First major center for psychedelic research opening in the U.S.
The launch of a new privately-funded research center dedicated to investigating the therapeutic benefits of psychedelic drugs was announced today at Johns Hopkins University.
The Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research will be dedicated to understanding how psychedelics alter consciousness, behavior and brain function. The bulk of the research will focus on psilocybin, the active ingredient in “magic” mushrooms, which has been demonstrated as a powerful tool to treat mental health afflictions.
The launch comes thanks to $17 million from private donors, including Tim Ferriss, an entrepreneur and podcaster, Matt Mullenweg, co-founder of WordPress and Blake Mycoskie, founder of the shoe company TOMS.
“The establishment of this center will build on our past research that’s demonstrated the therapeutic effects of psilocybin in people suffering from a range of challenging conditions,” said Roland Griffiths, the new center’s director and a professor of behavioral biology at JHM, at a press conference today. Griffiths, one of the country’s leading psychopharmacologists, has been conducting psilocybin studies for decades. He’s kept up a steady drumbeat of research that some view as pivotal for bringing psychedelic back to mainstream attention.
The center intends to study the use of psilocybin to treat a range of conditions, including opioid addiction, Alzheimer’s disease, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome (formerly known as chronic Lyme disease), and more. For example, Johns Hopkins researchers affiliated with the center are currently working on studies examining the use of psilocybin in treating anorexia and smoking cessation. The center will also explore psychedelic use in healthy individuals and microdosing, or taking very small amounts of psychoactive drugs to boost creativity. [Continue reading…]