Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies
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The Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) is a U.S.-based non-profit organization that aims to assist scientists to design, fund, obtain approval for and report on studies into the risks and benefits of MDMA, psychedelic drugs and marijuana. The goal is to develop these drugs into FDA-approved prescription medicines, and to educate the public about the risks and benefits. MAPS has estimated that it would take $5 million dollars and 5 years to conduct the research necessary to prove to the satisfaction of the FDA the safety and efficacy of certain illegal drugs for one clinical indication. The organization was founded by Rick Doblin in 1986.
Achievements
Since 1995, MAPS has disbursed over two million dollars to research and educational projects and has:
- Obtained FDA and IRB approval to study MDMA-assisted psychotherapy in the treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in Charleston, SC with similar research projects now underway in Switzerland and Israel
- Sponsored efforts by Prof. Lyle Craker, Medicinal Plant Program, UMass Amherst Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, to obtain a license from the Drug Enforcement Administration for a marijuana production facility.
- Sponsored pioneering analytical research into the effects of the marijuana vaporizer, leading to the first human study of marijuana vaporizers conducted by Dr. Donald Abrams, UC San Francisco.
- Opened an FDA Drug Master File for MDMA. This is required before any drug can be researched in FDA-approved human studies.
- Assisted Dr. Charles Grob to design, obtain approval for and fund the first FDA-approved study in the U.S. to administer MDMA to humans.
- Assisted in the design and is funding the world's first government-approved scientific study of the therapeutic use of MDMA (Spain).
- Sponsored the first studies to analyze the purity and potency of street samples of "Ecstasy" and medical marijuana.
- Funded the successful efforts of Dr. Donald Abrams to obtain approval for the first human study in 15 years into the therapeutic use of marijuana, along with a $1 million grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
- Obtained Orphan Drug designation from the FDA for smoked marijuana in the treatment of AIDS Wasting Syndrome.
- Funded the synthesis of psilocybin for the first FDA-approved study in twenty-five years to evaluate psilocybin in a patient population.
- Supported long-term follow-up studies of pioneering research with LSD and psilocybin originally conducted in the 1950s and 1960s.
External links
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