Friday, November 1, 2019

7:00 PM – 10:00 PM

Meet & Greet Mixer

7:00 PM – 10:00 PM

MAPS Benefit Dinner (For dinner ticket holders only)

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Saturday, November 2, 2019

8:30 AM

Doors Open

9:30 AM – 9:45 AM

Opening Ceremony

9:50 AM – 10:00 AM

Opening Remarks

Liana Gillooly

10:00 AM – 11:00 AM

Updates from the Front Lines of Psychedelic Science

Rick Doblin, Ph.D.

MAPS Founder & Executive Director Rick Doblin, Ph.D., will share a detailed update on the progress of MAPS’ Phase 3 clinical research into MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for the treatment of PTSD, as well as updates on various other research initiatives being driven by MAPS.

11:00 AM – 11:30 AM

Microdosing Psychedelics: New Findings, Insights and Directions

Sophia Korb, Ph.D.

Microdosing psychedelics like LSD and psilocybin has become a recent media phenomenon, but the idea and practice of microdosing dates back to the inventor of LSD itself, Albert Hofmann, Ph.D.. One prominent figure in the most recent trend has been my mentor and co-researcher, Jim Fadiman. As microdosing emerged as a current trend, and as Jim and I expressed our interest to the psychedelics communities, letters and personal journals poured in. We found ways to systematize our processes, ask and attempt to answer scientifically valid questions, and learn along the way. I will be presenting some new findings on my research with Jim Fadiman, Ph.D. In our correspondence with over 4,000 people interested in microdosing from all over the world, we found some interesting, exceptional cases. I will be presenting some cases that inspired our follow up studies, made us say “what the…” and rethink our assumptions. We are currently focusing our energy on writing our results and follow-up studies, especially given the wide variation in age, education, conditions, substance and almost every other variable in our sample. This talk will serve to inform individuals already microdosing, the scientific community, and policymakers in the future.

11:30 AM – 12:00 PM

Ketamine Therapy: A Disruptive Treatment Paradigm

Andrea Turnipseed, LCSW-S & Brent Turnipseed, M.D.

Ketamine is a controversial yet effective treatment in psychiatry, and it arrives at a much needed time as depression and suicide rates have reached crisis levels in the United States. Attendees will learn about the origins of ketamine in medicine and how it has become one of the hottest topics today in mental health.

12:00 PM – 12:30 PM

Updates on Psychedelic Research from Heffter Research Institute

George Greer, M.D.

The Heffter Research Institute has been focused on psilocybin research for almost 20 years. Three years ago, two studies of psilocybin treatment for emotional distress in cancer patients were published, leading to the Usona Institute creating a Phase 3 project to attain FDA approval for psilocybin treatment of depression. Since then, Heffter has been involved in expanding psilocybin treatment research to other conditions, including addictions to tobacco, alcohol, cocaine, and opioids; depression; demoralization from AIDS, and obsessive-compulsive disorder; as well as the effects of psilocybin in long-term meditators. The current status of this research will be presented.

12:30 PM – 2:00 PM

Lunch Break (Lunch is not included, a list of nearby suggestions for meals is below.)

2:00 PM – 3:30 PM

Becoming a Psychedelic Therapist: Live Podcast Interview

Tim Ferriss and Marcela Ot’alora

One of the world’s most popular podcasters, Tim Ferriss, will cover the ins and outs of what it takes to become a psychedelic therapist with MAPS’ therapist trainer and Lead Principal Investigator for Phase 3 and Healthy Volunteer studies in Boulder, Colorado.

3:30 PM – 4:00 PM

Break

4:00 PM – 4:30 PM

New Narratives & Cultural Frameworks for Healing Trauma

Mellody Hayes, M.D.

Let’s democratize the experience of freedom and liberation. Class, race, and gender may impact a person’s experience of suffering and are also important point of leverage for empowered healing. How can the clinical process be used to liberate people from the cycle of trauma? What frameworks exist to support movement towards wholeness, safety, and security and to create new narratives which birth new realities? Transformational medicine, as offered through psychedelics, can create access to emotional liberation, thereby increasing our will to increase social justice and ultimately health equity.

