I wrote this book for several reasons:

To testify about my personal discovery that MDMA can be a life-enhancing experience across the adult lifespan (and here I add a little wink to my fellow boomers). And to set the record straight about how to use MDMA and how not to. And to acknowledge that it’s not for everyone.

To legitimize happiness-inducing experiences as potentially transformative and valid in their own right.

To tell the story of my life and marriage, and how, by sheer serendipity, we happened upon a nascent, vibrant cultural renaissance underway just beneath the media radar, spearheaded by Millennials. And how we got to hobnob with the local psychedelerati.

And finally, to declare myself done with hiding in the chemical closet out of fear of being shamed or stigmatized, and to help others do the same, because I know there are so many of us. Hiding — the difference between the face I show the world and who I really am — has simply become too offensive for me. I’ve heard some say, in relation to my drug use, You’re too old for that! This made me consider: Should I be concerned at this age about how others may judge me? I ‘m too old for that! This is one way ageing has freed me. In addition, while hiding certain details of my private life from my clients is often appropriate, withholding potentially beneficial information from them is unethical. This especially holds when I believe this medicine can, in some cases, effectively treat their ills as individuals and couples like nothing else can.

–  Charles Wininger, LP, LMHC