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Chacruna Institute for Psychedelic Plant Medicines

Tax deductible
The Chacruna Institute for Psychedelic Plant Medicines  is an organization dedicated to providing public education and cultural understanding about psychedelic plant medicines and creating a bridge between the ceremonial use of sacred plants and psychedelic science. We envision a world where plant medicines and other psychedelics are preserved, protected, and valued as part of our cultural identity and integrated into our social, legal and health care systems.


We are currently fundraising to support continued operations for the organization as a whole.


Marketing and operations support for the Psychedelic Liberty Summit

Since 2015, Chacruna has organized multiple conferences and events in Mexico and the US focused on equity in psychedelics, safe practice and other issues relevant to the psychedelics community. Next year, we are organizing our biggest conference in the United States yet, the Psychedelic Liberty Summit. We are raising money to support operations costs for promotion to reach a greater audience, and to be able to offer scholarships for underserved communities.


Continued operations of the Chacruna Institute for Psychedelic Plant Medicines

Chacruna is run by a dedicated team of volunteers. However, we still have operations expenses we need to cover to keep the lights on. We seek funding to pay for web hosting, administrative and webmaster support, social media fees, design costs and miscellaneous expenses related to running a business. Your contribution will help support accomplishments like these:

Our series Chacruna Chronicles  has published more than 100 educational articles, almost all original material, making academic knowledge more accessible to a general audience.

We formed the Ayahuasca Community Committee, including researchers and activists with deep experience in the field, and produced the Ayahuasca Community Guide for the Awareness of Sexual Abuse , aimed at raising awareness of this issue and safeguarding ceremonial participants. This Guide was translated into four languages and we disseminate it throughout the international ayahuasca community and locally in Peru and Brazil. We also launched the Legal Resources Companion to the Guidelines,  which offers ready, at-hand information detailing local government laws regarding sexual abuse, and provides an overview of centers and resources that are available in Brazil and Peru. Resources for other countries are being added. 

Our Ayahuasca Community Committee also launched the influential paper The Commodification of Ayahuasca: How Can we do Better? 

We formed the Racial Equality and Access Committee and the Women, Gender-Diversity, and Sexual Minorities Working Group , which aim to promote access, inclusion, and diversity by including the voices of women, queer people, indigenous peoples, people of color, and the global South in the field of psychedelic science. We have produced papers which can be considered ground zero manifestos on the topic, such as 10 Calls to Action: Toward an LGBTQ-Affirmative Psychedelic Therapy , and People of Color Making a Difference in Psychedelic Healing , add to this amazing line-up.



As a result of an organic collaboration between lawyers and researchers worried about the current state of affairs of psychedelics and drug policy in the US, the Council for the Protection of Sacred Plants emerged. We produced documentation of cases and arrests in the US , published a series of policy articles and the most comprehensive review about the process of applying to the DEA for religious exemption , and engaged in advocacy supporting different decriminalization initiatives throughout the country. 

We also pioneered several new series in the field: “Sex, Power and Psychedelics ,” “Queer, ” and “Psychedelics, Inclusion and Diversity. ”

In 2019, we partnered with the Psychedelic Society of San Francisco to create a Community Series on Psychedelics, Music, Integration, Policy and Culture . 

We embarked on a marvelous trip to West Texas to film The Peyote Files , a 3-part documentary web-series following the cactus expert and conservationist Dr. Martin Terry and his pioneering work to understand the threats faced by peyote and the urgent action needed to ensure its survival. The film was followed by the publication of the Peyote Harvesting Guidelines.

We created the Psychedelic Music Forum for psychedelic therapists and researchers, curated by a psychedelic researcher who is also a psychotherapist and musician. Our Spotify channel has started to become a reference for a new breed of psychedelic music geeks. 

We hosted 6 conferences , in two countries! All our conferences were posted for free online through our YouTube channel . 


Queering Psychedelics, ” the first conference by and for the LGBTQI community in psychedelics! It covered the historical relationship between the gay movement and psychedelics; indigenous perspectives on psychedelics, gender roles, and identity; how modern psychedelic research might address the unique needs and traumas of sexual and gender minorities; and the relationship between queerness and psychedelics. 

Sacred Plants Forum ” in Mexico City, including ethnography of traditional and contemporary uses of mushrooms and psychoactive plants; peyote legality, territory and conservation; controversies surrounding the Bufo alvarius toad; and the regulation of illegal plants and substances. 

Women and Psychedelics Forum ,”at CIIS, in San Francisco, promoting visibility of women in the psychedelic space.

Cultural and Political Perspectives in Psychedelic Science ” Both these conferences represented groundbreaking topics, sold out, had a huge impact, and generated welcomed heated public conversations.

Sacred Plants in the Americas, ” in Ajijic, Mexico, united 150 speakers for 3 days. The closing ceremony was carried out in a performative and almost ritualistic manner, with speeches given in indigenous languages, poetry, music, song, and profound political and emotional messages from the indigenous representatives who were present. This conference was entirely free.

Drugs, Politics and Culture: Perspectives Brazil- Mexico ” at the Center for Research and Post Graduate Studies in Social Anthropology (CIESAS Occidente), Guadalajara, Mexico, which produced the Guadalajara Declaration: The Time is Now .



Chacruna is committed to offering the best quality content by leading researchers, authors, activists and organizers in the field of psychedelics  For the last two decades, Chacruna team members and researchers have published dozens of academic books and peer review articles covering the most cutting-edge discussions on psychedelic plant medicines and healing, the challenges of ayahuasca globalization, drug policy and human rights, and the politics of psychedelic science. To help us continue our mission to curate critical conversations as psychedelics go mainstream, please donate to our fundraiser today! 


Donations are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.


The Chacruna Institute for Psychedelic Plant Medicines is incorporated as a California non-profit public benefit corporation. Chacruna.net operates a charitable project fiscally sponsored by Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), (Federal Tax ID: 59-2751953), a Section 501(c)(3) public charity.  In accordance with federal tax requirements, MAPS exercises discretion and control over all project funds. Please make your donations for the purposes of the project directly to MAPS.

Fundraising team: Chacruna Team (3)

Josh Meadow
Organizer
San Francisco, CA
MAPS
 
Registered nonprofit
Donations are typically 100% tax deductible in the US.
Isabel Santis
Team member
Rebekah Senanayake
Team member

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