MAPS Canada

MAPS Canada Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from MAPS Canada, Nonprofit Organization, 777 Hornby Street Suite 600, Vancouver, BC.

Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies Canada - Expanding safe, legal, and equitable access to psychedelics in Canada through research, education, and advocacy. 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.

10/05/2026

🌿 What does cognitive liberty mean in the context of psychedelics?

At the National Dialogue on Access to Psychedelics 2026, voices from across the field came together to explore evidence, culture, patient perspectives, legal frameworks, and what meaningful access could look like in Canada.

One of those voices was Paul Lewin.

🌿 Freedom of thought and psychedelic experiences
In this clip, Paul explores the concept of cognitive liberty, described as the fundamental human right to explore one’s own consciousness without state interference. He connects this idea to freedom of thought, the language used in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

He also reflects on the kinds of experiences and insights that can emerge during or after psychedelic experiences, including spirituality, meaning, cognitive flexibility, connection, empathy, compassion, mindfulness, and ego dissolution.

Read the Executive Summary here: https://www.mapscanada.org/national-dialogue/

Full report coming soon!

October Podcast Feature: Aging & PsychedelicsThis month, we’re revisiting conversations from the MAPS Canada Podcast tha...
10/05/2026

October Podcast Feature: Aging & Psychedelics
This month, we’re revisiting conversations from the MAPS Canada Podcast that explore psychedelics through the lens of ageing, mortality, healing, and meaning-making.

🎙️ Rehearsing Death: Psychedelics and the Art of Letting Go with Susan Wright
Rielle Capler, Executive Director at MAPS Canada, speaks with Susan Wright about her visionary experiences and how psychedelic experiences can invite us to reflect on consciousness, death, and the mystery of what lies beyond. Together, they explore what it might mean to face mortality with curiosity, courage, and openness. https://youtu.be/Zc1U4RvZL-k?si=c3Xyndv-lHLZYU0_

🎙️ Why Older Adults Are Turning to Psychedelic Therapy with Scott Paul Wright
Matt Hamel, YouTube host at MAPS Canada, speaks with filmmaker Scott Paul Wright about The Next Chapter, a documentary following adults over 55 exploring psychedelic-assisted therapy in the context of depression, anxiety, grief, trauma, and existential questions. The conversation looks at healing and transformation later in life, while highlighting the importance of connection, integration, and meaning. https://youtu.be/h50eNdHZnT8?si=MpttQTELh1zfQb_I

🎧 Listen to both episodes wherever you get your podcasts.

10/04/2026

In this clip, Dr. Leah Mayo introduces LIVE-PATH: Lifting Indigenous Voices and Experiences in Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy and Healing.

The network developed in response to Indigenous community members seeking reliable information about psychedelics, clinical trials, and whether psychedelic-assisted care might have a place within their communities.

LIVE-PATH brings together community representatives, Indigenous health professionals, researchers, and people with cultural or clinical experience of psychedelics.

Watch the full conversation, Access to Psychedelic Care in Indigenous Communities with Dr. Leah Mayo: Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXauiBuOc9w

Learn more about LIVE-PATH: https://livepath.ca

10/03/2026

In this clip, Dr. Leah Mayo discusses with Dr. Rielle Capler the preparation required before psychedelic-assisted care can move into community settings.

Clinical trials can help build more than a body of evidence. By involving and training local care providers, they can also begin developing the workforce, experience, and infrastructure communities may need if regulations change and access expands.

For Indigenous communities, this preparation includes asking essential questions now: What should care look like? Who should provide it? How should they be trained? And how can each community determine what it is comfortable with on its own terms?

Watch the full conversation, Access to Psychedelic Care in Indigenous Communities with Dr. Leah Mayo: Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXauiBuOc9w

Learn more about LIVE-PATH:https://livepath.ca

NEW BRUNSWICK EVENT - October 10th, 2026Bridges to Ancestral Wisdom: Listening to Nature’s TeachersCoca, Ayahuasca, Hua...
10/03/2026

NEW BRUNSWICK EVENT - October 10th, 2026

Bridges to Ancestral Wisdom: Listening to Nature’s Teachers
Coca, Ayahuasca, Huachuma, and the Preservation of Amazonian Ethnobotany

Join legendary ethnobotanist Dr. Dennis McKenna and acclaimed filmmaker Greg Hemmings for an immersive evening of documentary film, visionary lectures, and dialogue dedicated to plant intelligence, Amazonian conservation, and the deep roots of sacred plant medicine.

