Category Archives: Psychedelics

GLASGOW, SCOTLAND- OCTOBER 19: Slot machines are seen in an amusement arcade following the ... [+] announcement of the newly proposed gambling bill which will effect casinos and amusement arcades across the UK, October 19, 2004 in Glasgow, Scotland. The new law if approved by the government will allow casinos with over 1,250 slot machines unlimted jackpots, currently Britain has 126 casinos with slot machine winnings being limited to GBP2,000. (Photo by Christopher Furlong /Getty Images) *** Local Caption ***

Statistics from the North American Foundation for Gambling Addiction and Help estimate that more than 2.6% of Americans struggle with some form of gambling abuse, and many opponents of the expanding sports betting marketplace argue that few measures have been put in place to aid the more than 10 million people battling this addiction.

The overturn of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) the US federal government awarded individual states with the ability to legalize and regulate sports betting in their respective jurisdictions. In doing so, each state has also been given the responsibility to establish clear methods to both prevent, identify, and offer help to those labeled as problem gamblers.

Many sportsbook operators give customers the ability to pause their accounts and to establish self imposed limits, but outside of support groups and dial-in hotlines, few true solutions exist to aid those looking for help.

New research is currently being conducted by a prominent biotech company to explore ketamine as a potential remedy for compulsive behaviors and more specifically gambling addiction.

Awakn Life Sciences has brought on the expertise of Dr. David Nutt, psychiatrist and Edmund J. Safra Professor of Neuropsychopharmacology in the Division of Brain Science, Dept of Medicine, Imperial College London. In doing so, the Awakn team has announced their plans to conduct the first clinical examination of ketamine and gambling addictions.

As a psychopharmacologist, Dr. Nutt has made it his lifes work to study the effects of drugs on the brain. Over the last 15 years I've started studying psychedelics, opens Dr. Nutt, largely because very few people were and I thought it was something someone had to do.

While on this 15-year journey, Dr. Nutt found it particularly interesting that little had been done to advance the research conducted more than a half century ago focused on psychedelics and their impact on brain disorders.

It turned out that studying psychedelics opened up a whole new set of possibilities for treating mental disorders that I hadn't thought of before, partly because I didn't know the literature. It's only now that I've gone back to the 1950s and 60s and discovered there was quite a lot of interest then in treating addiction, particularly alcoholism with psychedelics, then.

Much like gambling, psychedelics cary many unfair social stigmatism, with the act of sports betting just recently making the leap from a taboo, degenerative behavior to a socially acceptable one over the last three years.

Where one could easily argue that the pandemic expedited the spread of sports betting regulation and its public acceptance, the increased emphasis on mental health has also thrust the psychedelic therapeutics industry back into the spotlight. Unbeknownst to many, the two industries might be more connected than one might think.

Our modern imaging work showed that psychedelics disrupt a circuit in the brain that seems to be overactive in conditions like depression. And it's also overactive in conditions where, and probably any condition where people get over engaged in thinking about a single thought.

So in depression, continues Dr. Nutt, depressed people are thinking about mistakes they've made. They're thinking about having low self esteem, etc. And of course, in addiction, people are thinking about the next chance they get to drink or to shoot up or to gamble.

Those in Dr. Nutts field of study often use the term internalizing disorders when labeling this kind of thought process. As he dove deeper, Dr. Nutt had the revelation that the processes of disrupting internal thinking and depression could potentially disrupt the internal thinking in addiction as well.

Dr. Nutt acknowledges that he was not the first to come to this conclusion, referencing the Bogenschutz study in New Mexicos look into alcoholism, and the ongoing clinical trials at Johns Hopkins targeting psychedelics therapeutics for smoking cessation.

So now we've got the neuroscience of psychedelics and some clinical data. Why not bring them together?

The opportunity to make this connection came when Awakn Life Sciences extended Dr. Nutt an offer to join as the groups Chief Research Officer, granting him access to the funding necessary to conduct this research.

Awakn has focused most of its research on the battle against addiction, and gambling addiction presented itself as a prime candidate for the studys efforts. Similarly to the research being conducted at Johns Hopkins for smoking cessation, gambling addiction is viewed as more of a raw addiction that has less outside influences condemning or reinforcing the compulsive action.

