Burning Man Founder Larry Harvey passed away in San Francisco on April 28, 2018. Larry founded Burning Man in 1986, the same year that MAPS was founded. Starting in 2003, MAPS staff have regularly traveled to Black Rock City for Burning Man to provide psychedelic education and harm reduction. After several years of working in Burning Man’s Sanctuary space to support people going through difficult psychedelic experiences, MAPS created the Zendo Project to offer additional compassionate care, psychedelic harm reduction, and peer support for people in need, initially in our own village and over time in closer coordination with Burning Man. The Burning Man organization has led the way in being accepting and encouraging of the Zendo Project at Burning Man, leading to an ever-increasing cultural acceptance of harm reduction and public health approaches to psychedelics.
In 2006, in a highlight of our relationship, Larry Harvey met at First Camp with Sasha Shulgin, Ph.D., MAPS Founder Rick Doblin, Ph.D., and MAPS Board of Director John Gilmore after Larry heard that Sasha and Ann had came to Burning Man for the first time for MAPS’ 20th Anniversary celebration. Throughout MAPS’ many years at Burning Man, we have strengthened community, created lasting connections, helped transform difficult psychedelic experiences, educated the public about clinical psychedelic and marijuana research, and had lots of fun. Without Larry Harvey and his continuous gift of Burning Man, MAPS would not be the organization that we are today. Thank you for your visionary leadership, Larry! Learn more…