The Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Science (MAPS) published a short documentary-style video featuring speakers and attendees of the 2013 Psychedelic Science Conference. The three day event, held last year in Oakland, California, gathered more than a 100 of the world’s leading researchers and more than 1,900 attendees from around the globe to share recent findings on the medical benefits and risks of LSD, psilocybin, MDMA, ayahuasca, ibogaine, 2C-B, ketamine, marijuana and other psychedelic substances.
Rick Doblin, the founder of MAPS, talks in the video of the Santa Cruz, California-based organization’s challenging, three decades long history working to bring scientific research on psychedelics –– substances that remain highly illegal according to the U.S. government –– into mainstream awareness.
Gabor Mate, an MD interviewed in the video, said while the potential benefits of psychedelic treatments are immense, it is vital to remember they are not a panacea to cure all of the ailments in existence.
“In terms of discussing publicly the potential benefits of psychoactive substances, psychedelic substances we mustn’t be evangelists, we musn’t be trying to convince anybody,” Mate said in the video. “It is not a cause. It is simply a great potential modality for helping a whole lot of people. So, we need to present the evidence for it seriously and humbly, and we have to expect that some people will be drawn to that and some people will not be.”
Watch the video, filmed and edited by Jesse Clark of the Cinematic Syndicate, below:
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