MAPS Bulletin Autumn 1990 Vol. 1, No. 3
This MAPS newsletter is the first since the summer of 1989. It follows the MAPS benefit conference which was held in Berkeley on February 24, 1990, where a superb group of speakers discussed “Psychedelics in the 1990’s. Regulation or Prohibition?” (Video and audio tapes available from
Sound Photosynthesis
P.O. Box 2111
Mill Valley, CA 94942
(415) 383-6712
soundphotosynthesis.com
Though some recipients of this newsletter have known about and supported MAPS since our founding several years ago, many people have only recently learned about us. MAPS is a non-profit (501) (c) (3) research and educational corporation funded by tax-deductible contributions. MAPS is guided by a small Board of Directors, administered by a president, and contained on one Macintosh computer. All of us donate our time. Our annual budget for the past three years has averaged about $45,000, with funding dependent on intermittent contributions from sympathetic supporters.
MAPS has about 750 people on our mailing list and with this newsletter will be in raising funds through membership fees. Contributors of $30 will receive a semi-annual newsletter, contributors of $100 will also receive quarterly reports and the NIDA MDMA report, contributors of $250 or more will also receive Jerry Beck’s Ph.D. thesis and an edited videotape of the MAPS benefit. Details on the enclosed information sheet. Contributions in excess of membership fees help fund research.
This last year was mostly one of waiting for the completion of several long term studies at Johns Hopkins investigating MDMA neurotoxicity in the primate. These studies, which MAPS helped support, are now almost completed (see p.3-4). Personally, I concluded my studies for a Master in Public Policy degree from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, with an area of concentration in drug policy. My thesis surveyed oncologists about the medical use of marijuana in the treatment of nausea associated with cancer chemotherapy and is being used as evidence supporting marijuana’s rescheduling in a lawsuit against the DEA. This next year I will be a special student at the Kennedy School taking classes, being a teaching assistant in a Drug Policy class, and working on MAPS.
