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Hello from MAPS!

We are gearing up for our newest study of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for the treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in Vancouver.

On October 24, we will be hosting a benefit dinner in downtown Vancouver and we hope that if you are in the area you will join us and that you will encourage your friends to be there too.

MAPS Executive Director Rick Doblin, Ph.D. and our Vancouver research team will give presentations about the project over a light tapas dinner. More information about the benefit dinner is below.

We have more news below about Psychedelic Science in the 21st Century, the conference we are hosting in San Jose, California, from April 15-18, 2010. We have opened a call for proposals for presentations at the conference. In the coming weeks we will be sending you an email about ticket sales and hotel registration.

This is a robust newsletter this month with an abundance of information about our research projects. You will also find lots of opportunities for you to get involved with MAPS and our sister organizations. Don’t forget, we rely on your support in order to conduct our research and to perform our educational objectives.

Click here and enjoy!
http://www.maps.org/news-letters/

MAPS Bulletin Vol XIX No. 2 - Summer 2009
Research Update
http://www.maps.org/news-letters/v19n2/

Sincerely,
Randolph Hencken, M.A.
Director of Marketing and Communication

Hello everyone,

I just wanted to drop a line and invite you to become a "Fan" of MAPS here in the virtual world. Doing so here on Facebook will allow you to receive updates from us once in a while in your "Home" page section. We have been updating the Page with MAPS happenings every so often, including conferences like Horizons - Perspectives on Psychedelics (http://horizonsnyc.org/) and the Drug Policy Alliance's International Drug Policy Reform Conference (http://www.reformconference.org/), which we will be co-hosting.

To become a "Fan" of MAPS, simply go to this link: http://tinyurl.com/mapsfanpage and click "Become a Fan"- its that easy.

If there are any events you feel should be listed on the MAPS Page, or any events you would like to invite MAPS to be at- be they medical, policy, or therapeutics conferences, music festivals, etc- please send an email to brian@maps.org with a complete description of the event and why you think MAPS should be involved.

As always, thank you for your continued enthusiasm and support!!

Brian Wallace
Events and Outreach Coordinator
Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies
245M Mt Hermon Rd. STE# 213
Scotts Valley, CA 95066
c. 209.988.9946
o. 831.429.MDMA
http://tinyurl.com/MapsFacebook
https://twitter.com/MapsNews
brian@maps.org
gmail chat: briandor
aim: bw758

MAPS Friends, Allies, and Members:
Join us for Brunch in Santa Cruz on August 8th!!

MAPS is hosting a brunch in Santa Cruz, California on Saturday, August 8, 2009, at 10 AM at Peachwood’s Steakhouse (located at the Inn at Pasatiempo, 555 Highway 17).

This is an opportunity for people in the Santa Cruz area to meet Rick Doblin and MAPS staff members from MAPS’ operational headquarters. Rick will talk, and take questions, about the state of the organization, future plans, and other psychedelic and medical marijuana-related matters.

Brunch is $25 and reservations are encouraged by Tuesday, August 4, and required by Friday, August 7 at 4 PM. Tickets are available on MAPS’ website (http://www.maps.org) or by calling MAPS’ office at 831-429-6362. The brunch is open to MAPS members and the general public. All proceeds will directly benefit MAPS psychedelic research projects.

Check out the Facebook event page for the brunch here- <http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=108823964937&ref=share>, but remember you must RSVP by phone or through the MAPS website to confirm your reservation and purchase your ticket. Thank you for your continued support!!

Brian Wallace
Events and Outreach Coordinator
Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies
245M Mt Hermon Rd. STE# 213
Scotts Valley, CA 95066
c. 209.988.9946
o. 831.429.MDMA
http://tinyurl.com/MapsFacebook
https://twitter.com/MapsNews
brian@maps.org
gmail chat: briandor
aim: bw758

Dear MAPS Supporters and Friends,

I returned this week from Europe where I had the opportunity to meet with all of MAPS MDMA/PTSD researchers for our first ever therapist training seminar. This was a momentous event in MAPS history, which has laid the foundation for future research and future therapist training programs. You can read more about the retreat below.

We have several events in the near future that you should be aware of. For those of you in the San Francisco Bay area, we will be hosting a brunch on Saturday, August 8 in Santa Cruz. Later that day, MAPS President Rick Doblin will speak at a psychedelic salon in San Francisco. We will be co-hosting the Drug Policy Alliances international drug policy reform conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico in November and we need volunteers to help us at the event. In case you havent marked your calendar yet, we are hosting an international conference on psychedelic research in April of 2010. Our friend Dean Chamberlain is displaying his Psychedelic Pioneers series in Venice, California. There are details below about all of these events.

This months gift of the month is Beyond the Basin, a new novel by MAPS Bulletin contributor Alexander Beiner. This is a fascinating tale of a Westerners life becoming intertwined with a shamanic tribe. We will give this book to any current member who donates $25 or more or to any new member who donates $50 or more. We have a limited supply of books, so order quickly.

Sincerely,

Randolph Hencken, MA
Director of Communications and Marketing

P.S.: Here's a sample of what is happening this month at MAPS:
http://www.maps.org/sys/nq.pl?id=2055&fmt=stdnews

A message from MAPS founder & president: Rick Doblin
-------------------------------
Dear MAPS Supporters and Friends,

I am excited to announce the new look of MAPS--and invite you to view our brand new website - http://www.maps.org

Our new look is part of the profound metamorphosis that MAPS has made over the past several years. We have honed our abilities to obtain approval for and conduct legal research in a scientifically rigorous manner, we have sharpened our focus on realistic and tangible objectives to develop MDMA, LSD, other psychedelics, and marijuana into prescription medicines for therapeutic purposes, and we have obtained tremendous results in our US MDMA/PTSD pilot study.

