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 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 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 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 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 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.

December 25, 2007. The Chicago Tribune recently published this article about Illinois State's proposed rescheduling of Salvia Divinorum as an illegal drug.

December 5, 2007. Scientific American Mind magazine published this (PDF) article by David Jay Brown about psychedelic medicine in their December/January 2007 issue. The article "Psychedelic Healing?" summarizes much of the research into psychedelics that has gone on in recent years, most of which has been supported by MAPS. Brown discusses how psychedelics are being studied as treatments for posttraumatic stress disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, cluster headaches, anxiety associated with cancer, drug addiction, and other difficult-to-treat psychiatric disorders.

November 29, 2007. Sessa and Nutt have recently published an editorial in the Journal of Psychopharmacology, "MDMA, politics and medical research: Have we thrown the baby out with the bathwater?", speaking out against the effects of politics and regulation on medical research with MDMA and in favor of more basic and medical research. In their editorial, Sessa and Nutt discuss the costs to the research enterprise imposed by regulation of MDMA, and proposes at least three avenues of further research. The piece is provocative and uneven, but makes for encouraging reading for supporters of MDMA psychotherapy research.

November 27, 2007. Two Spanish-language summaries of the recent Washington Post Sunday Magazine article entitled "The Peace Drug" about MAPS' South Carolina MDMA/PTSD study (published on Nov. 26, 2007) were published in the ABC (PDF) and El Mundo (PDF) newspapers in Spain.

November 26, 2007. After the article about the MAPS-sponsored MDMA/PTSD study appeared in the Washington Post, Dr. Mithoefer and Post editor Tom Shroder were interviewed live on NPR's on "Tell Me More" hosted by Michelle Martin.

November 25, 2007. Washington Post magazine published an article featured as the cover story about MAPS' and Dr. Michael Mithoefer's MDMA-PTSD research entitled "Peace Drug". This article is overall positive with one minor mistake--the idea of MDMA being prescribed only by specially trained therapists in psychedelic clinics is attributed to Dr. Michael Mithoefer when it should have been attributed to Rick Doblin Ph.D.'s dissertation. This article is unique as it is the first time that a reporter has been allowed to interview a research participant from this historic study. You can read the comments about this article here.

November 12, 2007. The Freakonomics blog on The New York Times site features an interesting point/counterpoint-style review of the arguments for against the prohibition of marijuana.

November 9, 2007. The American Psychiatric Association has passed a unanimous resolution supporting medical marijuana.

November 8, 2007. MAPS member Diana Slattery has an interesting article on Reality Sandwich in which she interviews Thomas Roberts, PhD, about the future of psychedelic research. Click here to read "Rising Researchers on the Psychedelic Horizon."

November 4, 2007. According to a new study by Swiss researchers, teenagers who smoke marijuana but not tobacco appear to be more likely to get good grades, play sports and live with both parents than those who also use tobacco. Moreover, the study found that teens who smoke pot were more likely to have a good relationship with their friends than teens who smoked neither tobacco nor pot, found the study published in the November issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. Click here to read a report.

October 30, 2007. Canada's largest urban weekly, The Georgia Straight, published a feature article about the MAPS-sponsored observational case study in British Columbia evaluating ibogaine treatment in subjects with opiate dependence. The article includes some interesting personal anecdotes and analysis from MAPS President Rick Doblin, PhD, as well as a discussion of MAPS' FDA Phase II research evaluating MDMA-, LSD-, and psyilocybin-assisted psychotherapy.

October 29, 2007. London's Guardian published an article about a consulting survey of the British public finding that Albert Hofmann, PhD, shares the top spot for #1 as the person considered to be the greatest living genius. Hofmann, the Swiss chemist who is best known for synthesizing LSD, shares the top spot with British computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee, and surprisingly ranks ahead of Stephen Hawking (#7), Nelson Mandela (#5), Matt Groening (#4) and George Soros (#3). Click here to read "Sheer Genius: From the Web to Homer Simpson." In 2006, MAPS published a new edition of Hofmann's long-out-of-print autobiographical book, LSD: My Problem Child. MAPS is also raising funds for LSD and psilocybin research by selling books and visionary artwork signed by Albert Hofmann. For details and more information, please visit the MAPS Webstore.