We've been studying gambling on the grounds that it's an addiction that isn't confounded by drug use, added Dr. Nutt, suggesting that other chemical dependencies often come with a wide variety of variables that potentially disrupt scientific findings. These substances also produce an obvious biological reaction in the human brain.

Gambling addiction can be difficult to detect, as the problem bettor can often maintain a relatively normal lifestyle. Alcoholics and opiate addicts, for comparison, regularly see their substance dependency impact their personal and professional lives, creating outside stressors and factors that can skew a studys results.

When asked why Awakn had chosen ketamine as the leading candidate, Dr. Nutt points to the most obvious of reasons; Its legal.

Ketamine has long been used as an anesthetic, and the psychoactive chemical is often administered to relieve pain and even induce the loss of consciousness. Given its wide acceptance in the medical community, ketamine was an obvious choice for the study given that it can be both prescribed and put into practice right away.

Ketamine is basically an easily accessible, inexpensive, sort of psychedelic, adds Dr. Nutt. But while it may not be as powerful as psychedelics as drugs like psilocybin or DMT, it's psychedelic enough. It definitely disrupts brain function during the trip, and it seems to be just enough in terms of alcoholism to allow people to recover. So maybe what we can do with setting up this trial is to see if it produces the same disruption in people who are gambling compulsively.

Ketamine is already widely used in the United States to treat depression, but Awakn is seeking to construct a manualized approach to incorporate the chemical into a three-dose psychotherapeutic regimen.

This revolutionary study hopes to provide substantiated evidence and data that supports an abstinence based psychotherapy process using ketamine to curb, and even eliminate these compulsive brain patterns.

What we're hoping is that we can develop and prove that a systematic form of administration and psychotherapy is effective, wed be able to license that as an indicator as a mode of treatment without necessarily having to license the medicine.

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Defeating Gambling Addiction: New Study Looks To Defy The Odds With Psychedelics - Forbes

The risk for abuse exists in every possible therapeutic setting, from a comfortable office to a ... [+] colorful underground ceremonybut the stakes are considerably higher when a client is under the influence of a psychedelic.

Psychedelic therapy is everywhere: on the covers ofmagazinesandnewspapers, the subject of recentbest-selling books, inTV showsanddocumentaries, and in the pitch decks and business plans of dozens of public companies keen to hawk it as the solution to the worlds mental health woes.

If youre in the echo chamber, it can be easy to get lost in the noise.

There is no doubt that psychedelic therapy can have a profound impact on individuals suffering from mental health issues like depression and PTSD, but while research on the subject has never been so eagerly pursued, its not a panacea, and it doesnt come without risks.

One of the risks currentlybeing discussed more openlywithin the psychedelic community is therapy abuse, afterallegationsof sexual misconduct were recently brought against Aharon Grossbard and Francoise Bourzat in an essay inMad In America.

[Psychedelic] therapyabuseincluding therapists and doctors having sex with clientshas a history that reaches back to the early days of LSD, but you wouldnt know that reading [Michael] Pollans account or listening to todays psychedelic proselytizer, writes Will Hall, therapist and therapy abuse survivor in the piece.

To be clear, the risk for abuse, whether mental, verbal, physical, or sexual, exists in every possible therapeutic setting, from a comfortable office to a colorful underground ceremonybut the stakes are considerably higher when a client is under the influence of a psychedelic.

Even where mistreatment doesnt include sexual contact, harm from emotional betrayal can be just as devastating, writes Hall, who was contacted for this piece but didnt provide a comment.

Therapists have an enormous special duty to protect their clients from that betrayal, he writes. When you add psychedelics, the risks only get magnified.

How safe will a client feel in the hands of a therapist, guide, or shaman when theyre opened up by a powerful psychedelic drug, especially if they are navigating intense trauma? The answer to that question will determine whether they leave the session feeling better or worse than when they arrived.

Psychedelics can be, literally, incapacitating, says Dr. Clancy Cavnar, a clinical psychologist and co-founder at the non-profitChacruna Institute. This means that the therapist must take full responsibility for how the session proceeds, as the client is too intoxicated to make rational choices.

