Spring 1991: “The DEA is on the ropes and even their attorneys seem to have lost all moral fervor and to realize they are on the wrong side. One of the Judges in the case was the brother of William Buckley, the noted conservative voice in favor of drug legalization….If the court decides that the proper standard to determine whether marijuana should be available for prescription is whether or not there is a ’significant minority’ of oncologists who accept its medical use, then the medical use of marijuana is assured. I’ve got a letter coming out in the Annals of Internal Medicine reporting on my survey of oncologists about their experiences and attitudes regarding the medical use of marijuana. The survey shows that a very significant proportion of oncologists want to see marijuana be available by prescription.” Letter to MAPS supporters from Rick Doblin.

Jan. 1990: Invitation to participate in a benefit for psychedelic research entitled “Regulation or Prohibition: Psychedelics in the 1990s…speakers include Ram Dass, Laura Huxley, Mark Kleiman, Timothy Leary, Dr. Andrew Weil and others associated with the pro-legalization movement.

December 1, 1990: MAPS conference, Bern Switzerland. Pharmacologically-assisted psychotherapy. Sponsored by MAPS. Discussion focused primarily on MDMA and secondarily on LSD, psilocybin and 2-CD. Mark Kleiman and Rick Doblin were listed participants.

May 1991: Letter published in Annals of Internal Medicine by Kleiman and Doblin reporting on their survey of oncologist and claiming that a significant number of oncologist would recommend their patients use marijuana.

December 1991: “When some of Mr. Doblin and Mr. Kleiman’s results were published recently as a letter in the Annals of Internal Medicine, the adverse publicity led Herbert Kleber, number two in the drug-policy office, to declare that anyone who really needed medical marijuana could get it through the compassionate-use programme within 30 days. (side bar lists ten major media coverages of the Kleiman/Doblin study). The Economist.

May 18, 1992: Letter from Rich Doblin re International Transpersonal Association conference in Prague, Czechoslovakia. Lists Mark Kleiman, himself, and Sasha Shulgin as speakers on a panel focusing on future possibilities of the use of MDMA (ecstasy) and LSD.

August 1, 1992: Letters in Annals of Internal Medicine refuting the conclusions of the Kleiman/Doblin study and pointing out their bias towards legalization and personal use of psychoactive drugs.

December 7, 1992: “MAPS, the Island Foundation, perhaps the Albert Hofmann Foundation and other groups will co-sponsor a celebration and tribute to LSD.”…. “I am also exploring the possibility of asking rave organizers around the US and in other countries to arrange simultaneous ‘Raves for Research’ on the night of April 17 to raise funds for MAPS for research into LSD, MDMA, and marijuana.” Doblin letter to MAPS members.

December 1992: Regarding the Kleiman/Doblin study, Doblin stated: “I conducted the survey for my thesis for a Masters in Public Policy degree from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government …. My area of concentration was criminal justice and drug policy, which I studied in order to more effectively work for the medical use of psychedelics and marijuana as well as for their eventual legalization in some form. I chose to study the views of oncologists because the data could be used in the marijuana rescheduling lawsuit against the DEA. High Times Magazine

….Though I had decided that Tim Leary’s advice to ‘Tune in, Turn on, Drop Out’ was appropriate for me at the time, I knew that the only reason I was dropping out was to gather my strength and figure out how to drop back in again. It took me ten years of building custom-wood homes and tripping every now and then before I felt ready to start school again to learn the academic part of becoming an LSD therapist.”. . . . “Marijuana can help them. MDMA can help them. Everyone wonders about religious questions. Psychedelics can help them.” High Times magazine.

March 1993: Doblin newsletter to MAPS members re upcoming LSD celebration also notes: “MAPS has received a donation of $28,000 from the Dartington Hall Trust in England for research in Russia into MDMA in the treatment of alcoholism and neurosis. In addition, MAPS has secured a pledge of $50,000 from an organization in Holland for research in San Francisco into marijuana and the HIV-related wasting syndrome.

April 1993: Fifth Anniversary of discovery of LSD, 50 Years and Beyond, Santa Cruz, San Francisco, California. Workshop on Psychedelics & Cannabis, hosted by Rick Doblin and Dale Gieringer, featuring: Timothy Leary, Kevin Zeese, Stuart Reges, Brownie Mary, John Morgan, Ethan Nadelmann, Mark Kleiman, Lester Grinspoon and Dennis Peron, to name a few.

April 1993: Doblin said: “I think MDMA has a significant place in the future of psychiatry and then in a liberalized world where adults have free choice for these kinds of experiences.” The article reported further: “…..College-aged people have more-prosaic use for the drug. They often take it alone to dance all night or, in a highly dangerous practice, mix it with LSD, marijuana and alcohol….Deaths also have been reported at rave parties in England.” San Diego Union-Tribune

April 1993: “Rick Doblin recalls his own first acid trip. As the LSD took effect he heard an air raid siren and was convinced his life was over…I was in this exhilarated, exalted state…I felt like all of my senses were opening up in a way I wasn’t aware of.” The Associated Press, The Oregonian
February 1997

Author: Rick Doblin
Source: Northwest Center for Health & Safety