Speakers | Breaking Convention

	CAMERON ADAMS, Ph.D. Dr. Cameron Adams is a medical and ecological anthropologist who is currently interested in psychedelic medicine and ecological consciousness. Dr. Adams currently holds a temporary lectureship at the University of Kent where he convenes Introduction to Anthropology and Cognitive Anthropology while conducting web based research on virtual communities.
	RAS BINGHI CONGO-NYAH Ras Binghi Congo-Nyah, is an international Ombudsman for The Rastafari Way of Life, and director of two small companies: Lions Den Fam (http://www.facebook.com/l/2fe80nK8Lh46eLZiEhbDg6lglYg/www.lionsdenfam.org) and Zion Networks (http://www.facebook.com/l/2fe80fZDmlCpUt_T_uiUs5ngg5Q/www.zion-networks.co.uk). He is also a musical performer (http://www.facebook.com/l/2fe80DqiNXIOcMQu4YB2CuiGccQ/www.myspace.com/blessedbarak). Raised and educated in Jamaica (Munro College, St.Elizabeth), he was accepted to Cambridge University (in 1995), but chose to begin study, train and work in the field of Data Communication. He has recently been the main feature and mediator for a forthcoming documentary ‘Rastafari In Seven Days’ in which he explains the daily and weekly principles of Rastafari Way of Life (due out in Sept 2011). He has spoken on the topic of Rastafari and Herbs for Wandsworth Council, Connexions, Tooting Hub Community Centre and various youth multifaith events. Ras Binghi Nyah-Congo has a uniting perspective on topics and experiences in Life, being the living proof of what he represents.
	ROBIN CARHART-HARRIS, Ph.D. After completing an undergraduate degree in Psychology in 2003, Robin studied psychoanalysis at Masters level, receiving his MA in 2004. In 2005, Robin began a four year PhD in Psychopharmacology at the University of Bristol. Working for Professor David Nutt and Dr Sue Wilson, Robin’s thesis focused on sleep and serotonin function in ecstasy users. In 2009, working closely with the Beckley Foundation, he successfully coordinated the first clinical study of psilocybin in the UK and the first clinical study of a classic psychedelic drug in the UK for over 40 years. Also in 2009, Robin moved to Imperial College London to continue his work under the supervision of Professor David Nutt. With the collaboration of Professor Richard Wise at Cardiff University, Robin has since coordinated the first resting state fMRI investigation of a classic psychedelic drug and the first fMRI investigation of psilocybin.
	IVAN CASSELMAN Ph.D., (cand.) Ivan graduated in 1999 with an Associate Degree in Jazz Music from Vancouver Island University, BC, Canada. In 2005 he graduated from University of Victoria, BC, Canada with a BA Anthropology. After working as a consulting archaeologist in British Columbia, Canada, he returned to school in 2007 to complete a postgraduate certificate in Geographic Information Systems (GIS). In September 2009 he completed his MSc in Ethnobotany at the University of Kent, UK. In January 2011 he completed his MPhil in Ethnopharmacology at the School of Pharmacy London, UK. He is currently a PhD candidate at Southern Cross University in Lismore Australia. As a member of the Plant Science Department his work focuses on the molecular phylogeny and phytochemisty of Salvia divinorum. Ivan has a strong foundation in fieldwork methodology as well as a comprehensive understanding of chemistry, bio-medicine and botany as it applies to his research interests. His overall methodological focus is on developing and improving innovative grass roots technologies and the flow of information through emerging technologies. His main research interests are plants that create heightened states of consciousness, social models of psychoactive use and the development of novel natural product therapies.
	CAROLINE CHATWIN, Ph.D. Dr Caroline Chatwin is a lecturer in criminology at the university of Kent where she leads a third year optional course 'Drugs, culture and control'. Dr Chatwin has published widely in the field of European drug policy and has a book on this subject coming out in April (Drug Policy Harmonization and the European Union). Recently she has expanded her research field into the areas of cannabis users, cannabis markets and drug use within the psychedelic trance scene.