For people who have been traumatized by authority figures, being highly dependent on an authority figure during psychedelic therapy could be frightening, and potentially re-traumatizing, she says.

If a therapist is aware and caring, these issues can be mitigated, clarifies Cavnar, but for therapists with unexplored shadows and no supervising body to sanction them, the power differential could lead to an abusive relationship.

The outcome could be devastating for the client: They may cease their quest to heal if they are abused in the healing domain. They may be frightened away from plant medicines or other healing modalities because they are associated with the abuser. They may suffer PTSD from the treatment they received, necessitating healing on top of their original complaint.

While Cavnar says its impossible to say how common psychedelic therapy abuse is, survey data self-reported by therapists suggestsnine to 12 percentof mental health professionals have had sexual contact with their patients, however data on the subjectis scarce, and estimates vary. That number does not account for abuse that might take place in underground psychedelic communities and groups, where one cant exactly file a complaint.

Due to high levels of shame and guilt, victims dont come forward, says Bia Labate, PhD, co-founder, and executive director at Chacruna and the public education and culture specialist for the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS).

Labate says there are several misconceptions about psychedelic therapy, including the idea that a licensed practitioner is less likely to commit abuse because they hold a license.

Its also an illusion to think that that abuse is something that is related only to medicalization and corporatization of psychedelics, and that it does not happen among Indigenous people and in traditional contexts.

While its hard to measure these things, Labate says 25 years of fieldwork and anecdotal evidence obtained by Chacruna on ayahuasca ceremonies shows that sexual misconduct is pretty prevalent in those settings.

Another misconception about psychedelic therapy, according to Cavnar, is that abusive behavior would be reported and dealt with accordingly in such a woke community. That, she says, is rarely the case.

In an emerging industry trying to avoid negative press, the open discussion of an issue like abuse is seen as a potential threat to the advancement of approved psychedelic medicine, and could potentially bring legal attention and repression to underground communities.

Fear aside, the psychedelic community needs to be aware of bad actors and use its own informal system to get the word out about providers who are abusive, says Cavnar.

Since Halls essay has been published, some members of the psychedelic community have responded with statements, includingMAPS, theCenter for Consciousness Medicine, andDr. Phil Wolfsonof the Ketamine Research Foundation. Anopen lettercalling for added measures to prevent harm and abuse within psychedelic communities was also published and is signed by more than 200 therapists and practitioners.

Independent of how abuse occurs in the psychedelic community, Labate says its important to consider each case while doing everything to protect victims and survivors"and, of course, do all we can to prevent such abuse from happening in the first place.

MAPS has published a code of ethics for psychedelic psychotherapy, while Chacruna offers several resources on the subject, including a guide to raising awareness aroundsexual abuse in ayahuasca circles, as well aslegal resourcesfor victims and survivors. Labate says it has operated as an informal hub for complaints and support for victims, but the organization is not really well structured this way.

We think that raising the conversations around these topics is fundamental, and we must collectively address it andengage in discussions to identify how cultural mechanisms can be developed, she says.

We must find a way to foremost tend to the needs of survivors, and when appropriate and possible, offer pathways of repair for repentant abusers who are reformed and wish to return to the community. Knowing where that balance is, is the million-dollar question.

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Psychedelic Therapy Is Hyped, But Its Not Risk-Free: How Therapy Abuse Can Retraumatize Clients - Forbes

Shares from psychedelics unicorn Compass Pathways (NASDAQ:CMPS) are soaring inanticipation of the data being created bythe companys phase 2 trial with the psychedelic psilocybin.

Adding to the excitement, Compassannounced on Wednesday the launch of a new program using the hallucinogenic compound in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder.

Psilocybin is the active molecule in so-called magic mushrooms. Compass is currently in the final stages of a phase 2 trial with the molecule for treatment-resistant depression.

Compass is expected to release data from its depression study in the coming weeks. Anticipation for the announcement has led the companys stock to rise 13% in the last 5 days and 50% in the last month, with a current price of $45.3.

