Category Archives: Psychedelics

Welcome to TDRs review of the Top 5 Psychedelic Developments for the week of July 10. Aside from presenting a synopsis of events, we provide market commentary to summarize the week that was for publicly-listed companies.

5. Ketamine For Severe Depression: 1 In 5 Achieve Remission After A Month In Promising Aussie Trial

A month-long course of ketamine injections may be an effective treatment for severe depression, say Australian doctors who found promising remission rates in their largest-of-its-kind trial.

One in five adults in the Ketamine for Adult Depression Study (KADS) achieved total remission from their symptoms after a month of twice-weekly subcutaneous ketamine injections, reported the UNSW Sydneyled team.And nearly a third of the 179 participants in the placebo-controlled trial had a 50% reduction in symptom severity.

However, these benefits disappeared after treatment cessation, which the researchers said suggested a need for longer-term treatment to maintain the antidepressant effects.

4. Tryp Therapeutics Receives Confirmation From FDA To Proceed With Phase 2A Clinical Trial in Patients With IBS

Tryp Therapeutics has received confirmation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that its review of Tryps Investigational New Drug (IND) #163,994 is complete and that the company may proceed with its Phase 2a clinical trial at Massachusetts General Hospital investigating the effects of psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy in the treatment of patients aged 21+ suffering from Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS).

The planned study in collaboration with Massachusetts General Hospital will evaluate the effect of psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy in patients with treatment-resistant IBS who experience chronic abdominal pain and other debilitating gastrointestinal symptoms. Many of these patients also suffer from fibromyalgia, anxiety and fatigue. The primary efficacy endpoint of the study will be improvement in abdominal pain which will be measured at four weeks post the final therapist-monitored psychedelic drug session, along with numerous other secondary endpoints including changes in brain connectivity.

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More Than6 in 10American Registered Voters Support Legalizing Regulated Therapeutic Access To Psychedelics35%Indicate Strong Support

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3. Psychedelic Stocks Pause, Underperforming Peer Biotech Indices

After a strong double-digit run last week, the psychedelic sector took pause, as reflected by theAdvisorshares Psychedelics ETF (PSIL)0.97%. The performance lagged biopharma peers indices such as theNasdaq Junior Biotechnology Index3.58%andNasdaq Biotechnology Ishares ETF3.18%which both rose moderately. TheNASDAQ 1003.37%andS&P 5002.28%also rebounded on the back of a falling consumer price index print.

Heres how the Health Care (Biotechnology) sector performed:

In the news

Beckley Retreats has extended its strategic partnerships with the Heroic Hearts Project and Imperial College London.

Berkeley, California City Council has approved a resolution todeprioritize the enforcement of laws prohibiting psychedelics.

BetterLife Pharm highlighted the American College of Physicians guidelines for the treatment of Major Depressive Disorder published recently in Annals of Internal Medicine.

Bipartisan congressional lawmakers are celebrating the inclusion of a psychedelics research amendment as part of a must-pass defense bill thats on the House floor.

Bipartisan lawmakers pushed for the adoption of marijuana and psychedelics amendments as part of a large-scale defense bill at a House committee meeting on Tuesdaybut the proposals fate remains uncertain following complications over unrelated measures being pushed by conservative members.

Bright Minds Biosciences announced that, further to its news release on June 22, 2023, the Company will consolidate its common shares on a five (5) to one (1) basis.

CybinInc. has commenced the development of a streamlined, scalable version of its EMBARK Training Program, known as EMBARK.

Denver Post expects psilocybin therapy to come sooner rather than later

Drug Science to launch first study to directly test molecular neuroplasticity effects of DMT in humans.

Lucy Scientific Discovery announced the launch of Twilight a blend of Amanita and Reishi mushrooms that include a variety of other nootropics promoting improved cognitive function and enhanced sleep quality.

Lucy Scientific Discovery has appointed Richard Nanula, former CFO at Amgen Inc. and The Walt Disney Co. as its new CEO.

