Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies
Encyclopedia
The Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) is a membership-based 501(c)(3) non-profit research and educational organization working to develop psychedelics
and marijuana into legal prescription drug
s. MAPS was founded in 1986 by Rick Doblin
, and is now based in Santa Cruz, California
.
MAPS helps scientists design, fund, and obtain regulatory approval for studies of the safety and effectiveness of a number of currently controlled substances. MAPS works closely with government regulatory authorities worldwide such as the United States Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) and the European Medicines Agency
(EMEA) to ensure that all of its sponsored research protocols conform to ethical and procedural guidelines for clinical drug research. Included in MAPS’ research efforts are MDMA (Ecstasy) for the treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), LSD and psilocybin
for the treatment of anxiety
and depression associated with end-of-life issues, ibogaine
for the treatment of opiate
addiction
, and alternative delivery systems for medical marijuana
such as vaporizer
s and water pipes
. MAPS states that their ultimate goal is to establish a network of clinics where these and other treatments can be provided together with other therapies under the guidance of licensed physicians and therapists.
In addition to its sponsorship of scientific research, MAPS organizes continuing medical education
(CME) conferences, sponsors and gives lectures and seminars on the current state of psychedelic and medical marijuana research, participates in community events like music festivals and Burning Man
, and publishes a quarterly Bulletin with updates about its ongoing research efforts, legal struggles, and educational initiatives. MAPS has also published a number of books dealing with the history and culture of psychedelic medicine and psychedelic therapy.
when he accidentally ingested a small dose through the skin while studying the compound. Controlled research on human subjects began soon after and Hofmann's colleague Werner Stoll published his findings about the basic effects of LSD on human subjects in 1947.
After the earliest European and American research efforts investigated whether LSD could reliably induce psychotic disorders, some began to recognize the potential for LSD to assist in traditional Freudian psychotherapy
in the 1950s. Studies into the effects of LSD on human creativity and spirituality were also conducted during this period.
The next major development in the history of psychedelic research was the rediscovery of psilocybin by Western society due to the appearance of an article in a 1957 issue of Life
magazine written by R. Gordon Wasson detailing his experiences ingesting psilocybin mushrooms in a shamanic ceremony in Mexico. European studies into the use of psilocybin as a psychotherapeutic agent (Duche; Delay et al.) were published as early as 1961. An article by Pichot about the basic effects of psilocybin on 137 normal and unhealthy subjects appeared in the medical journal Lancet in the same year.
In the early 1960s, Harvard University
was the seat of two landmark experiments involving psilocybin. The first of these was the Concord Prison Experiment
which began in 1961 under the supervision of principle researchers Timothy Leary
and Richard Alpert
. The purpose of the experiment was to determine if psilocybin-assisted psychotherapeutic techniques could permanently reverse the criminal and anti-social tendencies of 32 state prisoners nearing parole and prevent them from being incarcerated again. Leary's team combined the administration of synthetic psilocybin in guided sessions with a variety of tests and support sessions during and after release. The ambitious experiment provided important insight into how to conduct psychedelic treatment sessions and helped pioneer the technique of having one of the experimenters undergo the psychedelic experience along with the subjects. The study also yielded anecdotal reports from the subjects which hinted at the potential therapeutic power of psilocybin and encouraged further research in this area.
The next Harvard experiment with crucial implications for the development of psychedelic research was Walter Pahnke's
Good Friday Experiment of 1962. Pahnke set out to determine if psilocybin could be used to facilitate “mystical” experiences and if these experiences could cause permanent and beneficial personality transformation. In order to do so, he recruited 20 Protestant divinity students, 10 of whom would take synthetic psilocybin and 10 of whom would take a placebo
. The experiment took place in a basement chapel in which the audio from a Good Friday service conducted in the main chapel upstairs was broadcast. Pahnke reported greater incidence of mystical experience among the group receiving psilocybin, and like the prisoners in the Concord experiment, they delivered stirring first-hand testimony of their experiences which would help inspire further research.
Throughout the short history of LSD research, people unaffiliated or loosely affiliated with the scientific establishment distributed supplies of LSD outside of laboratory settings. Soon the lines between legitimate research and personal experimentation began to blur for some, and as early as 1962 fellow faculty members at Harvard openly criticized Leary and Alpert for abandoning scientific principles and experimenting with LSD outside official research settings. A few months later the university would dismiss both professors for violating university regulations by providing LSD to undergraduates. The controversy at Harvard coincided with greatly increased FDA restrictions on the procurement of LSD for scientific research; although some research did continue, most studies underway before the new FDA restrictions did not. After restricting its manufacture and distribution in 1965, the US government fully criminalized LSD in 1968, after which the European nations which hosted psychedelic research followed suit.
In the United States, legal psychedelic research was reduced to only one program – the studies conducted at the Spring Grove Center in Baltimore which primarily focused on end of life therapy and continued through to 1974. The study, which eventually came to be headed by Pahnke and Grof
, resulted in the treatment of over 100 terminal patients, including 31 in a controlled LSD psychotherapy study. Grof argues that “the results... supported the clinical impressions of the often dramatic effects of LSD psychotherapy on the emotional condition and physical pain of cancer patients.”
The second wave of modern psychedelic research is associated with renewed interest in MDMA. Throughout the 1970s, the main source of information regarding the still legal MDMA came from independent research unaffiliated with traditionally scholarly settings led by the extensive self-experimentation performed by chemist Alexander Shulgin
. Shulgin believed that as with LSD, the primary use for MDMA was to serve as an adjunct to psychotherapy, which prompted him to share MDMA with psychiatric practitioners. Shulgin published extensively in scientific journals with respect to the chemical properties of MDMA.
Results of studies on the effects of MDMA on human subjects began to surface in the 1980s. George Greer administered MDMA to 29 patients (1983) and subsequently reported nearly uniform positive mental effects such as feelings of closeness to others and enhanced personal insight, results corroborated by Beck and Seymour's survey of therapists who used MDMA with their patients. Downing (1985) concluded “one can only say that MDMA, at the doses tested, has remarkably consistent and predictable psychological effects that are... free of clinically apparent major toxicity.”
Throughout the 1980s, MDMA was administered in psychiatric and counseling settings, but recreational use also became increasingly widespread. MDMA research was mostly halted in 1985 by the United States government's initiation of proceedings to ensure temporary classification of the compound as a Schedule I
drug (a classification made permanent in 1988). As psychedelics gained increasing recognition as potential psychotherapuetic agents, so too were they recognized within popular culture for their recreational use.
Noting that at this time a great number of psychiatrists, marriage counselors, and therapists were using MDMA to enhance the therapeutic process, EMDL organized the scientific and medical communities to petition the DEA for a scheduling hearing regarding MDMA. Dr. George Greer, Dr. Lester Grinspoon
, Professor James Bakalar, and Professor Thomas Roberts contributed to the argument that MDMA belonged in Schedule III, a category that would more readily enable future research and permit the continuation of its use in psychotherapy. Despite such efforts, the DEA pursued emergency scheduling in 1985, citing an imminent risk to public health. Although this move was ruled illegal, the decision to place MDMA within Schedule I was reached in 1988 after the DEA overruled a DEA Administrative Law Judge's recommendation that it be placed within Schedule III
.
As MDMA was now deemed illegal, held in the same category as such substances as heroin, the only way for it to be employed in scientific inquiry would be through the lengthy and expensive FDA approval process. Holding the belief that MDMA had the unique potential both to aid psychotherapy and eventually to become a prescription medicine, Rick Doblin sought to gain incorporation for MAPS as a 501(c)(3) non-profit research and educational organization. The founding of MAPS was a primary step toward the future envisioning of what Doblin has called a "nonprofit psychedelic-pharmaceutical company." Chartered in 1986, MAPS has since contributed over 12 million dollars towards the scientific study of psychedelics and marijuana in therapeutic applications.