I founded MAPS in 1986 because I dreamed of integrating into our culture the precious and unique potentials of psychedelics and marijuana for healing, spirituality, creativity and other beneficial uses. We have moved from dreaming to taking action.

I expect that you will enjoy using our new website. We have tried to make it easier to navigate and more user-friendly. We invite your feedback on ways to enhance our new website, as part of our ongoing creative process.

Our new website, new logo, new web-video, and new office are significant of our coming of age, and are representative of our status as a non-profit pharmaceutical company working to develop psychedelics and marijuana as generic drugs for public benefit. Our staff has been operating with a sense of dignified professionalism as they work determinedly with MAPS’ mission in mind. Our new look is now more reflective of this level of professionalism in our work.

We wouldn’t be where we are at today if it weren’t for all of the dues-paying members who have supported us throughout the years. Please consider becoming a MAPS member to empower our continuing process of evolution.

Psychedelically yours,
Rick Doblin, Ph.D.
MAPS President and Founder


P.S. Our next stage of evolution will be designing a new webstore that makes it easier for users like you to make donations and purchase books and other merchandise.

We are perplexed about the status of Dr. Lyle Craker’s application for a license to grow marijuana for research. The final order ruling against Dr. Craker took effect on May 1st. However, May 1st has come and gone and we haven’t received any word from DEA. Based on conversations between our attorneys and the Department of Justice (DOJ), and Senator Durbin's staff and DEA, we have learned that DEA review of our Motion to Reconsider is still pending, and that it is relatively common for such matters to take place after final orders have become effective. On April 29, Senators Kennedy and Kerry sent a letter to Deputy Attorney General David Ogden requesting that he take immediate action to delay DEA's final decision. Professor Craker’s lawyers have also been proactive and have an appeal pending in the U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeals in case DEA’s Final Order is upheld.

It is a fundamental obstruction of science to allow the National Institute of Drug Abuse to have a monopoly on the supply of marijuana available for legal research. The government does not have a monopoly on any other Schedule 1 substance. We believe that science and justice will prevail over the ideology that is blocking legitimate inquires into the medical risks and benefits of marijuana. We have hope that the ignorance of the past will wash away in the near future and those in power at DEA, DOJ, and NIDA will allow MAPS to move forward with our planned marijuana production facility. We need access to quality marijuana in order to do the research necessary to prove marijuana in its organic form can become an FDA-approved prescription medicine.

This month our free gift is a music CD from the musical group Entheogenic. We have a limited supply of the 2002 self-titled album Entheogenic and the 2008 album Flight of the Urubus. We will give one of these albums to any current member who donates $20 or more or to any new member who donates $35 or more. We encourage you to order quickly while supplies last.

Sincerely,

Randolph Hencken, MA
Director of Communications and Marketing | MAPS

to get the letter sent by Senators Kennedy and Kerry:
http://www.maps.org/mmj/kennedy_Kerry_to_Ogden_april_29_2009.pdf

Hello everyone and welcome to the official Facebook group for the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies.
Some of you may have been members for some time, and some of you may have joined recently. In either case, I'm glad to see that the number of members in this group has increased by a few hundred over the last couple of months.

At this time, we at MAPS would like to invite you to help us keep this trend on the rise. In the future, we would like to add the networking utility of Facebook to the toolbox that MAPS uses to operate. We would eventually like to be able to use Facebook and other social networking utilities to help recruit volunteers for specific research projects, to keep the public up to date with various MAPS news and events, to recruit members and donors, and possibly a number of other things necessary for the progression of the organization.

At this time, we are hoping you can help us expand into the Facebook world by inviting people on your "friend list" to join this group. It's really easy to do- all you have to do is go to the MAPS group page and look at the task bar on the right. There should be a link that says "Invite People to Join". Click it, and you will be able to invite everyone in your friend list to join the group.

If each person is this 2,000+ member group were able to get only 3 of their friends to join, the group size would total well over 6,000 people.

A lot people ask me at events, conferences, festivals, and in my personal life how they can help MAPS. If you are passionate about psychedelics, their therapeutic applications, and the results MAPS is getting on this front, please take a moment to invite people you know on Facebook to to join this group. This is something you can do for us, and we deeply appreciate it.

In the mean time, if you arent' signed up to receive email updates, I invite you to go to the MAPS website and sign up. If you simply want to read the updates online, the latest one is always availabe here: <http://www.maps.org/news/>. The most recent one, "Which is safer: MDMA or peanuts?" came out a few days ago. I'd like to encourage you to take a look at it if you haven't yet, there is a lot of good material packed into this update.

And if you are in a situation that lends you to feeling generous, I encourage you to sign up as a MAPS member or make a donation at <http://tinyurl.com/mapsdonations>. As always, thank your for your continued support and enthusiasm for the work MAPS is doing.

We couldn't do it without people like you.

Brian Wallace
Events and Outreach Coordinator
Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies
309 Cedar Street, #2323
Santa Cruz, CA, 95060
o. 831.336.HEAL
c. 209.988.9946
brian@maps.org
gmail chat: briandor