Event Highlights
Live Music & Dialogue: Live musical sets by Ryan Leblanc, warm community welcomes, and an interactive audience Q&A with Dennis and Greg.
4 Film Screenings: Featuring The Shaman and the Scientist, the Biognosis Project, Rewiring the Muse: Huachuma Episode, and insights from the Coca Summit.
Keynote Talks by Dr. Dennis McKenna: Deep dives into the sacred reverence of Coca, the history of Huachuma, and the legacy of the Ethnopharmacologic Search for Psychoactive Drugs (ESPD)—from its beginnings to a look ahead at ESPD 60.

Location & Venue:
6:30 pm - 10 pm, October 10, 2026
Huntsman Aquarium Theatre, Lower Campus Rd, St. Andrews, NB

Link to buy tickets:
https://bit.ly/46Z92Fh

10/02/2026

National Dialogue 2026

On April 20, 2026, MAPS Canada hosted the first National Dialogue for Access to Psychedelics in Canada. Patients, researchers, clinicians, educators, advocates, and industry voices came together for a day of conversation about what safe, legal, and equitable access could look like in Canada. The day was organized into four parts, covering 4 different themes.

Part 3: Legal Access: Regulation, Rights and Pathways to Care
As the conversation continued, speakers explored the legal and regulatory landscape surrounding psychedelics in Canada, including the challenges created by the current gap between law, public perception, and access.

Here are some of the voices and moments from Part 3:

Austin Miller spoke about the need for clarity in Canada's approach to psychedelics, highlighting the challenges created when psychedelics remain legally restricted while storefronts operate openly in communities.

Paul Lewin discussed the idea of a right to control our own minds, and what recognizing the right to use psychedelics could mean for personal autonomy and drug policy.

Otis Jasper reflected on the impacts of colonial policies, including the anti-Potlatch law, and how these policies disrupted Indigenous systems of governance, connection, and cultural knowledge.

Nicholas Pope spoke about the ongoing challenges of Canada's Special Access Program (SAP), including the administrative burden of individual applications and the difficulty of creating a system that can scale to meet patient needs.

Reverdi Darda highlighted how the SAP requirement for each patient to submit individual applications and each needing to be individually reviewed results in lengthy timelines and significant administrative burden.

Together, these perspectives raised important questions about regulation, personal autonomy, Indigenous sovereignty, and what meaningful access could look like in Canada.

Read the Executive Summary here: https://www.mapscanada.org/national-dialogue/

Full report coming soon!

PROPHET OF ECSTASY— VANCOUVER SCREENING - OCTOBER 26th 🎬 with Rick Doblin & Paul Stamets MAPS Canada is excited to pres...
10/02/2026

PROPHET OF ECSTASY— VANCOUVER SCREENING - OCTOBER 26th 🎬
with Rick Doblin & Paul Stamets

MAPS Canada is excited to present a film screening and panel discussion

🎬 PROPHET OF ECSTASY, the stranger-than-fiction story of how M**A became the club drug of the century, its 30-year fight for decriminalization, and the science of the drug as a tool in mental health care. 🧠

🎤 Post-screening panel discussion with:
Rick Doblin, PhD, psychedelic pioneer and founder of MAPS
Paul Stamets, world-renowned mycologist
Dr. Pam Krsykow, psychedelic-medicine researcher and medical lead at Roots to Thrive
Peter van der Heyden, PhD, veteran psychedelic chemist and co-founder of Psygen
Moderated by Lori Braun, film producer and writer.

