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Photo, from left to right: Ram Dass, Alfred Matthew Hubbard, Aldous Huxley, Albert Hofmann, Ralph Metzner, Sasha Shulgin, Amanda Feilding, and Maria Sabina.
Chacruna Press Release
Chacruna.net is proud to announce the release of the Statement on Open Science and Open Praxis with Psilocybin, MDMA, and Similar Substances, to which we are a signatory.
Robert Jesse, psychedelic researcher, led the development of the statement, which reflects the history, commitment, and hopes of leaders and organizations in the field of psychedelic research and therapy.
The statement is intended to promote key principles in the research and development of psychedelic medicines, including intellectual and scientific integrity, service, open science and open practices, and non-interference. This document was developed in response to concerns that, as psilocybin and MDMA progress through clinical trials showing promise as medicines, commercial enterprises will form in ways that incentivize them to not share materials or knowledge, to prioritize profits, or to act competitively against others.
For the past century, the field of psychedelics has been marked by cooperation over competition, including the open sharing of knowledge, methods and best practices, and materials. With commercial enterprises taking an interest in psychedelics, journalists, stakeholders, and the general public may need to ask critical questions: Will the new businesses move away from this heritage? Will they seek to interfere with or compete with each other? Do they use exclusive contracts and partnerships to restrict collaboration, sharing of information, or access to materials? Will they assert patent rights? Will they seek regulatory approvals that are tailored to serve the applicant’s financial interests while effectively locking others out? Will they follow the tradition of modest, cost-plus pricing? Or will they employ value-based pricing, charging what the market will bear after potential “competition” has been minimized?
The statement had been signed by numerous scholars, researchers, and practitioners; psychedelic research and service organizations; and philanthropists and foundations. Journalists seeking more information or professionals interested in adding their signature to the statement may write to Bob Jesse: [email protected]
Further available contacts:
- Geoff Bathje: [email protected]
- Katherine MacLean: [email protected]
- Mendel Kaelen: [email protected]
STATEMENT ON OPEN SCIENCE AND OPEN PRAXIS WITH PSILOCYBIN, MDMA, AND SIMILAR SUBSTANCES
Preamble: The undersigned individuals and organizations work to advance the understanding and beneficial uses of substances called (among many names) psychedelics, hallucinogens, or entheogens. Our fields include medicine and traditional healing, medicinal chemistry and ethnopharmacology, psychopharmacology, neuroscience, psychology, counseling, religion, public health, and public policy.
From generations of practitioners and researchers before us, we have received knowledge about these substances, their risks, and ways to use them constructively. In turn, we accept the call to use that knowledge for the common good and to share freely whatever related knowledge we may discover or develop.
Therefore, in this work, we commit to the following principles. If we engage with consultants, contractors, or suppliers, we will do so in ways that uphold these principles.
1. Intellectual and scientific integrity. We affirm that we report the truth as we find it, not as we or others might prefer it to be found. We will present disappointing or adverse results as well as affirming or encouraging ones. We will properly attribute the contributions of others.
2. In service. While we may need to be paid for our labor, we are called to this work in the spirit of service. We will place the common good above private gain, and we will work for the welfare of the individuals and communities served. We will strive to make our expertise and services available to all who may benefit from them, even those whose means are limited.
3. Open science and open praxis. We will not withhold, nor will we require others to withhold, materials or knowledge (experiences, observations, discoveries, methods, best practices, or the like) for commercial advantage. This does not preclude the appropriate management of raw data or the exercise of data exclusivity rights, but we will make those decisions for the common good rather than for private gain. Nor does this preclude reasonable and ordinary charges for our books, other media, software, materials, or professional services.
4. Non-interference. We will strive to place our discoveries into the public domain, for the benefit of all. If we have patents or patents pending, we will license that intellectual property, for no more than reasonable and ordinary administrative costs, to anyone who will use it for the common good and in alignment with these principles.
Signatories may refine or expand their commitments, broadly in keeping with these principles, via further public statements. This document is an evolving work, with signatures being added. They are provisional pending a final release.
Clerk: Robert Jesse. Please email [email protected] if you’d like yourself or your organization to be included.