Currently, MAPS has been given a Schedule I
license to conduct research with MDMA on veterans and survivors of physical or sexual assault who are suffering from post traumatic stress disorder, as well as with advanced-stage cancer
patients who are experiencing anxiety associated with this diagnosis, the first licenses the DEA
has granted for MDMA psychotherapy research.
On the 19th of July 2010, the peer-reviewed Journal of Psychopharmacology
published the results of the MDMA studies pursued by Dr. Mithoefer and concludes that this work is very promising. It also states that "this pilot study demonstrates that MDMA-assisted psychotherapy with close follow-up monitoring and support can be used with acceptable and short-lived side effects in a carefully
screened group of subjects with chronic, treatment-resistant PTSD".
A clinical study for treating cluster headaches using low doses of the tryptamine psilocybin
(found in psilocybe mushrooms) is being developed by researchers at Harvard Medical School
, McLean Hospital
in conjunction with MAPS.
served on the board until her death in 2011. The staff includes:
MAPS completed a US Pilot Study in September 2008 that investigated the effectiveness of MDMA-Assisted Psychotherapy in the Treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), which took place in Charleston, South Carolina. The study sought to determine whether MDMA-assisted psychotherapy would be effective in reducing the symptoms of PTSD in 20 subjects identified with treatment-resistant PTSD resulting from sexual abuse, war, violent crime, and other traumas. The randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study yielded results that suggest possible efficacy as over 80% of 20 subjects in the study no longer met the diagnostic criteria for PTSD, compared with 25% in the placebo group. Furthermore, preliminary analysis of a long-term follow-up to the study suggest benefits were maintained more than a year after the final treatment.
MAPS is currently conducting a phase 2 pilot study to assess the effectiveness of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy in the treatment of PTSD among veterans of war. The study is taking place in Charleston, SC and is conducting experimental treatment with 16 veterans, both male and female, suffering war-related PTSD. The study will follow a randomized triple-blind protocol and test three different experimental doses.
Outside of the US, MAPS is pursuing the implementation of MDMA/PTSD studies in Canada, Israel, Jordan, and Switzerland. The Canadian study has full approval from an Institutional Review Board (IRB) and from Health Canada, and is waiting to obtain an import permit to import MDMA into Canada. The Israel Study is awaiting approval from the Israeli Institutional Review Board as well as the Ministry of Health before it can proceed with enrolment. An Israeli Defense Force official has indicated a willingness to refer war affected soldiers suffering from PTSD, thus greatly enabling recruitment for the study. The Jordan Study is in development with limited approval from the IRB. A protocol amendment is to be submitted in the near future. MAPS is seeking to enrol both Jordanian nationals as well as Iraqi refugees living in Jordan who are suffering from PTSD. The Switzerland study has received full approval from SwissMedic and has been submitted and accepted by the FDA in the form of an Investigational New Drug application. The study is currently in progress and nearing completion as MAPS is collecting long-term follow-up data following the experimental treatment of all 12 subjects. The study represents in part MAPS' clinical plan to develop MDMA as a prescription medication with both FDA and European Medicines Agency (EMEA) approval.
Aiding clinicians in their ability to lead more effective MDMA assisted psychotherapy, MAPS has developed a training protocol that will allow therapists to take part as subjects in a Phase 1 study on the psychological effects of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy on healthy volunteers. MAPS would thus administer one MDMA-assisted psychotherapy session to the therapists in an effort to offer them training as well as evaluate the effects of MDMA. The study has received approval to proceed by both the US FDA and the IRB. Mithoefer, the primary clinical investigator in this study, has received his Schedule 1 license from the DEA, enabling him to administer MDMA within this study.
mushrooms and a number of other plants containing psychoactive compounds have been valued for millennia by many indigenous tribes across the globe for their spiritual & therapeutic uses.
Discovered by Albert Hofmann in 1938 and 1958 respectively, Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD) and Psilocybin, a psychoactive compound found in “Magic” mushrooms, are both well known for their ability to induce deeply spiritual, insightful and often life-changing experiences.
Although early research into the use of LSD and Psilcybin in clinical psychology demonstrated positive results, an explosion of recreational use during the 1960s gained the compounds a great deal of notoriety and ultimately led to their categorization as Schedule I illicit drugs in 1970.
MAPS is committed to exploring the potential use of LSD and psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy in the treatment of patients suffering with the deep anxiety associated with life-threatening illness. Currently developing new research protocols to meet modern drug development standards, MAPS’ pilot LSD and psilocybin studies will be used to guide development of future treatment methodologies.
Currently MAPS is conducting a study on LSD-Assisted Psychotherapy in the Treatment of Anxiety Secondary to Life Threatening Illness. The study is taking place in Solothurn, Switzerland and is the first study in 35 years to investigate the therapeutic use of LSD in human subjects. The study's primary focus is to assess the safety and effectiveness of conducting LSD-assisted psychotherapy with a population of individuals who are experiencing anxiety associated with life-threatening illness. The study has received approval from the BAG (the equivalent of the DEA in Switzerland), the Ethics Committee (the Swiss IRB), and SwissMedic
. Enrolment began in April 2008 and is currently complete.
MAPS has also developed a protocol to study the effectiveness of psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy in treating anxiety related to the experience of having a life-threatening illness such as advanced stage cancer
. This study is to be conducted in the US under the principle investigation of Sameet Kumar, Ph.D.
present in the root-bark of the West-African shrub Tabernanthe iboga, has in recent years gained popularity as an effective treatment for severe alcohol and drug dependence
.
Traditionally used in healing and initiation ceremonies by followers of the West-African Bwiti
religion, the drug has stimulant
properties in low doses and can induce a hallucinogenic dream-like state in higher doses. It is the higher-dose hallucinogenic effect which is widely credited with the ability to help users understand and reverse their substance-dependent behavioral patterns.
A number of clinics situated outside the US currently offer ibogaine treatment for alcohol & drug dependence, yet with a relatively high estimated mortality rate of 1 in 300, ibogaine treatment is not without its risks.
MAPS is currently collecting observational data from two ibogaine treatment centers in Mexico to study the long-term effects of this treatment on opiate-dependent subjects.
MAPS has released a request for proposal
s (RFP) to find a research team interested in conducting clinical trials on ibogaine; a $25,000 grant has been made available to help fund such a study.
(NIDA) currently holds a monopoly on the supply of marijuana grown for research in the United States, as they fund the only laboratory licensed to grow it. Since NIDA is solely interested in researching the negative aspects of marijuana use and abuse, studies to explore its potential medical benefit are currently impossible within the US.
MAPS is the only organization working to demonstrate the safety and efficacy of botanical marijuana as a prescription medicine to the satisfaction of the FDA. For nearly ten years, MAPS has been involved in lengthy and ongoing legal battles with the DEA to end NIDA’s monopoly on research grade marijuana.
Alternatively, MAPS has received full approval from the FDA to study the effectiveness of marijuana, both smoked and vaporized, in the treatment of individuals experiencing war related PTSD. This marks the first time the FDA has approved an outpatient marijuana study.
, Ayahuasca
, DMT
, Ketamine
, LSA
, Mescaline
, Peyote
, and Salvia divinorum
.
MAPS has also conducted multi-drug studies as well as cross cultural and meta-analysis research.