October 1, 2007. American Medical News published a feature article entitled "Altered Perceptions: Good Outcomes from 'Club Drugs'"? MAPS President Rick Doblin, PhD, and researchers Michael Mithoefer, MD, John Halpern, MD, and Charles Grob, MD, are quoted. American Medical News is a weekly newspaper for physicians published by the American Medical Association that is ciculated to over 230,000 physicians and health policy regulators.

September 12, 2007. A major Swiss TV news report was broadcast earlier this month about Dr. Peter Gasser's MAPS-sponsored study evaluating LSD-assisted psychotherapy for subjects with end-of-life anxiety secondary to end-stage illness. The report includes a new interview with Albert Hofmann, who rarely speaks publicly due to his fragile health. Click here to watch the broadcast (in German) on the MAPS site. To follow the interview in English, we've posted an English-language transcript online.

  Chemistry World's monthly podcast about medical research evaluating psychedelics features interviews with MAPS President Rick Doblin, PhD, and researcher John Halpern, MD.

September 4, 2007. Chemistry World magazine recently published a comprehensive feature-length article about the "resurgence of medical hallucinogens." MAPS President Rick Doblin, PhD, is quoted throughout the article.

August 27, 2007. The Los Angeles Times published an article about research evaluating ketamine's effect on depression -- "Headway in developing a faster-acting antidepressant."

August 26, 2007. MAPS President Rick Doblin gave a comprensive interview about MAPS' medical marijuana efforts on Health Radio with Dr. Meg Jordan. Click here to listen to the full interview.

August 20, 2007. Foreign Policy published a cover story by Ethan Nadelmann, PhD, "Think Again: Drugs." While not directly about MAPS, the article points to the larger challenges our work faces because of prohibitionist public policy. Nadelmann is executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA), the nation's leading organization working to reform the nation's drug laws. DPA awarded MAPS a grant earlier this year for $12,500 for our medical marijuana case.

August 15, 2007. Neurology Now published a strong letter to the editor from a medical marijuana patient in Colorado that urges DEA to accept Judge Bittner's recent ruling on behalf of MAPS and Professor Lyle Craker.

August 9, 2007. Orange County Register Senior Editor Alan Bock published an insightful editorial about the implementation of California's medical marijuana law. Bock connects the challenges of implementation to the federal government's obstruction of scientific research. He descibes MAPS' effort to establish the nation's first privately-funded research-grade marijuana production facility at UMass-Amherst, which would pave the way for an FDA drug development effort with marijuana.

July 30, 2007. In response to the recent sensationalistic media coverage exaggerating the link between marijuana and schizophrenia, Maia Szalavitz published an analysis on stats.org debunking the hysteria.

July 21, 2007. MAPS founder and president Rick Doblin, PhD, gave an extensive intereview on "Of Consuming Interest" on the Progressive Radio Network. Click here to listen to a streaming mp3 of the interview. The interview is primarily about MAPS' strategy to halt the federal government's obstruction of medical marijuana research aimed at developing the plant into an FDA-approved medicine.

July 17, 2007. The Huffington Post's Mary Clare Ditton published an interesting article about a new ibogaine treatment center in Barcelona. The article discusses the MAPS-sponsored long-term observational case study in Vancouver as well as the parallel ibogaine study that MAPS is developing in Mexico.

July 16, 2007. Chemistry World published an article, "Hallucinogenic Drug in the Clinic," about MAPS' research, in particular Dr. Peter Gasser's MAPS-sponsored LSD therapy study in Switzerland for subjects with end-of-life-anxiety secondary to terminal illness.

July 3, 2007. MAPS President Rick Doblin, PhD, appeared as a special guest and gave a lengthy interview on the Deborah Ray Healthy Talk Show. (The interview comes on about halfway into the show.)

June 29, 2007. Nature published an excellent article ("Scientists stir the pot for right to grow marijuana") about MAPS' campaign to break the federal government's illegal monopoly on the supply of research-grade marijuana for use in privately funded clinical studies that would determine whether marijuana meets the FDA's standards for safety and efficacy.