Scientists, scholars, and practitioners:
| Signatories | Affiliations listed for identification only |
|---|---|
| Ram Dass | Richard Alpert, PhD |
| Ralph Metzner, PhD | Green Earth Foundation |
| James Fadiman, PhD | |
| Ann Shulgin | Alexander Shulgin Research Institute |
| George Greer, MD | Heffer Research Institute |
| Dennis McKenna, PhD | Heffter Research Institute |
| Charles S. Grob, MD | UCLA School of Medicine |
| Harriet de Wit, PhD | University of Chicago |
| Thomas B Roberts, PhD | Northern Illinois University |
| Frederick S. Barret, PhD | University of Chicago |
| Mary P. Cosimano, MSW | Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine |
| Alan K. Davis, PhD | Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine |
| Albert Garcia-Romeu, PhD | Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine |
| Roland R. Griffiths, PhD | Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine |
| Darrick G. May, PhD | Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine |
| Brian D. Richards, PsyD | Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine |
| William A. Richards, PhD | Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine |
| Janis Phelps, PhD | California Institue of Integral Studies |
| Kathleen Harrison | Botanical Dimensions |
| Torsten Passie, MD, MA (phil.) | Hannover Medical School |
| Katherine A. MacLean, PhD | |
| Michael P. Bogenschultz, MD | New York University |
| Anthony P. Bossis, PhD | New York University |
| Jeffrey R. Guss, MD | New York University |
| Mark A.R. Kleiman, PhD | New York University |
| Stephen Ross, MD | New York University |
| Robin Carhart-Harris, PhD | Imperial College London |
| Mendel Kaelen, PhD | Imperial College London & Wavepaths |
| Taylor Lyons, PhD (cand.) | Imperial College London |
| Jonny Martel, MRCP | Imperial College London |
| Roberta Murphy, MD | Imperial College London |
| Leor Roseman, PhD | Imperial College London |
| Ben Sessa, MD | Imperial College London |
| Christopher Timmermann, PhD (cand) | Imperial College London |
| Rosalind Watts, DClinPsy | Imperial College London |
| David Luke, PhD | University of Greenwich |
| Rita Kočárová, PhD. (cand.) | National Institute of Mental Health, Czech Republic |
| Tomáš Páleníček, MD, PhD | National Institute of Mental Health, Czech Republic |
| Filip Tylš, MD, PhD | National Institute of Mental Health, Czech Republic |
| Miroslav Horák, PhD | Mendel University, Cech Republic |
| Peter S. Hendricks, PhD | University of Alabama at Birmingham |
| Brian T. Anderson, MD, MSc | UCSF - University of California, San Francisco |
| Christopher S. Stauffer, MD | UCSF - University of California, San Francisco |
| Emily Williams | UCSF - University of California, San Francisco |
| Alexander B. Belser, PhD (cand.) | Yale University |
| Benjamin Kelmendi, MD | Yale School of Medicine |
| Jordan Sloshower, MD MSc | Yale School of Medicine |
| Rick Doblin, PhD | MAPS |
| Amy Emerson | MAPS Public Benefit Corp. |
| Allison Feduccia, PhD | MAPS Public Benefit Corp. |
| Lisa Jerome, PhD | MAPS Public Benefit Corp. |
| Ann Mithoefer, BSN | MAPS Public Benefit Corp. |
| Michael Mithoefer, MD | MAPS Public Benefit Corp. |
| Berra Yazar-Klosinski, PhD | MAPS |
| Charles L. Raison, MD | Usona Institue & Med. U. of S. Carolina |
| Gabor Maté, MD | Simon Fraser University |
| Adele Getty | Limina Foundation |
| Jason C. Slot, PhD | Ohio State University |
| Amanda Feilding | The Beckley Foundation |
| Matthias E. Liechti, MD, MAS | University Hospital Basel |
| José Carlos Bouso, PhD | ICEERS, Barcelona |
| Dráulio Araújo, PhD | Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil |
| Beatriz Labate, PhD | CIIS/CIESAS |
| Geoff Bathje, PhD | Adler Univeristy, Chicago |
| Alan Cohn, MD | ECfES.org |
| James J. Franzo-Eclipse | ECfES.org |
| Vip B. Short, DC | ECfES.org |
| Sophia Korb, PhD | |
| Martin Williams, PhD | PRISM, Australia |
| Gabrielle Agin-Liebes, PhD (cand.) | Palo Alto University |
