WHAT A TRIP:
RICK DOBLIN’S UNLIKELY JOURNEY TO LEGALIZE PSYCHEDELICS
WHAT A TRIP follows the colorful life and work of Dr. Rick Doblin, pioneer of modern psychedelic psychotherapy research, as he attempts to realize a 50 year dream: to see MDMA legalized for therapeutic use.
DREAMS OF THE PSYCHEDELIC PSYCHOTHERAPIST
A shy young man, Rick first tried psychedelics at New College of Florida when he was 18, and then dropped out of school, telling his parents that he wanted to become a “psychedelic psychotherapist.” His friends and family thought he was joking, but Rick was determined.
In 1982, Rick tried MDMA (then legal and known as ADAM) for the first time, and felt the drug had potential as a tool in psychotherapy; MDMA could increase empathy and self-reflection and lower the brain’s fear of difficult emotions. But in 1985, MDMA was criminalized — a result of dubious research and scare tactics in response to increasing use of MDMA as a club drug known as Ecstasy or Molly.
If Rick wanted to realize his dream of becoming a psychedelic psychotherapist, he was going to have to change the law. But first, he would have to change himself. Rick went from a college dropout (raising a wolf) to a Harvard Kennedy grad who wrote his PhD on how to take psychedelics through the FDA drug approval process.
MAPS & FDA APPROVAL
Fifty years later, Rick is on the verge of realizing his life’s work. His organization, Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, or MAPS, has raised over 200 million dollars in funding from across the political spectrum and completed FDA clinical trials of MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD.
MAPS is poised to bring MDMA treatments to market and train a new generation of psychedelic practitioners as soon as they win FDA approval — which could happen before the end of 2024.
Even in their wildest dreams, it would’ve been hard for Doblin and his ragtag team of Burning Man attendees, renegade journalists, and psychedelic enthusiasts to anticipate this kind of result. But there are as many new challenges as there are opportunities.
How do they maintain their non-profit values as MAPS works to commercialize prescription psychedelics? How do they push for drug-policy reform while simultaneously bringing a new drug to market? And how does Rick — a man who’s long believed in doing things his own way — navigate a labyrinthian system of bureaucracy to realize his life’s work?
Ultimately, through the story of Rick and his team as they attempt to shift culture, WHAT A TRIP will offer a roadmap of how to dream big and make change in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds, and a candid portrait of an unconventional world changer.
MEET OUR TEAM OF STORYTELLERS
NIRVAN MULLICK - DIRECTOR, PRODUCER
Nirvan Mullick is an award-winning filmmaker working at the intersection of storytelling and social impact. Nirvan has created viral films and campaigns, from the short documentary “Caine’s Arcade” and Imagination.org to the UN Foundation’s #EarthToParis campaign. Nirvan’s work has been featured in The New York Times, The New Yorker, NBC, ABC, CBS, Christian Science Monitor, as well as the Museum of Modern Art’s permanent collection. He regularly speaks about creativity and storytelling to companies and non-profits worldwide. Nirvan received an MFA in Experimental Animation from CalArts and a BA in Philosophy and Fine Arts from New College in Sarasota, Florida — the same New College where Rick Doblin went to college in the 1970s and first experimented with psychedelics.
DREAM MULLICK - PRODUCER
Dream Mullick is a producer, writer, entrepreneur, avid dreamer, and teacher. She worked as the Director of Development and Partnerships on the UN Foundation’s #EarthToParis Campaign, helping to build a broad coalition of partners from Facebook to 350.org, and has been producing commercial work, branded content, and social impact campaigns with Interconnected Media since 2014. Dream holds a BA in Business from University of Mexico. Dream co-produced and co-hosted the 2019 Psychedelic Integration gathering at Esalen which brought together speakers including Rick Doblin, Paul Stamets, Michael Pollan, Dr. Judie Holland, and Gaye Dillingham to explore how psychedelics can integrate into mainstream culture in positive ways.
JEFFREY SCHNEIDER - CINEMATOGRAPHER
Jeffrey Schneider is a Los Angeles-based Director of Photography with over 15 years of experience filming documentaries, television shows, commercials, and feature films. His work has appeared on Showtime, ESPN, MTV, the History Channel, as well as at festivals including Sundance, Tribeca, South by Southwest, Berlin, and Seattle International Film Festival. Commercially he has worked with brands including Google, Dior, Nike, Microsoft, and Canon. Jeffrey has a BA in Film and Digital Media from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and studied Documentary Filmmaking at the San Francisco Art Institute.
ORA DEKORNFELD - EDITOR
Ora DeKornfeld is an Emmy-award winning journalist, filmmaker and editor based in Los Angeles and Mexico City. Ora directed, produced, filmed, and edited the award-winning, Emmy-nominated short “USA vs. Scott” (Tribeca 2020, The New Yorker). Her work has been showcased in the Los Angeles Times, The New Yorker, CNN, Netflix, National Geographic, The Atlantic, and Vox's EXPLAINED on Netflix, among others. She is a regular contributor to the New York Times, where her work has been nominated for four News and Documentary Emmys. In 2019, she won in the "Outstanding Editing: News" category. She was an integral part of the creative team both as a cinematographer and editor on the feature documentary film MIJA, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2022, was nominated for IDA and Independent Spirit Awards, and was acquired by Disney+.