	JON COLE, Ph.D. Dr Jon Cole is a psychopharmacologist who has been working on controlled drugs for the past twenty years. He is currently working extensively in the criminal justice and social policy areas. A natural born sceptic he remains unconvinced of the purported harms of MDMA use but is also unconvinced that MDMA use is 'safe'.
	VAL CURRAN, M.D. Val Curran is Professor of Psychopharmacology and Director of UCL's Clinical Psychopharmacology Unit. She is also research Lead and Hon. Consultant Clinical Psychologist in Drug Services at a north London NHS Foundation Trust, a Principal Editor of Psychopharmacology and a member of the Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs.
	RAM DASS, Ph.D. [SKYPE] Formerly Dr. Richard Alpert, Ram Dass is a spiritual teacher and author of many best-sellers. Along with fellow Harvard professor Tim Leary, he conducted experiments on the effects of psychedelic drugs on human subjects. He is also known for his travels to India, his association with Hindu guru, Neem Karoli Baba, and as the founder of several organizations dedicated to expanding awareness.
	PAUL DEVEREUX Paul Devereux, a veteran of the psychedelic 1960s, is a prolific author, just one of his 27 published books being 'THE LONG TRIP - A Prehistory of Psychedelia'. If you dig around in their archives enough, his occasional blogs can be found on the 'Reality Sandwich' and 'Brainwaving' websites. He also lectures worldwide, is the managing editor of the peer-reviewed publication 'Time & Mind - The Journal of Archaeology, Consciousness and Culture' (www.bergjournals.com/timeandmind), and is a research affiliate with the Royal College of Art (see www.landscape-perception.com). His personal research currently centres around the study of sound at archaeological sites, which also has implications for prehistoric altered mind states, and creating a fresh approach to parapsychology. His website is: www.pauldevereux.co.uk.
	RICK DOBLIN, Ph.D. Rick founded MAPS in 1986. His dissertation (Public Policy, Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government) was on "The Regulation of the Medical Use of Psychedelics and Marijuana," and his master’s thesis (Harvard) focused on the attitudes and experiences of oncologists concerning the medical use of marijuana. His undergraduate thesis (New College of Florida) was a twenty-five year follow-up to the classic Good Friday Experiment, which evaluated the potential of psychedelic drugs to catalyze religious experiences. He has also conducted a thirty-four year follow-up study to Tim Leary’s Concord Prison Experiment.
	KEVIN FEENEY, J.D. Kevin Feeney, J.D., received his law degree from the University of Oregon in 2005, and is currently a student of Anthropology at Washington State University (U.S.A.), where he is studying the religious use of peyote in American Indian traditions. Other research interests include examining legal and regulatory issues surrounding the religious and cultural use of psychoactive substances, with an emphasis on ayahuasca and peyote, and exploring modern and traditional uses of Amanita muscaria, with a specific focus on variations in harvest and preparation practices. He is co-author, with Richard Glen Boire, of Medical Marijuana Law (2007).
	AMANDA FEILDING. Amanda Feilding is director and founder of the Beckley Foundation, which researches consciousness from an interdisciplinary perspective. It investigates how psychoactive substances work, why people use them, and what is the best way for society to control and integrate their inevitable presence. The Foundation has initiated pioneering research in both the scientific and policy fields, conducting breakthrough research into LSD, psilocybin and cannabis. The aim of the BF’s Drug Policy Programme is to work towards a rational system of regulation which minimises the harms to the health of the individual and society while recognising personal freedoms, and optimising potential benefits to health and well-being. The BF Press recently published Cannabis Policy: Moving Beyond Stalemate, Hofmann’s Elixir: LSD and the New Eleusis, and the Pharmacology of LSD.
