William (Bill) Richards

William A. Richards (Bill), a psychologist in the Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research in Baltimore, has been implementing research studies with psilocybin within the psychiatry department of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine since 1999. He also is associated with the Program in Psychedelic Therapies and Research at the California Institute of Integral Studies and psychedelic research and with Sunstone Therapies at the Aquilino Cancer Center in Rockville Maryland. His graduate degrees include M.Div. (Yale), S.T.M. in the psychology of religion (Andover-Newton) and Ph.D. (Catholic University). He studied with Abraham Maslow at Brandeis University and with Hanscarl Leuner at Georg-August University in Göttingen, Germany, where his involvement with psychedelic research originated in 1963. From 1967 to 1977, he implemented projects of psychotherapy research with LSD, DPT, MDA and psilocybin at the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, including protocols designed to investigate the promise of psychedelics in the treatment of alcoholism, depression, narcotic addiction and the psychological distress associated with terminal cancer, and also their use in the training of religious and mental-health professionals. His recent research at Johns Hopkins has focused on the potential value of psilocybin in the continuing education of professional religious leaders from different world religions. His book, Sacred Knowledge: Psychedelics and Religious Experiences has been released by Columbia University Press, and now translated into six additional languages.