1954 – He returned to Berkeley, California, and earned his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of California, Berkeley.

1965 – Shulgin left Dow to pursue his own interests, and became a private consultant, also frequently teaching classes in the local universities and at the San Francisco General Hospital.

1967 – Shulgin was introduced to MDMA by a student at University of California, San Francisco.

1970 – Shulgin is credited with the popularizing of MDMA.

1976 – Shulgin went on to develop a new synthesis method, and introduced the chemical to Leo Zeff, a psychologist from Oakland, California.

1991 – He and his wife Ann Shulgin authored the books PiHKAL and TiHKAL on the topic of psychoactive drugs.

1994 – Two years after the publication of PiHKAL, the DEA raided his lab; finding problems with his record keeping, the DEA requested that Shulgin turn over his license for violating the license’s terms, and he was fined US$25,000 for possession of anonymous samples sent to him for quality testing.

         – He is currently continuing his work at home in Lafayette, CA, and is writing a new comprehensive psychedelic drug index.