	NEAL MARSHALL GOLDSMITH, Ph.D. Neal M. Goldsmith, Ph.D. is a psychotherapist, author, and public speaker specializing in psychospiritual development, with particular expertise in psychedelic psychotherapy. (A six-minute clip of Dr. Goldsmith’s “Fusion of Spirit and Science” may be found at: http://vimeo.com/751700). Dr. Goldsmith has a passion for the diffusion and application of innovative knowledge and has curated dozens of successful conferences and cross-disciplinary “meetings of minds” for corporations as well as the psychedelic community, including Horizons and this year’s MAPS Psychedelic Science conference. He is a founder of several salon discussion groups on integral philosophy, media, healing, and the future of society. Dr. Goldsmith’s book, Psychedelic Healing: The Promise of Entheogens for Psychotherapy and Spiritual Development, describes the influence of psychedelics on the development of his personality theory and clinical practice. (Psychedelic Healing). Trained in humanistic, transpersonal, and eastern traditions, Dr. Goldsmith maintains a (non-psychedelic) psychotherapy practice in New York City and Sag Harbor, NY and may be reached via his website.
	ROLAND GRIFFITHS, M.D. Roland is Professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Neurosciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. His principal research focus in both clinical and preclinical laboratories has been on the behavioral and subjective effects of mood-altering drugs. His research has been largely supported by grants from the U.S. National Institutes on Health and he is author of over 300 journal articles and book chapters. He has an interest in meditation and is the lead investigator of the psilocybin research initiative at Johns Hopkins, which includes studies of psilocybin occasioned mystical-type experience in healthy volunteers and cancer patients, and a pilot study of psilocybin-facilitated smoking cessation.
	STAN GROF, M.D. [SKYPE] Dr. Grof is a psychiatrist with over fifty years experience researching non-ordinary states of consciousness. He was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia, where he also received his scientific training - an M.D. degree from the Charles University School of Medicine and a Ph.D. (Doctor of Philosophy in Medicine) from the Czechoslovakian Academy of Sciences. He did his early research at the Psychiatric Research Institute in Prague, where he was Principal Investigator of a program systematically exploring the heuristic and therapeutic potential of LSD and other psychedelic substances. For several years, Stan was Chief of Psychiatric Research at the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center in Baltimore, MD, heading the last surviving official American project of psychedelic therapy. He is also the author of many books, including "LSD: Doorway to the Numinous'', "LSD Psychotherapy", and "Holotropic Breathwork", with C. Grof.
	GRAHAM HANCOCK. Graham Hancock is the author of The Sign and The Seal, Fingerprints of the Gods, Keeper Of Genesis, Heaven's Mirror, and other bestselling investigations of historical mysteries. His recent work focuses on shamanism and the origins of religion. His 2005 book, Supernatural: Meetings with The Ancient Teachers of Mankind, suggests that experiences in altered states of consciousness have played a fundamental role in the evolution of human culture and that other realities not normally accessible to our senses may surround us at all times.While researching Supernatural Hancock travelled to the Amazon to drink visionary brew Ayahuasca - the Vine of Souls - used by shamans for more than 4000 years.His experiences with the vine lead to his latest work, and first novel, Entangled, published in 2010.
	MIKE JAY. Mike has written widely on the history of science, medicine and psychoactive drugs. His books include Emperors of Dreams: Drugs in the Nineteenth Century (2000); The Atmosphere of Heaven (2009), on the discovery of nitrous oxide; and High Society: Mind-Altering Drugs in History and Culture (2010). http://mikejay.net
	DAVE KING. Dave King is a student of medical anthropology with a research interest in hallucinogens. In late 2009 he co-founded the UKC Psychedelics society at the University of Kent, which now has a mailing list of over 650. He has published articles on psychedelics & the Psychedelics Society in local newspapers, on the society website, and for MAPS, as well as writing a booklet entitled 'A Short Introduction to Hallucinogens'. He plans to follow up his degree with postgraduate studies in neurochemistry and pharmacognosy. His undergraduate dissertation is looking at patterns in the variations of cannabis phenomenology and use. Before becoming interested in psychedelics, his love of the unusual and the experiential led him to the practice of pyrotechnics. He is convening the Bold Visions track.