4:30 PM – 5:00 PM

Can Ayahuasca Promote Peace in the Middle East? Conversations with Palestinian and Israeli Ayahuasca Drinkers

Natalie Lyla Ginsberg, M.S.W.

A collaboration between MAPS and the Centre for Psychedelic Research at Imperial College London, Antwan Saca, Leor Roseman, Ph.D., and Natalie Ginsberg, M.S.W., interviewed 36 Palestinians and Israelis who drink ayahuasca in joint circles, in an effort to learn how ayahuasca might promote peace through collective healing and community building. Natalie will present a selection of interviewees’ stories, and speak to the themes emerging from these interviews.

5:00 PM – 5:30 PM

MDMA-Assisted Psychotherapy: Exploring the Role of Receptors, Neurons, and Brain Circuits

Alli Feduccia, Ph.D.

MDMA-assisted psychotherapy is under investigation as a novel treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This treatment approach has recently progressed to Phase 3 clinical trials and received Breakthrough Therapy designation by the FDA in 2017. The underlying psychological and neurological mechanisms for the robust effects in mitigating PTSD symptoms are being studied in animal models and in studies of healthy volunteers. This presentation will explore the potential role of memory re-consolidation and fear extinction during MDMA-assisted psychotherapy, as well as the contribution of signaling molecules that modulate emotional memory circuits and neuroplasticity. Determining who is unlikely to respond to this intensive drug-therapy combination is of clinical interest. Tapering of antidepressant medications re-uptake inhibitor that target the same principal receptors as MDMA can potentially impact the subjective and psychological effects of MDMA. Unpublished data from four phase 2 trials of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy will be presented showing differential treatment and physiological responses between participants who tapered and those that did not.

5:30 PM – 6:30 PM

PANEL: Considerations for the Mainstreaming of Psychedelics: From Culture to Commercialization

Allison Feduccia, Ph.D., George Greer, M.D., Mellody Hayes, M.D., Brent Turnipseed, M.D., Bia Labate, Ph.D. (Moderator)

This panel will explore considerations for the responsible integration of psychedelic medicines into society.

6:30 PM – 6:35 PM

Closing Remarks

Liana Gillooly

6:35 PM – 8:00 PM

Dinner Break

8:00 PM – 12:00 AM

Celebration (Powered by Light Pump)

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Sunday, November 3, 2019

9:30 AM

Doors Open to Public

10:00 PM – 10:10 AM

Opening Remarks

Merete Christiansen



10:10 AM – 11:00 AM

A Grown-up Conversation about Drugs and Race

Carl Hart, Ph.D.

In this talk, Hart will discuss findings from laboratory research with cannabis, cocaine, and amphetamines (including MDMA). Despite the fact that data from such studies indicate predominantly positive effects, many of these drugs are tightly restricted. Each year, hundreds of thousands of Americans are arrested for simply possessing these drugs. What’s worse, drug law enforcement is carried out in a racist manner. This point and the extensive racial trauma caused by current drug policies have been largely ignored by the psychedelic community. The talk will conclude with recommendations for the psychedelic community as well as the broader society.

11:00 AM – 12:30 PM

PANEL: Psychedelic Policy: Frameworks for Legal Access to Psychedelics

Carlos Plazola, M.E.S., Natalie Ginsberg, M.S.W., (Moderator), Betty Aldworth, Sandor Iron Rope, Jax Finkel

What is the role of policy reform in the advancement of psychedelics? This year, Denver passed a measure effectively decriminalizing psilocybin and Oakland followed suit by expanding its passing resolution to “decriminalize nature,” including all psychedelic plants and fungi. Many other cities, including Chicago, have quickly been working to replicate their success. Californians are working to see a state-wide referendum to legalize psilocybin, and the people of Oregon will vote on an initiative to create a state-overseen psilocybin therapeutic access program. Psychedelics, like cannabis, enjoy rare nonpartisan support. What unique bipartisan and nonpartisan opportunities does psychedelic policy reform offer? What can we learn from the mistakes of cannabis reform? How can psychedelic policy reform build with those who have been working to end the war on drugs for decades, and elevate those who have been most impacted by psychedelic prohibition — indigenous communities who have been in relation with plant medicine for millennia?