June 27, 2007. The Washington Post published a fascinating article ("Justice Stevens Calls On History He Lived") about Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens' dissenting opinion in the recent 'Bong Hits 4 Jesus' Supreme Court case. The 87-year-old Justice Stevens, the third oldest Judge ever to sit on the Supreme Court, reflected on the failed policy of alcohol prohibition and compared it to today's marijuana policy. Stevens wrote:

"[T]he current dominant opinion supporting the war on drugs in general, and our anti-marijuana laws in particular, is reminiscent of the opinion that supported the nationwide ban on alcohol consumption when I was a student. While alcoholic beverages are now regarded as ordinary articles of commerce, their use was then condemned with the same moral fervor that now supports the war on drugs."

June 26, 2007. News coverage of a soon-to-be published research report in the journal Human Psychopharmacology vary in depth and accuracy, with some claiming "Even Low ecstasy use harms memory," or "Taking Ecstasy Once can Damage Memory", while others provide more details suggesting that this is not the case. The research in question is a meta-analysis of previous research studies. Read initial comments and reflections on the news coverage and research report.

June 25, 2007. GQ published a thorough feature about the Salvia divinorum, "Under the Spell of the Magic Mint" (available in html or pdf).

June 18, 2007. After the New York State Assembly passed a medical marijuana bill (it still needs to pass the State Senate and be signed by the Governor to become law), the New York Times Metro section published an op-ed by Henry I. Miller, "Crackpot Legislation." Unfortunately, while Miller makes the important point that marijuana should be evaluated by FDA-approved research, he fails to make any mention of the federal government's systematic obstruction of such research.

June 12, 2007. Kenneth Wolski, MD, published a strong op-ed in The Times (of Trenton, NJ) that focuses on the federal government's obstruction of medical marijuana research and the recent DEA Judge's ruling in favor of a MAPS-sponsored medical marijuana production facility that would be the prerequisite for putting marijuana through FDA clinical trials to determine whether it can be developed into a legal, precsripction medicine.

June 1, 2007. A strong op-ed by Dr. David Caldicott in South Australia's Adelaide Advertiser criticizes an Australian politician's fearmongering about MDMA, his misguided advocacy of "Americian-style Prohibition policies" and his "ignorance of drug policy and indeed illicit drugs themselves..."

May 31, 2007. The Los Angeles Times published a strongly supportive editorial in favor of MAPS and Prof. Craker in their struggle with the DEA to break the federal government's monopoly on medical marijuana research by establishing an independent research-grade marijuana production facility at University of Massachusetts.

May 30, 2007. Senior Editor Jacob Sullum wrote a couple of interesting articles related to MAPS and its agenda in the June 2007 issue of Reason. "Spiritual highs and legal blows: The power and peril of religious exemptions from drug prohibition" is a thorough discussion of the implications of last year's Supreme Court victory by the UDV, the Religous Freedom Restoration Act, and the politics of the religous use of psychedelics and marijuana. Along a similar vein, "Looking for God in All the Wrong Places" discusses more consisely the limits of the Religous Freedom Restoration Act. Both articles quote MAPS President Rick Doblin, Ph.D.

May 28, 2007. San Jose's weekly magazine Alternate 101 (circulation 27,000) published a thorough cover story about MAPS, "Mapping a New Frontier." The writer, Greg Schwartz, visited the MAPS Love Creek office and paints a relatively comprehensive picture of MAPS' current projects and overall mission.

May 25, 2007. Now that the ball is in the DEA's court to decide whether to accept or reject the DEA Administrative Law Judge's Recommended Ruling in favor of Prof. Craker and MAPS, the media is keeping the issue of MAPS' marijuana drug development initiative alive. Here's a sampling of last week's news on the case:

Associated Press (As published in the Boston Globe)
"UMass professor seeks to grow medical marijuana"

Washington Post (Also appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle)
"Researchers Press DEA to Let Them Grow Marijuana"

New York Times (online edition)
"Marijuana Researchers Make Progress in the Lab, but not in Washington"

Honolulu Star Bulletin
"Editorial: Medical Marijuana Research Should Not Be Hampered"

May 21, 2007. The Economist published a great editorial in favor of MAPS and Professor Lyle Craker's application to establish the nation's first privately funded medical marijuana production facility.

