Supporting equitable access to legal and regulated psychedelic medicine for all Canadians.
ABOUT OUR WORK
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.
LATEST AT MAPS CANADA
December 17, 2024
Upcoming event presented by MAPS Canada:
Catching up with Rick Doblin: FDA's MDMA Decision and What's Next for 2025
Tuesday, December 17th 12:30pm PST/3:30pm EST
Join us online on Tue Dec 17 2024 at 12:30 PM PST/3:30 EST for an exclusive event with Rick Doblin, the founder of MAPS, as we discuss the recent FDA decision on MDMA and what the future holds for 2025. Don’t miss this opportunity to hear firsthand insights from Rick Doblin himself and learn more about the exciting developments in the world of psychedelic research and therapy. Register now to secure your spot!
November 18, 2024
MAPS Canada Presents:
Climbing for a Psychedelic Cause: Eric Schwam’s Journey to Complete Everesting 29029
Podcast with Eric Schwam
Eric Schwam, Montreal based entrepreneur, shares his experience taking on the Everesting 29029 challenge to support MAPS Canada and his passion for psychedelic-assisted therapy. He discusses what motivated him to participate and how psychedelics have played a role in his mental health and growth.
November 18 2024
MAPS Canada Presents:
How Psychedelics Can Bring Grace To End-Of-Life
Podcast with Richard Adamson
Perhaps Richard is like many of you: he’s not a therapist or health practitioner and for most of his life personal growth, spirituality, and ritual took a back seat. And there’s nothing like crisis to bring it back. A few years ago, Richard’s wife of 30 years faced a health crisis that proved fatal. That journey resulted in profound changes to his priorities and taught him the potential role psychedelics can play in preparation for death and a healthy grief process for those continuing.
November, 7th, 2024
MAPS Canada Research Room presents:
Lessons learned in running a psychedelic therapy training
Thurs, November 7th 8pm EST / 5pm PST
Dr. Crystal Hare, C.Psych, PhD, is a clinical psychologist and postdoctoral research fellow at the UHN Psychedelic Psychotherapy Research Centre. Her clinical training is in health psychology, specializing in working with patients with chronic medical conditions. Her research focuses on improving quality-of-life in individuals living with life-threatening illness. She is a teaching assistant and student liaison for the Michener Foundations of Psychedelic Psychotherapy course. Crystal’s aspirations in this field are to help establish standardized psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy protocols in order to enhance treatment outcomes, and to help establish best practices for training of psychedelic therapists, with a focus on understanding the educational components most necessary to prepare therapists to work safely and ethically in this field.
November 1st - 3rd, 2024
Spirit Plant Medicine Conference
Vancouver, BC
Nov 1-3 2024 Spirit Plant Medicine Conference Join MAPS Canada at the Spirit Plant Medicine Conference in Vancouver Nov 1-3! Great speakers, great vendors, great people. Come to learn and connect.
October, 17th, 2024
MAPS Canada Research Room presents:
The Psychedelic Renaissance in 2024: How did we get here and where are we going?
Thurs, October 17th 8pm EST / 5pm PST
Emma Hapke, MD, FRCPC, is a psychiatrist, psychotherapist and psychedelic researcher at the University Health Network in Toronto. She is the co-founder and associate director of the UHN Psychedelic Psychotherapy Research Group. She has expertise in women’s mental health, the treatment of trauma, psychosocial oncology and psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy. Dr. Hapke worked with MAPS as the principal investigator for the Montreal site of the phase 3 trial of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for PTSD. She is also the co-founder and co-director of the Michener Foundations of Psychedelic Psychotherapy Program. She currently leads research projects on psilocybin therapy for end-of-life distress and caregiver distress, experiential training of psychedelic therapists and surveys of psychedelic use in the community.
August 25 2024
MAPS Canada Presents:
Psychedelics Professor: Can Psychedelics Resolve the Opiod Crisis?
Podcast with Dr. Zach Walsh
Dr. Zachary Walsh, a leading clinical psychologist and researcher, explores the therapeutic potential of psychedelics in this episode, focusing on psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy for opioid titration and his involvement in the Microdose.me study. He explains the distinction between cannabis, used for symptom relief, and psychedelics and discusses the controversial link between cannabis and psychosis, emphasizing the need for further research.