Massachusetts: Political strategists have quietly filed paperwork to put a therapeutic psychedelics legalization initiative on the states 2024 ballot.

Meme Of The Week

New study by leading academics in the psychedelics space finds that psilocybin combined with therapy could be more cost-effective at treating major depression disorders than currently used methods.

New study reveals distinct effects of excitalopram (Lexapro) and psilocybin on brain responses to emotions, highlighting the unique approaches of these treatments in addressing depression.

Psilocybin dispensary crackdown in Windsor, Ontario.

Psycheceutical Bioscience has dosed the first healthy volunteer in a Phase I trial investigating a topical administration of ketamine for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

PsyenceGroup announced the appointment of Christopher Bull to the board of directors of the Company effective immediately.

Public awareness about psychedelics is growing, but more needs to be done

OUT NOW: The results of the inaugural UC Berkeley Psychedelics Survey

47% of all respondents have heard about psychedelics recently 48% of those respondents associate psychedelics with mental health

Explore the data here: https://t.co/IzPJi2oITl pic.twitter.com/HtWn2k97N4

Rep. Dan Crenshaw again pleaded his case for the advancement of psychedelic use in the mentally ill. The matter at hand pertains to a critical Bill that aimed to utilize and study psychedelic treatments for mental illnesses in conjunction with theDepartment of Defense.

Three people associated with an illegal magic mushroom dispensary in London, Ont. were charged with drug related offences more than a month ago.

UC San Diego Psychedelics and Health Research Initiative received a $1.5 million gift from philanthropist Eugene Jhong to further our understanding of the unique states of consciousness induced by DMT and how it could benefit human health.

West Hollywood will host a free Community Educational Forumabout the possible state-level decriminalization of mushrooms (Psilocybin) and certain hallucinogenic drugs.

2. Majority Of U.S. Voters Support Therapeutic Use Of Psychedelic Drugs

Most U.S. voters support legalizing psychedelics for therapeutic use, and a growing proportion of people who report using psychedelics are microdosing taking tiny amounts of the drugs and using them for therapeutic purposes, according to a survey released Wednesday by the UC Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics.

Sixty-one percent of people say they would support creating a regulated legal framework for the therapeutic use of psychedelics, according to the survey, which polled 1,500 registered voters online and over the phone June 9-15.

A slim majority, 56%, also say they would support federal regulators approving the use of psychedelics for prescription use.

1. California Health Committee Votes 9 To 2 To Legalize Psilocybin, DMT And Ibogaine

A second California Assembly committee has approved a Senate-passed bill to legalize the possession and facilitated use of certain psychedelics, bringing it one step closer to the floor.

Another California Assembly Committee Approves Senate-Passed Psychedelics Legalization: The sponsor said last month that the bill wasup against a challenging road toward passage but has now cleared a major hurdle.https://t.co/6MOvfammnO

The legislation from Sen. Scott Wiener (D) advanced through the Assembly Health Committee in a 9-2 vote on Tuesday. This comes about two weeks after it wasapproved by the Public Safety Committeeand two months after itcleared the full Senate. The measure must now go to the Appropriations Committee before potentially moving to the floor.

Tuesdays vote is a welcome development for advocates, as Wiener said last month that the bill wasup against a challenging road toward passagegiven its referral to the Health Committee, where the chances of approval were less certain.

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TDR's Top 5 Psychedelic Developments For The Week Of July 10 - The Dales Report

A compound found in so-called magic mushrooms, psilocybin produces visual and auditory hallucinations and profound changes in consciousness over a few hours after ingestion. In 2016, Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers first reported that treatment with psilocybin under psychologically supported conditions significantly relieved existential anxiety and depression in people with a life-threatening cancer diagnosis.

Now, the findings from the new study, published Nov. 4 in JAMA Psychiatry, suggest that psilocybin may be effective in the much wider population of patients who suffer from major depression than previously appreciated.

