 for 12 hours of the greatest experience in the world other than sex is not a bad deal

[silent voice of seduction]

Originally posted by DarkStar@Jan 25 2006, 01:47 PM
Still, $7-10 for 12 hours of the greatest experience in the world other than sex is not a bad deal
Exactly. I think $30 - or more - would still be acceptable. LSD is not an everyday drug.

Concerning the topic, that's outrageous. Does it actually speak against MAPS though? Any organisation can probably be infiltrated, given enough patience on the DEA's side.

The DEA is the American Inquisition.

Edit: OK, I just looked at the article linked by torque. This man has SEEN the life-changing power of LSD and MDMA in so many people. Holy fucking God, how could he narc on an LSD cook!??????

[the_phoenix]

Originally posted by Walkaway@Jan 25 2006, 12:34 PM
Poss, the thing of it is, Rick Doblin of MAPS claims he knew from the start that Halpern was an informant.

There was certainly no 'infiltration', and this leaves me wondering how 'harmless' MAPS really is...

(I should note here that Doblin claims Pickard gave him permission to work with Halpern, though I don't see that this significantly alters the material facts in this case, given: my own distaste for Pickard; given MAPS' lack of disclosure of these facts 'til they were brought up in public by other people; and given a whole bunch of other things that I'll gladly go into if anyone wants me to do so)
If you wouldn't mind elaborating I would definitely appreciate it. Thanks for the info here. It is apalling. :flame:

[burning_in_water]

has anyone noticed how mum this is? Search google for John Halpren DEA Informant, and there's nothing. What's that about?

[Xvall]

What a bastard.

[Eloivore]

Originally posted by burning_in_water@Jan 26 2006, 03:39 PM
has anyone noticed how mum this is? Search google for John Halpren DEA Informant, and there's nothing. What's that about?
search for halpern + DEA + informant returns 408 hits.

Search for halpern + DEA + informant + pickard returns slightly fewer, the first of which predates the Basel conference. It's from 2001.

[EDIT: ...]

I've got more to say on this subject but I don't have time at the moment for eloquence. I'll give you the short version:
1) I'm not terribly thrilled with any of this.
2) I think don't think MAPS handled this particularly well, didn't people learn anything from Bill and Monica?
3) I'm surprised it took so long for people to pick up on this; I remember reading about the Pickard case (missile silo and everything) a long time ago. In fact I'd entirely forgotten about it. The article above is from 2001, and mentions Halpern giving a statement to the DEA.
4) I want to know the details of Halpern's immunity deal. Did he actually commit any crime or were they just going to maliciously prosecute him (I'm a believer in "don't do the crime if you can't do the time", where narking to save your ass counts as "can't do the time", but the DEA has this bad habit of prosecuting ppl for doing nothing). Did he really stick to the deal or was he overly aggressive in trying to please the DEA? that sort of thing).
5) I wouldn't personally trust Halpern any further than I could comfortably spit a living rat.
6) a lot of people act stupid on camera
7) I *personally* see no reason to trust MAPS any more or less than I already did, tho I don't blame anyone who thinks differently.

and

8) There's a hell of a lot of gaps between the things we truly know. People are inclined to fill in those gaps with speculation (he was a DEA agent, he got funding because he gave up the evidence, MAPS is a sting operation, etc) according to their conclusions, that's human nature (I'm sure there's an analogy with research versus anecdotal evidence here but I only got 3h sleep). Wars have started when people assumed the worst despite lack of evidence. What we *do* know in this case is arguably bad enough, I see no reason to make it worse as I've seen happen recently on various forums and mailing lists. But the people who *do* know damn well better start talking, or this whole community is going to go through another painful bout of paranoia and there have been too many of those.

[burning_in_water]

Originally posted by bwhite@Jan 27 2006, 09:43 AM
4) I want to know the details of Halpern's immunity deal. Did he actually commit any crime or were they just going to maliciously prosecute him
If he knew any details about the manufacture of millions of doses of lsd and DIDN'T narc, then he's commiting a crime too, so that's what happens. Always make sure that the friends you have that could incriminate you hate cops as much as you do cause if you get pinched for doing something (AND I KNOW YOU ARE DOING THOSE THINGS) that's where they will lean if they can't lean on you.

and sorry for my sloppy research... :P

[$H@P3$HYFTR3]

fuckinnn narx. tie him up, hang him from his nutsacc with a guitar string four stories above heavy traffic in downtown chicago. fuckin narx. or send him here to chitown. i kno some people thatll skin him alive then pour everclear all over his body right before setting him on fire. they wiill then piss out tha flamez and leave him to die but not before scalpin him with a rusty razor. thatll teach ya to go oo7 in some drug shit.fuckin narx. and NO im not on ccc's i just hate narx. PEACE (so long as your not a nark)

[Cameron]

Originally posted by atomic_revolution@Feb 19 2006, 10:31 PM
fuckinnn narx. tie him up, hang him from his nutsacc with a guitar string four stories above heavy traffic in downtown chicago. fuckin narx. or send him here to chitown. i kno some people thatll skin him alive then pour everclear all over his body right before setting him on fire. they wiill then piss out tha flamez and leave him to die but not before scalpin him with a rusty razor. thatll teach ya to go oo7 in some drug shit.fuckin narx. and NO im not on ccc's i just hate narx. PEACE (so long as your not a nark)
rofl.

[Walkaway]

I don't think that mentality is very helpful.

Understandable, yes. Helpful, no.

[libel]

true about not reporting it being a crime too.. fucking patriot act and VICTORY act.

[$H@P3$HYFTR3]

whats a rofl? is it a small dog? i seriously dont kno that online shorthand shit. im in tha streets all day, yo and nobody eva said rofl to me. i kno that lol shit tho. im catchin on ta ya sneaky ass too lazy to type up tha whole word mofuckas!

[$H@P3$HYFTR3]

sorry, i kno it aint helpful. but you kno how emotions can be. when i see such underhanded, sneaky ass, child touching in tha no no zone, lame as a cripple on an od of heroin, creepy crawly, snake in tha grass mofuckaz like that buggin about some beautifully mind expanding shit, especially in this kinda case, especially me being a cancer (astrological, not biological) im gonna have a problem. sorry tho. what we need is a REVOLUTION. HAHAHAHAHAHA~!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!