The MAPS Newsletter began modestly in 1988, containing only a one-page essay by Rick Doblin entitled “MDMA Can Become a Legal Medicine.” Only one issue of the Newsletter appeared in both 1988 and 1989, and it began appearing on a tri-annual basis in 1991, a schedule maintained by the current Bulletin. For over two years as of April 2011, David Jay Brown
or Randolph Hencken has edited the Bulletin. Design/Build is always credited to Noah Juan Juneau.
In its earliest issues, the Bulletin focused entirely on psychedelic research projects and the associated legal struggles. As it expanded from a single-page publication to one typically consisting of 40-60 pages, the Bulletin began to feature writings relating to a wider variety of subjects ranging from personal spirituality and inter-generational relationships in families which take psychedelics to ethnobotany
and anthropological studies of cultures using naturally occurring psychedelic agents for entheogenic purposes. Other common features are summaries of international conferences, book reviews, interviews with notable users of psychedelics, and advocacy regarding the War on Drugs
.
The Bulletin has provided an outlet for the voices of leading figures in the psychedelic research movement such as Richard Alpert (Ram Dass
), Stanislav Grof
, Rick Strassman
, Ralph Metzner
, and Albert Hofmann
. Additionally the Bulletin often features representatives of other organizations involved with changing the social and legal status of psychedelic agents such as SSDP
and DanceSafe
. The Bulletin's cover artwork has featured numerous visionary and psychedelic inspired artists such as Alex Grey
, Dadara
, Naoto Hattori, and Martina Hoffman.
. Psychedelic harm reduction is an approach to minimize harmful consequences and risks associated with the therapeutic and recreational use of psychedelic drugs. A harm reduction approach is an alternative to drug prohibition laws that criminalize users of psychedelic substances. Inexperienced or overwhelmed users of psychedelics sometimes have challenging emotional experiences that are resolved through law enforcement or medical intervention, which may lead to psychological damage long after the trip is over. A harm reduction approach to using psychedelics often includes attention to set and setting, a trip sitter, or framing in the context of psychedelic therapy.
MAPS has provided psychedelic emergency services at festivals such as Hookahville, Burning Man
and the Boom Festival
. MAPS’ model of psychedelic emergency services is volunteer staffed, peer based and relies on acute intervention. MAPS also provides training and an educational video, which empowers psychedelic users and their peers with therapeutic techniques for use in assisting others through difficult psychedelic experiences. MAPS’ approach to psychedelic harm reduction encourages a new framework for looking at “bad” trips as opportunities for emotional and spiritual growth.
Additionally, MAPS co-sponsors Ecstasydata.org, an online resource that provides laboratory testing of ecstasy tablets for a minimal cost. Laboratory testing of ecstasy tablets and other psychedelics allows users to know exactly what they are ingesting and to avoid taking mislabeled or impure substances.
(NIDA) has a government granted monopoly on the production of medical marijuana for research purposes. In the past, the institute has refused to supply marijuana to researchers who had obtained all other necessary federal permits. Medical marijuana researchers and activists claim that NIDA, which is not supposed to be a regulatory organization, does not have the authority to effectively regulate who does and doesn't get to do research with medical marijuana. Jag Davies of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) writes in MAPS Bulletin:
NIDA administers a contract with the University of Mississippi to grow the nation's only legal cannabis crop for medical and research purposes, including the Compassionate Investigational New Drug program
. A Fast Company magazine article pointed out, "Based on the photographic evidence, NIDA's concoction of seeds, stems, and leaves more closely resembles dried cat brier than cannabis". An article in Mother Jones magazine describes their crop as "brown, stems-and-seeds-laden, low-potency pot—what's known on the streets as 'schwag'" United States federal law currently registers cannabis as a Schedule I drug. Medical marijuana researchers typically prefer to use high-potency marijuana, but NIDA's National Advisory Council on Drug Abuse has been reluctant to provide cannabis with high THC levels, citing safety concerns:
Boston Globe 2006:
From an ACLU Press Release:
Major events in recent proceedings are notable, as in the 2007 ruling by Administrative Law Judge Mary Ellen Bittner, wherein she recommended that Craker receive a license to grow marijuana for research and that NIDA dismantle its monopoly. The DEA in response overturned the recommended ruling in January 2009, and later denied Craker's Motion to Reconsider in December 2010. Most recently, March 2011 saw Craker's lawyers submit their final brief in the case. MAPS is pursuing efforts to have the DEA's final ruling rescinded. A detailed timeline of MAPS' attempts to gain access to research grade marijuana is available on the MAPS website http://www.maps.org/research/mmj/.
Psychedelic drug
A psychedelic substance is a psychoactive drug whose primary action is to alter cognition and perception. Psychedelics are part of a wider class of psychoactive drugs known as hallucinogens, a class that also includes related substances such as dissociatives and deliriants...
and marijuana into legal prescription drug
Prescription drug
A prescription medication is a licensed medicine that is regulated by legislation to require a medical prescription before it can be obtained. The term is used to distinguish it from over-the-counter drugs which can be obtained without a prescription...
s. MAPS was founded in 1986 by Rick Doblin
Rick Doblin
Rick Doblin is the president and founder of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies .He co-founded Earth Metabolic Design Laboratories in 1984 to support psychedelic research and Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies in 1986 with the goal of making MDMA an...
, and is now based in Santa Cruz, California
Santa Cruz, California
Santa Cruz is the county seat and largest city of Santa Cruz County, California in the US. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, Santa Cruz had a total population of 59,946...
.
MAPS helps scientists design, fund, and obtain regulatory approval for studies of the safety and effectiveness of a number of currently controlled substances. MAPS works closely with government regulatory authorities worldwide such as the United States Food and Drug Administration
Food and Drug Administration
The Food and Drug Administration is an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, one of the United States federal executive departments...
(FDA) and the European Medicines Agency
European Medicines Agency
The European Medicines Agency is a European agency for the evaluation of medicinal products. From 1995 to 2004, the European Medicines Agency was known as European Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal Products.Roughly parallel to the U.S...
(EMEA) to ensure that all of its sponsored research protocols conform to ethical and procedural guidelines for clinical drug research. Included in MAPS’ research efforts are MDMA (Ecstasy) for the treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), LSD and psilocybin
Psilocybin
Psilocybin is a naturally occurring psychedelic prodrug, with mind-altering effects similar to those of LSD and mescaline, after it is converted to psilocin. The effects can include altered thinking processes, perceptual distortions, an altered sense of time, and spiritual experiences, as well as...
for the treatment of anxiety
Anxiety
Anxiety is a psychological and physiological state characterized by somatic, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral components. The root meaning of the word anxiety is 'to vex or trouble'; in either presence or absence of psychological stress, anxiety can create feelings of fear, worry, uneasiness,...
and depression associated with end-of-life issues, ibogaine
Ibogaine
Ibogaine is a naturally occurring psychoactive substance found in a number of plants, principally in a member of the Apocynaceae family known as Iboga . A hallucinogen with both psychedelic and dissociative properties, the substance is banned in some countries; in other countries it is being used...
for the treatment of opiate
Opiate
In medicine, the term opiate describes any of the narcotic opioid alkaloids found as natural products in the opium poppy plant.-Overview:Opiates are so named because they are constituents or derivatives of constituents found in opium, which is processed from the latex sap of the opium poppy,...
addiction
Substance dependence
The section about substance dependence in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders does not use the word addiction at all. It explains:...
