During the initial wave of research into psychedelic-assisted therapy in the West in the 1950s, ’60s, and ’70s, the majority of research in the United States took place in the State of Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C., at Spring Grove Hospital, the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, and later at Johns Hopkins University. The results achieved in studies performed at these locations were exceptionally positive. This success was due, in part, to the fact that these centers operated as a well-defined community of professionals mutually supporting one another.

 

Our current era does not allow for the reproduction of such centers at a pace and scale sufficient to meet the rapidly growing demand for psychedelic-assisted therapy in mainstream culture. In response to this gap, the D.C. Friends of Psychedelic Science was founded in 2019 to support professionals working in the field. Our mission is to ensure these practitioners are not functioning in isolation but feel part of a well-resourced community, supported both personally and professionally, and able to rely on collegial guidance when challenges arise.

 

Since our inception, we have had the honor of supporting a membership community of hundreds of professionals in the psychedelic field. The results we have witnessed from our model of community support have been both impressively effective and deeply moving. In 2023 and 2024, our fiscal sponsorship with MAPS enabled us to establish our current status as an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.

 

The spiritual teacher known historically as the Buddha taught a path of deep personal transformation. This practice could not have become widespread without the formation of "sangha,” or a community of fellow practitioners mutually supporting each other. The D.C. Friends of Psychedelic Science draws inspiration from this example of community organization.