12:30 PM – 2:00 PM

Lunch Break (Lunch is not included, a list of nearby suggestions for meals is below.)

2:00 PM – 2:30 PM

Community Care: The Zendo Project for Psychedelic Harm Reduction

Sara Gael, M.A.

We envision a world where communities are engaged in providing safety and support for people having psychedelic and psychological challenges; and harm reduction principles are used foremost to reduce the risks associated with substance use.

2:30 PM – 2:45 PM

Community Voices: How to Get Engaged

2:45 PM – 3:00 PM

Break

3:00 PM – 3:30 PM

Indigenous Peyote Way of Life

Sandor Iron Rope

Sandor Iron Rope, President of the Native American Church of South Dakota and Board of Directors of the Indigenous Peyote Conservation Initiative, will discuss the indigenous reconnection to spiritual harvest of their medicine. Mental and community health of indigenous peoples, cultural sovereignty which can address addiction and suicide (rampant in native communities) requires a clean and direct connection with their land and medicine and includes language and ceremony preservation. Native people are creating their own strategies for restoring these connections and protecting their way of life for generations to come through Indigenous peyote conservation. This includes protection, tending their own land and medicine and educating both native american church members and non-native allies in how to protect this sacred heritage.

3:30 PM – 4:00 PM

The Architecture of Emergency: Ibogaine & Psychedelic Use in the Anthropocene Era

Clare S. Wilkins

Ibogaine, as well as other psychedelics, have been gaining traction within the medical model, as the shamanic approach continues. Both methods can emphasize a power dynamic wherein the patient or client forfeits agency to the doctor or shaman, or to the medicine itself, and the remedy is often seen as coming from outside, rather than from within. This perspective can result in people continuing to feel the need for treatment, remaining sick, and continuing to harm themselves unconsciously, in order to receive continued care or simply to connect. Many see ibogaine as a fast, one-time fix, which correlates with a culture that emphasizes production, imbalanced power structures, human arrogance, rapid communication, and results. This can be dangerous, as adverse events occur during or after treatment when spaciousness, details, and nuances are ignored. We have found that moving away from the frenetic pace of mechanical, modern life into a safe territory, and delving into the inner mechanics of the unconscious mind, beyond the walls of ego protection, requires presence, compassionate support, continued connection, and a radical sense of inclusivity in order to truly accept oneself and others; in order to evolve during these dire times.

4:00 PM – 4:45 PM

PANEL: Service Members & Family Share Experiences with Psychedelics

SGT(R) Jonathan Lubecky, Amber Capone, Marcus Capone, Ian Benouis (Moderator)

Given the PTSD and suicide epidemic within the military and veteran communities, nothing should be left off the table in terms of treatment options. All potential options should be considered. Hear from veterans who have benefited from the therapeutic uses of psychedelics. Hear from voices of Veterans and veterans wife about how their lives were transformed through the careful use of psychedelic-assisted therapies

4:45 PM – 5:45 PM

Psilocybin Mushrooms & Their Emergent Medicines

Paul Stamets

This talk will discuss the history of psilocybin mushroom use and how we got to the present, which Paul Stamets considers the Third Wave in the psilocybin pharmacotheon. He will discuss his team’s current research and near future opportunities. Results on psilocybin analogs on neurogenesis will be described.

5:45 PM – 6:30 PM

PANEL: What Does the Near Future Hold?

Paul Stamets, Carl Hart, Ph.D., Rick Doblin, Ph.D., Natalie Ginsberg, M.S.W., Betty Aldworth, Liana Gillooly (Moderator)

6:30 PM – 6:45 PM

Closing Statements and Gratitude