May 17, 2007. The Philadelphia Inquirer published an editorial strongly in favor of medical marijuana, entitled "Making a case for marijuana use in relieving pain".

May 15, 2007. The Walrus published a fascinating article entitled "Peaking on the Prairies" that describes Dr. Humphrey Osmond's extensive psychedelic therapy research program in the 1950's.

May 11, 2007. Washington D.C.'s Politico published an article entitled "FDA dubious over medical marijuana" that describes MAPS' efforts to establish an independent supply of research-grade marijuana as a prerequisite to MAPS-sponsored FDA clinical trials, and how this relates to Senator Coburn's recent medical marijauana legislation.

May 9, 2007. A new study from University of California-San Francisco provides strong evidence that vaporization has promising potential as a method of medical marijuana delivery. The study, published online by the journal Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, was conducted at UCSF by a team led by Donald Abrams, MD, and compared a commercially available vaporizer to smoking in 18 volunteers. The researchers found that, "vaporization of marijuana does not result in exposure to combustion gases, and therefore is expected to be much safer than smoking marijuana cigarettes." Dr. Abrams was able to obtain permission from FDA to conduct his study based in part on data on the composition of the ingredients in marijuana vapor gathered in research sponsored by MAPS and CaNORML. That line of MAPS-sponsored research is currently blocked since NIDA has refused to sell marijuana for additional studies. Click here to read Dr. Abrams' full report.

Arran Frood at Nature Medicine published "Inhaling Cannabis Without the Smoke," and Science Daily covered the story in the article "Marijuana Vaporizer Provides Same Level Of THC, Fewer Toxins, Study Shows."

May 7, 2007. Litmus magazine published a thorough article about the history of psychedelic therapy research and MAPS' current efforts. In addition, Litmus published an interview with MAPS founder and president Rick Doblin, PhD.

May 6, 2007. John Horgan at Slate magazine published "Spirit Tech - How to wire your brain for religious ecstasy," which discusses MAPS-sponsored psychedelic research.

May 5, 2007. The Washington Times published an article about the use of LSD and psilocybin to treat cluster headaches, and MAPS-initiated research at Harvard's McLean Hospital investigating the efficacy of this treatment.

April 29, 2007. MAPS Director of Communications Jag Davies gave an interview on the RU Sirius show, transcribed and published in print as "Prescription Ecstasy and Other Pipe Dreams." The interview is about 20 minutes long and covers a broad range of topics related to MAPS' research.

April 20, 2007. The Jerusalem Post published "Going to Pot" -- an article about the medical use of marijuana in Israel, for which there is growing political and medical support.

April 19, 2007. Time magazine published a relatively balanced article about MAPS' efforts to evaluate the medical and therapeutic applications of psychedelics, entitled "Was Timothy Leary Right?" The article starts by posing the question, "Are psychedelics good for you?" The writer, John Cloud, goes on to say, "today ... we have a Leary for a less naive age: Richard Doblin. Also a Harvard guy--his Ph.D. is in public policy--Doblin founded the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) in 1986 to help scientists get funding and approval to study the drugs ... Doblin has painstakingly worked with intensely skeptical federal authorities to win necessary permissions. MAPS helped launch all four of the current Ecstasy studies, a process that took two decades. It's the antithesis of Leary's approach. All drugs have benefits and risks, but in psychedelics we have been tempted to see only one or the other. Not anymore."

April 15, 2007.  This op-ed published in the Sacramento Bee is an excellent summary of the political and legal implications of MAPS' recent legal victory over the DEA in MAPS' quest to put marijuana through FDA clinical trials.

April 12, 2007. Charles Hayes, author of Tripping: An Anthology of True-Life Psychedelic Adventures (available in the MAPS store), has published a thought provoking article in Tikkun magazine (A Bimonthly Jewish Critique of Politics, Culture & Society) entitled, "Can Science Validate the Psychedelic Experience?"; Many of MAPS' psychedelic research studies are mentioned.