, and alternative delivery systems for medical marijuana
Medical cannabis
Medical cannabis refers to the use of parts of the herb cannabis as a physician-recommended form of medicine or herbal therapy, or to synthetic forms of specific cannabinoids such as THC as a physician-recommended form of medicine...
such as vaporizer
Vaporizer
A vaporizer or vapouriser is a device used to extract for inhalation the active ingredients of plant material, commonly cannabis, tobacco, or other herbs or blends....
s and water pipes
Bong
A bong is a filtration device/apparatus generally used for smoking cannabis, tobacco,or other herbal substances.In construction and function a bong is similar to a hookah, except smaller and more portable...
. MAPS states that their ultimate goal is to establish a network of clinics where these and other treatments can be provided together with other therapies under the guidance of licensed physicians and therapists.
In addition to its sponsorship of scientific research, MAPS organizes continuing medical education
Continuing medical education
Continuing medical education refers to a specific form of continuing education that helps those in the medical field maintain competence and learn about new and developing areas of their field. These activities may take place as live events, written publications, online programs, audio, video, or...
(CME) conferences, sponsors and gives lectures and seminars on the current state of psychedelic and medical marijuana research, participates in community events like music festivals and Burning Man
Burning Man
Burning Man is a week-long annual event held in the Black Rock Desert in northern Nevada, in the United States. The event starts on the Monday before the American Labor Day holiday, and ends on the holiday itself. It takes its name from the ritual burning of a large wooden effigy on Saturday evening...
, and publishes a quarterly Bulletin with updates about its ongoing research efforts, legal struggles, and educational initiatives. MAPS has also published a number of books dealing with the history and culture of psychedelic medicine and psychedelic therapy.
Psychedelics and Psychotherapy
The psychoactive properties of LSD were discovered in 1943 by Swiss chemist Albert HofmannAlbert Hofmann
Albert Hofmann was a Swiss scientist known best for being the first person to synthesize, ingest and learn of the psychedelic effects of lysergic acid diethylamide . He authored more than 100 scientific articles and a number of books, including LSD: My Problem Child...
when he accidentally ingested a small dose through the skin while studying the compound. Controlled research on human subjects began soon after and Hofmann's colleague Werner Stoll published his findings about the basic effects of LSD on human subjects in 1947.
After the earliest European and American research efforts investigated whether LSD could reliably induce psychotic disorders, some began to recognize the potential for LSD to assist in traditional Freudian psychotherapy
Psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis is a psychological theory developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud. Psychoanalysis has expanded, been criticized and developed in different directions, mostly by some of Freud's former students, such as Alfred Adler and Carl Gustav...
in the 1950s. Studies into the effects of LSD on human creativity and spirituality were also conducted during this period.
The next major development in the history of psychedelic research was the rediscovery of psilocybin by Western society due to the appearance of an article in a 1957 issue of Life
Life (magazine)
Life generally refers to three American magazines:*A humor and general interest magazine published from 1883 to 1936. Time founder Henry Luce bought the magazine in 1936 solely so that he could acquire the rights to its name....
magazine written by R. Gordon Wasson detailing his experiences ingesting psilocybin mushrooms in a shamanic ceremony in Mexico. European studies into the use of psilocybin as a psychotherapeutic agent (Duche; Delay et al.) were published as early as 1961. An article by Pichot about the basic effects of psilocybin on 137 normal and unhealthy subjects appeared in the medical journal Lancet in the same year.
In the early 1960s, Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
was the seat of two landmark experiments involving psilocybin. The first of these was the Concord Prison Experiment
Concord Prison Experiment
The Concord Prison Experiment was designed to evaluate whether the experiences produced by the psychoactive drug psilocybin, derived from psilocybin mushrooms, combined with psychotherapy, could inspire prisoners to leave their antisocial lifestyles behind once they were released...
which began in 1961 under the supervision of principle researchers Timothy Leary
Timothy Leary
Timothy Francis Leary was an American psychologist and writer, known for his advocacy of psychedelic drugs. During a time when drugs like LSD and psilocybin were legal, Leary conducted experiments at Harvard University under the Harvard Psilocybin Project, resulting in the Concord Prison...
and Richard Alpert
Ram Dass
Ram Dass is an American contemporary spiritual teacher and the author of the seminal 1971 book Be Here Now. He is known for his personal and professional associations with Timothy Leary at Harvard University in the early 1960s, for his travels to India and his relationship with the Hindu guru Neem...
. The purpose of the experiment was to determine if psilocybin-assisted psychotherapeutic techniques could permanently reverse the criminal and anti-social tendencies of 32 state prisoners nearing parole and prevent them from being incarcerated again. Leary's team combined the administration of synthetic psilocybin in guided sessions with a variety of tests and support sessions during and after release. The ambitious experiment provided important insight into how to conduct psychedelic treatment sessions and helped pioneer the technique of having one of the experimenters undergo the psychedelic experience along with the subjects. The study also yielded anecdotal reports from the subjects which hinted at the potential therapeutic power of psilocybin and encouraged further research in this area.
The next Harvard experiment with crucial implications for the development of psychedelic research was Walter Pahnke's
Walter Pahnke
Walter N. Pahnke M.D., Ph.D. was a minister, physician, and psychiatrist who attended Harvard in the early 1960s. He earned an MD from Harvard Medical School, a BD from Harvard Divinity School, a PhD from Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and a Harvard psychiatric residency.He was a...
Good Friday Experiment of 1962. Pahnke set out to determine if psilocybin could be used to facilitate “mystical” experiences and if these experiences could cause permanent and beneficial personality transformation. In order to do so, he recruited 20 Protestant divinity students, 10 of whom would take synthetic psilocybin and 10 of whom would take a placebo
Placebo
A placebo is a simulated or otherwise medically ineffectual treatment for a disease or other medical condition intended to deceive the recipient...
. The experiment took place in a basement chapel in which the audio from a Good Friday service conducted in the main chapel upstairs was broadcast. Pahnke reported greater incidence of mystical experience among the group receiving psilocybin, and like the prisoners in the Concord experiment, they delivered stirring first-hand testimony of their experiences which would help inspire further research.
Throughout the short history of LSD research, people unaffiliated or loosely affiliated with the scientific establishment distributed supplies of LSD outside of laboratory settings. Soon the lines between legitimate research and personal experimentation began to blur for some, and as early as 1962 fellow faculty members at Harvard openly criticized Leary and Alpert for abandoning scientific principles and experimenting with LSD outside official research settings. A few months later the university would dismiss both professors for violating university regulations by providing LSD to undergraduates. The controversy at Harvard coincided with greatly increased FDA restrictions on the procurement of LSD for scientific research; although some research did continue, most studies underway before the new FDA restrictions did not. After restricting its manufacture and distribution in 1965, the US government fully criminalized LSD in 1968, after which the European nations which hosted psychedelic research followed suit.
In the United States, legal psychedelic research was reduced to only one program – the studies conducted at the Spring Grove Center in Baltimore which primarily focused on end of life therapy and continued through to 1974. The study, which eventually came to be headed by Pahnke and Grof
Stanislav Grof
Stanislav Grof is a psychiatrist, one of the founders of the field of transpersonal psychology and a pioneering researcher into the use of non-ordinary states of consciousness for purposes of analyzing, healing, and obtaining growth and insight into the human psyche...
, resulted in the treatment of over 100 terminal patients, including 31 in a controlled LSD psychotherapy study. Grof argues that “the results... supported the clinical impressions of the often dramatic effects of LSD psychotherapy on the emotional condition and physical pain of cancer patients.”
The second wave of modern psychedelic research is associated with renewed interest in MDMA. Throughout the 1970s, the main source of information regarding the still legal MDMA came from independent research unaffiliated with traditionally scholarly settings led by the extensive self-experimentation performed by chemist Alexander Shulgin
Alexander Shulgin
Alexander "Sasha" Theodore Shulgin is an American pharmacologist, chemist, artist, and drug developer.Shulgin is credited with the popularization of MDMA, commonly known as ecstasy, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, especially for psychopharmaceutical use and the treatment of depression and...
