December 29, 2008. The New York Times (p. MM39). "Albert Hofmann: Day Tripper, born 1906." (Permalink).

This is glowing article about the father of LSD. Albert is honored as a tolerant man who was thoughtful in his pursuits of science and spirituality.

December 19, 2008. The Economist: "Agony and Ecstasy: Ecstasy may be good for those who cant get over something truly horrible." (Permalink).

This is well written article that explores stories of two patients in Dr. Mithoefers study, the history of MDMA, and efforts of MAPS and other scientists in the psychedelic research renaissance.

December 1, 2008. CNS Neuroscience and Therapeutics. The Pharmacology of Lysergic Acid Diethylamide: A Review. By Torsten Passie MD, John H. Halpern MD, Dirk O. Stichtenoth, Hinderk M. Emrich, & Annelie Hintzen.

This comprehensive review of LSD was authored by colleagues of MAPS. MAPS’ Swiss LSD/end-of-life anxiety study is the research that Dr. Passie referred to at the end of the following abstract:

“With the entry of new methods of research and better study oversight, scientific interest in LSD has resumed for brain research and experimental treatments. Due to the lack of any comprehensive review since the 1950s and the widely dispersed experimental literature, the present review focuses on all aspects of the pharmacology and psychopharmacology of LSD. A thorough search of the experimental literature regarding the pharmacology of LSD was performed and the extracted results are given in this review. (Psycho-) pharmacological research on LSD was extensive and produced nearly 10,000 scientific papers. The pharmacology of LSD is complex and its mechanisms of action are still not completely understood. LSD is physiologically well tolerated and psychological reactions can be controlled in a medically supervised setting, but complications may easily result from uncontrolled use by layman. Actually there is new interest in LSD as an experimental tool for elucidating neural mechanisms of (states of) consciousness and there are recently discovered treatment options with LSD in cluster headache and with the terminally ill.”

November 21, 2008. The Huffington Post. Obama Drug Czar Pick: No Recovery from War on Drugs? by Maia Szalavitz.

November 20, 2008. Nature (Vol. 456) : “Ecstasy could augment the benefits of psychotherapy.” By Nature Editors.

The renowned publication Nature mentioned the preliminary successes of our MDMA/PTSD pilot study.

November 13, 2008. Nature (online): "Illegal drug shows promise in treating trauma symptoms: MDMA may boost the benefits of psychotherapy, trial suggests." By Arran Frood.

  CNN: "Ecstasy may help PTSD." Reported by CNN Chief Health Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

This two-minute cable television news segment was broadcast the day Dr. Mithoefer presented the findings of our MDMA/PTSD pilot study at the International Society for Traumatic Studies conference. Gail Westerfeld, one of Mithoefers Subjects, told CNN that she has been without nightmares for four years after her MDMA-assisted therapy sessions.

November 12, 2008. WJZ Baltimore (TV news transcript w/ links): “Could Tripping On Acid Help Those With Cancer?” Reported by Derek Valcourt.

November 6, 2008. Slate Magazine contributor Amanda Schaffer wrote an excellent article on the promise of, and obstacles to, medical marijuana research. The article discusses a variety of successful research applications of marijuana and marijuana derivatives.

October 28, 2008. The National Review featured an article about Burning Man that discusses Entheon Village.

October 21, 2008. British Psychiatrist Ben Sessa, wrote an opinion piece for the Progress in Neurology and Psychiatry about the need for more exploration into psychedelic drugs.

October 20, 2008. Archaeologists from North Carolina unearthed evidence that supports the belief that humankind has pursued altered states long before the modern era. Writer Jonathan Wune-Jones reported in the UK telegraph that researchers from the University College of London and North Carolina State University found artifacts of drug paraphernalia that were used for inhaling drugs over 2100 years ago.

October 13, 2008. UKs The Independent reported that ethics experts believe that psychedelics should be available to enhance and demedicalise a persons death experience.

