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BloombergBusinessweek July 29, 2019Gilmore,Doblin,andtherestoftheboardvotedtosetaside
mostoftheHaileybequestforPhaseIIItrials,whicharenow
testingwhetherMDMAis betterthanotherdrugsattreating
PTSD.Thosetrialsrequirelargenumbersofpatientsandtypi-
callycostexponentiallymorethanPhaseII trials.
In 2017 theFoodandDrugAdministrationapprovedMAPS’s
requesttomoveontoPhaseIIIMDMAresearchandgranted
thetreatmentbreakthroughtherapystatus,a designationthat
allowspromisingtreatmentsforseriousdiseasestomovemore
quicklythannormalthroughtheregulatoryprocess.If allgoes
well,Doblinsays,MDMAis ontracktobelegalizedformedic-
inaluseby2021.Butfirst,hehastopayforthosetrials,which
henowsayswillcostabout$34million.A
nirony thatcreateschallenges for pro-psychedelic
lobbyingatthepreeminenteventfortakingpsychedelics
is thatdruguseis officiallyforbiddenatBurningMan.Thefes-
tivaltakesplaceonfederalland,andagentsfromtheBureau
ofLandManagementroamtheplayabustinganyonewhocon-
sumesopenly.“We’renota drugculture,”saysBurningMan
ChiefExecutiveOfficerMarianGoodell,whosaystheeventis
aboutexperiencingartandformingrelationships.
SoDoblinwasdelightedwhenhearrivedatthefestivallast
summerandfoundthattheZendoProject—aMAPS-funded
nonprofitwitha staffofsevenwhosemissionistohelpthe
drug-curiousavoidbadtrips—wasmentionedonthefrontof
thefestival’sinformationpamphlet.Inpreviousyears,Zendo’s
facilitieshadbeenassignedtotheoutskirtsofBlackRockCity.
Butin 2018 it wasgranteda spotontheEsplanade,thefesti-
valarterythatrunsfromCenterCampandencirclestheMan,
thewoodeneffigythatburnsattheendoftheeventeachyear.
DoblinhadplannedtoflyinonBurnerExpress,a charter
airservicethatrunsfromRenotoa temporaryairstripatthe
festivalsite.Buthe’dmissedhisflightandhadtocatcha ride
onthefirstMondayofthefestivalwiththetwoBusinessweek
reportersintheirrentedminivan.Oncehearrived,heheaded
straighttohishomebasefortheweek:an
air-conditionedtentatFoamAgainstthe
Machine,a camprunbyhisfriendDavid
Bronner,thesoapmogul.
Bronner isaneasygoing eccentric,
a long-haired 46-year-old Southern
Californianprone tothesamesortof
stream-of-consciousnessramblingsthat
appearonthepseudo-mystical soap bot-
tles that Dr. Bronner’s sells. He said he
thinks of Doblin as Obi-Wan Kenobi, the
knight from the Star Wars movies who
holds Jedi powers, someone who’s “able
to work on the alliances and the connec-
tions” but can get tough when necessary.
“Sometimes you gotta litigate, man,” he
said. Bronner first bonded with Doblin in
the early 2000s over battles with the DEA,
when Bronner was fighting to legalizehemp,whichis usedinhissoap,andDoblinwasarguingin
favorofmedicalmarijuana.Bronner,who’spledged$5million
to MAPS over five years, sits on its board, along with Gilmore
and Joby Pritzker, of the Chicago hotelier family.
Bronner also sponsored Doblin’s visit to Burning Man, allow-
ing him to focus on cultivating donors. Many of Doblin’s back-
ers stay at the nearby Camp Om Skillet, where Doblin once
metDustinMoskovitz,MarkZuckerberg’sHarvardroommate
andoneofthefirstFacebookemployees.Moskovitzandhis
wife,CariTuna,havesincepromisedtogiveMAPS$2.5million.
“One of their friends donated, invited me to come visit with
them,” Doblin recalls. “That was lightning striking.” Om Skillet
is where he got the suggestion to connect with another early
Facebook employee, Justin Rosenstein, who became a donor.
Through Rosenstein, he became friendly with Joe Green, the
co-founder and former president of Zuckerberg’s political orga-
nization, FWD.us. In 2017, Green, who’s now president of the
nonprofit Psychedelic Science Funders Collaborative, camped
near Doblin at Foam Against the Machine. He now serves as
a sortofconsiglieretoDoblin,connectinghimwithsympa-
thetictechies.
Thesedonorsalldeclinedtocommentabouttheirsupport
for MAPS’s research. Some of them also complained to Doblin
about inviting the reporters to spend the week at the Foam
site. Right before the festival, Doblin, with a pained tone in his
voice, asked Businessweek to camp elsewhere. “We’ve got this
conservative element, surprising to say, at Burning Man and in
our community,” he offered by way of apology.
Donor names appear in MAPS financial documents, and
Doblinstronglydiscouragesanonymousdonationsonthe
groundsthatpartoftheorganization’smissionis todestigma-
tize the use of psychedelics. “It looks so fishy, these anony-
mous donations,” he says. But he makes exceptions if the
checks are big enough. Doblin collected a number of anon-
ymous donations from wealthy techies after giving a TED
Talk in April. Andinlate 2017 andearly2018,a mysterious
cryptocurrencymagnateknownasPine
gaveMAPS$5.2million in Bitcoin. In
an emailed interview with Forbes, Pine
said his use of ketamine to treat his bor-
derline personality disorder led him to
believe that MDMA could be highly effec-
tive against PTSD. “I’ve personally expe-
rienced an incredible benefit and know
it works,” he told the magazine.D
oblin started his search for Brin on
his second night on the playa, which
began with an early evening party at First
Camp, the home base for Burning Man’s
organizers and a popular spot for VIPs.
He parked his bike behind a makeshift
fence, then made his way to the entrance,
where a man in a top hat checked his
name against a list and waved him in. PHOTOGRAPH BY SAMANTHA CASOLARI FOR BLOOMBERG BUSINESSWEEKDoblin