Episode 43 – Rick Doblin Ph.D

Rick Doblin, Ph.D is the founder and executive director of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS).

Rick Doblin received his doctorate in Public Policy from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, where he wrote his dissertation on the regulation of the medical uses of psychedelics and marijuana and his Master’s thesis on a survey of oncologists about smoked marijuana vs. the oral THC pill in nausea control for cancer patients. He currently resides in Boston with his wife and three children. His undergraduate thesis at New College of Florida was a 25-year follow-up to the classic Good Friday Experiment, which evaluated the potential of psychedelic drugs to catalyze religious experiences. He also conducted a thirty-four year follow-up study to Timothy Leary’s Concord Prison Experiment. Rick studied with Dr. Stanislav Grof and was among the first to be certified as a Holotropic Breathwork practitioner.

He co-founded Earth Metabolic Design Laboratories in 1984 to support psychedelic research and Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) in 1986 with the goal of making MDMA an FDA-approved medicine in the United States by 2021.

Rick Doblin’s life is profiled in former Washington Post Magazine editor Tom Shroder‘s book Acid Test: LSD, Ecstasy, and the Power to Heal.

Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies

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 drugs. 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 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, cluster headaches, and depression associated with end-of-life issues, ibogaine for the treatment of opiate addiction, and alternative delivery systems for medical marijuana such as vaporizers and water pipes. MAPS officials say the organization’s 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 sponsoring scientific research, MAPS organizes continuing medical education (CME) conferences, sponsors and gives lectures and seminars on the state of psychedelic and medical marijuana research, participates in community events such as 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 books dealing with the history and culture of psychedelic medicine and psychedelic therapy.

Find Rick here: www.maps.org

FIND TRANSCRIPT HERE 

This episode is brought to you by Find Mindfulness: www.findmindfulness.com