	AXEL KLEIN, PhD. Axel Klein is a social anthropologist with a particular interest in the role played by drugs in different cultural and social settings, as well as the regulative and political framework. He has conducted research into the use and regulation of cannabis in the Caribbean, Khat in global markets, and the emergence of drug control as a system in the UK. Publications include Axel Klein, 2008 Drugs and the World. London: Reaktion; David Anderson, Susan Beckerleg, Degol Hailu and Axel Klein, 2007 The Khat Controversy: Stimulating the Debate on Drugs. Oxford: Berg; andAxel Klein, Anthony Harriott and Marcus Day (eds.), 2004 Caribbean Drugs: From Criminalization to Harm Reduction. Zed. 2004.
	REKA KOMAROMI Reka Komaromi is a freelance ethnobotanist and honorary research fellow/assistant at the University of Kent. Before graduating with an MSc in Ethnobotany from UKC, she travelled extensively by land and sea to remote locations and cultures in her involvement with the Institute of Ecotechnics (www.ecotechnics.edu). Her research interests encompass medicinal and ritualistic use of plants in indigenous as well as modern societies, as well as mythologies and ethics of drug use. Recently, Reka has been involved in therapeutic Cannabis research at the University, and she is planning to do her PhD thesis on contemporary therapeutic Cannabis use in Jamaica.
	EVGENY KRUPITSKY, M.D., Ph.D., D.M.Sc. Prof. Evgeny Krupitsky is a Chief of the Department of Addictions at St. Petersburg Bekhterev Research Psychoneurological Institute and a Chief of the Laboratory of Clinical Psychopharmacology of Addictions at St. Petersburg State Pavlov Medical University, Russia. Since 2006 he also holds a position of Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry at the Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania. He received his MD from the Leningrad Institute of Hygiene and Sanitation in 1983, and then Ph.D. in psychopharmacology from the Leningrad Institute of Experimental Medicine in 1988. Later in 1998 he also received a special advanced degree of a Doctor of Medical Sciences in Addiction Psychiatry in 1998 from St. Petersburg Bekhterev Research Psychoneurological Institute. Dr. Krupitsky had been working as a visiting exchange scientist in the Department of Psychiatry at Yale University in 1996-97. Dr. Krupitsky received several national and international awards (including an award from the Heffter Research Institute, USA, for outstanding research in hallucinogens). He published many papers in the Russian and international psychiatric journals and he is also an author of several chapters in the international manuals and two books on the treatment of alcoholism and addictions.
	BIA LABATE, Ph.D. Beatriz Caiuby Labate (http://bialabate.net) is PhD in Social Anthropology from the Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp), Campinas, Brazil. Her main areas of interest are the study of psychoactive substances, drug policies, shamanism, ritual, and religion. Currently she is a Research Associate at the Institute of Medical Psychology, Heidelberg University and a member of the Collaborative Research Center (SFB 619) “Ritual Dynamics - Socio-Cultural Processes from a Historical and Culturally Comparative Perspective.” She is also researcher with the Nucleus for Interdisciplinary Studies of Psychoactives (NEIP) and editor of its site (http://www.neip.info). She is author, co-author and co-editor of seven books, two with English translations, and one journal special edition. Her book A Reinvenção do Uso da Ayahuasca nos Centros Urbanos (Mercado de Letras, 2004) received the prize for Best Master’s Thesis in Social Sciences from the National Association for Graduate Studies in Social Science (ANPOCS) in 2000.
	ANDY LETCHER, Ph.D. Andy Letcher teaches in the Study of Religions at Oxford Brookes University and is a freelance writer and folk musician. He is the author of Shroom: A Cultural History of the Magic Mushroom, and the paper, Mad Thoughts on Mushrooms: Discourse and Power in the Study of Psychedelic Consciousness published in the journal, Anthropology of Consciousness. A songwriter and exponent of the English bagpipes, he fronts acid folk band, Telling the Bees.
