Reflecting on PS2025: MAPS Psychedelic Science Conference

As we reflect on our incredible weekend in Denver, we feel uplifted, inspired, and energized for the future. Exhibiting with both of our organizations—our research and manufacturing hub, The Bunk Police, and our nonprofit organization, Transparency—felt like a rewarding, comprehensive showcase of everything we’ve achieved to get to this moment. This mission is often arduous—with countless legal and administrative hurdles, cultural misconceptions, knowledge gaps and stigmatization—in tandem with an enormous need for education, safety, and resources.

Sharing in conversation and connection with a number of industry trailblazers and harm reduction advocates felt like a much needed push, in a particular sociocultural moment where our path forward is anything but paved. We met a number of inspiring individuals and organizations who were truly interested in our initiatives, and believed in the importance of our mission. Simultaneously, we learned about how others are pushing the boundaries in their respective spaces, and what exciting advancements are coming into the recreational and therapeutic drug landscapes.

A First Look at Our New Test Kit — The Pen Test

One of the most exciting aspects of the weekend was the showcasing of our new test kit innovation, the Transparency Pen Test. Though we’ve teased this new kit in a variety of places, this was the first time we showcased our finished mockups, broke down how it works, explained the benefits it offers, and described its differences from current reagent test kits on the market. The community’s overwhelmingly positive reception gave us even more encouragement about the path our organization is taking, and where we’re putting our energy.

The Pen Test is over a decade in the making—taking the accuracy and familiarity of reagent test kits and designing one that’s easier to use, easier to store, and more accessible and affordable.

Pen Test Kit Features:

• Extended 3-year shelf life
• Heat-resistant, durable packaging
• Easily portable and discreet
• 10 mg measuring spoon
• Serrated edge to scrape pills
• Textured top to crush chunks
• Test tube with measuring lines to conduct fentanyl tests
• Reagent ampoules inside dropper bottle

Pen Test Kit Benefits

• Solves most test kits’ quick expiration issues
• Allows for testing while standing, in a crowd, or on-the-go
• More accessible, due to extended shelf life and the ability to store in most environments
• More affordable, due to our innovative design and reagent storage solution
• Self contained, with sample measuring and collection tools incorporated into the design

Supporting PS2025 with Harm Reduction Tools

To spread the word about harm reduction and support our psychedelic science community, we distributed hundreds of FentKits, SprayPacks, and a few larger reagent sets and harm reduction tools completely free of charge.

We wanted to bring SprayPack to a community that may not have seen it before, having countless conversations about the necessity of a safer administration tool. We discussed the benefits of having a regulated, consistent dosing mechanism that administers the milligram amount of your choice. We also described how a saline solution spray keeps your nasal cavities much more protected, and more hygienic overall.

While most people understand the necessity of fentanyl test strips, we were able to equip hundreds of people with strips and measuring tools, along with instructions that describe how much water to mix with their specific substance.

A few lucky winners also received our series of raffle prizes, where we gave out TLC Separation Kits with full reagents packs, QTest Purity Test Kits, Chromatic Reactions testing guides, Bunk Police merch, and more.

As always, we love being able to provide kits and tools to our community, along with the education necessary to understand when and how to use them. As our nonprofit organization, Transparency, continues to grow, we hope to be able to provide more kits completely free of charge to anyone who might need them.

Community Connections & Learning

One of the most rewarding parts of the conference was simply connecting with so many other bright minds in the space, and learning how others are approaching harm reduction and safer use education, psychedelic assisted therapy and integration work, and cultural navigation and acceptance in both therapeutic and recreational spaces.

We were able to sit in on a variety of enlightening lectures, from Hamilton Morris’s Ketamine Reality Check, to Paul Stamet’s How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World, to Alex & Allyson Grey’s Psychedelic Visionary Spaces. There were also a number of lectures focusing on emerging technologies and novel studies involving medicines, such as 5-MeO-DMT, ibogaine, MDMA, and psilocybin, for a variety of therapeutic and healing applications.

The conference also featured a number of voices from marginalized and indigenous communities, paying homage and raising questions about the roots of many of these medicines. Many of these speakers also highlighted the areas of lack and flattening of cultural understanding being replicated in psychedelic science spaces, speaking to the complex and ever-evolving conversation surrounding appropriation versus appreciation in this particular sociopolitical moment.

Witnessing all of the growth in this space, along with the trials and tribulations experienced from all angles, felt like valuable time spent in truly understanding the larger scope of the drug communities we serve outside of the festival space.

The Bunk Police x Transparency Moving Forward

We are honored to have been a part of this conference, and the wider conversation surrounding safety and risk reduction with drugs, along with the healing potentials and therapeutic benefits. We are excited to move into the next era of harm reduction, and continue contributing to what we think that should look like, and where our community needs us most.

We are humbled, grateful, and excited about the future of this space. We believe that our community is only getting more educated, more equipped, and more aware of safety surrounding drug use. Together, we can better protect ourselves, along with the generations yet to come.

Thank you for your incredible support and effort in making this cultural change. We could not be more excited for what’s yet to come.