October 8, 2008. Neal M. Goldsmith, Ph.D. was interviewed on Friday, 26 September, 2008 at 12:00 AM on Bob Fass' radio show on WBAI FM. The topic was Psychotherapy, Psychedelics, and the Emergence of an Integral Society. You can listen to it here: http://www.maps.org/avarchive/sept26.2008_radiounamable.mp3 [MAPS Permalink].

  Audio recordings of the talks from the 2008 Horizon's NYC Conference are available at this URL: http://www.archive.org/details/Horizons2008.

October 7, 2008. Arran Frood wrote another great article about the therapeutic applications of Psychedelics for The Independent, a London based media.  This time Frood explored how people with cluster headaches are finding permanent relief from using LSD.

October 2, 2008.  Ecollegetimes.com staff writer Emily Murray wrote a well-balanced article on Salvia Divinorum. She interviewed MAPS Communications Director Randolph Hencken who told her, "our concern about people outlawing this drug is that it is a knee jerk reaction to something they don't understand. It would take this potentially useful substance that naturally occurs on our planet out of the hands of researchers who could possibly find that salvia is the tool we need to cure cancer, Alzheimer's or schizophrenia."

September 25, 2008. Steve Wishinia reported on Alternet about the second annual Horizons conference in New York City. MAPS president Rick Doblin was a speaker at the event, as were Sasha and Ann Shulgin, and numerous other noted persons in the psychedelic renaissance.

September 19, 2008. Roland Griffiths won the "Best Scientist" award from the Baltimore City Paper. Griffiths and his team at John Hopkins were honored for the courage to study the spiritual benefits of psychedlic use and for bringing the research "out of the dorm room and back into the laboratory."

September 16, 2008. Reality Sandwich, published an updated and extended version of Charles Shaw's article Emerging from the Dark Age: The Revival of Psychedelic Medicine. Charles writes in detail about his own journey out of the darkness with the assistance of entheogens.

  The Wall Street Journal printed a hostile article about Burning Man. Journalist Travis Kavulla’s article explicitly mentioned Entheon Village as a “klatch of latter-day hippies and New Agers” and he attempted to discredit Charles Shaw as a witless one-liner wielding conspiracy theorist.  A few days later the Wall Street Journal printed Shaw’s abridged rebuttal to Kavulla’s article.

September 15, 2008. The federal court ruled on the side of California’s medical marijuana law. U.S. District Court Judge Jeremy Fogel, found that the federal government had made a concerted effort to sabotage state medical marijuana laws. This is a long overdue victor in the federal court system, and a triumph for California, Wo/men’s Alliance for Medical Marijuana (WAMM), and Santa Cruz city and county (plaintiffs in this court case).

September 11, 2008. ABC News Online (permalink) featured Michael Mithoefer's MDMA/PTSD research in Russell Goldman's article "Hurdles keep street drugs out of medicine chest." The article discusses the problems that scientists face when trying to conduct research with drugs that are illegal, but are suspected of having medical benefits.

MAPS president Rick Doblin is quoted, "It is hard to quantify the lost benefits by not allowing this research to go on. But how can the government justify keeping drugs that improve or save people's lives out of their hands?"

September 10, 2008.  The BBC's Arran Frood authored an optimistic article about the future of psychedelics as a prescription medicine in his article "Is doctor-precribed LSD and 'shrooms on the way."

September 8, 2008. Earth and Fire Erowid wrote an excellent essay that was part of a Cato Institute online discussion. Responses to the essay came from Jacob Sullum, Jonathan Caulkins, and Mark Kleiman.

September 5, 2008. The New Scientist, a preeminent science weekly, printed a compelling interview with MAPS president Rick Doblin. Journalist Arran Frood noted that Doblin “kept the faith” in spite of bureaucratic obstacles to psychedelic research.