	DAVID LUKE, Ph.D. David Luke, PhD, is currently President of the Parapsychological Association, and Senior Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Greenwich, UK, where he teaches an undergraduate course on the Psychology of Exceptional Human Experiences. He is also Research Associate at the Beckley Foundation, Oxford, UK, and he is a guest lecturer at the University of Northampton, UK, for the MSc in Transpersonal Psychology and Consciousness Studies. He is also Director of the Ecology, Cosmos and Consciousness lecture series at the October Gallery in Bloomsbury, London. As a writer and researcher he has a special interest in altered states of consciousness and he has studied ostensibly paranormal phenomena and techniques of consciousness alteration from every continent of the globe, from the perspective of scientists, shamans and Shivaites. David is convening the 'What Do Psychedelics Mean?' track.
	LUIS EDUARDO LUNA, Ph.D. Luis Eduardo Luna has a Ph.D. from the Department of Comparative Religion Stockholm University (1989) and an honorary doctoral degree from St. Lawrence, Canton, New York (2002). He is the author of Vegetalismo: Shamanism among the Mestizo Population of the Peruvian Amazon (1986), a co-author with Pablo Amaringo of Ayahuasca Visions: The Religious Iconography of a Peruvian Shaman (1991), and co-author with Slawek Wojtowicz, Rick Strassman and Ede Frecska of Inner Paths to Outer Space: Journeys Through Psychedelics and Other Spiritual Technologies (2008). He is also a co-editor with Steven White of Ayahuasca Reader: Encounters with the Amazon’s Sacred Vine (2000). He is the Director of the Research Center for the Study of Psychointegrator Plants, Visionary Art and Consciousness, Florianópolis, Brazil.
	RALPH METZNER, Ph.D. [SKYPE] Ralph is the author of many books, practices psychotherapy, and is the Professor Emeritus at California Institute of Integral Studies. Involved in consciousness research for over forty years, including psychedelics, yoga meditation, and shamanism, he is co-founder and president of Green Earth Foundation, a non-profit educational organization devoted to healing and harmonizing the relationship between humans and the Earth.
	PETER OEHEN, M.D. Medical school at University of Basel/Switzerland. Specialist degree in Psychiatry and Psychotherapy 1988. Psychotherapeutic training in Guided Affective Imagery Therapy, Systemic Couple and Family Therapy and in Psycholytic Therapy. In private practice since 1988. Special interest in altered states of consciousness and psychedelic substances for more than 20 years. Board member of the Swiss Medical Association for Psycholytic Therapy (SAePT). Principle investigator of the Swiss phase II MDMA/PTSD pilot study (since 2006).
	ANDY PARROTT, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology at Swansea University, and formerly at University of East London, Andy is the author of over 50 journal articles on Ecstasy/MDMA and organiser of several international MDMA conferences. The papers include a comprehensive review paper entitled: Parrott A.C. (2007). The psychotherapeutic potential of MDMA (3,4-methylendioxymethapmphetamine): an evidence based review. Psychopharmacology 191: 182-194. Prof Parrott has shown that recreational MDMA is associated with a wide range of neuropsychobiological problems. It is a very powerful CNS stimulant, which is also damaging to brain functioning. Hence he is very sceptical as to whether MDMA can be used safely. He also believes that in many clinical cases it could cause far more problems than it solves.
	ANDY ROBERTS. Andy Roberts has authored or co-authored 12 books on a wide variety of subjects from the fringes of society. His interest in psychedelic drugs, specifically LSD, stems from a thorough experiential grounding in the counterculture of the 1970s, which led him to write Albion Dreaming, a social history of LSD in Britain (Marshall Cavendish, 2008). Andy contributes to a number of magazines including Fortean Times, for which he has written feature articles for many years and co writes a sceptical monthly column about the UFO scene. He believes the secret of the universe can be found in the music of the Grateful Dead. In the real world he works for a Housing Association.