With this new announcement, the company is taking its proprietary version of synthetic psilocybin, called COMP360, to 20 patients in a safety and tolerability study of psilocybin therapy for people who suffer from PTSD resulting from trauma experienced as adults.

The study will begin at The Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience at Kings College London. Participants will receive a single 25mg dose of COMP360, given in conjunction with specialist psychological support.

The primary endpoint of the study is to assess the safety of COMP360 psilocybin therapy. Secondary endpoints will measure efficacy in improving PTSD symptoms, functionality, and quality of life, noted acompany press release.

Post-traumatic stress disorder is the main indication behind MAPS phase 3 trial using MDMA (or ecstasy) in combination with talk therapy. The program is universally expected to become the first FDA-approved psychedelic protocol by late 2022 or early 2023.

George Goldsmith, Compass CEO and co-founder, said the company is pleased to be able to expand the development of COMP360 into the indication of PTSD.

Benzinga Photo.

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This Psychedelics Unicorn's Stock Is Up 50% In One MonthBeating Bitcoin, Ethereum And Dogecoin - Benzing - Benzinga

Psychedelics have picked up more and more momentum on Wall Street, with famed investors such as Kevin OLeary and Peter Thiel recognizing the potential in the psych drug industry.

Psychedelic drugs, such as psilocybin mushrooms and LSD, were once seen merely as a way for college students and concert goers to escape reality or at least enhance it. Now, these drugs are being heavily considered by doctors throughout the world as a way to treat various mental illnesses and other health problems.

Throughout the last five trading days, Atai Life Sciences (NASDAQ: ATAI), has skyrocketed, outperforming big names such as Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA), NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA) and GameStop Corp (NYSE: GME).

Heres how the returns break down throughout the last five trading days:

What Does Atai Do?

Atai Life Sciences is a pre-clinical biotech companyfocused on treating

various mental illnesses and disorders using psychedelic drugs. The company has drugs in its pipeline to cure or alleviate the effects of treatment-resistant depression, schizophrenia and more.

Atai is using psilocybin, ketamine, MDMA and other similar drugs to attack these mental illnesses. Thiel, a major investor in Atai, has invested$12 million through his VC firm, Thiel Capital.

Photo Courtesy of Unsplash

2021 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

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This Psychedelics Stock Was Up More Than 20% Last Week, Outperforming Tesla, Nvidia and GameStop - Benzinga

Winston & Strawn associate Brett Waters has a lot more than just Biglaw on his plate these days. The antitrust associate has launched a nonprofit Reason for Hope to advocate for the legalization of psychedelic-assisted therapy in the United States.

The advocacy is personal for Waters he lost both his grandfather and mother to suicide. Since those experiences, he began working with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and he learned about research suggesting psychedelic-assisted therapy can make a difference for folks experiencing trauma-related suicidal ideation and treatment-resistant depression. Waters told Law.com these treatments can facilitate real meaningful healing and the sort of healing that traditional therapy struggles to provide. I believe theres a huge potential for effectiveness for people who feel isolated and a lack of connectivity.

And its something he wishes were available for his mother:

If I had made this connection sooner, theres no doubt Id have taken my mom out of the country or found of a way of doing it legally.I didnt make that connection early enough; now I have a pretty serious level of regret, he said. Until I get this done, get this changed and get everyone access, Im going to continue to punish myself.

But those treatments are not available in this country, hence the need for the Reason for Hopes legal advocacy. But before Waters began the work, he ran it by Winston & Strawn, in was he characterizes as one of the more nerve-wracking emails, but the firm was happy to support him:

Winston & Strawn has a long and proud history of supporting public interest endeavors both on a firmwide basis and by encouraging our attorneys to pursue individual matters, a spokeswoman for the firm said. We support Mr. Waters efforts to promote research aimed at helping veterans and others suffering from mental health challenges.

Seems like Winston & Strawn is stepping up to support the mental health efforts of its attorneys.

Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email herwith any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

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Biglaw Associate Is Advocating For Therapeutic Use Of Psychedelics And The Firm Is Backing Him Up - Above the Law

Easthampton is now the fourthcity in Massachusetts to vote to decriminalize the possession and use of psychedelic plants.

Seven city councilors voted in favor of a resolution on the issue Wednesday night, and two abstained.