. Shulgin believed that as with LSD, the primary use for MDMA was to serve as an adjunct to psychotherapy, which prompted him to share MDMA with psychiatric practitioners. Shulgin published extensively in scientific journals with respect to the chemical properties of MDMA.
Results of studies on the effects of MDMA on human subjects began to surface in the 1980s. George Greer administered MDMA to 29 patients (1983) and subsequently reported nearly uniform positive mental effects such as feelings of closeness to others and enhanced personal insight, results corroborated by Beck and Seymour's survey of therapists who used MDMA with their patients. Downing (1985) concluded “one can only say that MDMA, at the doses tested, has remarkably consistent and predictable psychological effects that are... free of clinically apparent major toxicity.”
Throughout the 1980s, MDMA was administered in psychiatric and counseling settings, but recreational use also became increasingly widespread. MDMA research was mostly halted in 1985 by the United States government's initiation of proceedings to ensure temporary classification of the compound as a Schedule I
Controlled Substances Act
The Controlled Substances Act was enacted into law by the Congress of the United States as Title II of the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970. The CSA is the federal U.S. drug policy under which the manufacture, importation, possession, use and distribution of certain...
drug (a classification made permanent in 1988). As psychedelics gained increasing recognition as potential psychotherapuetic agents, so too were they recognized within popular culture for their recreational use.
Founding MAPS
Anticipating that the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) would move to criminalize MDMA in light of the drug's increasing popularity in recreational use, Rick Doblin, Alise Agar and Debby Harlow organized a non-profit group called Earth Metabolic Design Laboratories (EMDL) to bolster awareness of the therapeutic use of MDMA. By 1984 the DEA had announced its intention to designate MDMA as a Schedule I substance, a categorization that would greatly restrict and regulate the drug's availability, as well as indicate that it held no accepted medical use and a high abuse potential.Noting that at this time a great number of psychiatrists, marriage counselors, and therapists were using MDMA to enhance the therapeutic process, EMDL organized the scientific and medical communities to petition the DEA for a scheduling hearing regarding MDMA. Dr. George Greer, Dr. Lester Grinspoon
Lester Grinspoon
Dr. Lester Grinspoon is Associate Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Grinspoon was senior psychiatrist at the Massachusetts Mental Health Center in Boston for 40 years. Dr. Grinspoon is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American...
, Professor James Bakalar, and Professor Thomas Roberts contributed to the argument that MDMA belonged in Schedule III, a category that would more readily enable future research and permit the continuation of its use in psychotherapy. Despite such efforts, the DEA pursued emergency scheduling in 1985, citing an imminent risk to public health. Although this move was ruled illegal, the decision to place MDMA within Schedule I was reached in 1988 after the DEA overruled a DEA Administrative Law Judge's recommendation that it be placed within Schedule III
Controlled Substances Act
The Controlled Substances Act was enacted into law by the Congress of the United States as Title II of the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970. The CSA is the federal U.S. drug policy under which the manufacture, importation, possession, use and distribution of certain...
.
As MDMA was now deemed illegal, held in the same category as such substances as heroin, the only way for it to be employed in scientific inquiry would be through the lengthy and expensive FDA approval process. Holding the belief that MDMA had the unique potential both to aid psychotherapy and eventually to become a prescription medicine, Rick Doblin sought to gain incorporation for MAPS as a 501(c)(3) non-profit research and educational organization. The founding of MAPS was a primary step toward the future envisioning of what Doblin has called a "nonprofit psychedelic-pharmaceutical company." Chartered in 1986, MAPS has since contributed over 12 million dollars towards the scientific study of psychedelics and marijuana in therapeutic applications.
Projects
Since 1986, MAPS has distributed over 12 million dollars to fund research and education. These include:- Sponsored a Swiss study that sought to examine the effectiveness of LSD-assisted psychotherapy in the treatment of patients who suffer from anxiety associated with terminal illness.
- Obtained FDA and IRB approval to study MDMA-assisted psychotherapy in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in Charleston, SC with similar research projects now underway in SwitzerlandSwitzerlandSwitzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
and IsraelIsraelThe State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
. - Sponsored the first U.S. based study evaluating the therapeutic application of MDMA with treatment resistant PTSD. Results from this study have been published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology. Also being prepared or conducted are MDMA/PTSD pilot studies in Canada, Israel, Jordan, and Switzerland.
- Sponsored a Phase 2 pilot study of the effectiveness of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy to treat PTSD in veterans of war.
- Designed a study to examine vaporized or smoked marijuana in the treatment of war related PTSD in veterans, which will evaluate efficacy and safety of multiple strains of herbal marijuana. The study has received FDA approval. MAPS is pursuing the purchase of appropriate strains from the US federal government.
- Sponsored efforts by Prof. Lyle Craker, Medicinal Plant Program, UMass Amherst Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, to obtain a license from the Drug Enforcement Administration for a marijuana production facility.
- Sponsored pioneering analytical research into the effects of the marijuana vaporizer, leading to the first human study of marijuana vaporizers conducted by Dr. Donald Abrams of the University of California, San Francisco.
- Opened an FDA Drug Master File for MDMA. This is required before any drug can be researched in FDA-approved human studies.
- Assisted Dr. Charles Grob to design, obtain approval for and fund the first FDA-approved study in the U.S. to administer MDMA to humans.
- Assisted in the design and is funding the world's first government-approved scientific study of the therapeutic use of MDMA (Spain).
- Sponsored studies to analyze the purity and potency of street samples of "Ecstasy" and medical marijuana.
- Funded the successful efforts of Dr. Donald Abrams to obtain approval for the first human study in 15 years into the therapeutic use of marijuana, along with a $1 million grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
- Obtained Orphan DrugOrphan drugAn orphan drug is a pharmaceutical agent that has been developed specifically to treat a rare medical condition, the condition itself being referred to as an orphan disease...
designation from the FDA for smoked marijuana in the treatment of AIDS Wasting Syndrome. - Funded the synthesis of psilocybin for the first FDA-approved study in twenty-five years to evaluate psilocybinPsilocybinPsilocybin is a naturally occurring psychedelic prodrug, with mind-altering effects similar to those of LSD and mescaline, after it is converted to psilocin. The effects can include altered thinking processes, perceptual distortions, an altered sense of time, and spiritual experiences, as well as...
in a patient population. - Supported long-term follow-up studies of pioneering research with LSDLSDLysergic acid diethylamide, abbreviated LSD or LSD-25, also known as lysergide and colloquially as acid, is a semisynthetic psychedelic drug of the ergoline family, well known for its psychological effects which can include altered thinking processes, closed and open eye visuals, synaesthesia, an...
and psilocybin originally conducted in the 1950s and 1960s. - Sponsoring research by Dr. Evgeny Krupitsky into ketamine-assisted psychotherapy as a treatment for heroin addiction and alcoholism.
- Hosted the conference “Psychedelic Science in the 21st Century,” in April 2010. This was the largest conference on the topic of psychedelic science to have occurred in nearly 40 years.
- Sponsoring programs and services at festivals, community events, churches, and schools that provide psychedelic harm reduction and education.
Currently, MAPS has been given a Schedule I
Controlled Substances Act
The Controlled Substances Act was enacted into law by the Congress of the United States as Title II of the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970. The CSA is the federal U.S. drug policy under which the manufacture, importation, possession, use and distribution of certain...
license to conduct research with MDMA on veterans and survivors of physical or sexual assault who are suffering from post traumatic stress disorder, as well as with advanced-stage cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
patients who are experiencing anxiety associated with this diagnosis, the first licenses the DEA
Drug Enforcement Administration
The Drug Enforcement Administration is a federal law enforcement agency under the United States Department of Justice, tasked with combating drug smuggling and use within the United States...
has granted for MDMA psychotherapy research.