The magnitude of the effect we saw was about four times larger than what clinical trials have shown for traditional antidepressants on the market, says Alan Davis, Ph.D., adjunct assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Because most other depression treatments take weeks or months to work and may have undesirable effects, this could be a game changer if these findings hold up in future gold-standard placebo-controlled clinical trials. The published findings cover only a four-week follow-up in 24 participants, all of whom underwent two five-hour psilocybin sessions under the direction of the researchers.

Because there are several types of major depressive disorders that may result in variation in how people respond to treatment, I was surprised that most of our study participants found the psilocybin treatment to be effective, says Roland Griffiths, Ph.D., the Oliver Lee McCabe III Professor in the Neuropsychopharmacology of Consciousness at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research. He says the major depression treated in the new study may have been different than the reactive form of depression in patients they studied in the 2016 cancer trial. Griffiths says his team was encouraged by public health officials to explore psilocybins effects in the broader population of those with major depressive disorder because of the much larger potential public health impact.

For the new study, the researchers recruited 24 people with a long-term documented history of depression, most of whom experienced persisting symptoms for approximately two years before enrolling in the study. The average age of participants was 39; 16 were women; and 22 identified themselves as white, one person identified as Asian and one person identified as African American. Participants had to taper off any antidepressants prior to the study with the help of their personal physician to ensure safe exposure to this experimental treatment.

Thirteen participants received the psilocybin treatment immediately after recruitment and after preparation sessions, and 11 participants received the same preparation and treatment after an eight-week delay.

Treatment consisted of two psilocybin doses given by two clinical monitors who provided guidance and reassurance. The doses were given two weeks apart between August 2017 and April 2019 at the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center Behavioral Biology Research Building. Each treatment session lasted approximately five hours, with the participant lying on a couch wearing eyeshades and headphones that played music, in the presence of the monitors.

All participants were given the GRID-Hamilton Depression Rating Scale a standard depression assessment tool upon enrollment, and at one and four weeks following completion of their treatment. On the scale, a score of 24 or more indicates severe depression, 1723 moderate depression, 816 mild depression and 7 or less no depression. At enrollment, participants had an average depression scale rating of 23, but one week and four weeks after treatment, they had an average depression scale score of 8. After treatment, most participants showed a substantial decrease in their symptoms, and almost half were in remission from depression at the follow-up. Participants in the delayed group didnt show decreases in their symptoms before receiving the psilocybin treatment.

For the entire group of 24 participants, 67% showed a more than 50% reduction in depression symptoms at the one-week follow-up and 71% at the four-week follow-up. Overall, four weeks post-treatment, 54% of participants were considered in remission meaning they no longer qualified as being depressed.

I believe this study to be a critically important proof of concept for the medical approval of psilocybin for treatment of depression, a condition I have personally struggled with for decades, says entrepreneur and philanthropist Tim Ferriss, who supported the funding campaign for this study. How do we explain the incredible magnitude and durability of effects? Treatment research with moderate to high doses of psychedelics may uncover entirely new paradigms for understanding and improving mood and mind. This is a taste of things to come from Johns Hopkins.

The researchers say they will follow the participants for a year after the study to see how long the antidepressant effects of the psilocybin treatment last, and will report their findings in a later publication.

Griffiths, whose research with psilocybin, begun in the early 2000s, was initially viewed by some with skepticism and concern, says he is gratified by Johns Hopkins support and heartened by the dozens of startups and research labs that have followed suit with their own research. He says numerous companies are now actively working to develop marketable forms of psilocybin and related psychedelic substances.

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, more than 17 million people in the U.S. and 300 million people worldwide have experienced major depression.

Other authors on the study include Frederick Barrett, Darrick May, Mary Cosimano, Nathan Sepeda, Matthew Johnson and Patrick Finan, all of Johns Hopkins.

The study was supported by philanthropic donors The Steven and Alexandra Cohen Foundation, Tim Ferriss, Matt Mullenweg, Craig Nerenberg,Blake Mycoskie and Dave Morin; as well as by grants from the Riverstyx Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (T32DA007209, R01DA003889, K23DA035915).