August 25, 2008. Canada’s Calgary Herald published an article titled "Tripping Into Mental Health," which is an enthusiastic response to Andrew Feldmár’s editorial in the Guardian. Kevin Brooker, the author, credits MAPS with opening the doors to MDMA research.

August 23, 2008.  The Times Online (permalink) featured Amanda Fielding of the Beckley Foundation in Arran Frood's article "Can illegal drugs help depression?" The Beckley foundation is a generous funder of MAPS. Amanda told Frood, “What motivates me is that I feel [scientific researchwith pscyhedelic drugs is] an area where one can contribute a real benefit to humanity.”

August 20, 2008. Andrew Feldmár, the 68-year-old Canadian banned from entering the United States after a border guard found an article he had written about entheogen-assisted psychotherapy, wrote an editorial for the UK's Guardian about the numerous healing potentials of psychedelic psychotherapy.

August 14, 2008. The Herald Tribune from Sarasota, Florida, home to MAPS President Rick Doblin's Alma Mater New College, featured a article on Doblin, and MAPS' MDMA/PTSD research. Former acting director of NIDA Glen Hanson tries to detract the possibility of MDMA ever being approved as a prescription medicine, but Doblin counters that pre-existing MDMA data will expedite the process of approval by the FDA. NORML's executive director Alan St. Pierre likens Doblin to a mythical deity, "Rick is Pan," St. Pierre says. "He's Pan with the fife. And I've got to admit, I'm not immune to that at all."

August 12, 2008. The telegraph.co.uk (Permalink) published a straightforward article about the resurgence of psychedelic research. Graham Tibbet's piece Drugs like LSD and Ecstasy could help terminally ill, discusses the MAPS sponsored LSD study in Switzerland, MDMA/PTSD research, Grobs Harbor-UCLA psilocybin research, and Grifiths psilocybin research.

  August 12, 2008 Psychedelic research appeared in the Guardian (Permalink) again. Journalist James Randerson wrote about research done by MAPS, Griffith, and Grob in the piece Clinical trials test potential of hallucinogenic drugs to help patients with terminal illnesses.

The online edition contains an audio clip by the author, and lengthy video clip of Pamela Sakuda, a subject with cancer from Grobs study, discussing her experience with psilocybin.

MAPS president Rick Doblin was quoted: These drugs, these experiences are not for the mystic who wants to sit on the mountain top and meditate. They are not for the counter-culture rebel. They are for everybody,

  August 12, 2008 A third article about the psychedelic renaissance appeared online in the Mail Online (Permalink) reported about the clinical trials with LSD, MDMA and psilocybin. Norbert Litzinger, the husband of the late Pamela Sakuda, declared that Sakuda's participation the Grobs psilocybin study greatly benefited the final days of her life.

July 30, 2008. An excellent radio show (MAPS permalink) on WUNC FM broadcast out of Chapel Hill, North Carolina featured an interview with Anne Levy about her experience as a subject in Dr. Charlie Grob's study on the use of psilocybin for treatment of anxiety in late stage cancer patients.

July 11, 2008. Charles Shaw published an insightful article on psychedelic research and MAPS on Alternet titled Emerging from the Drug War Dark Age: LSD and Other Psychedelic Medicines Make a Comeback. Shaw wrote: More than anyone else in his field, [MAPS president] Doblin is all too familiar with what he refers to as the 40-year-long bad trip that researchers like him have faced in dealing with the fallout from the introduction of LSD and other psychedelic compounds to the Western psyche in the mid 1960s. This 40-year intellectual Dark Age, Doblin says, has been characterized by enormous fear and misinformation and a vested interest in exaggerated stories about drugs to keep prohibition alive.

July 6, 2008. The Sunday Baltimore Sun published an editorial ("Tuning In, Not Out") supporting research into the therapeutic potential of psychedelics. The editorial mentions the MAPS-supported research into MDMA-assisted psychotherapy in people with PTSD and ends by stating, "Instead of banning drugs that are perceived as bad simply because of their recreational use, scientists should be encouraged to pursue legitimate study - lest we miss out on a valuable medicinal tool."

