Everywhere I look, it seems, there are signs that the human species is becoming more and more comfortable with psychedelic mind states.

While a lot of music and visionary art has long been influenced by psychedelics, and many artists and musicians have greatly valued the experience, the recently awakened acceptance of these forbidden fruits in respected cultural terrains, such as academia, medicine, and spirituality, is now, finally, seeping its way into the mainstream culture. A worldwide renaissance is presently underway, as medical studies with psychedelics are producing extraordinary results in treating a variety of mental illnesses. Positive articles about the potential benefits of psychedelic drugs have been featured in virtually every major magazine and television news show over the past few years, and this is an abrupt change from the decades where psychedelics have been demonized, ridiculed, or ignored.

For someone who has been carefully watching how psychedelics are represented in mainstream culture since the Sixties, these dramatic changes over the past few years have been hard to miss, and they offer tremendous hope for change, as these once-feared substances finally find acceptance as new medical treatments and psychotherapeutic tools, as well as creativity enhancers and spiritual catalysts. As regular readers of my column are aware, much of the acceptance of psychedelic drug research in modern medicine and mainstream culture is due to the hard work of my colleagues at the Santa Cruz-based Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS). MAPS is currently conducting studies with MDMA, LSD, ibogaine, and other psychedelic drugs, in an attempt to develop them into legal prescription medicines, in order to treat a variety of difficult-to-treat illnesses.

MAPS will be celebrating 25 years of scientific research and education from December 8-12 in Oakland. Come join us!

Cartographie Psychedelica, as the celebration event is called, will feature five days of lectures, performances, workshops, art, honorary benefit dinners, and parties. Many pioneers, researchers, and psychotherapists who have worked with psychedelic drugs will be there, including Stanislav Grof, Charles Grob, Michael Mithoefer, James Fadiman, Ralph Metzner, and MAPS founder Rick Doblin.

There will be visionary art workshops by Alex and Allyson Grey, as well by Andrew and Phaedrana Jones, who will also be giving a live performance.

Early morning cruises on the San Francisco Bay will be available (the "Floating World"), and there will be a mind-blowing, eye-popping visionary art gallery (the Kaleidoscope Vault), late-night dance parties (the Medicine Ball), a large arena of vendor booths, and other exciting delights for psychedelically-minded visionaries and connoisseurs of hallucinogenic creativity, as well as those who are simply interested in the scientific research and medical applications of these extraordinary substances. All of the proceeds from this event will go to support psychedelic drug research and education.