Summer 2011 Vol. 21, No. 2 Research Edition
What is MAPS International?
In order to further expand and consolidate our growing international presence, MAPS is now working with affiliates in Hungary and Canada. Our goal is to provide guidance and expertise to these promising groups by helping set organizational goals, participating on their administrative boards, reviewing research protocols, assisting with regulatory permission, and ensuring that their work meets our high research standard.
Why MAPS International?
The purpose of collaborating with our international affiliates is (1) to stimulate psychedelic research in new countries, enabling further mainstreaming of psychedelic medicine and allowing cross-cultural comparisons of our research data; (2) to provide tax deductions for international donors; (3) to build our community of researchers and mobilize our fast-growing network of volunteers; and (4) to educate scientists, therapists, teachers, students, and policymakers worldwide.
MAPS Canada
MAPS is working with MAPS Canada to conduct a study of ayahuasca-assisted therapy for addiction and dependence in British Columbia, and to raise funds for our upcoming Vancouver study of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for PTSD. MAPS Canada’s Board of Directors includes Mark Haden (chair), Donna Dryer, Jacob Hunter, Kirk Tousaw, Philippe Lucas, Rick Doblin, Valerie Mojeiko, and Robert Barnhart.
MAPS has established the MDMA-PTSD Fund at Tides Canada for the purpose of supporting charitable activities identified by MAPS. Donors to the Tides Canada Foundation
may request that their donation be added to the MDMA-PTSD Fund and will receive a charitable tax receipt, subject to the require‑
ments of the Income Tax Act. To learn how to make a contribution to the MDMA-PTSD Fund at Tides Canada, please call 1.866.843.3722 ext. 1.
MAPS Hungary
MAPS Hungary’s mission is (1) to educate Hungarian therapists, psychologists, and scientists about the recent upsurge in international psychedelic research; (2) to initiate psychedelic research in Hungary; (3) to apply lessons from psychedelic research to therapy and hospice in Hungary; and (4) to encourage ethnopharmacology and ethnobotany
in Hungary. The Research Advisory Board includes Rick Doblin, Ph.D., Luis Luna, Ph.D., and Thomas B. Roberts, Ph.D., and Rick Strassman, M.D. On June 17, MAPS sponsored Edward Frecska and Petra Bokor of MAPS Hungary to attend the European Ayahuasca Research Symposium in Amsterdam, connecting them with other scientists to refine the design of a planned ayahuasca study in Hungary. According to a conference report by author Simon Powell, the symposium showed “a definite way ahead for science to explore ayahuasca’s widely attested healing potential.”