July 3, 2008. Nature News published a piece on Griffiths' follow-up to his human psilocybin research. MAPS President Rick Doblin posted a comment in response to the piece.

July 2, 2008. A web exclusive piece published online by Newsweek discusses Griffiths' psilocybin research and his piece containing guidelines for human research with psychedelic compounds, relating it to the history and future of human stuides with psychedelic compounds.

July 1, 2008. Roland Griffiths and his study of psilocybin have made the news again, as recounted in this Associated Press news report, with the appearance of a 14-month follow-up to his original study that reported mystical experiences after psilocybin, but not methylphenidate. In the follow-up, people continue to say their experiences with psilocybin were some of the most meaningful in their lives.

  Wired just published a story on Roland Griffiths' recently published 14-month follow-up to his initial human psilocybin study, and discusses another paper that he and collaborators M Johnson and W Richards publish in the same journal that presents guidelines for conducting research with high doses of psychedelic compounds, a report Griffiths describes in the Wired story as possibly the more important of the two papers.

  CNN News produced a segment discussing Griffiths' follow-up research.

  Though the article is called "The Counter-culture Colonel," Jim transcends the Culture/Counter-Culture divisions. Jim's ability to be on good terms with US Military, Ann and Sasha, and others in the psychedelic community are an example of how we need to go about integrating psychedelics within our culture, being in close touch with diverse elements and trusted by all.

  The psilocybin/mystical experience study was primarily funded by the Council on Spiritual Practices. Bob Jesse, founder of the Council on Spiritual Practices, has recently sent out a fundraising letter seeking support for further research in healthy volunteers.

June 18, 2008. British Psychiatrist Ben Sessa, in a scholarly exploration, argued for the renewal of research into psychedelic drugs in the Journal of Psychopharmacology.

June 12, 2008. Virginia Prescott with New Hampshire Public Radio interviews freelance writer Peter Bebergal who is based in Cambridge, Mass., and wrote about the new wave of psychedelic-drug research for the Boston Phoenix.

June 1, 2008. These two articles - from the Boston Phoenix and the UK Independent respectively - both give MAPS' ongoing research some excellent reviews.

May 30, 2008. This recent letter from Rick Doblin, Ph.D. to the editor of The Economist about Albert Hofmann's death appeared in an audio release of the paper and is available here in MP3 format.

May 19, 2008. 

From MAPS: Letter to Editor of the Economist

Dear Editor,

The obituary for Albert Hofmann, the inventor of LSD who died April 29 at age 102, reported that LSD research was stopped in the early 1970s and never resumed. Actually, a protocol evaluating LSD-assisted psychotherapy in subjects with anxiety associated with end-of-life issues was approved in Switzerland in December 2007, shortly before Albert's wife, Anita Hofmann, died, after 72 years of marriage. Albert spoke about that approval as " the fulfillment of my heart's desire." The first LSD session in that study took place on Tuesday, May 13. This will become the first controlled, scientific study of the therapeutic potential of LSD in over 36 years. As Albert hoped, his problem child may yet become a wonder child, much as perhaps the most feared drug of all, thalidomide, has returned as a prescription drug to treat cancer and leprosy.

Furthermore, to set the record straight (so to speak), Albert himself took LSD for the last time at age 97.

Rick Doblin, Ph.D.
President, Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS, www.maps.org)

[MAPS is sponsoring the Swiss LSD study]

May 13, 2008. Another short audio clip about Albert Hofmann and his 'Problem Child' (MP3) from NPR.

May 8, 2008. The May 8 issue of the well-known medical journal The Lancet published "Research on psychedelics moves into the mainstream", a news article that discusses renewed research into therapeutic uses of psychedelic drugs and MDMA.