On the 19th of July 2010, the peer-reviewed Journal of Psychopharmacology
Journal of Psychopharmacology
The Journal of Psychopharmacology is the official peer-reviewed scientific journal of the British Association for Psychopharmacology . The journal is published twelve times a year by SAGE Publications on behalf of BAP...
published the results of the MDMA studies pursued by Dr. Mithoefer and concludes that this work is very promising. It also states that "this pilot study demonstrates that MDMA-assisted psychotherapy with close follow-up monitoring and support can be used with acceptable and short-lived side effects in a carefully
screened group of subjects with chronic, treatment-resistant PTSD".
A clinical study for treating cluster headaches using low doses of the tryptamine psilocybin
Psilocybin
Psilocybin is a naturally occurring psychedelic prodrug, with mind-altering effects similar to those of LSD and mescaline, after it is converted to psilocin. The effects can include altered thinking processes, perceptual distortions, an altered sense of time, and spiritual experiences, as well as...
(found in psilocybe mushrooms) is being developed by researchers at Harvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School is the graduate medical school of Harvard University. It is located in the Longwood Medical Area of the Mission Hill neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts....
, McLean Hospital
McLean Hospital
McLean Hospital is a psychiatric hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts.It is noted for its clinical staff expertise and ground-breaking neuroscience research...
in conjunction with MAPS.
Board and Staff
MAPS is governed by a board of directors including John Gilmore, Robert J. Barnhart, and Rick Doblin. Ashawna HaileyAshawna Hailey
Ashawna Hailey created the HSPICE program which large parts of the worldwide semiconductor industry use to simulate and design silicon chips...
served on the board until her death in 2011. The staff includes:
- Rick Doblin, Ph.D. - Executive Director
- Michael Mithoefer, M.D. - Clinical Investigator MDMA/PTSD Studies
- Annie Mithoefer, B.S.N. - Co-Investigator MDMA/PTSD Studies
- Valerie Mojeiko - Deputy Director
- Brad Burge, M.A. - Director of Communications
- Amy Emerson - Clinical Program Manager
- L (Ilsa) Jerome, Ph.D. - Research and Information Specialist
- Linnae Ponté - Executive and Clinical Research Assistant
- Josh Mojeiko - Director of Finance and IT
- Brian Wallace - Director of Field Development
- Berra Yazar-Klosinski, Ph.D. - Clinical Research Associate
Funding
MAPS is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) research and educational organization, funded by donations from individuals and foundations. Donations to MAPS can be restricted to fund a specific project, or be unrestricted. MAPS also receives revenue from conferences and events, such as the Psychedelic Science conference, as well as from the sale of books, merchandise, and art. With a policy of transparency in financial matters, MAPS publishes a detailed annual financial report.MDMA-Assisted Psychotherapy for PTSD
MAPS has a primary focus in researching the effectiveness of using 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) to assist psychotherapy in the treatment of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). MDMA's empathogenic effects may assist individuals in achieving successful results from psychotherapy, especially when suffering from PTSD. Extensive research has demonstrated that moderate doses of MDMA taken a limited number of times are sufficiently safe for human consumption. MAPS is currently the only organisation in the world funding clinical trials of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy, as it is of little interest to commercial pharmaceutical companies. Ultimately, MAPS seeks to achieve FDA approval for the use of MDMA as a prescription medicine.MAPS completed a US Pilot Study in September 2008 that investigated the effectiveness of MDMA-Assisted Psychotherapy in the Treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), which took place in Charleston, South Carolina. The study sought to determine whether MDMA-assisted psychotherapy would be effective in reducing the symptoms of PTSD in 20 subjects identified with treatment-resistant PTSD resulting from sexual abuse, war, violent crime, and other traumas. The randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study yielded results that suggest possible efficacy as over 80% of 20 subjects in the study no longer met the diagnostic criteria for PTSD, compared with 25% in the placebo group. Furthermore, preliminary analysis of a long-term follow-up to the study suggest benefits were maintained more than a year after the final treatment.
MAPS is currently conducting a phase 2 pilot study to assess the effectiveness of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy in the treatment of PTSD among veterans of war. The study is taking place in Charleston, SC and is conducting experimental treatment with 16 veterans, both male and female, suffering war-related PTSD. The study will follow a randomized triple-blind protocol and test three different experimental doses.
Outside of the US, MAPS is pursuing the implementation of MDMA/PTSD studies in Canada, Israel, Jordan, and Switzerland. The Canadian study has full approval from an Institutional Review Board (IRB) and from Health Canada, and is waiting to obtain an import permit to import MDMA into Canada. The Israel Study is awaiting approval from the Israeli Institutional Review Board as well as the Ministry of Health before it can proceed with enrolment. An Israeli Defense Force official has indicated a willingness to refer war affected soldiers suffering from PTSD, thus greatly enabling recruitment for the study. The Jordan Study is in development with limited approval from the IRB. A protocol amendment is to be submitted in the near future. MAPS is seeking to enrol both Jordanian nationals as well as Iraqi refugees living in Jordan who are suffering from PTSD. The Switzerland study has received full approval from SwissMedic and has been submitted and accepted by the FDA in the form of an Investigational New Drug application. The study is currently in progress and nearing completion as MAPS is collecting long-term follow-up data following the experimental treatment of all 12 subjects. The study represents in part MAPS' clinical plan to develop MDMA as a prescription medication with both FDA and European Medicines Agency (EMEA) approval.
Aiding clinicians in their ability to lead more effective MDMA assisted psychotherapy, MAPS has developed a training protocol that will allow therapists to take part as subjects in a Phase 1 study on the psychological effects of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy on healthy volunteers. MAPS would thus administer one MDMA-assisted psychotherapy session to the therapists in an effort to offer them training as well as evaluate the effects of MDMA. The study has received approval to proceed by both the US FDA and the IRB. Mithoefer, the primary clinical investigator in this study, has received his Schedule 1 license from the DEA, enabling him to administer MDMA within this study.
LSD and Psilocybin-Assisted Psychotherapy for End-of-Life Anxiety
It is well evidenced that psychoactivePsychoactive drug
A psychoactive drug, psychopharmaceutical, or psychotropic is a chemical substance that crosses the blood–brain barrier and acts primarily upon the central nervous system where it affects brain function, resulting in changes in perception, mood, consciousness, cognition, and behavior...
mushrooms and a number of other plants containing psychoactive compounds have been valued for millennia by many indigenous tribes across the globe for their spiritual & therapeutic uses.
Discovered by Albert Hofmann in 1938 and 1958 respectively, Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD) and Psilocybin, a psychoactive compound found in “Magic” mushrooms, are both well known for their ability to induce deeply spiritual, insightful and often life-changing experiences.
Although early research into the use of LSD and Psilcybin in clinical psychology demonstrated positive results, an explosion of recreational use during the 1960s gained the compounds a great deal of notoriety and ultimately led to their categorization as Schedule I illicit drugs in 1970.
MAPS is committed to exploring the potential use of LSD and psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy in the treatment of patients suffering with the deep anxiety associated with life-threatening illness. Currently developing new research protocols to meet modern drug development standards, MAPS’ pilot LSD and psilocybin studies will be used to guide development of future treatment methodologies.