đź“… Date: October 26th, 2026
🕡 Time: Doors 5:00 pm
đź“Ť Place: Rio Theatre

✨ Reserve your seats today: https://riotheatretickets.ca/events/45239-prophet-of-ecstasy-with-special-guest-panel

Sponsored by: Qi Integrated and Gathering Groups

**ATherapy https://www.facebook.com/Therapsil

What Canada’s New Controlled Substances Regulations Mean for Psychedelic Access in CanadaOctober 13th, 4 pm PT/ 7 pm ETO...
10/01/2026

What Canada’s New Controlled Substances Regulations Mean for Psychedelic Access in Canada

October 13th, 4 pm PT/ 7 pm ET

On October 1st, amendments to Canada’s Controlled Substances Regulations come into effect, marking an important shift in how controlled substances are regulated nationally.

But what do these changes actually mean for patients, practitioners, pharmacists, clinics, and the future of psychedelic-assisted therapy?

Join us for an in-depth panel discussion exploring what has changed for psilocybin, M**A, and other psychedelics under the Special Access Program (SAP), what remains unchanged, what these changes could mean in practice, and what the new regulatory framework and proposed private member’s bills could mean for the future of psychedelic access in Canada.

Panelists:
Jagpaul Deol, PharmD/PhD(c), RPh, Clinical Pharmacist and Psychedelic Medicine Researcher, Board Member of MAPS Canada
Harrison Jordan, JD, founder and managing lawyer of Substance Law
Dr. Houman Farzin, M.D., M.Sc., Physician and Researcher specializing in Psychedelic Medicine and palliative care

Moderator:
Rielle Capler, MHA, PhD, Executive Director of MAPS Canada

Register here: https://bit.ly/4jDpXES

October’s theme at MAPS Canada is Aging & Psychedelics.October 1 is National Seniors Day in Canada, and October is World...
10/01/2026

October’s theme at MAPS Canada is Aging & Psychedelics.

October 1 is National Seniors Day in Canada, and October is World Menopause Month. This month, MAPS Canada is exploring the intersection of psychedelics and aging, and the many ways we experience change throughout our lives.

Aging encompasses a range of mental, physical, social, and spiritual changes. It can include changes in identity, meaning, connection, and our relationship with ourselves and the world around us.

Throughout October, we’ll be exploring these questions through our monthly Research Room presentation, Research Snapshot, Podcasts, and more.

Register here: https://bit.ly/4jDpXES

You can also revisit some of our past conversations on these topics, including:
🎙️ The Next Chapter: Psychedelics, Aging & New Perspectives: https://youtu.be/h50eNdHZnT8

🎙️ Susan Wright on Psychedelics, Aging & Wellbeing: https://youtu.be/Zc1U4RvZL-k

đź“© Subscribe to the MAPS Canada newsletter to stay up to date on new research, podcasts, webinars, events, and educational resources: http://eepurl.com/gcUWa9

In this episode, host and MAPS Canada Executive Director Dr. Rielle Capler speaks with Leah Mayo, Parker Research Chair ...
09/30/2026

In this episode, host and MAPS Canada Executive Director Dr. Rielle Capler speaks with Leah Mayo, Parker Research Chair in Psychedelics and Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Calgary, about Indigenous access to psychedelic-assisted healing, community-led models of care, and the future of psychedelic research in Canada.

Leah discusses the development of LIVE-PATH (Lifting Indigenous Voices and Experiences in Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy and Healing), a Canada-based, Indigenous-led network bringing together communities, knowledge holders, clinicians, and researchers to explore psychedelic healing and related knowledge.

The conversation also touches on Leah Mayo's ongoing research at the University of Calgary, including clinical trials involving psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy for alcohol use disorder and persistent symptoms following concussion, as well as research exploring the neurobiological mechanisms underlying psychedelic experiences.

To learn more about Leah Mayo’s research, visit pactlab.ca

To learn more about LIVE-PATH, visit livepath.ca

For more information about psychedelic research happening in Canada, visit www.mapscanada.org/research/research-in-canada/

Watch the full conversation, Access to Psychedelic Care in Indigenous Communities with Dr. Leah Mayo: Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXauiBuOc9w

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