Conflicts of interest disclosed to JAMA Psychiatry include the following: Johnson serves as a consultant and/or advisory board member for AWAKN Life Sciences Inc., Beckley Psychedelics Ltd., Entheogen Biomedical Corp., Field Trip Psychedelics Inc., Mind Medicine, Inc., Otsuka Pharmaceutical Development & Commercialization, Inc. and Silo Pharma, Inc.

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Psychedelic Treatment with Psilocybin Relieves Major Depression, Study ...

The Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research will focus on how psychedelics affect behavior, brain function, learning and memory, the brains biology and mood. Studies of psilocybin in patients will determine its effectiveness as a new therapy for opioid addiction, Alzheimer's disease, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome (formerly known as chronic Lyme disease), anorexia nervosa and alcohol use in people with major depression. The researchers hope to create precision medicine treatments tailored to individual patients specific needs.

The centers establishment reflects a new era of research in therapeutics and the mind through studying this unique and remarkable class of pharmacological compounds, says Roland Griffiths, Ph.D., the centers director and professor of behavioral biology in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and the Department of Neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.In addition to studies on new therapeutics, we plan to investigate creativity and well-being in healthy volunteers that we hope will open up new ways to support human thriving.

Johns Hopkins is deeply committed to exploring innovative treatments for our patients, says Paul B. Rothman, M.D., dean of the medical faculty at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and CEO of Johns Hopkins Medicine. Our scientists have shown that psychedelics have real potential as medicine, and this new center will help us explore that potential.

The center will provide support for a team of six faculty neuroscientists, experimental psychologists and clinicians with expertise in psychedelic science, as well as five postdoctoral scientists.

I am thrilled about this magnificent opportunity that has been provided by enlightened private funders, says James Potash, M.D., M.P.H., the Henry Phipps Professor and director of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. This center will allow our enormously talented faculty to focus extensively on psychedelic research, where their passions lie and where promising new horizons beckon.

The centers operational expenses for the first five years will be covered by private funding from the Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation and four philanthropists: Tim Ferriss (author and technology investor), Matt Mullenweg (co-founder of WordPress), Blake Mycoskie (founder of TOMS, a shoe and accessory brand) and Craig Nerenberg (investor).

We have to take braver and bolder steps if we want to help those suffering from chronic illness, addiction and mental health challenges, says Alex Cohen, president, Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation. By investing in the Johns Hopkins center, we are investing in the hope that researchers will keep proving the benefits of psychedelics and people will have new ways to heal.

The centers faculty will train graduate and medical students who want to pursue careers in psychedelic science, where there have historically been few avenues for career advancement.

This represents the largest investment to date in psychedelic research, as well as in training the next generation of psychedelic researchers, says Ferriss. I sincerely hope this ambitious Johns Hopkins center will inspire others to think big and establish more psychedelic research centers in the U.S. and overseas, as theres never been a better time to support such important work.

In 2000, the psychedelic research group at Johns Hopkins was the first to achieve regulatory approval in the U.S. to reinitiate research with psychedelics in healthy volunteers who had never used a psychedelic. Their 2006 publication on the safety and enduring positive effects of a single dose of psilocybin sparked a renewal of psychedelic research worldwide.

Since then, the researchers have published studies in more than 60 peer-reviewed journal articles. Their research has demonstrated therapeutic benefits for people who suffer from conditions including nicotine addiction, and depression/anxiety caused by life-threatening diseases such as cancer. It has paved the way for current studies on treatment of major depressive disorder. They have also led the field by publishing safety guidelines that have helped gain approval for psychedelic studies at other universities around the world, and by developing new ways to measure mystical and emotionally challenging experiences while under the influence of psychedelics. Their research also explores the interaction of psilocybin and meditation.

The groups findings on both the promise and the risks of psilocybin helped create a path forward for its potential medical approval and reclassification from a Schedule I drug, the most restrictive federal government category, to a more appropriate level. Psilocybin was classified as Schedule I during the Nixon administration, but research over the last decade has shown psilocybin to have low toxicity and abuse potential.

