ONE SINGLE DOSE OF PSILOCYBIN TREATS DEPRESSION FOR 6 MONTHS\
I’ve been following the topical thread of clinical applications of psilocybin for years. Quite a lot of years, actually. It got my attention as one of many psychedelics that the federal government not only proscribed legally, but also made sure to criminalize any scientific research of. To say it differently, all psychedelic drugs -natural or lab made- were high abuse risk drugs that had no safe medical use in America. But what got my attention was how there hadn’t ever been any real scientific research done on any of them to actually prove that. But now it’s been nearly a decade since the feds allowed medical research into psilocybin. And now we know something amazing: one, single dose can help treat depression for 6 months.
PSILOCYBIN WORKS FOR PEOPLE WHO GET NO HELP FROM MARKET ANTIDEPRESSANTS
Well, to be fair some people might need a whopping 2 doses for those improved 6 months of mental health. Compass Pathways, a British biotech company, made the stunning announcement on February 17th. The psilocybin treatment is called Comp360, and you can pick your metaphor for the mental health turnaround turn of phrase. But the news is stunning for several reasons, the least of which is that this treatment seems to work for people who can’t get help from antidepressants. It’s also derived from nature’s very own magic mushrooms, as in: natural. So what else is stunning? Psilocybin could have been helping treat depression for over half a century.
Related:
AMERICANS MIGHT, MAYBE, POSSIBLY GET PSILOCYBIN DEPRESSION TREATMENT NEXT YEAR
That’s right, psilocybin has been a Schedule 1 narcotic since 1970, when President Nixon signed the Controlled Substances Act into law. So what is the Comp360 timeline for America under President Trump? Nebulous, to say the least. The Trump administration vetoed an accelerated review of Comp360, and did that after the FDA placed it on the accelerated review list. The rest of the world’s depressed people may fare better, or at least get help faster. Worldwide, there are 100 million people with depression who don’t get the help they need from all current antidepressants. Americans might get access next year. If we’re lucky.
In the interim, I’m thinking some people might want to do some research into various mushroom teas.