April 4, 2007. The Jerusalem Post published an interesting article about Pessah, the discovery of LSD, the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and the human psyche entitled "Significant Synchronicities." In the article, the writer, Reuven Goldfarb, highly recommends Albert Hofmann's autobiographical book LSD: My Problem Child, which was re-published by MAPS in 2006.

April 3, 2007. The TV talk show host Montel Williams published an articulate op-ed in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, "Medical Use of Marijuana Should be Legalized." Williams uses medical marijuana to treat the dehabilitating neuropathic pain caused by multiple sclerosis. Williams writes that, "My doctors wrote me prescriptions for some of the strongest painkillers available. I took Percocet, Vicodin and Oxycontin on a regular basis, knowingly risking overdose just trying to make the pain bearable. But these powerful, expensive drugs brought me no relief ... When someone suggested I try marijuana, I was skeptical. But I also was desperate. To my amazement, it worked after the legal drugs had failed. Three puffs and within minutes the excruciating pain in my legs subsided. I had my first restful sleep in months."

March 31, 2007. As reported by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, former Republican Congressman Bob Barr has become a vocal supporter of medical marijuana and has taken a new position as a lobbyist for the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP). Read about this development in "Barr Shifts in Support of Medical Marijuana". Last month, MPP awarded MAPS a grant of $45,000 for lobbying efforts to pressure DEA to accept the recent Administrative Law Judge ruling in favor of Prof. Lyle Craker's proposed MAPS-sponsored marijuana production facility.

March 30, 2007. The New York Times published "Pom-Poms, Pyramids, and Peril," a feature article describing the the high rate of catastrophic injury among cheerleaders and other "recreational" athletes. This story is noteworthy in light of Jag Davies' article in the Winter 2006-07 MAPS Bulletin, "Ecstasy and Cheerleading: A Basic Risk Comparison".

March 25, 2007. Alan Bock, senior editorial writer for the Orange County Register published "Still Waiting to Inhale," describing several recent signs of hope for medical marijuana patients, such as the recent DEA ALJ ruling in favor of ending NIDA's monopoly on marijuana research and licensing Prof. Lyle Craker's proposed MAPS-sponsored medical marijuana production facility.

March 23, 2007. London's Guardian published "Alcohol worse than ecstasy on shock new drug list." The article describes a groundbreaking report published in the medical journal The Lancet from a group of the UK's leading scientists, including members of the government's top advisory committee on drug classification, that concluded that alcohol and tobacco should be rated as more dangerous than cannabis, LSD and ecstasy. Back in the US, the Associated Press covered the report in "Study: Alcohol, Tobacco Worse Than Drugs".

March 22, 2007. London's Guardian published a stinging indictment of the Drug War, entitled "Drugs: Stop the War".

March 20, 2007. Time Magazine's annual "What's Next" issue ran a brief story entitled "Taking a trip for your mental health," highlighting MAPS-sponsored MDMA, psilocybin, and ketamine research.

March 19, 2007. American Medical News published an article about MAPS' recent legal victory in our quest for a medical marijuana production facility.

March 16, 2007. On March 14, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously rejected (3-0) an appeal by medical marijuana patient Angel Raich, ruling that the 10th amendment does not protect her right to use medical marijuana and that there is no constitutional right to use marijuana to treat pain and suffering. MAPS and MPP submitted an amicus curiae brief for the appeal, as well as for Raich's previous cases, detailing the federal government's obstruction of medical marijuana research. Raich, a mother of two, uses marijuana to treat severe chronic pain, an inoperable brain tumor, wasting syndrome, and seizures. With Raich's appeal lost, one more potential door to federally-legal medical marijuana is firmly shut, making the route through FDA even more necessary than before.

Prof. Randy Barnett, Raich's lawyer and a professor at Georgetown University Law Center, published a thorough op-ed in the Wall Street Journal. The San Francisco Chronicle also published a candid op-ed, "The laws against marijuana are stupid".