This very substantial level of funding should enable a quantum leap in psychedelic-focused research, adds Potash. It will accelerate the process of sorting out what works and what doesnt.

The Centers Staff Members:

Roland Griffiths, Ph.D., initiated the psilocybin research program at Johns Hopkins almost 20 years ago, leading the first studies investigating the effects of its use by healthy volunteers. His pioneering work led to the consideration of psilocybin as a therapy for serious health conditions. Griffiths recruited and trained the center faculty in psychedelic research as well.

Matthew Johnson, Ph.D., associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral science, has expertise in drug addictions and behavioral economic decision-making, and has conducted psychedelic research at Johns Hopkins since 2004 (with well over 100 publications). He led studies showing psilocybin can treat nicotine addiction. Johnson will lead two new clinical trials and will be associate director of the new center.

Frederick Barrett, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, has expertise in cognitive and affective (study of emotions) neuroscience, as well as psychological assessment. The focus of his past and ongoing research is the impact of psychedelics on emotional and brain functioning. Barrett will be the centers director of neurophysiological mechanism and biomarker assessment, overseeing a project that looks at how psychedelics change brain function and blood biomarkers that may predict response to psychedelics.

Albert Garcia-Romeu, Ph.D., is an instructor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences with expertise in assessing the psychological and subjective effects of psychedelics, and in addiction treatment with psychedelics. At the new center, Garcia-Romeu will lead several clinical trials and will supervise key elements of participant recruitment and care.

Natalie Gukasyan, M.D., is a Johns Hopkins trained psychiatrist and a study team member for the ongoing psilocybin depression study. Gukasyan will lead the study on psilocybin treatment for anorexia nervosa and serve as the new centers medical director.

Alan Davis, Ph.D., a part-time adjunct assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, is one of the lead psilocybin session therapists on the ongoing psilocybin depression study and lead investigator of several past and ongoing survey studies exploring the effects of psychedelics in real-world and clinical settings. At the new center, he will provide clinical supervision and consultation across clinical trials.

Mary Cosimano, M.S.W., has been a member of the Johns Hopkins psychedelic research team since its inception and has served as a study guide for hundreds of psychedelic sessions. Cosimano will be the director of clinical services for the new center, with responsibility for training and supervising center staff members who prepare, support and provide after care for study participants.

William Richards, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist who conducted research with psychedelics in the 1960s. He has been a member of the Johns Hopkins psychedelic research team since its inception.

Read more from the original source:

Johns Hopkins Launches Center For Psychedelic Research

A report on the new study was published on Feb. 15, 2022 in the Journal of Psychopharmacology.

Our findings add to evidence that, under carefully controlled conditions, this is a promising therapeutic approach that can lead to significant and durable improvements in depression, says Natalie Gukasyan, M.D., assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She cautions, however, that the results we see are in a research setting and require quite a lot of preparation and structured support from trained clinicians and therapists, and people should not attempt to try it on their own.

Over the last 20 years, there has been a growing of research with classic psychedelics the pharmacological class of compounds that include psilocybin, an ingredient found in so-called magic mushrooms. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, psilocybin can produce perceptual changes, altering a persons awareness of their surroundings and of their thoughts and feelings. Treatment with psilocybin has shown promise in research settings for treating a range of mental health disorders and addictions.

For this study, the researchers recruited 27 participants with a long-term history of depression, most of whom had been experiencing depressive symptoms for approximately two years before recruitment. The average age of participants was 40, 19 were women, and 25 identified as white, one as African American and one as Asian. Eighty-eight percent of the participants had previously been treated with standard antidepressant medications, and 58% reported using antidepressants in their current depressive episodes.

After screening, participants were randomized into one of two groups in which they received the intervention either immediately, or after an eight-week waiting period. At the time of treatment, all participants were provided with six to eight hours of preparatory meetings with two treatment facilitators. Following preparation, participants received two doses of psilocybin, given approximately two weeks apart between August 2017 and April 2019 at the Behavioral Biology Research Center at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center. Participants returned for follow-up one day and one week after each session, and then at one, three, six and 12 months following the second session; 24 participants completed both psilocybin sessions and all follow-up assessment visits.

