Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies

MAPS produces myriad educational materials, training workshops, and conferences, both physical and virtual. We build our global community of support through outreach at a range of international and domestic events, a robust social media presence, and through interviews and publications in various global media outlets.

MAPS continues to produce its flagship publication, the quarterly MAPS Bulletin. The MAPS Bulletin features MAPS’ research updates as well as a broad range of articles and interviews.

In FY19-20, MAPS had a presence at over 60 events representing a wide range of audiences at medical conferences, festivals, concerts, educational seminars, receptions, film screenings, psychedelic conferences, and meetups
MAPS produced nine events in FY19-20 including in-person Zendo Project trainings & digital webinar series, and Psychedelic Science Summit conference

MAPS’ FY19-20 events included: in-person Zendo Project trainings & digital webinar series; an open house at the MAPS office; a psychedelic medicine & cultural trauma workshop in Louisville, KY; the Way of the Psychonaut book launch in Oakland, CA; a Psychedelic Science webinar series; a Psychedelic Science Summit in Austin, TX; and a global virtual celebration called Bicycle Night.

The Psychedelic Science Summit in Austin, TX, hosted 700 guests and 83 volunteers who generated $180,455 in combined ticket sales and sponsorships, $24,000 in donations, and approximately $14,000 in sales at the MAPS store at the event. The Psychedelic Science Summit in Austin was the first event of its kind for MAPS, and we hope to bring these Summits to cities around the US in the future.

Bicycle Night was an experiment in immersive virtual gathering where 12,000 people participated from around the globe. MAPS donated a portion of the net income from Bicycle Night (about $3,000) to COVID-19 relief efforts through mutual aid relief networks.

MAPS’ digital community expanded to include 143,000 email newsletter subscribers, 124,000 monthly visitors to maps.org, and 484,000 combined social media reach.

As the pandemic has loomed large, MAPS has adapted its meeting and collaboration spaces to the virtual sphere. We’re honored to have had an opportunity to engage with many of you through webinars, social media, and virtual gatherings. We hope to be able to connect in person again soon!

The Zendo Project provides professional comprehensive harm reduction education and support for communities to help inform and transform difficult psychedelic experiences into opportunities for learning and growth. We envision a world where communities are educated, resourced, and engaged in applying harm reduction principles to support individuals exploring psychedelic states; recognizing that challenging experiences can be opportunities for self-exploration and healing. As the flagship program of the MAPS Harm Reduction department, the Zendo Project carries out MAPS’ harm reduction initiatives.

The Zendo Project & MAPS Harm Reduction: Creating communities of compassionate care

Most people who take psychedelics do so outside of a clinical, therapeutic, or ceremonial environment. At MAPS, we believe that is crucial to provide education and support for people who choose to use psychedelics in what is commonly referred to as “recreational” contexts. As we explore as a society the vast potential benefits of psychedelics, it is also our responsibility to help people adequately understand and mitigate risk. As more people contemplate exploration of psychedelic states, it is our goal to expand far beyond festivals and events so that we can bring education to all communities.

This year, millions of people will use psychedelics outside of supervised medical contexts, many of them for the first time. Honest and informed public education is necessary for both individuals who choose to use psychedelics as well as the psychedelic movement itself. Psychedelic research and the exploration of its therapeutic potential during the mid-20th century was disrupted and impacted in no small way by the inability of the psychedelic movement to effectively address and navigate adverse psychedelic experiences. We must do better this time around by providing adequate education, information, and tools to help our society deal with the complex psychological and emotional territory of the psychedelic experience.

Psychedelic harm reduction encompasses a variety of methods and strategies to help address and transform difficult emotional and psychological experiences while in a non-ordinary state of consciousness. For over 20 years, MAPS has contributed to the fields of psychedelic harm reduction and psychedelic peer support.

Program Impact: Transforming difficult psychedelic experiences

As a pioneer in the field, the Zendo Project has trained over 5,000 individuals in harm reduction principles and practices since 2012. The Zendo Project has assisted over 6,000 guests since 2012 at festivals and events around the world.

In response to COVID-19, the Zendo Project shifted our critical harm reduction trainings and services to the virtual space as public health measures require physical distancing and the translation of in-person events to online. The in-person versions of the Zendo Project’s annual events were cancelled, most prominently Burning Man 2020 in Black Rock City, NV and Lightning in a Bottle in Kern County, CA. At 2020’s Temple Burn (virtual Burning Man), the Zendo Project team collaborated with the Burning Man Organization to provide peer support services for the event. As a response to COVID-19, the Zendo Project partnered with DanceSafe to launch a virtual peer support service for people in the event industry whose livelihoods have been affected by the pandemic.

In collaboration with the MAPS Education & Events team, the Zendo Project curates online educational speaker series and webinars. EntheoGeneration, a multigenerational psychedelic speaker series launched at Burning Man 2019, and brought into an online format in 2020, presents dialogues between psychedelic elders and leaders in the psychedelic movement to address how we can better embody our take-aways from the psychedelic experience in the quadrants of our lives: individually, relationally, planetarily, and cosmically. This series was offered as a gift to the public to encourage community dialogue and encourage open and honest conversations as we continue the path towards deeper healing of our individual and collective trauma. Beyond Therapy-Psychedelics in Everyday Life (2019) and Beyond the Festival-Psychedelics in Times of Challenge and Change (2020) webinar series explored important topics in psychedelic therapy, harm reduction, integration, policy and advocacy, social justice, equity and inclusion.