Currently MAPS is conducting a study on LSD-Assisted Psychotherapy in the Treatment of Anxiety Secondary to Life Threatening Illness. The study is taking place in Solothurn, Switzerland and is the first study in 35 years to investigate the therapeutic use of LSD in human subjects. The study's primary focus is to assess the safety and effectiveness of conducting LSD-assisted psychotherapy with a population of individuals who are experiencing anxiety associated with life-threatening illness. The study has received approval from the BAG (the equivalent of the DEA in Switzerland), the Ethics Committee (the Swiss IRB), and SwissMedic
Swissmedic
Swissmedic, the Swiss Agency for Therapeutic Products, is the Swiss surveillance authority for medicines and medical devices, registered in Berne. It started operations on 1 January 2002 as successor of Interkantonale Kontrollstelle für Heilmittel , which was itself the successor of Schweizerische...
. Enrolment began in April 2008 and is currently complete.
MAPS has also developed a protocol to study the effectiveness of psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy in treating anxiety related to the experience of having a life-threatening illness such as advanced stage cancer
Cancer staging
The stage of a cancer is a description of the extent the cancer has spread. The stage often takes into account the size of a tumor, how deeply it has penetrated, whether it has invaded adjacent organs, how many lymph nodes it has metastasized to , and whether it has spread to distant organs...
. This study is to be conducted in the US under the principle investigation of Sameet Kumar, Ph.D.
Ibogaine Treatment for Drug Addiction
Ibogaine, a psychoactive alkaloidAlkaloid
Alkaloids are a group of naturally occurring chemical compounds that contain mostly basic nitrogen atoms. This group also includes some related compounds with neutral and even weakly acidic properties. Also some synthetic compounds of similar structure are attributed to alkaloids...
present in the root-bark of the West-African shrub Tabernanthe iboga, has in recent years gained popularity as an effective treatment for severe alcohol and drug dependence
Substance dependence
The section about substance dependence in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders does not use the word addiction at all. It explains:...
.
Traditionally used in healing and initiation ceremonies by followers of the West-African Bwiti
Bwiti
Bwiti is a West Central African spiritual practice by the forest-dwelling Babongo and Mitsogo people of Gabon, where it is counted as one of the three official religions, and the Fang people of Gabon and Cameroon...
religion, the drug has stimulant
Stimulant
Stimulants are psychoactive drugs which induce temporary improvements in either mental or physical function or both. Examples of these kinds of effects may include enhanced alertness, wakefulness, and locomotion, among others...
properties in low doses and can induce a hallucinogenic dream-like state in higher doses. It is the higher-dose hallucinogenic effect which is widely credited with the ability to help users understand and reverse their substance-dependent behavioral patterns.
A number of clinics situated outside the US currently offer ibogaine treatment for alcohol & drug dependence, yet with a relatively high estimated mortality rate of 1 in 300, ibogaine treatment is not without its risks.
MAPS is currently collecting observational data from two ibogaine treatment centers in Mexico to study the long-term effects of this treatment on opiate-dependent subjects.
MAPS has released a request for proposal
Request for Proposal
A request for proposal is issued at an early stage in a procurement process, where an invitation is presented for suppliers, often through a bidding process, to submit a proposal on a specific commodity or service. The RFP process brings structure to the procurement decision and is meant to...
s (RFP) to find a research team interested in conducting clinical trials on ibogaine; a $25,000 grant has been made available to help fund such a study.
Medical Marijuana
The National Institute on Drug AbuseNational Institute on Drug Abuse
The National Institute on Drug Abuse is a United States federal-government research institute whose mission is to "lead the Nation in bringing the power of science to bear on drug abuse and addiction."-History:...
(NIDA) currently holds a monopoly on the supply of marijuana grown for research in the United States, as they fund the only laboratory licensed to grow it. Since NIDA is solely interested in researching the negative aspects of marijuana use and abuse, studies to explore its potential medical benefit are currently impossible within the US.
MAPS is the only organization working to demonstrate the safety and efficacy of botanical marijuana as a prescription medicine to the satisfaction of the FDA. For nearly ten years, MAPS has been involved in lengthy and ongoing legal battles with the DEA to end NIDA’s monopoly on research grade marijuana.
Alternatively, MAPS has received full approval from the FDA to study the effectiveness of marijuana, both smoked and vaporized, in the treatment of individuals experiencing war related PTSD. This marks the first time the FDA has approved an outpatient marijuana study.
Other research projects
MAPS has pursued a number of other research studies examining the effects of psychedelics administered to human subjects. These studies include, but are not limited to, studies of MDEMethylenedioxyethylamphetamine
3,4-Methylenedioxy-N-ethylamphetamine is an entactogen, psychedelic, and stimulant of the phenethylamine and amphetamine chemical classes....
, Ayahuasca
Ayahuasca
Ayahuasca is any of various psychoactive infusions or decoctions prepared from the Banisteriopsis spp. vine, usually mixed with the leaves of dimethyltryptamine-containing species of shrubs from the Psychotria genus...
, DMT
Dimethyltryptamine
N,N-Dimethyltryptamine is a naturally occurring psychedelic compound of the tryptamine family. DMT is found in several plants, and also in trace amounts in humans and other mammals, where it is originally derived from the essential amino acid tryptophan, and ultimately produced by the enzyme INMT...
, Ketamine
Ketamine
Ketamine is a drug used in human and veterinary medicine. Its hydrochloride salt is sold as Ketanest, Ketaset, and Ketalar. Pharmacologically, ketamine is classified as an NMDA receptor antagonist...
, LSA
Ergine
Ergine, also known as d-lysergic acid amide , d-lysergamide, and LA-111, is an alkaloid of the ergoline family that occurs in various species of vines of the Convolvulaceae and some species of fungi...
, Mescaline
Mescaline
Mescaline or 3,4,5-trimethoxyphenethylamine is a naturally occurring psychedelic alkaloid of the phenethylamine class used mainly as an entheogen....
, Peyote
Peyote
Lophophora williamsii , better known by its common name Peyote , is a small, spineless cactus with psychoactive alkaloids, particularly mescaline.It is native to southwestern Texas and Mexico...
, and Salvia divinorum
Salvia divinorum
Salvia divinorum is a psychoactive plant which can induce dissociative effects and is a potent producer of "visions" and other hallucinatory experiences...
.
MAPS has also conducted multi-drug studies as well as cross cultural and meta-analysis research.
MAPS Bulletin
The MAPS Bulletin (called the MAPS Newsletter before 1995) is the organization's official publication. It provides summaries of psychedelic research conducted under the auspices of the organization and other worldwide research efforts in addition to discussions of psychedelic culture, personal reflections on psychedelic experiences, and writings from leading figures in the psychedelic research community.The MAPS Newsletter began modestly in 1988, containing only a one-page essay by Rick Doblin entitled “MDMA Can Become a Legal Medicine.” Only one issue of the Newsletter appeared in both 1988 and 1989, and it began appearing on a tri-annual basis in 1991, a schedule maintained by the current Bulletin. For over two years as of April 2011, David Jay Brown
David Jay Brown
David Jay Brown is an American writer and scientific researcher.Brown is the author of four interview collections with controversial scientists and artists, two science fiction novels, and a health science book...
or Randolph Hencken has edited the Bulletin. Design/Build is always credited to Noah Juan Juneau.
