Founded in 1986, the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit research and educational organization that develops medical, legal, and cultural contexts for people to benefit from the careful uses of psychedelics and marijuana.
News
The Psychedelic Science Review
Psychedelic Science Review (PSR) was founded in 2018 by a small group of scientists committed to improving the quality of and access to scientific information about psychedelics. Concerned about the dearth of accessible and reliable scientific information about psychedelics, widespread misinformation, and poor analysis and conclusions drawn from otherwise high-quality research, our team set out on a mission to address these concerns. In 2019, we launched PsychedelicReview.com, a website free for all to access. At PsychedelicReview.com, we discuss scientific research and knowledge about psychedelics, from chemistry to psychology. Our science writers break down complex topics, offering context and connecting important concepts in the literature to familiar examples. PsychedelicReview.com also offers background information about psychedelic compounds, an ever-changing history of events surrounding psychedelics, and the organizations and people involved in progressing this resurgent field. Psychedelic Science Review provides an exclusively scientific perspective on psychedelics. We are not proponents or opponents of political or social change, nor do we offer moral commentary. While there is a place for those voices, our goal is to offer factual information on the basis of scientific relevance.
Psymposia
Psymposia is a 501(c)(3) non-profit media organization that offers leftist perspectives on drugs, politics, and culture. Our perspectives are informed by critical analysis of the systemic crises we currently face: the socioeconomic inequalities of capitalism, the community-shattering effects of racist policing, criminal legal systems and drug prohibition, social manipulation through surveillance capitalism, the rampant spread of COVID-19, the warehousing of human beings through mass incarceration, white supremacism and the rise of fascism, and global ecocide. Together, these systemic crises have directly contributed to the unmitigated growth of addiction, depression, suicide, and the unraveling of our social relations. The same economic elite and powerful corporate interests who have profited from causing these problems are now proposing “solutions”—solutions which both line their pockets and mask the necessity of structural change. Attempts to capitalize on “solving” the crises we face have contributed to the explosive growth of predatory industries which offer us individualized solutions to collective problems, including corporate wellness and commodified psychedelic therapies. As a non-profit, we believe solutions start by ensuring that communities have access to factual information in order to make well-informed decisions. A vibrant social fabric requires a “range of opinions and ideas that are a prerequisite for meaningful participation in social and political life.” We strive to ask challenging questions, and we’re committed to independent reporting, critical analysis, and holding those who wield power accountable. Psymposia publishes news, essays, and investigative journalism, while challenging those in power on behalf of the public. In addition to articles, we produce the Plus Three podcast, and wide-ranging commentary videos. We’ve organized numerous events in Boston, New York, California, London, Prague, Mexico, and other places around the world. You can find us on the conference circuit — physically and digitally — around the world.
Lucid News
Lucid News provides informed, honest and transparent journalism that covers the growing integration of psychedelics into society and their broad implications for human wellness. Founded by longtime participants of psychedelic communities who bring discernment and a healthy skepticism to their work, we offer news and opinion from a wide range of perspectives to help readers navigate this pivotal moment of innovation and transformation.
Psychedelic Times
Our mission at Psychedelic Times is to share the latest news, research, and happenings around the study of psychedelics as tools of healing, recovery, and therapy. We are passionate about the incredible potential that psychoactive substances such as marijuana, ayahuasca, MDMA, LSD, iboga, psilocybin, and DMT present to humanity, and are excited to share that passion with you.
The Microdose
There has never been a more exciting – or bewildering – time in the world of psychedelics. What just a few years ago was an obscure corner of clinical and neuroscientific research has blossomed into a vibrant scientific field, yielding promising new treatments and important insights about the mind and brain. That research has already spawned an entirely new industry, with hundreds of startups, all with different ideas of how best to commercialize psychedelics. (A handful of these companies have already gone public, with billion-dollar valuations.) FDA approval of MDMA and psilocybin may be only a few short years away. Since 2018, upwards of a dozen universities – including Johns Hopkins, NYU, Berkeley, Yale, and Harvard – have launched research centers dedicated to studying psychedelics, all funded by private philanthropy. But then in October 2021, the National Institute of Health (NIH) made its first substantial grant for a psychedelic drug trial in more than fifty years to John Hopkins, for a study of psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy for tobacco addiction. If proof of the promise and legitimacy of psychedelic research were still needed, it has arrived. Things are moving so quickly on so many different fronts — research, business, policy and culture — that keeping up with developments in the field has become challenging. Which is precisely why, on behalf of the Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics, we’re delighted to welcome you to our twice-weekly newsletter, The Microdose.