Psychedelic substances like psilocybin mushrooms are stillillegal under federal law.

But, arresting people for growing, possessing or using them is now "among the lowest law enforcement priorities" for Easthampton police.

The resolution does not authorize the commercial sale of psychedelics.

Councilor Owen Zaret, who co-sponsored the measure, said he expects more communities to follow suit.

"I do really hope that what I see to be happening and that Easthampton I think is really lucky to be on the cutting edge of is that this whole topic, this is the start of a movement," he said.

"These medicines are saving our neighbors from addiction and suicide," said James Davis, lead volunteer of the advocacy group Bay Staters for Natural Medicine. "If cigarettes and alcohol are sold at every corner store, then we should be allowed to produce and use these medicines to heal ourselves."

Somerville, Cambridge and Northampton have passed similar measures.

A request for comment from the Northwestern District Attorney's office, which prosecutes drug cases in Easthampton, was not immediately returned.

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Easthampton is the fourth city in Mass. to vote to decriminalize psychedelics - WBUR

In recent years, a promising and exciting research avenue has been the potential of psychedelics to provide some unexpected health benefits. Now, researchers might have a new lead in the cardiovascular department.

Magic mushrooms have been deemed a 'breakthrough therapy' for treating depression, LSD has emerged as a possible new way to reduce our perception of pain, and MDMA-assisted therapy could soon become a legal way to treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the United States.

It's still early days, but the findings are so promising, scientists have begun to expand the scope of their research.

An emerging hypothesis suggests classic psychedelics, like DMT, ayahuasca, LSD, mescaline, peyote, or psilocybin, could have a positive impact on heart health that is remarkably long-lasting.

In early 2021, an analysis of the United States National Survey on Drug Use and Health found those who had tried a psychedelic at least once in their life had higher odds of greater self-reported overall health and lower odds of being overweight. What's more, these respondents had lower odds of having a heart condition, like high blood pressure, in the past year.

The association prompted researchers to dig further. Using data from the same national survey between 2005 and 2014, the authors once again found those who had tried psychedelics at least once in their life had lower odds of heart disease and lower odds of diabetes in the previous year.

This was true even when researchers controlled for age, gender, marital status, race, household income, level of education, engagement in risky behavior, and other drug use.

It's an interesting correlation, but there are still other confounding factors that might not have been taken into account. And we still don't know whether it's the psychedelic use specifically that is impacting positive heart health, or the other way around.

"The direction of causality remains unknown," Otto Simonsson from the University of Oxford told PsyPost.

"Future trials with double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled designs are needed to establish whether classic psychedelic use may reduce the risk of cardiometabolic diseases and, if so, through which mechanisms."

Clearly, we still have a lot of questions left to answer, but there are real reasons to suspect psychedelics can have an impact on heart health as well as brain health.

First of all, depression, anxiety and other mental health issues are closely tied to cardiovascular health, which means psychedelics could be having an indirect impact on physical health through improving mental health.

Or it could be happening simultaneously. The very receptors that psychedelics work on in the brain are linked not only to mental health but also to cardiometabolic health.

Other drugs that attach to these serotonin receptors actually show improved glucose tolerance in animal models of obesity and type 2 diabetes.

Secondly, classic psychedelics like ayahuasca have been shown to have some possible anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory properties, which are also linked to better heart health.

All of these possible mechanisms need to be further explored before we can say with any certainty what is going on, or if these associations are more than just a fluke.The current analysis is limited in what conclusions it can draw.

"The regression models controlled for several potential confounders, but the associations could have been affected by latent variables that were not included in the dataset and could not be controlled for (e.g., a common factor that predisposes respondents to classic psychedelic use might also predispose them to salubrious lifestyle behaviors associated with cardiometabolic health)," the authors write.

For now, the potential long-term effects of psychedelics on cardiovascular health remain largely a mystery, but it's a tantalizing one to solve.

The study was published in Scientific Reports.