The researchers reported that psilocybin treatment in both groups produced large decreases in depression, and that depression severity remained low one, three, six and 12 months after treatment. Depressive symptoms were measured before and after treatment using the GRID-Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, a standard depression assessment tool, in which a score of 24 or more indicates severe depression, 1723 moderate depression, 816 mild depression and 7 or less no depression. For most participants, scores for the overall treatment decreased from 22.8 at pretreatment to 8.7 at one week, 8.9 at four weeks, 9.3 at three months, 7 at six months and 7.7 at 12 months after treatment. Participants had stable rates of response to the treatment and remission of symptoms throughout the follow-up period, with 75% response and 58% remission at 12 months.Psilocybin not only produces significant and immediate effects, it also has a long duration, which suggests that it may be a uniquely useful new treatment for depression, says Roland Griffiths, Ph.D., the Oliver Lee McCabe III, Ph.D., Professor in the Neuropsychopharmacology of Consciousness at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and founding director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research. Compared to standard antidepressants, which must be taken for long stretches of time, psilocybin has the potential to enduringly relieve the symptoms of depression with one or two treatments.

The researchers emphasize that further research is needed to explore the possibility that the efficacy of psilocybin treatment may be substantially longer than 12 months. Johns Hopkins is one of the sites of a national multisite randomized, placebo-controlled trial of psilocybin for major depressive disorder.

Other researchers who contributed to the study are Alan Davis, Frederick Barrett, Mary Cosimano, Nathan Sepeda and Matthew Johnson from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

The study was funded in part by a crowd-sourced campaign organized by Tim Ferriss and by grants from the Riverstyx Foundation and Dave Morin. Support for Alan Davis and Natalie Gukasyan was provided by a grant from the National Institutes of Health (T32DA07209, National Institute on Drug Abuse). Support for authors was also provided by the Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research, which is funded by the Steven and Alexandra Cohen Foundation, Tim Ferriss, Matt Mullenweg, Craig Nerenberg and Blake Mycoskie. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, or in decision to publish or manuscript preparation.

COI: Alan Davis is a board member of Source Research Foundation. Matthew Johnson has received grant support from the Heffter Research Institute that is unrelated to this study, and he is an advisor to the following companies: AJNA Labs, AWAKN Life Sciences, Beckley Psytech, Entheon Biomedical, Field Trip Psychedelics, Mind Medicine, Otsuka Pharmaceutical Development & Commercialization and Silo Pharma. Roland Griffiths is a board member of the Heffter Research Institute and has received grant support from the institute unrelated to this study. Griffiths is site principal investigator, and Johnson and Gukasyan are co-investigators for a multisite trial of psilocybin-assisted therapy for major depressive disorder sponsored by Usona Institute.

Read more:

Psilocybin Treatment for Major Depression Effective for Up to a Year ...

Recently listening to Henryk Goreckis Symphony No. 3 brought Rob Jacobs back to a life-changing experience that happened a decade ago. After ingesting a psychedelic drug as part of a formal study at Johns Hopkins, he was lying on a couch at the research center, wearing eyeshades and feeling a deep emotional connection to the music playing through his headphones.

It was unbelievably beautiful. It literally moved me to tears, Jacobs, now 52, wrote in his post-session report in 2010. It seemed to capture the human condition, the beauty and sadness of existence. Melancholy but majestic. It was like I could see right into the heart of the matter with crystal clarity.

Jacobs remembers all these feelings, which came on as he began experiencing the effects of psilocybin the active ingredient in so-called magic mushrooms.

Goreckis 27-minute composition, also known as Symphony of Sorrowful Songs, is one of a collection of mostly classical pieces that help unlock elevated states of consciousness for study participants at the Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research. The seven-hour and 40-minute playlist, developed by researchers at Johns Hopkins, seeks to express the sweeping arc of the typical medium- or high-dose psilocybin session. (There is extra time built into the playlist, as session length can vary.)