May 7, 2008. Remembrances - 'Father of LSD' Dies at 102 by Scott Simon: This MP3 recording from the Weekend Edition (Saturday, May 3, 2008) of NPR discusses Albert Hofmann, the self-described "father of LSD," and his discovery of the substance while working for a pharmaceutical company in 1938 and includes Rick Doblin's comments about Hofmann's discovery and the state of current (and past historical) LSD research.

  Presidential Politics in a Changing America (MP3): from WED APR 30, 2008 - America as a whole is more diverse than ever before, but its increasingly crowded with citieseven neighborhoods--where everybody thinks like everybody else. What does that mean for the presidential campaigns? Is "political unification" a distant dream? Also, an update on a sluggish economy, and the life and death of Albert Hofman, who accidentally discovered LSD and started the "psychedelic generation."

May 4, 2008. The Sunday Times (London) recently published "Ecstasy is the Key to Treating PTSD," an in-depth piece on MDMA-assisted psychotherapy in people with PTSD, focusing on Dr. Mithoefer's MAPS-supported study and featuring quotes from MAPS president Rick Doblin and British psychiatrist Ben Sessa.

May 3, 2008. Another extraordinary obituary of Albert Hofmann by Benedict Carey from the NY Times.

April 30, 2008. 

Albert Hofmann Obituaries Rolling Stone Magazine (PDF) Gaia Media London Times London Telegraph Chicago Tribune NY Times LA Times Washington Post CNN Reuters SFGate National Post (Canada) The Economist NZZ (German language only) NY Times Obituary by Benedict Carey Rick Doblin comments on Albert's life in Google News Gaia Media Memorial of Albert Hofmann

  This recent article entitled LSD May Shed Hippie Image With Swiss Study of Medical Benefits focused on MAPS Swiss LSD study directed by Peter Gasser, M.D. discusses both the current political climate that lead to the study's approval and the counter-cultural currents that spawned the banning of this research in the 1960's.

April 15, 2008. Two intriguing articles about MAPS' involvement in the World Psychedelic Forum 2008 were recently published in the Basler Zeitung newspaper. The first article entitled "Of the Enlightened and the De-Narcotised" is slightly critical about the conference, but it notes that Doblin's comments were balanced, and Michael Mithoefers research was solid. The second article aptly entitled "I am no cheerleader for psychedelic drug" features an interview with Rick Doblin, Ph.D. at the conference.

April 2, 2008. The drug war barrels onward in Kansas as this article from The Capital-Journal Editorial Board suggests. The article discusses the recent legislation to ban sales of hallucinogen in Kansas, boldly claiming that this legislation "isn't an overreaction, it's good for the state"

  This recent article by Arran Frood which was published in the London Times discusses some of the more exciting and far-sighted uses of psychedelics in the treatment of various illnesses.

March 17, 2008.  World Radio Switzerland aired a segment about the World Psychedelic Forum in Basel. The segment featured conference organizer Dieter Hagenbach and MAPS sponsored researcher Dr. Peter Gasser.

March 12, 2008. This intriguing webisode of an interview with MAPS' Founder and President Rick Doblin, Ph.D. was filmed in New York a few months ago by the PostModernTimes.

March 11, 2008. A recent article from the AP entitled Is Salvia the Next Marijuana" by Jessica Gresko discusses the US Federal Government's upcoming crackdown on Salvia Divinorum. The article highlights the notion that this legislation is basically an overreaction to a minor problem, despite the fact that no one is disputing the fact "that the plant impairs judgment and the ability to drive".

February 26, 2008. Counterpunch recently published this online article by Fred Gardner entitled American College of Physicians Takes Pro-Cannabis Stand (Mostly) discussing (as the title implies) the ACP's nearly-unanimous endorsement of dropping the US Federal Government's "monopoly" on Medical Marijuana Research in the United States.

