From February 22-25, 1996 the European College for the Study of Consciousness is sponsoring its second international conference. The conference will provide a "multidisciplinary forum for the advancement of research and for the exchange of experience in the field of altered states of consciousness, elicited by psychological triggers or psychoactive substances." This conference provides an important meeting ground for psychedelic researchers from the United States and Europe. Some of the speakers who may be known to readers of the MAPS newsletter include Albert Hofmann, Ph.D. (who turned 90 in January!), Dr. Charles Grob, Ralph Metzner, Ph.D., Drs. Juraj & Sonya Styk, Dr. Leo Hermle and Dr. Franz Vollenweider.
MAPS will be represented at the conference by myself, and Sylvia Thyssen. We will attend the conference to gain a better understanding of the research underway or planned in Europe and to foster collaborations between the US and European researchers. In addition, we will gather information for the next issue of the MAPS Bulletin so that its readers, MAPS members as well as the scientists and policy makers who receive complimentary copies can learn what European researchers are doing. For information about attending the conference, contact:
Eurokongress GmbHThe International Transpersonal Conference in Manaus, Brazil
Rosental 3
D-80331
Munchen, Germany
tel: +49 551 48 44 63
fax: +49 551 48 74 87
From May 17-22, 1996, the International Transpersonal Association will convene its fifteenth international conference in Manaus, Brazil in the heart of the Amazon. The theme of the conference is Technologies of the Sacred. The conference is being coordinated by Dr. Stanislav Grof, the pioneering LSD researcher, and will focus on a "broad spectrum of ancient, aboriginal and modern techniques that can mediate access to the sacred dimensions of existence."
Dr. Grof asked MAPS to help coordinate and financially support the psychedelic research portion of the conference. Though MAPS reserves most of its resources for the support of clinical trials with psychedelics, education is also one of MAPS' priorities. As a result, MAPS is budgeting $5,500 to help subsidize the travel expenses of Drs. Rick Strassman, Charles Grob, Donna Dryer, Richard Yensen and Dennis McKenna. Also in attendance will be Ann and Sasha Shulgin, Ram Dass, Ralph Metzner, and Michael Harner.
This conference will have substantial educational value for the researchers themselves. The few scientists willing to devote their careers to conducting psychedelic research are the psychedelic research community's greatest resource. By assisting many of these scientists to attend the conference, the researchers will have an opportunity to be in direct contact with the Brazilian priests/shamans/ therapists. By virtue of living in a country where the religious use of ayahuasca is legal, these Brazilians have been able to evolve a relationship with the use of a psychedelic that is fundamentally different (though not necessarily better) than what can occur within the context of an FDA-approved study. The scientific researchers and the Brazilians who use ayahuasca within a religious context have much to learn from each other.
MAPS' educational mission also involves reaching out to people who are not familiar or comfortable with the use of psychedelics as well as to MAPS members and others who are both familiar and sympathetic. The field of transpersonal psychology has a long history of valuing the use of psychedelics as tools for research and therapy. Numerous attendees at the conference have previously made generous donations to MAPS for the research that will be discussed in the psychedelic panels. Educational outreach will be taking place since an increasing percentage of the participants at the ITA conferences are substance abuse treatment professionals who understand the importance of spirituality but have little information about the value of psychedelics.
The educational value of MAPS' support for the psychedelic sessions at the ITA conference will be enhanced by the articles that each researcher who received support from MAPS will write about their talks and their impressions of the entire conference. These articles may intrigue those policy makers and scientists who receive complimentary issues of the newsletter as well as the many MAPS members who will not be able to attend the conference. This includes me. I'm foregoing traveling to the middle of the Amazon on the chance that my second child might arrive earlier than her June 3 due date, which I wouldn't want to miss.
International Transpersonal Assocation
20 Sunnyside Avenue
Suite A257
Mill Valley, CA 94941
tel: (415) 383 - 8819
tel: (800) 533 - 3641
fax: (415) 383 - 0965