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There Could Be a Curious Link Between Psychedelics And Improved Heart Health - ScienceAlert

atai's mission is to tackle the significant unmet needs and lack of innovation in the treatment ... [+] landscape by working with psychedelic and non-psychedelic compounds.

atai is one of the leading companies that is transforming the landscape of mental health using psychedelics. The company's mission is to tackle the significant unmet needs and lack of innovation in the treatment landscape by working with psychedelic and non-psychedelic compounds.

Currently, there are a number of treatments that are in development, some of which include MDMA for PTSD and ibogaine for opioid use disorder, alongside psilocybin (the active ingredient in magic mushrooms) and ketamine both for treatment-resistant depression.

Its part of an industry that is gaining a huge amount of interest and influence not only on the stock market, but amongst the wider public, regulators and politicians alike. Atai has also had a number of celebrity investors including the likes of Liam Payne, Diplo and Steve Bartlett who have all come out to show their support for the company.

I caught up with Co-Founder and CEO Florian Brand to find out more about his journey and the launch of the new atai Impact program.

For Part One of This Story, Click Here.

Afdhel Aziz:What are some of the treatments in development you are most excited about?

Florian Brand: It is of course difcult to pick a favorite. We anticipate 18 milestones for our platform companies through the end of 2022. The density of newsow is a result of our decentralized operating model combining aggressive business development with strong inhouse expertise of CNS drug development that have led to our extensive pipeline.

Were expecting several important milestones through the end of this year too. Perhaps the most anticipated for the psychedelic landscape is COMPASS Pathways Phase 2b study for psilocybin therapy for treatment resistant depression, which is expected to provide topline results in Q4 of this year. Psilocybin is derived from mushrooms, hence the term magic mushrooms, which have been used in various cultures around the world going back thousands of years.

Psilocybin has been extensively studied, both in work from the 1960s and, more recently, though ~50 years were lost due to prohibitions enacted around 1970. The data readout from COMPASS is indeed a major event for the whole industry, as this represents the worlds largest psilocybin therapy study, having completed psilocybin administration to 233 treatment resistant depression patients across 22 sites in 10 countries.

A second major milestone; we expect Recognify Life Sciences Phase 2a biomarker trial to have data by the end of the year for cognitive impairment associated with schizophrenia. This is another major indication for us. There are approximately 21 million people in the world who live with schizophrenia, and about 84% of schizophrenia patients suffer from signicant cognitive impairment.

Another 2021 milestone we anticipated and have already achieved is the initiation of a Phase 2 trial of R-ketamine for treatment of resistant depression. Ketamine, including the approved nasal spray with

S-ketamine, has helped people living with severe depression. We believe our approach with R-ketamine has the potential to be another major step in improving the treatment landscape in this much needed area. Our aim is to investigate the potential of this compound as the rst rapid-acting antidepressant approved for at home use due its putatively non-dissociative prole at effective doses.

A further key trial initiation was the recent launch of a Phase 1/2 opioid use disorder trial with ibogaine. Ibogaine is a naturally-occurring, psychedelic compound isolated from a West African shrub, that has demonstrated anecdotal pre-clinical potential of rapid and sustained efcacy in treating opioid use disorder.

Its hard to overstate the devastating effect of the opioid epidemic, which has only been worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic according to the CDCs numbers for 2020, drug overdose deaths shot up ~30% with close to 93,000 deaths, nearly 70,000 of which involved opioids.

Addiction is a complicated issue, but a key part we hope to address is the fact that it appears that current treatments simply arent good enough. With existing therapies, 75% of patients undergoing opioid use disorder therapy experience relapse within just 1 year. So, we desperately need new, better treatments.

Id also point to our efforts in anxiety disorders, which represent the most common mental health disorders in the US, with around 40 million people living with anxiety. It is personal for me, having suffered from debilitating anxiety when I was younger.

Our compound, GRX-917, is an oral formulation of a deuterated version of etifoxine, a compound that has a long history of prescription use in France for treating anxiety disorders. GRX-917 offers the promise, which our clinical trials will robustly assess, to provide rapid anxiolytic activity for potentially improved tolerability to current treatments for anxiety. We launched a Phase 1 trial in generalized anxiety disorder in the rst half of 2021.