February 21, 2008. In what will most likely turn out to be a critical paradigm shift in the battle for Medical Marijuana rights recently, this article from the LA Times entitled "Physicians group urges easing of ban on medical marijuana" discusses the American College of Physicians' decree that "the federal government [should] ease its strict ban on marijuana as medicine and hasten research into the drug's therapeutic uses."

February 19, 2008. Another intriging video from the BBC's Horizons Series is this clip entitled "Brittan's Most Dangerous Drug".

February 18, 2008. Listen to this excellent radio interview (available as WAV or MP3) on "Shattered Lives" with MAPS Staffer Lauren Anderson Payne.

February 12 was the one-year anniversary of DEA Administrative Law Judge Mary Ellen Bittners historic ruling in which she found that it would be in the public interest for the DEA to license Prof. Craker to produce marijuana for federally approved research, breaking NIDA's monopoly on the supply of marijuana legal for research. Since Judge Bittner's ruling, the DEA has predictably opted for its strategy of delay and has not yet issued a final ruling in response to Judge Bittner's recommendation.

On Monday, January 28, Sharon North interviewed MAPS Government Relations Associate Lauren Anderson Payne on Shattered Lives Radio KZFR, Community Radio for the Sacramento Valley. They discussed the current state of Professor Craker's bid for a license to produce research-grade marijuana for use in FDA-approved protocols. Currently MAPS is working with several other organizations to try to secure Senatorial support for the UMass-Amherst facility. We're starting to mobilize grassroots activists to contact their Senators to provide local support, in addition to the policy arguments we're providing directly to Senatorial staff. We're optimistic that other Senators will soon join Sens. Kennedy and Kerry by signing a letter of support addressed to the DEA urging it to implement Bittners ruling. Let your Senators know that you think medical marijuana research should be put in the hands of scientists, not blocked by politicians! Find your Senators' contact info at www.senate.gov and call them today! Your calls can make an important difference, in combination with our work in DC.

February 17, 2008. This excellent article by Scott Thill from AlterNet entitled "Breaking the Drug Taboo: Group of Traumatized Veterans Get Ecstasy Treatment" discusses MAPS' role in helping US Military Veterans to get treatment for PTSD as well as providing an insightful overview of MAPS' MDMA/PTSD research in general.

February 12, 2008. This video from BBC entitled Horizons: Psychedelic Science is an excellent introduction into the science and theory behind the psychedelic research movement and the ideas that motivated its founders and continues to drive its proponents.

February 8, 2008. This article from the Associated Press talks about the U.N.'s concern with the recent installation of computerized medical marijuana vending machines in Los Angeles California.

February 6, 2008. This short snippet about the UN NGO's Consultation in Canada from The Province brings up some interesting issues, both criticizing the United States "War On Drugs" and offering the viewpoints of both those for Drug legalization and against it.

January 28, 2008. MAPS Staffer Valerie Mojeiko Speaks on Psychedelic Therapy at the University of Amsterdam:
On January 28th MAPS Program Director Valerie Mojeiko addressed an audience of over two hundred and fifty psychology students and faculty, as well as others interested in MAPS research, at the University of Amsterdam. Her powerpoint presentation is available as a ZIP file online. Ms. Mojeiko spoke about MAPS current research into the use of LSD and MDMA in psychotherapy and about the principles of psychedelic emergency work. The talk was co-sponsored by Stichting Open, a Dutch foundation that is seeking to stimulate academic research into psychedelic substances.

January 23, 2008. This newspaper article was recently published in the TAGES ANZEIGER paper discussing the new MAPS' sponsored Swiss LSD study - the first of its kind to be initiated in over 40 years. You can find the original German language article as a PDF here.

January 18, 2008. This article by Mark Morford of the SF Chronicle gives a dashing and daring comparison of MDMA with other "licit" drugs (such as Lyrica from Pfizer used to treat fibromyalgia).

January 5, 2008. Now available: a transcript of the December 2007 Swiss TV interview with LSD's creator Albert Hofmann and MAPS' researcher Peter Gasser.

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