This playlist supported the psychedelic experiences of those who participated in a new study published Nov. 4 in JAMA Psychiatry that found that psilocybin may show promise as a treatment for adults with major depression. A version of the playlist is available on Spotify.

The research center, which launched in September 2019, is believed to be the first such center in the country and the largest of its kind in the world. Its research focuses on how psychedelics can impact brain function and mood in healthy individuals and in patient populations, including conditions such as tobacco addiction and anorexia nervosa as well as anxiety and depression in people with life-threatening cancer.

The 2010 study Jacobs participated in examined the impact of psilocybin on spiritual practices in Jacobs case, meditation.

Psychologist Bill Richards, whose involvement in psychedelic research dates back to 1963, masterminded the playlist. As a researcher at the center, he emphasizes that the music is chosen for its ability to guide and support the participants experience.

Were exploring the human psyche, which might take you through some painful things in childhood. It may take you into some archetypal or visionary realms that you never knew were possible. It might take you beyond usual consciousness into a realm that feels eternal, says Richards.

Psilocybin researchers at NYU Langone Health and the Usona Institute in Madison, Wisconsin, have since adapted the playlist for their own research.

Richards reasoning for choosing classical music, as well as the structure of the Johns Hopkins playlist, inspired Usonas playlist, which uses seven pieces from the Hopkins list. Usona added Spanish guitar, non-Western classical music and modern works with some classical structure.

We were striving to create a blend of resonance with the music and emotional/psychological challenge that are thought to be beneficial, says Malynn Utzinger, co-founder and director of integrative medicine at Usona. We paid attention to the structure and tone of each section of the Hopkins list, and while we did not use quite as much strictly classical music, we wanted to create a list with a relatively high amount of structured music versus ambient.

The Birth of a Playlist

The playlist, which Johns Hopkins has used since it began its psychedelic research 20 years ago, dates back to 1967. At the time, Richards was involved in similar research at the Spring Grove Hospital Center in Catonsville, which is now part of the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center. There, he and other researchers investigated LSD, psilocybin and other psychedelics for treating substance use disorder, depression and the psychological distress associated with terminal cancer. The drugs were also studied for their effects on the professional lives of religious and mental health professionals.

We were working with 33 RPMs and turntables, and always trying to decide what record to play next, Richards recalls. We developed a certain intuitive list of favorites that just seemed to work well with a lot of people. Peoples experiences were going deeper and deeper, becoming very profound.

The late music therapist Helen Bonny, who also worked at the center, devised a number of cassette tape playlists with names such as peak experience for her doctoral thesis. When Richards joined center Director Roland Griffiths to initiate psilocybin research at Johns Hopkins in 1999, he created a formal playlist that drew partly from Bonnys tapes as well as from music he had used. His son Brian, who worked at the Johns Hopkins center as a postdoctoral research fellow, contributed in particular to what Richards calls the welcome back to Earth music.

The playlist is divided into segments: background music that plays as the participant arrives for his or her session; music that plays when the drug is starting to take effect, at which point he or she is lying down and wearing eyeshades and headphones; the ascent; the peak; the post-peak; and the welcome back music. There are usually two researchers in the room, referred to as guides, who simultaneously listen to the playlist through speakers.

The music in each section is deliberately chosen to accompany a particular part of the psychedelic journey. For example, Richards finds that Samuel Barbers iconic Adagio for Strings works well as participants approach the peak, when the effects of the psilocybin are steadily intensifying.

The music chromatically develops, and it goes up and reaches this exquisite climax and then comes back down, he says.

For the onset of the drug, on the other hand, he thinks the best music is unfolding and has a dependable structure.

Its going somewhere, its picking you up and carrying you. Its got some force, some substance, he says. It doesnt have very unpredictable changes of rhythm or something thats going to startle or frighten you. So, its a net of reassurance, almost, and of leadership.

The music helps keep participants from prematurely returning to normal conscious awareness, Richards says.

