Letter from Rick Doblin, MAPS President
Rick Doblin mourns the loss of Nicholas Saunders, ally and friend in the struggle to legitimize the beneficial use of MDMA and other psychedelics psychedelics.

MDMA Research in Switzerland: an Update
Alex Gamma and F.X. Vollenweider, M.D.
Several studies into the effects of MDMA on drug-naive subjects have been conducted in Zürich. Most of the experimental work and parts of the data analysis involved in these studies have been completed.

Ibogaine Therapy in Chemical Dependency and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder:
A Hypothesis Involving the Fractal Nature of Fetal REM Sleep and Interhemispheric Reintegration
Carl M. Anderson, Ph.D.
This hypothesis could provide a spring-board for experimental investigations of many of the related ideas presented, providing an integrated theoretical view of the action of Ibogaine and other oneiric [dream-inducing] psychedelic drugs.

Cannabis in Acute Migraine Treatment Project:
Response to National Institutes of Health Critique
Ethan Russo, M.D.
The principal investigator and his team, with additional support from MAPS, plans to submit a revised grant application to NIH for its June 1, 1998 grant cycle.

The LSD Therapy Career of Jan C. Bastiaans, M.D.
Stephen Snelders
In 1961, Bastiaans started to use psychedelics to treat concentration camp survivors and other survivors of acute trauma. A controversial figure, he continued his work until the early 1990s.

Tribute to Professor Jan C. Bastiaans: 1917-1997
Nicole Maalsté
Efforts are underway to characterize the Bastiaans method of psychedelic psychotherapy. Additional funding is sought to protect and analyse important data collected by Bastiaans and his staff members.

Scenario Planning: Investing in Consciousness
David T. Pfenninger, Ph.D.
If the identified trends are valid, it seems reasonable to predict that we are well on our way to a new societal relationship to altered states of consciousness, including those invoked with the assistance of psychedelic substances.

A Psychospiritual Context for the Therapeutic Use of Psychedelics
Richard Spurgeon, M.A.
The psychospiritual perspective holds that our essence is spiritual in nature, and that life is a process of development and unfolding in which psychological and spiritual aspects are deeply entwined.

Psychedelic Vision at the Turn of the Millenium:
Discussion with Andrew Weil, M.D.
Exerpted from the pre-conference of the 1997 Association for Transpersonal Psychology Conference. Speakers were Charles Grob, M.D., Laura Huxley, Dennis McKenna, Ph.D., Terence McKenna, Ralph Metzner, Ph.D. and Andrew Weil, M.D.

Multidisciplinary Approaches to Psychedelic Scholarship (MAPS)
Thomas B. Roberts, Ph.D.
For seventeen years Roberts has taught "Psychedelic Mindview" at Northern Illinois University as a special topics course in educational psychology. He comments here on how to pursue studies in psychedelic research.

Heffter Research Institute Update
David Nichols, Ph.D.
HRI moves into its fifth year of existence. In 1997 HRI presented the first two prizes for outstanding research with psychedelics. HRI has funded two small research proposals, is reviewing several others, and published the first Heffter Review of Psychedelic Research.

The Hofmann Report
Ronald Brettin and Myron Stolaroff, M.S.
The Albert Hofmann Foundation has acquired from Sandoz 93 volumes of invaluable psychedelic research, consisting of more than 3,500 papers of the published scientific literature for the period 1947-1988. Myron Stolaroff adds News from a Psychedelic Elder.

The Literature of Psychedelics
Bob Wallace
The next in a series of bi-annual overviews of recently published books on various aspects of the mind modifying materials, new periodicals and issues, and new editions of previously published books.

Marketing The Secret Chief
Carla Higdon
The first book published by MAPS has been selling well. The author's recent trip to New York City apparently boosted sales, as word spreads about the life of "Jacob." Forty of the one hundred copies of the special signed edition have been sold.

The Mind States Conference
Sylvia Thyssen
November 22-23, 1997, the Berkeley International House hosted an intensive series of presentations covering current perspectives on visionary plants and drugs.

Readers' Forum and Announcements
Readers' letters, a footnote on the history of MDMA, a new website founded by the late Nicholas Saunders, the music of psychedelic therapy, and upcoming conferences.

In Memoriam: Nicholas Saunders