MAPS and Heffter Discuss Ayahuasca Research

Message sent by Rafael Santos

Rick Doblin of MAPS met with Dennis McKenna, of the Heffter Research Institute, clinical psychologist Andrew Feldmar, Ph.D., psychiatrist Ingrid Pacey, M.D., Ken Tupper of British Columbia Ministry of Health, Philippe Lucas of the Vancouver Island Compassion Society (VICS), and others to discuss different options for moving forward with clinical ayahausca research. Specifically, the group discussed the possibility of looking into ayahausca's potential ability to help breast cancer survivors who have completed treatment but are still anxious about its recurrence, and also investigating the use of ayahuasca in the treatment of addiction.

MAPS and Heffter will explore the possibility of a collaborative study on the use of ayahausca in the treatment of addiction, perhaps as a small open-label exploratory study in three or four subjects. MAPS will explore whether to seek permission in Canada from Health Canada to do a small pilot study with ayahausca for breast cancer survivors with anxiety about a recurrence. There hasn't been any clinical psychedelic psychotherapy research in Canada since the early 1970s. (The Vancouver House Ibogaine outcome study that MAPS is currently sponsoring in British Columbia is an observational study only, not government-approved clinical research.)