Working with partners in government, business, and the community, MAPS Canada is committed to advancing psychedelic medicine by supporting scientific, multidisciplinary research; advocating for drug policy reform; offering public education; and supporting equitable access to legal and regulated psychedelic medicine in Canada.
About Psychedelic Medicine
For millennia, psychedelics have been used by Indigenous and other cultures for spiritual and healing purposes.
They were studied by researchers within psychiatry from the late 19th century until the mid 20th century, when psychedelics became highly regulated, stigmatized, and became, for the most part, illegal to use or study in any context.
Today, after over two decades of clinical research and advocacy for drug policy reform (including for legal permission to study psychedelics), the market in psychedelic drugs is predicted to more than double from the three billion-dollar industry it is today, to a seven billion-dollar industry by 2027.
A growing body of evidence from clinical research trials is showing that evidence-based, psychedelic-assisted therapies have the potential to improve the lives of millions of people who live with the impacts of complex trauma and other clinical conditions, including depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, and substance use disorders.
About MAPS Canada
The Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) was formed in the US in 1986, in response to the US Drug Enforcement Agency’s classification of MDMA as Schedule 1 substance, and has been developing medical, legal, and cultural contexts for people to benefit from the careful uses of psychedelics since then.
MAPS Canada was founded as a sister organization to MAPS in 2011, and is a registered Canadian non-profit organization. Based in Vancouver and with hundreds of volunteers from across Canada, MAPS Canada is moving forward to become the leading Canadian source of information, resources and advocacy regarding psychedelic medicine and related clinical research, education, and public policy.
What We Do
At MAPS Canada, our belief that psychedelic-assisted therapies have the potential to positively improve lives drives our work as Canada’s leading organization for reliable information and public education about psychedelic medicine.
Our board, staff, partners, funders, donors, and stakeholders are dedicated to advancing scientific research and drug policy reform for psychedelics in Canada.
We seek new opportunities to collaborate across disciplines in order to build a body of evidence-based psychedelic scientific knowledge. We strive to identify humane public policy as it relates to psychedelics through the design and implementation of innovative solutions that promote healing.
We understand that the demand for mental health services is currently beyond capacity; we believe that psychedelic-assisted therapies can help increase equitable access to care.
We deliver value by ensuring the information we share is evidence based, and that our internal and external structures, practices, frameworks, and programs are ethical, responsible, honest, transparent, and grounded in the principles of respect, anti-racism, justice, diversity, inclusivity, equity, and reconciliation.
We are honoured and dedicated to helping advance psychedelic medicine solutions to help increase people’s quality of life and improve communities, in Canada and globally.