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April 11, 2014
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Despite the fact that the U.S. government deems many
hallucinogenic or psychedelic substances to be dangerous, classifying
them as Schedule I drugs with “no currently accepted medical use,”
various scientists have dared to study their effects. What they’ve found
over the years paints a startling, promising and powerful picture of
potentially game-changing medicines.
The government’s
"war on drugs" policies severely limit research on psychedelics. Before
scientists can complete any federally sanctioned studies, they have to
jump through an expensive tangle of hoops and red tape. Restrictions
aside, over the years researchers have collected a database of research
showing that many psychedelics have an unprecedented potential to treat
cancers, addictions and psychological traumas, among other things.
Here are some of the coolest things scientists have discovered about psychedelics over the years.
1. LSD can mitigate end-of-life anxiety.
The
results of the first clinical study of the therapeutic use of LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide) in humans in more than 40 years were
published
in the peer-reviewed Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease in March.
They show that LSD can promote statistically significant reductions in
anxiety for people coming to terms with their own impending demise.
Swiss
psychiatrist Peter Gasser and his colleagues conducted the
double-blind, placebo-controlled study, sponsored by the non-profit
Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS). They
tracked 12 people who were near the end of life as they attended
LSD-assisted psychotherapy sessions. In
his report, Gasser concluded that the study subjects’ anxiety "went down and stayed down."
2. Psilocybin, aka magic mushrooms, actually calms, rather than stimulates, certain brain functions.
The
common conception is that psychedelics do something extra to cause
their effects—increase activity, add hallucinations, promote awareness,
etc. A
study
that examined brain scans of people under the influence of psilocybin
found that it reduces activity in certain areas of the brain. That
reduction of activity leads to the drug's effect on cognition and
memory. Psychedelics, and psilocybin in particular, might actually be
eliminating what could be called the extra "noise" in the brain.
3. The drug MDMA (aka ecstasy, orMolly)
promotes release of the hormone oxytocin, which could help treat severe
anxieties like PTSD and social anxiety resulting from autism.
Before
the federal government classified it as a Schedule I substance,
therapists experimented with MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxyrnethimphetarnine)
beginning in the 1970s to help reduce moderate depression and anxiety
among their adult patients. After widespread recreational use in the
rave scene caught the attention of authorities, MDMA was criminalized in
1985. However, research primarily supported by the MAPS has continued
to turn up positive results for the drug’s potential therapeutic use.
Various
clinical trials
and statistical research have confirmed that MDMA can successfully
treat post-traumatic stress in military veterans and others. One
example is the clinical trial led by Michael Mithoefer, which used MDMA-assisted psychotherapy to treat chronic PTSD.
A
2009 study offers a plausible explanation for MDMA’s effectiveness
treating PTSD. The double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study of
15 healthy individuals confirmed that MDMA causes the brain to release
oxytocin, which is the human hormone linked to feelings of love and
compassion.
MAPS recently received government approval to launch a
new study examining MDMA’s potential for treating social anxiety in autistic adults. Based on the known effects of
MDMA, as well as individual reports, this
exploratory study will focus on enhancing functional skills and quality of life in
autistic adults with
social anxiety.
4. Psilocybin could kill smoking addiction.
Psychiatry professor Matthew Johnson, who works at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, presented the preliminary
results
of a pilot feasibility study looking at the ability of psilocybin to
treat smoking addiction at the 2013 Psychedelic Science conference in
Oakland, Calif. For the study, five cigarette-addicted participants
underwent placebo-controlled psilocybin treatment with a psychiatrist.
All five completely quit smoking after their first psilocybin session.
At all followup visits, which occurred up to one year later for the
first four participants, it was biologically confirmed that the
participants had abstained from cigarettes.
5. Ayahuasca can treat drug addictionand possibly much more.
Ayahuasca
is a brew prepared with the Banisteriopsis caapi vine, originally used
for spiritual and healing purposes in the Peruvian Amazon rainforest.
The vine is usually mixed with leaves containing the psychedelic
compound DMT.
Gabor Mate, a medical doctor from Vancouver who is a prominent ayahuasca researcher,
contends
that therapy assisted by psychedelics, and ayahuasca in particular, can
untangle complex, unconscious psychological stresses. He claims these
stresses underlie and contribute to all chronic medical conditions, from
cancer and addiction to depression and multiple sclerosis.
The
results
of the first North American observational study on the safety and
long-term effectiveness of ayahuasca treatment for addiction and
dependence were published in June 2013 in the journal Current Drug Abuse
Reviews. All of the participants in the study reported positive and
lasting changes, and the study found statistically significant
improvements “for scales assessing hopefulness, empowerment,
mindfulness, and quality of life meaning and outlook subscales.
Self-reported alcohol, tobacco and cocaine use declined, although
cannabis and opiate use did not.” The reported reductions in problematic
cocaine use were also statistically significant.
6. DMT occurs naturally in the human body, and taking it could simulate death.
The drug
DMT
(diemethyltryptamine), which causes hallucinogenic experiences, is made
up of a chemical compound that already occurs within the human body
endogenously
(as well as in a number of plants). This means our brains are naturally
set up to process the drug because it has receptors that exist
specifically to do so. Cannabis is another illegal drug that occurs
endogenously.
Some
research
based on near-death experiences points to the fact that the brain
releases DMT during death. Some researchers have also conjectured that
DMT is released during other intense experiences, including orgasm.
April M. Short is an associate editor at AlterNet. Follow her on Twitter @AprilMShort.
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