Anonymous donation on Reddit ‘changed everything’ for MDMA research
When MAPS founder Rick Doblin was in Amsterdam for our event on MDMA research, he sat down with journalist Thijs Roes for a wide-ranging conversation. One of the topics they touched upon, was how recent MAPS funding had gotten off the ground.
In 2017, MAPS was a much smaller organisation. With no help from any government and no large funds available to them, MAPS had to get by on relatively small donations. Until an anonymous Reddit user called Pine suddenly announced that he had millions of dollars available to support causes that would otherwise be overlooked. She (or he) had bought bitcoins for an incredibly low price, and had had an epiphany while on Ketamine-therapy: the best way to live life was to help other people, and give as much the newly gained wealth away.
“MDMA-assisted psychotherapy will be a gift to the world from the psychedelic and cryptocurrency communities,” Rick Doblin wrote earlier. And in the interview he says the grant “changed everything for us”. Pine ended up giving $5 million dollars to make MDMA-assisted therapy a reality. MAPS is now in phase 3 studies to get MDMA approved and legal for clinical therapy.
Rick Doblin will be speaking at icpr-conference.com – the leading scientific psychedelic conference of Europe, held from September 22 until 24.
Dr. Sidney Cohen tells with precision and restraint the story of the most interesting among them, LSD, in this book. He has long worked with the drug under hospital conditions and is aware both of its possibilities and its drawbacks. He gives many detailed accounts of LSD feelings in different subjects, and they are fascinating and colorful. He indicates the uses and possible uses of LSD in tapping the unconscious or the abnormal mind, and the usefulness of this for therapists. He discusses LSD in terms of “model psychosis” or “instant Zen.” He treats mystical experiences and visions in terms of what we have learned from these drugs. In a fascinating chapter he discusses hallucinogens for possible war use—they have been considered as incapacitating agents that might limit lethal warfare—and he shows how they too would lead to death. “A pill does not construct character, educate the emotions, or improve intelligence,” writes Dr. Cohen. “It is not a spiritual labor-saving device, salvation, instant wisdom, or a shortcut to maturity. However, it can be an opportunity to experience oneself and the world in a new way—and to learn from it. “The book is free of medical jargon. It tells thestory of LSD—which is full of brilliant color andbright new deep perception—trying to keep the experience intact. We all live in a world of sensation, and it is sensation itself that is illuminated here. Dr. Cohen explores LSD as a possible gateway to the vastness within.