March 6, 2007. Peter Jennings' special ABC report entitled Ecstasy Rising is available for viewing. This groundbreaking documentary discusses MDMA's cultural history, its use as a therapeutic tool, the government's criminalization and exaggeration of its risks, and MAPS' recent success with MDMA-assisted psychotherapy research. Regarding this clip we would like to give SPECIAL thanks to Nathan for ripping this footage and hosting it onsite ;-) Many gracious THANX...!

February 27, 2007. This article about LSD entitled The Trip Goes On was published in UK's The Guardian.

February 26, 2007. MAPS and medical marijuana advocates won a major victory against the federal government on February 12, as the DEA's administrative law judge ruled on behalf of Professor Lyle Craker, who is attempting to break the government's 65-year monopoly on marijuana research by establishing a MAPS-sponsored research-grade marijuana production facility at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. News of the lawsuit victory was covered by more than 100 media outlets, and most of the top media outlets across the country have repoorted on and editorialized about MAPS' historic legal triumph over the DEA.

One of the best quotes comes from an editorial in the Chicago Tribune that says, "If the government is so sure that marijuana has no medical value, it should welcome this sort of research. If it refuses to facilitate such studies, it must fear knowing the truth."

Here are some more of the articles that we have archived over the past couple weeks:

Chicago Tribune
Truth and Medical Marijuana

St. Petersburg Times:
DEA stymies science

Boston Globe:
Judge: Let prof grow medicinal marijuana

San Francisco Chronicle:
Judge sides with botanist on pot supply

McClatchey News newswire article, which was carried in The Miami Herald, San Jose Mercury-News, Seattle Post-Intelligencer and others:
Judge rules government supply of marijuana is inadequate

Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal:
Ole Miss may get competition in growing marijuana

Springfield Republican:
Marijuana Research a New Field at UMass?

Bay Area Reporter:
Judge tells DEA to issue license to grow pot for research

Austin Chronicle
Reefer Madness: Judge Supports Bid to Grow Research Pot

February 20, 2007. The Prince Albert Daily Herald published an article about the pioneering psychedelic research program at the University of Saskatchewan's Weyburn Hospital in the 1950s and 60s, led by Dr. Humphrey Osmond.

February 19, 2007. Cosmos magazine published an article about medical research with LSD.

February 14, 2007. Swiss Radio International's Swissinfo published a brief original article describing Dr. Peter Oehen's ongoing MAPS-sponsored pilot study evaluating MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for subjects with treatment-resistant post-traumatic stress disorder.

February 13, 2007. The Washington Post reported in "Research Supports Medicinal Marijuana" on Dr. Donald Abrams' double-blind study of smoked marijuana for HIV-related peripheral neuropathy that was published in the respected journal Neurology. The findings showed that marijuana can be a safe and effective medication for many people with this condition, and is evidence of marijuana's therapeutic potential. Yet, no researchers are continuing Dr. Abrams' promising research, because NIDA's monopoly and arbitrary review process deters any private sponsor from investing in a medical marijuana drug development effort. The article finished by mentioning MAPS' victory in our lawsuit against DEA/NIDA, although it unfortunately doesn't explicitly connect the two issues.

February 1, 2007. The Scientist published an article about psilocybin research that attempts to point to the risks of psychedelic research. Read Are Ritalin and psilocybin equivalent in terms of effect and safety?

January 31, 2007. Reuters reported in "Smokable Pain Drugs Promise Faster Action" on Alexza's development of smokeable drugs for migraine, pain, panic and agitation. This development could have implications for research with medical marijuana, since one of the government's main arguments has been that no legitimate medicine is smoked.

January 23, 2007. Slate published a positive description of MAPS' MDMA drug development efforts in a front page article entitled "What a Long, Strange Trip It's Been: Ecstasy, the New Prescription Drug?"

January 20, 2007. The New Scientist's Maia Szalavitz reports on promising ketamine research in "Tackling Depression with Ketamine".

January 13, 2007. UK medical journal The Lancet published a concise book review of Prof. Thomas Roberts' book Psychedelic Horizons. Thomas "...challenges swathes of current thinking by asking questions about altered states of consciousness, including those induced by psychedelics. The variety of these experiences clearly suggests our minds are multistate, and prompt further questions about the potential of these different states for healing, psychology, cognitive studies, and education."