	TORSTEN PASSIE, M.D., Ph.D. Torsten is assistant professor for clinical psychiatry and psychotherapy at Hannover Medical School. He studied philosophy, sociology (M.A.) at Hannover University and medicine at Hannover Medical School. His medical dissertation was on existential psychiatry. He worked at the Psychiatric University Clinic in Zürich (Switzerland) and with Professor Hanscarl Leuner (Göttingen), the leading European authority on hallucinogens. He has done extensive research on the psychophysiology of altered states of consciousness and their healing potential, including clinical research with different induction procedures including hallucinogenic drugs (cannabis, ketamin, nitrous oxide, psilocybin). He is an expert on the pharmacology and clinical/therapeutic use of hallucinogenic drugs. His publications appeared in Journal of Psychopharmacology, Neuropsychobiology, Addiction Biology, Addiction, CNS Neuroscience and Therapeutics and others.
	WILLIAM ROWLANDSON, Ph.D. Dr. William Rowlandson is former Head of Hispanic Studies at the University of Kent, and is co-Director of the Centre for the Study of Myth. He is currently preparing a book concerning Borges and mysticism, a chapter of which looks at a reading of Borges poetics through Jung’s elaboration of individuation. His work on Cuban poet and novelist José Lezama Lima concentrated on Lezama’s equation of poetry and the numinous. William’s work within the Myth Centre has focused predominantly on the many aspects of the work of Jung. With co-Director Angela Voss, William is organising a conference at the University of Kent in May entitled Daimonic Imagination: Uncanny Intelligence: www.kent.ac.uk/mythconference
	BEN SESSA, M.D. Dr Ben Sessa MBBS BSc MRCPsych is a consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist working in Taunton, Somerset with the National Deaf Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service. He began publishing in medical journals on the subject of psychedelics as a trainee and since then has spoken nationally and internationally to doctors in a campaign to see these fascinating substances return to the mainstream pharmacopeia where their lives began. In 2008 he became a Research Associate under Prof. David Nutt at Bristol University, where he consulted for the ACMD on MDMA before working on the UK's only human hallucinogen study in modern times - being the first person to be legally administered a classical psychedelic drug in this country for 33 years.
	FRANZ VOLLENWEIDER, M.D. Dr. Franz X. Vollenweider is currently the Vice-Director of Research and Teaching and Director of the “Neuropsychopharmacology and Brain Imaging” Research Unit of the University Hospital of Psychiatry Zürich East, and Professor of Psychiatry in the School of Medicine, University of Zürich. He is also the Director of Heffter Research Centre Zürich for Consciousness Studies (HRC-ZH), which he founded in 1998 and incorporated in his research group. Dr. Vollenweider has published over 80 peer-reviewed papers, many of which address the mechanisms of action of psychostimulants, hallucinogens, and entactogens in humans.
	ANGELA VOSS, Ph.D. Angela Voss taught for 10 years in the Theology and Religious Studies section at Kent, directing an MA programme and teaching undergraduate modules in the Cultural Study of Cosmology and Divination. She is currently teaching a distance learning course for the Phoenix Rising Academy (www.phoenixrising.org.gr). Her research interests centre on the Western esoteric traditions and their understanding of the symbolic imagination, and she has published extensively on the astrological music therapy of the Renaissance magus Marsilio Ficino. More information on the cosmology and divination project can be found at www.cosmology-divination.com
	ANNA WALDSTEIN, Ph.D. Anna is a medical anthropologist who studies self-medication with herbal medicines as a form of empowerment and/or resistance to biomedical hegemony. Her current research interests include self-medication with cannabis (arguably the world's most interesting herbal medicine), the ways therapeutic benefits of its use are defined, experienced and manipulated and the relationship between cannabis use and identity. She is also interested in the role of psychotropic substances in human evolution and biocultural constructions of addiction.
	CHARLOTTE WALSH. Charlotte Walsh was awarded her LLB and MPhil from Manchester University. She has lectured in law at the University of Leicester for thirteen years, at the intersection of criminal justice, drug policy and neuroscience. Her research focus is on psychedelics and the law, seen from a human rights perspective. She is a founder member of Drug Equality Alliance, an organisation that campaigns for equal rights and protection of all drug users. She also teaches a blend of Ashtanga, Iyengar and Sivananda yoga.