Building Beyond Prohibition
Since our founding in 1986, the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) has been the leading organization building the movement to foster evidence-based approaches to psychedelics and the people who use them. When used safely and responsibly, psychedelics have the potential to promote personal growth and well-being and treat various mental health conditions. Three pillars guide our efforts to bring access to psychedelic who can benefit: advancing research, changing policies, and shaping culture.
Our Pillars
Advancing Research
MAPS has spent nearly forty years pioneering first-in-class psychedelic clinical trials with full transparency—open science and open books—to establish a legal pathway for medicalized psychedelic-assisted therapies. Today, we steward the research ecosystem we built, driven by our commitment to public benefit: incubating and informing new research directions, improving patient access and experiences, and advancing data-driven drug policy and education.
Changing Policy
MAPS envisions a post-prohibition future based on Consciousness, not Criminalization. Our goal is to design a harmonious drug policy ecosystem that balances public health, individual liberty, and equitable access across a variety of regulatory approaches. We educate and advise lawmakers, advocates, and the public in the design and implementation of psychedelic policy reform at local, state, federal, and international levels.
Shaping Culture
To safely integrate psychedelics into society, we must be clear-eyed about their risks, benefits, and broader impact. That means teaching people to navigate altered states, understanding policy effects on individuals and communities, and grounding everything in science. We create cutting-edge education, support the psychedelic and drug policy movement, and strive to Be the Bridge—connecting those who share our vision to build the guardrails for responsible, lasting change.
We envision a post-prohibition world…
In a post-prohibition world, people have legal and equitable access to psychedelics for healing and personal growth. Rather than criminalizing or stigmatizing people who use psychedelics, we instead look to psychedelics as one of the frontline tools people consider when pursuing optimal health and wellness.
Addressing the Crisis
Half of us will experience a mental health disorder in our lifetime, and we are all impacted by a mental health crisis that has reached a critical level. The effects are devastating, rippling far beyond the individual suffering and extending to families, communities, healthcare systems, and economies. Despite millennia of use in traditional religious and spiritual contexts — and decades of scientific research supporting therapeutic potential — the federal government erroneously criminalized most psychedelics over fifty years ago, deeming them to have “no accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.” It was known then that these policies and rhetoric were not grounded in science, and evidence has only continued to grow. We work to See Past the Paradox of the War on Drugs, ground future policy in real-world evidence, and transmute our society’s understanding of and approach to these powerful substances through research and education.
