As the founder of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, Rick Doblin crusades for the safe and legal use of psychedelics in therapy.

Why you should listen

Since he was 18, Rick Doblin has devoted himself to becoming a legal psychedelic psychotherapist. In 1986, he founded a nonprofit psychedelic pharmaceutical company -- the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) -- which he has grown from a one-man project to an international psychedelic pharmaceutical company.

Doblin's professional goal is to become a legally licensed psychedelic psychotherapist by developing legal contexts for the safe uses of psychedelics and marijuana as prescription medicines and also for personal growth, spirituality and creativity. Today, MAPS is designing or sponsoring psychedelic psychotherapy drug development research in over a dozen countries and has raised more than $70 million in donations.

Doblin received his master's and PhD in public policy from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and he was in the first group to be certified by Dr. Stanislav Grof as a Holotropic Breathwork practitioner.

Rick Doblin’s TED talk

More news and ideas from Rick Doblin

Live from TED2019

Mindshift: Notes from Session 5 of TED2019

April 17, 2019

To kick off day 3 of TED2019, five speakers explored big shifts: challenging accepted wisdom on love, giving, leadership, truth — and illegal substances. The event: Talks from TED2019, Session 5: Mindshift, hosted by TED’s Chris Anderson and Corey Hajim When and where: Wednesday, April 17, 2019, 8:45am, at the Vancouver Convention Centre in Vancouver, […]

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