In its earliest issues, the Bulletin focused entirely on psychedelic research projects and the associated legal struggles. As it expanded from a single-page publication to one typically consisting of 40-60 pages, the Bulletin began to feature writings relating to a wider variety of subjects ranging from personal spirituality and inter-generational relationships in families which take psychedelics to ethnobotany
Ethnobotany
Ethnobotany is the scientific study of the relationships that exist between people and plants....
and anthropological studies of cultures using naturally occurring psychedelic agents for entheogenic purposes. Other common features are summaries of international conferences, book reviews, interviews with notable users of psychedelics, and advocacy regarding the War on Drugs
War on Drugs
The War on Drugs is a campaign of prohibition and foreign military aid and military intervention being undertaken by the United States government, with the assistance of participating countries, intended to both define and reduce the illegal drug trade...
.
The Bulletin has provided an outlet for the voices of leading figures in the psychedelic research movement such as Richard Alpert (Ram Dass
Ram Dass
Ram Dass is an American contemporary spiritual teacher and the author of the seminal 1971 book Be Here Now. He is known for his personal and professional associations with Timothy Leary at Harvard University in the early 1960s, for his travels to India and his relationship with the Hindu guru Neem...
), Stanislav Grof
Stanislav Grof
Stanislav Grof is a psychiatrist, one of the founders of the field of transpersonal psychology and a pioneering researcher into the use of non-ordinary states of consciousness for purposes of analyzing, healing, and obtaining growth and insight into the human psyche...
, Rick Strassman
Rick Strassman
Dr. Rick Strassman is a medical doctor specialized in psychiatry with a fellowship in clinical psychopharmacology research. Strassman was the first person in the United States after twenty years of intermission to embark in human research with psychedelic, hallucinogenic, or entheogenic substances...
, Ralph Metzner
Ralph Metzner
Ralph Metzner Ph.D. , is an American psychologist, writer and researcher, who participated in psychedelic research at Harvard University in the early 1960s with Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert . Dr...
, and Albert Hofmann
Albert Hofmann
Albert Hofmann was a Swiss scientist known best for being the first person to synthesize, ingest and learn of the psychedelic effects of lysergic acid diethylamide . He authored more than 100 scientific articles and a number of books, including LSD: My Problem Child...
. Additionally the Bulletin often features representatives of other organizations involved with changing the social and legal status of psychedelic agents such as SSDP
Students for Sensible Drug Policy
Students for Sensible Drug Policy is an international non-profit advocacy and education organization based in Washington D.C., with offices in both Washington D.C. and San Francisco, CA...
and DanceSafe
DanceSafe
DanceSafe is a nonprofit organization, with 3 local chapters in the US and Canada.DanceSafe youth volunteers set up tables at raves and other events to distribute educational literature containing information describing the effects and risks associated with the use of various drugs and sell testing...
. The Bulletin's cover artwork has featured numerous visionary and psychedelic inspired artists such as Alex Grey
Alex Grey
Alex Grey is an American artist specializing in spiritual and psychedelic art that is sometimes associated with the New Age movement. Grey is a Vajrayana practitioner. His body of work spans a variety of forms including performance art, process art, installation art, sculpture, visionary art, and...
, Dadara
Dadara
Dadara or Daniel Rozenberg is a Dutch artist known for his flyers, paintings, album covers, statues and performance artwork.-Biography:...
, Naoto Hattori, and Martina Hoffman.
Psychedelic harm reduction
MAPS offers educational resources that actively promote psychedelic harm reductionHarm reduction
Harm reduction refers to a range of public health policies designed to reduce the harmful consequences associated with recreational drug use and other high risk activities...
. Psychedelic harm reduction is an approach to minimize harmful consequences and risks associated with the therapeutic and recreational use of psychedelic drugs. A harm reduction approach is an alternative to drug prohibition laws that criminalize users of psychedelic substances. Inexperienced or overwhelmed users of psychedelics sometimes have challenging emotional experiences that are resolved through law enforcement or medical intervention, which may lead to psychological damage long after the trip is over. A harm reduction approach to using psychedelics often includes attention to set and setting, a trip sitter, or framing in the context of psychedelic therapy.
MAPS has provided psychedelic emergency services at festivals such as Hookahville, Burning Man
Burning Man
Burning Man is a week-long annual event held in the Black Rock Desert in northern Nevada, in the United States. The event starts on the Monday before the American Labor Day holiday, and ends on the holiday itself. It takes its name from the ritual burning of a large wooden effigy on Saturday evening...
and the Boom Festival
Boom Festival
The Boom Festival is a biennial festival which takes place in Portugal.The festival features music, paint, sculpture, video art, installations cinema, theater and a concept of crosspollination of different art forms....
. MAPS’ model of psychedelic emergency services is volunteer staffed, peer based and relies on acute intervention. MAPS also provides training and an educational video, which empowers psychedelic users and their peers with therapeutic techniques for use in assisting others through difficult psychedelic experiences. MAPS’ approach to psychedelic harm reduction encourages a new framework for looking at “bad” trips as opportunities for emotional and spiritual growth.
Additionally, MAPS co-sponsors Ecstasydata.org, an online resource that provides laboratory testing of ecstasy tablets for a minimal cost. Laboratory testing of ecstasy tablets and other psychedelics allows users to know exactly what they are ingesting and to avoid taking mislabeled or impure substances.
Conferences
- MAPS Pharmacologically-Assisted Psychotherapy Conference (Nov. 28th – Dec. 1st, 1990 Bern, Switzerland)
- Psychedelic Science in the 21st Century (April 15 – 18, 2010 San Jose, CA)
- Catalysts: The Impact of Psychedelics from Culture to Creativity (Dec. 10th – 12th, 2010 Los Angeles, CA)
Medical Marijuana monopoly
National Institute on Drug AbuseNational Institute on Drug Abuse
The National Institute on Drug Abuse is a United States federal-government research institute whose mission is to "lead the Nation in bringing the power of science to bear on drug abuse and addiction."-History:...
(NIDA) has a government granted monopoly on the production of medical marijuana for research purposes. In the past, the institute has refused to supply marijuana to researchers who had obtained all other necessary federal permits. Medical marijuana researchers and activists claim that NIDA, which is not supposed to be a regulatory organization, does not have the authority to effectively regulate who does and doesn't get to do research with medical marijuana. Jag Davies of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) writes in MAPS Bulletin:
NIDA administers a contract with the University of Mississippi to grow the nation's only legal cannabis crop for medical and research purposes, including the Compassionate Investigational New Drug program
Compassionate Investigational New Drug program
The Compassionate Investigational New Drug program, or Compassionate IND, is a United States Federal Government-ran Investigational New Drug program that allows a limited number of patients to use medical marijuana grown at the University of Mississippi. It is administered by the National...
. A Fast Company magazine article pointed out, "Based on the photographic evidence, NIDA's concoction of seeds, stems, and leaves more closely resembles dried cat brier than cannabis". An article in Mother Jones magazine describes their crop as "brown, stems-and-seeds-laden, low-potency pot—what's known on the streets as 'schwag'" United States federal law currently registers cannabis as a Schedule I drug. Medical marijuana researchers typically prefer to use high-potency marijuana, but NIDA's National Advisory Council on Drug Abuse has been reluctant to provide cannabis with high THC levels, citing safety concerns:
Boston Globe 2006:
From an ACLU Press Release:
Major events in recent proceedings are notable, as in the 2007 ruling by Administrative Law Judge Mary Ellen Bittner, wherein she recommended that Craker receive a license to grow marijuana for research and that NIDA dismantle its monopoly. The DEA in response overturned the recommended ruling in January 2009, and later denied Craker's Motion to Reconsider in December 2010. Most recently, March 2011 saw Craker's lawyers submit their final brief in the case. MAPS is pursuing efforts to have the DEA's final ruling rescinded. A detailed timeline of MAPS' attempts to gain access to research grade marijuana is available on the MAPS website http://www.maps.org/research/mmj/.