Zendo Project Reimagination: Building the foundation of psychedelic harm reduction

The Zendo Project is uniquely positioned as a leader in the field of psychedelic harm reduction. In this time of challenge and change, we are asking ourselves, how might we: Bring Zendo Project expertise and compassion beyond festivals to the rest of the world: to individuals, communities, and service organizations?; and Educate, prepare, and support more people worldwide as they choose psychedelics?

As more people contemplate exploration of psychedelic states, it is our goal to expand far beyond festivals and events so that we can bring education to all communities. This includes populations that need better understanding of the risks and responsibilities associated with psychedelic exploration, such as universities, first responders, law enforcement, social workers, and medical and mental health professionals. Highlights or our current efforts include: A pilot city-wide multi-responder training in Denver, CO; this pilot training will establish a framework for bringing multi-responder trainings to other cities and states where psychedelics are decriminalized (psilocybin mushrooms were decriminalized in Denver in 2019); Training for University students, faculty, and staff to address the unique needs of psychedelic use within the university environment. This training will be piloted in partnership with selected universities; and Production of new, well-researched best practices for psychedelic education and training for the world, developing a public safety framework for a post-prohibition future.

We help vision legal frameworks for psychedelic use, and work to reform local, state, federal and international psychedelic and cannabis policy. The war on drugs was developed to criminalize people of color and anti-war activists, and has accelerated domestic militarization and surveillance. We work toward nonpartisan policies that decriminalize and regulate substances within evidence-based, equitable, and compassionate frameworks—medical and otherwise—so people can benefit from the safe and intentional use of psychedelic substances.

Psychedelic-assisted therapy has the potential to help heal trauma, but individual therapy alone cannot solve the systemic issues that often cause trauma. With a focus on systemic change, we advocate for the decriminalization of drugs in a framework of social and racial equity. This also requires advocating for comprehensive harm and risk reduction, including honest and culturally relevant drug education, legal and accessible substance analysis, peer support, and accessible services for mental health and integration. We believe that healing is intertwined with justice and that social, political, and cultural progress creates fertile ground for community healing.

Seeking to prioritize public benefit, MAPS strives to honor the ancestral and modern communities and traditions in which psychedelics play a role. The Policy & Advocacy team champions MAPS’ voice in drawing ethical concerns and considerations as the field of psychedelic research expands into the mainstream. In January 2021, Natalie Ginsberg and Ismail Ali co-authored the paper “Ethical Concerns about Psilocybin Intellectual Property” (American Chemical Society, 2021). The paper highlights concerns surrounding Psilocybe mushrooms patents, none of which have involved the Mazatec indigenous communities who have traditionally stewarded these medicines. As the field of psychedelic medicine evolves, we must amplify our efforts toward reciprocity.

Movement Building

We collaborate with strategic intersectional and interdisciplinary partners worldwide to collectively develop research projects, events, campaigns, networks, and actions based in healing and justice. Highlights include: co-founding Catharsis on the Mall, a free annual Burning Man-inspired event formed as a vigil for the war on drugs; producing the Psychedelic Medicine and Cultural Trauma workshop on the intersection of psychedelics and cultural and racial trauma in Louisville, Kentucky, in 2019; and co-developing a study evaluating psychedelics as a tool for healing intergenerational trauma among Palestinians and Israelis.

We believe that effective community organizing is what most efficiently creates social and political change. We recognize that as the oldest and most visible psychedelic organization, MAPS occupies an influential space as a connector and community builder. So, we prioritize connecting and building global, intersectional communities supportive of psychedelic healing and reform. We organize and educate community around psychedelic research and policy priorities.

Our priority is working with our allies to expand the narrative around psychedelics and trauma: over the past 7 years, we have worked to introduce the concept of racial trauma to the psychedelic community, and to highlight often under-diagnosed and ignored trauma from social marginalization. Communities experiencing the highest rates of trauma usually access mental health services at the lowest rates. With potential US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy on the horizon, MAPS has developed a Health Equity Plan to work to safely and effectively deliver this potentially life-saving care to as many people as possible.

The MDMA Therapy Training Program offers in-depth training into the practice of MDMA-assisted therapy, with curriculum based on decades of clinical experience. Trainees learn the theoretical approach of the modality, developed from the fundamental notion that every person has within them an incredible source of wisdom and an innate ability to heal.

The MDMA Therapy Training Program provides the training and supervision required to qualify practitioners to deliver MDMA-assisted therapy in approved clinical settings.

The MDMA Therapy Training Program enrolled over 950 clinicians and delivered trainings in the US, United Kingdom, Canada, the Netherlands, and Israel.

The program enrolls compassionate and experienced clinicians who are committed to health and well-being. The program is accepting applications for mental health practitioners interested in learning the modality of MDMA-assisted therapy.

Sign up for the MDMA Therapy Training Program Newsletter to receive updates on future trainings at mapspublicbenefit.com/training.