March 26th, 2024
MAPS Canada presents:
Navigating MDMA-Assisted Therapy: From Research to Clinical Practice
March 26th, 4pm PST, 5pm CST, 7pm EST
Join Dr. Scott Shannon (MAPS principal investigator on its Phase 3 MDMA Clinical Trial), and ATMA CEO, Vu Tran to learn more about In-Person MDMA-Assisted Therapy Training, based on MAPS protocols, coming to Calgary in May 2024 as well as ATMA-CENA plans for expanding clinic infrastructure in Canada. With priority review in the US by the FDA and the expected priority review in Canada initiated by Lykos, there is an urgency for both training and clinics to be ready for legalization.
The FDA recently granted Lykos Therapeutics (formerly MAPS PBC) a priority review on their New Drug Application (NDA) for MDMA, allowing for a shorter review period of 6 months vs the 10 months conventional review period. The FDA could grant Lykos MDMA approval for therapy as early as August 2024. The rescheduling MDMA could be another 3 months from FDA approval but it’s likely MDMA-assisted therapy (MaT) will be available to some individuals before the end of 2024. Training and clinic infrastructure to provide MDMA-assisted therapy is quickly becoming the priority to focus on to make this treatment accessible in both the US and Canada.
The expectation is that Lykos will take a similar path of requesting a priority review to Health Canada for a New Drug Submission (NDS) upon approval from the FDA. Although legalization for MaT in Canada will be behind the US, we could likely see Health Canada approval early to mid 2025.
Join Reverdi Darda, MAPS Canada Board member, in discussion with Dr. Shannon and Vu Tran as we discuss these exciting and rapidly-unfolding developments in psychedelic assisted therapy in Canada.
*Recording will be available for 30 days after the event for the same email address that was used to register
Learning Objectives
- Learn about the specifics of MDMA-Assisted Therapy Training utilizing the MAPS Protocol
- Learn about how clinics prepare for MDMA-Assisted Therapy
- Hear practitioners’ perspectives on what the path towards legal MDMA-assisted therapy may look like in Canada
- Hear practitioners’ perspectives on how the rollout of MDMA-assisted Therapy may look in Canada
Dr. Scott Shannon, (MAPS principal investigator on its Phase 3 MDMA Clinical Trial)
Scott has been a student of consciousness since his honor’s thesis on that topic at the University of Arizona in the 1970s. Following medical school, MDMA assisted psychotherapy became a facet of his practice before this medicine was scheduled in 1985. He then completed a psychiatry residency at a Columbia program in New York. Scott studied cross-cultural psychiatry and completed a child/adolescent psychiatry fellowship at the University of New Mexico. Scott has published four books on holistic and integrative mental health including the first textbook for this field in 2001. He founded Wholeness Center, the largest integrative mental health center in the US, in 2010 with a group of aligned professionals to create innovation in collaborative mental health care.
Scott is a past president of two national medical organizations. He serves as a site Principal Investigator and therapist for the Phase III trial of MDMA assisted psychotherapy for PTSD and for the Phase IIB trial of LSD for generalized anxiety disorder. He has also published numerous articles about his research on cannabidiol (CBD) in mental health. Scott co-founded the Psychedelic Research and Training Institute (PRATI) to train professionals in ketamine-assisted psychotherapy and deliver clinically relevant studies. Scott helped to initiate the Board of Psychedelic Medicine and Therapies in 2021. He lectures all over the world to professional groups interested in a paradigm shifting perspective about transformative care.
Vu Tran, ATMA CEO
Vu is a student of plant medicine, has his yoga instructor certification and also 20 years of experience as a strategic investor and successful entrepreneur. He believes in pursuing a balanced life of business ambition with life giving work, that which nourishes the human spirit.
Vu is a life long entrepreneur and has founded, scaled and exited multiple ventures in a variety of markets including real estate, land development, hospitality, entertainment, retail and cannabis. Whether owned, led or partnered with, he has created a combined enterprise value of over $60M from all his ventures to date. As a result of his own experience and work, Vu is deeply involved with and passionate about what psychedelic medicine can bring to Canadians suffering with mental health issues.
MAPS Canada's SAP CoP Committee presents:
The Special Access Program Tip Sheet
Our SAP Tip Sheet is now live! Learn how you can access Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy (PAT) through Health Canada’s SAP program. You can find tips and templates to streamline your application process!
MAPS Canada School of Psychedelics
The MAPS Canada School of Psychedelics provides education to promote safe, legal, and equitable access to psychedelic medicines. The school provides programs for everyone from clinicians and researchers to policymakers and to anyone interested in learning more about psychedelics.
BALANCING SAFETY AND ACCESS REPORT
Please read our report on Alberta’s Regulations and service standards, and related recommendations.
