Rick Doblin, PhD
Founder, MAPS
Founded MAPS in 1986 and carried psychedelic clinical research from prohibition through the modern era.
Biography
Rick Doblin, PhD founded the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) in 1986 — at the absolute peak of the War on Drugs — and has spent four decades building the institutional and clinical infrastructure that made modern psychedelic medicine possible. MAPS' MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD program advanced through Phase 3 trials and reached the FDA review process; though FDA approval has not yet been achieved, the data MAPS generated is the largest body of regulated psychedelic clinical research in the world.
Doblin's work also extends to harm reduction infrastructure (the Zendo Project), training facilitators, and articulating a long-arc strategic vision for psychedelic legalization.
Organizations
Why They Matter to the LearnShrooms Community
There is no modern psychedelic movement without Rick Doblin. He carried the work through 40 years when virtually nobody else would, and most of the present-day infrastructure traces back to MAPS in some way.
Legal Context
For the legal landscape where Rick Doblin, PhD operates, see psilocybin laws in California.