Multidisciplinary Association For Psychedelic Studies

MAPS Founder and Executive Director Rick Doblin received a Ph.D. in Public Policy in 2001 from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, where he also obtained a Master's in Public Policy in 1990. His dissertation was on the regulation of the medical use of psychedelics and marijuana, and is posted on the MAPS website. Rick has studied with Dr. Stan Grof and was in the first group to become certified as Grof Holotropic Breathwork practitioners. He has published several papers, including a follow-up study to Walter Pahnke's Good Friday experiment and Timothy Leary's Concord Prison experiment. He is married to Lynne Jones Doblin, and they have 3 children, Eden, Lilah, and Eliora.

<div> <p> </p> <p>Since I founded MAPS in 1986, it has been a satisfaction to encourage the renaissance in psychedelic research. Our research agenda has grown to include Phase 2 pilot studies in which we must generate preliminary data to support our claims of medical benefit. The outcome of all this work (whether or not we&#8217;re able to achieve legal prescription use) will be largely determined by our actions these next several years. We are laying the foundations for larger Phase 3 research studies that are required to prove safety and efficacy, ideally with such transparency of methodology and outcomes that the next steps will be clear to everyone.</p> <p>A major milestone came in April 2010, when MAPS hosted "Psychedelic Science in the 21st Century," the largest conference in the United States to focus on clinical research with psychedelics. The conference was the first of its kind to offer continuing medical education to medical doctors, medical professionals, psychologists, and other healthcare workers. Since there is now as much clinical psychedelic research taking place worldwide as there was when psychedelic research was prohibited in 1972, we were able to have three full days of programming to educate the medical audience about the latest in clinical research. The conference spurred positive reports in major media worldwide, including the New York Times, CNN, USA Today, and Scientific American.&nbsp;</p> <p>In June of 2009, MAPS had another milestone.&nbsp;In an example of MAPS' increasing reach and professionalism we gathered therapists from seven different countries (USA, Canada, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Israel, and Jordan) for a successful debut of MAPS&#8217; first MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for the treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) therapist training program. The purpose of the training program was to prepare therapists to conduct MAPS-sponsored Phase 2 and Phase 3 psychotherapy studies in accordance with MAPS&#8217; MDMA/PTSD treatment manual.</p><div></div> </div>