"We have a bold vision, to heal mental health disorders so that everyone everywhere can live a more ... [+] fullled life." - Florian Brand, Co-Founder and CEO of atai

Aziz:Please tell us more about this idea of treating the patient and not the disease - by tailoring the experience using digital biomarkers?

Brand: We think that digital therapeutics (DTx) offers interesting applications as part of the treatment paradigm in mental health.

DTx has the potential to provide a more personalized, scalable treatment to those who might not otherwise be able to access high-quality psychological care and/or be limited in the benets received by current treatments. A major limitation to high-quality care is simply geography many patients live far away from treatment centers. And we envision DTx increasing access through tools like remote monitoring and counseling.

So, we plan to tightly integrate a digital strategy from the very beginning of development on a shared architecture across all compounds on atais platform. With digital biomarkers, clinicians may be able to predict patients recovery pathways, limiting trial and error, while streamlining therapeutic impact and better tailoring this to the individual.

With these tools, we intend to move towards precision psychiatry and personalized care which may help therapists to make the best decisions for their patients, meeting patients on their own terms. By using a variety of such digital biomarkers, we hope to make treatments increasingly rened, effective, and individualized.

Aziz:Finally, please tell me a little about atai Impact and its focus?

Brand: Today, we launch atai Impact, our philanthropic program established to support and collaborate with nonprofits and institutions that share atai Life Sciences' vision: to heal mental health disorders so that everyone, everywhere can live a more fulfilled life.

AtaiImpact has been developed to harness the power of innovative mental health approaches for positive social change. It will operate to advance education, expand access, and support the wider ecosystem.

It is part of our belief that a for-profit model is the best means of unlocking new modalities for patients in need, however, we recognize that commercial and non-profit entities standing shoulder to shoulder is the ideal way forward.

Through education, we want to help destigmatize mental health, promote better understanding of the potential of psychedelics in mental health care, and foster the next generation of neuro-innovators. By expanding access atai Impact aims to support equal access to innovative and effective mental health support, for everyone, everywhere, regardless of geography or demographics. Furthermore, the program will support the wider ecosystem by contributing to the sustainability of diverse stakeholder communities and environments, including indigenous resources.

The atai Impact program will initially be funded by 1% of the gross proceeds from atai Life Sciences June 2021 IPO and founders contributions. We have also created a Volunteer Paid Time Off Policy, equal to 1% of employees time, and are working with the Equity for Impact initiative to encourage employees and investors to donate a portion of their equity to charitable endeavors. We have been moved by the positive response and level of active support, both at atai and across our external stakeholders, and look forward to the many meaningful initiatives atai Impact will look to support.

The launch of this program marks a very proud moment for everyone at atai and provides us with another means of addressing the escalating mental health crisis.

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How Atai Is Transforming The Landscape Of Mental Health Using Psychedelics (Part 2) - Forbes

Psilocybin

Recreational use of magic mushrooms, or any products containing psilocybin extracts, is illegal in Canada, but you wouldnt know it from the dispensaries sprouting up, both IRL and online. Microdosing has gone mainstream, and police (so far) are turning a blind eyea sure sign of the changing times, and the changing attitudes to tripping. The bar for legalizing medicinal uses of shrooms is also moving. In August of 2020, TheraPsil, a B.C.-based advocacy group, successfully campaigned for the right to have psilocybin prescribed to terminally ill Canadians to reduce anxiety and depression. Now, dozens of exemptions have been made all over the country for terminal patients and medical research.

Used illegally as a party drug for decades and legally as an anaesthetic for even longer, ketamine has now entered the realm of therapy. In May of 2020, Health Canada approved its use for cases of treatment-resistant depression in adults. Since then, a number of clinics have begun popping up across the city offering supervised ketamine treatments for depression, anxiety and PTSDthough these treatments are not covered by OHIP, and come at a steep out-of-pocket cost.

The synthetic psychoactive drug more commonly known as ecstasy is also gaining momentum in the therapeutic sphere. A number of clinical trials are under way or in development this year to establish MDMAs efficacy in treating various mental health and psychiatric illnessesmost notably PTSD and eating disorderswith hopes of FDA approval arriving in 2023, and Health Canada approval coming shortly after.