| Eric Osborne, MA Ed. | MycoMeditations LLC and PLEDG Inc. |
| Sunil Kumar Aggarwal, MD, PhD, FAAPMR | University of Washington |
| Angela Beers, PsyD | shadowmedicine.com |
| Eleonora Molnar, MA | Women’s Visionary Congress, Canada |
| Paul Abramson, MD | My Doctor Medical Group & UCSF |
| Leia Friedman, MS | The Psychedologist |
| Daniel McQueen, MA | Medicinal Mindfulness |
| Riccardo Vitale, PhD | UMIYAC, Cartagena, Columbia |
| Iker Puente, PhD | Barcelona |
| Rafael Lancelotta | University of Wyoming |
| Julie Holland, MD | |
| Matthew Brown, DO, MBA | Psych Arts |
| Sonja Styk, Dr.Med. | Swiss Medical Society for Psycholytic Therapy |
| Juraj Styk, Dr.Med. | Swiss Medical Society for Psycholytic Therapy |
| Kevin Franciotti | The New School, New York |
| Kyle Buller | Psychedelics Today |
| Meghan Kennedy, LCSW | SuiteEthos, Chicago |
| Henrik Jungaberle, Dr.sc.hum. | MIND Foundation |
| Kelan Thomas, PharmD, MS | Touro University California & UCSF |
| Andrew Penn, MS, NP | UCSF & Kaiser Permanente |
| Mary McDermott, MFT | |
| Erika Masak-Goldman, LMFT | EMG Clinical Group |
| Elena Felder, MFT | |
| Efrem Nulman, PhD | Wellness Enterprise |
| Raymond C. Turpin, PsyD | (Smoky Mountain Psychological Services, PLLC) |
| Jessica L. Nielson, PhD | (University of Minnesota Medical School) |
| Heather L. Walker, PhD | |
| Luís Fernando Tófoli | (University of Campinas, Brazil) |
| Sidarta Ribeiro, PhD | (Federal Univ. of Rio Grande do Norte Natal, Brazil) |
| K. Casey Alexander Paleos, MD | (New York, NY) |
| Ray Worthy, PhD, MD | (New Orleans, LA) |
Research and service organizations:
| Signatories | |
|---|---|
| Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies | MAPS |
| Heffter Research Institute | |
| The Beckley Foundation | |
| Erowid Center | |
| Usona Institute | see usonainstitute.org/openscience |
| Botanical Dimensions | |
| California Institute of Integral Studies | CIIS |
| Wavepaths, Ltd. | |
| Chacruna.net | |
| Eugene Center for Ethnobotanical Studies | ECfES.org |
| Psychedelic Research In Science & Medicine | prism.org.au |
| Union of Indigenous Yage Medics of the Colombian Amazon | UMIYAC |
| Khanyisa Healing Gardens NPC, South Africa | |
| International Center for Ethnobotanical Education Research & Service | ICEERS |
| OPEN Foundation | www.stichtingopen.nl |
| Medicinal Mindfulness, LLC | |
| Heroic Hearts Project | |
| Earth Medicine Institute | |
| Psychedelics Today | |
| MIND European Foundation for Psychedelic Science |
Psychedelic societies and integration circles
| Signatories | Label 2 |
|---|---|
| Psychedelic Safety, Support, and Integration, Chicago | |
| Chicago Psychedelic Community | |
| The Psychedelic Society, UK | |
| Portland Psychedelic Society | |
| The Psychedelic Society Germany | |
| Australian Psychedelic Society | |
| Art of Waking Up | Los Angeles |
| AsiaTripper | Taiwan, HongKong, etc. |
| Czech Psychedelic Society | czeps.org/en |
Supporters, Organizers, publishers, conferences
| Signatories | Label 2 |
|---|---|
| Psymposia | |
| Beyond Psychedelics | Czech Republic |
| Psychedelics and the Future of Psychiatry, Chicago | |
| Melissa Warner | PRISM & Australian Psychedelic Society |
| Mike Margolies | |
| Joost J. Breeksema, MA | OPEN Foundation, Netherlands |
| Eric N. Codner, DC | Columbus Physical Medicine Center |
| Jake Tracy | Michigan State University |
| Vincent Zeolla, PT, DPT | 4D Health & Performance Center) |
| 4D Health & Performance Center | Norwalk, CT |
| www.drugscience.de |
Philanthropists and philanthropic foundations:
| Signatories |
|---|
| Robert J. Barnhart |
| CSP Fund |
| Betsy Gordon |
| Bill Linton |
| Carey and Claudia Turnbull |
| Riverstyx Foundation |
| Dr. Bronner’s |
| George Sarlo Foundation |
| Evolve.Foundation |
| Source Research Foundation |
The most current version of this statement can be found at csp.org/open.
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