Rick Doblin is the founder and current president of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), a scientific and educational non-profit organization chartered to foster medical and scientific research on psychoactive drugs. MAPS pursues its mission by helping scientific researchers design, obtain governmental approval for, fund, conduct, and report on psychedelic and marijuana research in human volunteers. Founded in 1986, MAPS is a 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation funded by donations from its approximately 1,300 members.MAPS has funded basic scientific research in both humans and animals on the safety of MDMA and has opened a Drug Master File for MDMA at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Since 1992, MAPS has been assisting Dr. Donald Abrams at UC-SanFrancisco in implementing a clinical trial investigating the effects of smoked marijuana in patients suffering from the AIDS wasting syndrome. Dr. Doblin received a Ph.D. in Public Policy at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government, where he earned his Masters in Public Policy. His master's thesis focused on the attitudes and experiences of oncologists concerning the medical use of marijuana. His Ph.D. dissertation focused on the development of regulations governing the beneficial uses of psychedelics and marijuana.

Dr. Doblin is the Editor and Publisher of The Bulletin of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, which reports on research into the therapeutic applications of psychedelics and marijuana and related topics.(1998, Summer). Dr. Leary's Concord Prison experiment: A 34-year follow-up study. J Psychoact Drugs. 30 (4), pp419-426.(1995, Autumn). MDMA neurotoxicity: New data, new risk analysis.The MAPS Bulletin. 6 (1).www.maps.org/news-letters/v06n1/06108neu.html.