Most of us know LSD for its potential to create powerful hallucinations. It was the subject of numerous studies in the 1950s, 60s and 70s to investigate its potential for treating mental illness and addiction, but its been a prohibited substance in Canada since 1968, and studies largely ceased by the early 1980s. Though a smattering of new research is now looking into using LSD to treat depression, anxiety and addiction, the drug has no approved medical uses yet.

This psychedelic drug made from the bark of the Tabernanthe iboga was used widely as a treatment for addiction in Canada until 2015, particularly among opioid users. At the time, it was unregulated, meaning there were no legal restrictions to its use. However, in 2017, following a spate of serious and fatal reactions, it was placed on Canadas prescription drug list. Now, clinical trials are attempting to determine its efficacy in treating substance abuse without harm.

Derived from the peyote cactus, Mescaline has been used for spiritual and ceremonial purposes by Indigenous North Americans for more than 5,000 years. Apart from its religious uses, its also taken as a recreational drug and to supplement meditation and psychedelic therapy. Research into its mental health benefits is in its early stages. Somewhat confusingly, growing and consuming peyote is not a criminal offence in Canada, but mescaline, which can also be made synthetically, is illegal.

Two plantsBanisteriopsiscaapi and Psychotria viridisare combined to make ayahuasca, a brewed beverage containing the psychoactive compound DMT. Its used both recreationally and in religious ceremonies. While there have been exemptions made for some religious groups, DMTand by default ayahuascais controlled in Canada. Recent research has found that ayahuasca may help treat depression, and its ability to treat addiction is currently being studied.

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A recent history of therapeutic psychedelics - Toronto Life

There has been a definitive association between LSD, magic mushrooms, and MDMA, and breakthroughs in treatments for mental illnesses for a while, showing the long-standing benefits of psychedelics beyond recreational use. However, researchers found that these might also share a link with better heart health, in even better news.

In a study published in Nature Scientific Reports, researchers suggested that people who have tried psychedelics at least once in their lives have lower odds of heart disease. While they caution that much more research is needed to establish the exact causal link, the results so far have been promising.

Previous studies have validated the positive impact of psychedelics on mental health, reducing inflammation, obesity, and hypertension. These also happen to be risk factors for cardiometabolic diseases, like diabetes and heart disease.

Further, a previous study also found an association between psychedelic use and improved human health behavior exercising more, maintaining a balanced diet, cutting down alcohol and smoking, and much more. These, too, have positive impacts on heart health.

The indirect link between mental health and cardiometabolic health also means that while improving mental health, psychedelics could also be improving the latter.

Another theory is that psychedelics work on brain receptors that simultaneously link to both mental and cardiometabolic health.

Researchers have thus now set out to examine the link between psychedelics and cardiometabolic diseases directly. No study has thus far investigated the long-term cardiometabolic effects of classic psychedelics, which could potentially be administered both as a pharmacological treatment and as part of a program to facilitate healthy lifestyle changes, the paper notes.

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To do this, researchers analyzed data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. They studied the data of more than 375,000 Americans, all of whom disclosed whether they took psychedelics like LSD, psilocybin, ayahuasca, mescaline, and more, as well as whether they had any heart or diabetes-related diagnoses in the past year.

As per the results, there were lower incidences of heart disease or diabetes among people who had used psychedelics than those who hadnt. Specifically, 2.3% of psychedelic users reported heart disease compared to 4.5% of people who hadnt; for diabetes, this was 3.95% and 7.7%, respectively.

These numbers accounted for factors like annual income, education, risky behavior, age, gender, marital status, and the use of other drugs.

The findings suggest that lifetime classic psychedelic use is associated with lower odds of having had heart disease or diabetes in the past year, Otto Simonsson, the studys lead researcher from the University of Oxford, told PsyPost.

But the researchers warn that the study did not account for the frequency or dosage of psychedelic use and that there is no direct causal direction for the relationship yet.

In sum, classic psychedelics could have both direct and indirect effects that lead to better cardiometabolic health It demonstrates the need for further research to investigate potential causal pathways of classic psychedelics on cardiometabolic health, the paper concludes.

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New Research Hints at a Link Between Psychedelics and Improved Heart Health - The Swaddle