09-17-2023 GAR - Flipbook - Page 13
A Special Advertising Section of Baltimore Sun Media Group | Sunday, September 17, 2023 13
The Potential
Power of
Psychedelics
Research Looks at Benefits in
Treating PTSD, Addiction and More
By Gregory J. Alexander, Contributing Writer
T
hroughout history, psychedelics have been used for medicinal
purposes to treat various diseases
and conditions. However, the use of psychedelics fell out of political favor in the
1960s and 1970s. As LSD, which was
used to treat schizophrenia and other
mental disorders, grew in popularity with
the counterculture community and was
used recreationally, politicians designated many psychedelics under the category
of Schedule 1 under the Controlled Substances Act.
“The medicinal use of psychedelics has
essentially been dead for many decades,”
says Sandeep Nayak, M.D., assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins Medicine. Nayak says that classifying psychedelics as a
Schedule 1 drug presents several barriers
to researching potential medical benefits
of psychedelics.
In 2000, however, a group of Johns
Hopkins researchers was the first to obtain regulatory approval in the U.S. to
resume research with psychedelics in
healthy volunteers who had no previous
experience with psychedelics. In 2019, the
Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and
Consciousness Research was launched.
Photo above: Dr Sandeep Nayak
Nayak credits Roland Griffiths, Ph.D.,
professor of behavioral biology in the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and the department of neuroscience
at the Johns Hopkins University School of
Medicine, and director of the Center for
Psychedelic and Consciousness Research,
as an important leader in the research of
medicinal uses of psychedelics.
“Roland is a well-regarded, well established, serious scientist who had an institution like Johns Hopkins that was willing to support his bold research, which
is why Hopkins has been a leader in the
field for decades,” Nayak says.
The Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research is primarily focused
on psilocybin, a naturally occurring psychedelic compound found in “magic
mushrooms,” which can penetrate the
central nervous system and potentially be
used as a therapeutic for mental illnesses.
According to a release by Johns Hopkins,
in “a small study of adults with major
depression, Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers report that two doses of the
psychedelic substance psilocybin, given
with supportive psychotherapy, produced
rapid and large reductions in depressive
symptoms, with most participants show-
ing improvement and half of study participants achieving remission through the
four-week follow-up.”
“Unlike LSD, which has a lot of historical political baggage, psilocybin does not
have the same negative perception. Also,
the effects of LSD last for 12 hours, which
makes it difficult to administer to patients
and study its effects in a typical workday.
Psilocybin does not last nearly as long,”
Nayak says. He adds that other psychedelic drugs that are worth researching will
also be studied at the center.
“Clinical trials will study such issues
as the effects of psilocybin on the brain,
potential dangers and any spiritual experiences patients experience,” he says.
The use of some psychedelics in health
care has even resulted in a rare show of
bipartisanship on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. Progressive Rep. Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and conservative
Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX), a former
Navy Seal, have teamed up in hopes of
letting veterans take psychedelic drugs to
recover from some of the effects of war,
such as post-traumatic stress disorder
(PTSD).
Additionally, according to a press release dated March 8, 2023, from U.S. Sen-
ator Cory Booker (D-N.J.), he and conservative U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY)
“introduced an updated version of the
Breakthrough Therapies Act. This legislation will remove regulatory hurdles that
inhibit research and compassionate use
access to potentially lifesaving treatments
that are heavily restricted by Schedule I of
the Controlled Substances Act.
“In recent years, two substances currently classified as Schedule I drugs –
MDMA and psilocybin – have shown exceptional promise in treating an array of
mental health conditions, including treatment-resistant suicidal depression, anxiety, PTSD, and substance use disorders.
The initial research has been so promising
that the FDA has designated MDMA- and
psilocybin-assisted therapies as ‘breakthrough therapies,’ meaning that they
demonstrate substantial improvement
over any currently available treatments.
“However, due to the Schedule I status
of MDMA and psilocybin, unnecessary
red tape hinders critical research and access to treatment even for patients with
terminal or life-threatening conditions.
The Breakthrough Therapies Act would
resolve these problems by expediting the
Power of Psychedelics
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