Psilocybin, a molecule found in hallucinogenic mushrooms, is beginning to make its way to the United States in 2023. On January 2nd, the Oregon (West) government received applications from a fledgling industry associated with psychedelic therapies. The state became the first to legalize the chemical in 2020, allowing anyone over the age of 21 to consume the mushrooms under supervision at a special center. The ordinance does not yet permit wholesale or recreational use. After two years of testing and developing a program, the State Psilocybin Services Office has started its first paperwork. The first licenses for these centers will be issued shortly. More than 4,000 patients have expressed interest in the drug’s properties for treating addiction, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, bipolar disorder and chronic pain, among other diseases.
The substance, found in several species of mushrooms and inducing vivid hallucinations, has embarked on the same journey that marijuana began in 1996 when it was legalized for medical use in California. Both weed and psilocybin remain illegal in the United States, but that hasn’t stopped states and cities from decriminalizing them, following Canada’s example. Last November, Coloradans voted to legalize the drug, which will be available to everyone ages 21 and older by 2024. Colorado was the first state to legalize recreational marijuana.
This advance is part of a global trend that has been reviving research on psychedelic substances for about five years, which had been abandoned in the 1970s as part of the US-led crusade against drugs. There are many studies underway with very promising results to treat mental illness in particular, although at the moment the evidence is not robust enough to use it as a drug in most cases.
Natural Medicine Colorado was the organization that initiated the collection of signatures to conduct the state’s referendum. Among the group’s supporters is Kevin Matthews, a former military man who studied at West Point’s prestigious military academy and was one of the key activists fighting to have Denver become the first city in the country to decriminalize the chemical. Veterans have since become allies of psychedelic mushroom therapies after seeing some of its benefits.
“Psilocybin therapy helped me when nothing else worked for me,” says Luke R. Gruber, a soldier who fought with the Marine Corps in Afghanistan, but when he returned home he began dealing with mental health issues problems: depression, anger and post-traumatic stress disorder. He also had suicidal thoughts. In fact, he learned of the case of some Colorado soldiers who ended up taking their own lives. “I could be one of them,” he admitted in a testimonial for Natural Medicine. The pills, which contain tiny traces of fungus, helped him “break the cycle of pain and negative thoughts.”
Currently, the FDA, the regulatory agency responsible for approving drug and food consumption, does not believe that psilocybin has the properties of a drug. “This substance along with MDMA [una droga conocida como éxtasis], are in the third phase of FDA clinical trials. We will continue to fight so that all veterans and ex-military members have access to this life-changing treatment,” said Juliana Mercer, an ex-Marine who has chaired the Heroic Hearts Project since 2019, in an E -Mail from San Diego. an organization that promotes the use of these therapies among soldiers.
In California, the largest market for drugs in the United States, all herbal psychedelics such as psilocybin and DMT, the active ingredient in ayahuasca, could be decriminalized. Local Senator Scott Wiener, a progressive from San Francisco, has tabled a bill to be considered in the state congressional session. The norm will face fierce opposition because a little over four months ago, a similar proposal was met with opposition from the police, Republicans and the most conservative Democrats.
“These drugs save lives and are included in promising treatments,” Wiener said when presenting his law. Some cities in the entity, such as San Francisco, Santa Cruz, and Oakland, have already decriminalized natural psychedelics. Seattle, the largest city in the state of Washington, also managed to remove these substances from the ban list in 2022. To the east it was conducted by Ann Arbor in Michigan.
In May 2022, Samhsa, the government agency responsible for combating addiction, responded to a congresswoman requesting information from the Joe Biden Administration on the use of MDMA and psilocybin in the treatment of post-traumatic stress and depression, respectively. The response from Pennsylvania Representative Madeleine Dean, Democrat, indicated that the government is preparing to set up a task force that will monitor the collapse in these treatments. These teams have already started in states like conservative Texas and Utah, where they’ve invested in investigating medical evidence. Maryland has also pledged a $1 million grant to encourage research in this area.
“Samhsa agrees that too many Americans are suffering from nervous breakdowns and substance abuse (…) so the potential for psychedelic-assisted occupational therapies to address this crisis should be explored,” the document said, on behalf of Health Minister Xavier Becerra. Researchers have expressed confidence that FDA approval will come within the next two years. The regulator last year approved the University of California, Berkeley, a pioneer in research into psychedelic substances, to conduct trials of these drugs.
fungal therapies
The supposed benefits of fungal therapies have multiplied in recent years. Last summer, the Journal of the American Medical Association published the results of a study of 93 people with alcohol problems. One group of patients took pills containing 25 milligrams of psilocybin and the other a placebo. After ingesting the capsules, participants were blindfolded, asked to lie down in a chair, and music was played through headphones. There were 12 sessions in total, supplemented with traditional therapy.
The results show that those who took the capsules containing the mushroom ingredient were able to reduce their alcohol consumption “robustly and sustainably” eight months after first taking the drug. The study’s author, Michael Bogenshcutz, a physician in the Department of Psychiatry at New York University, said nearly half of those who took the psychiatric drug stopped taking it. In the control group, the number was lower at 24%, mainly motivated by talk therapy.
A psilocybin therapy assistant takes notes in a notebook during a training class in Portland in December 2022. AMANDA LUCIER / New York Times / ContactPhoto
Bogenschutz assumes that the active ingredient improves neuronal connections, at least temporarily. “More parts of the brain are talking to other parts of the brain,” the doctor said. No new drug has been approved to treat alcoholism in more than 20 years, and only three drugs are known to reduce alcohol dependence.
Similar studies have shown positive results in the treatment of depression. Doctors offered psilocybin capsules to 233 adults in North America and Europe. The results, published in the New England Medical Journal, showed that the higher the dose, the better the results. After the first three weeks of sessions of between six and eight hours, 37% of the patients on the higher doses had an improvement in their symptoms. However, the result did not show any lasting effect as after three months some of the problems returned. Those behind the study, including Compass Pathways, a London-based public company looking to develop psilocybin for commercial use, have announced they will conduct a large-scale study.