I think of it as a nonverbal support system, sort of like the net for a trapeze artist, he says. If all is going well, youre not even aware that the net is there you dont even hear the music but if you start getting anxious, or if you need it, its immediately there to provide structure.

The majority of the music is either instrumental or choral with non-English text, and purposefully so. In order to keep participants inside the experience, only the last section of the playlist uses selections with recognizable words.

Its the structure, the harmonic design, the richness, the unfolding, the harmonies, the dissonance, that really matters, he says. If youre truly trying to shift consciousness beyond the level of the everyday self, you have to get beyond language.

Jacobs, an adjunct instructor in English and literature at the Community College of Baltimore County and the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Johns Hopkins University, wasnt familiar with most of the music he heard during his sessions. Because of that, he felt that it didnt preload any experience and was more supportive than directive.

At the end of his session, however, he was glad to hear the familiar tune of the Beatles Here Comes the Sun, which Richards considers part of the welcome back to Earth music. (The song was included on previous versions of the current playlist, which can vary slightly between studies. For the JAMA study, the second to last song is Louis Armstrongs What a Wonderful World.)

A decade later, former study participant Jacobs says his experience with psilocybin showed him that life is a fundamentally spiritual experience. It made him less frightened of death, more centered and more committed to a spiritual path.

That kind of revelation is something Richards has seen from the beginning. In the early days of his research, he recalls most participants with substance use disorder being unfamiliar with Brahms symphonies. After the sessions, they bought the music for themselves.

It spoke [to them]. It took on meaning in the struggle, the unfolding, the dissonance being resolved. They could understand that that type of classical music is a language about life and human experience. And when youre in the music, its so different from listening to the music.

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Inside the Johns Hopkins Psilocybin Playlist - Hopkins Medicine

Perhaps no region of the brain is more fittingly named than the claustrum, taken from the Latin word for hidden or shut away. The claustrum is an extremely thin sheet of neurons deep within the cortex, yet it reaches out to every other region of the brain. Its true purpose remains hidden away as well, with researchers speculating about many functions. For example, Francis Crick of DNA-discovery fame believed that the claustrum is the seat of consciousness, responsible for awareness and sense of self.

What is known is that this region contains a large number of receptors targeted by psychedelic drugs such as LSD or psilocybin the hallucinogenic chemical found in certain mushrooms. To see what happens in the claustrum when people are on psychedelics, Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers compared the brain scans of people after they took psilocybin with their scans after taking a placebo.

Their findings were published online on May 23, 2020, in the journal NeuroImage.

The scans after psilocybin use showed that the claustrum was less active, meaning the area of the brain believed responsible for setting attention and switching tasks is turned down when on the drug. The researchers say that this ties in with what people report as typical effects of psychedelic drugs, including feelings of being connected to everything and reduced senses of self or ego.

Our findings move us one step closer to understanding mechanisms underlying how psilocybin works in the brain, says Frederick Barrett, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and a member of the schools Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research. This will hopefully enable us to better understand why its an effective therapy for certain psychiatric disorders, which might help us tailor therapies to help people more.

Because of its deep-rooted location in the brain, the claustrum has been difficult to access and study. Last year, Barrett and his colleagues at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, developed a method to detect brain activity in the claustrum using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).

For this new study, the researchers used fMRI with 15 people and observed the claustrum brain region after the participants took either psilocybin or a placebo. They found that psilocybin reduced neural activity in the claustrum by 15% to 30%. This lowered activity also appeared to be associated with stronger subjective effects of the drug, such as emotional and mystical experiences. The researchers also found that psilocybin changed the way that the claustrum communicated with brain regions involved in hearing, attention, decision-making and remembering.

With the highly detailed imaging of the claustrum provided by fMRI, the researchers next hope to look at the mysterious brain region in people with certain psychiatric disorders such as depression and substance use disorder. The goal of these experiments will be to see what roles, if any, the claustrum plays in these conditions. The researchers also plan to observe the claustrums activity when under the influence of other psychedelics, such as salvinorin A, a hallucinogen derived from a Mexican plant.

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Research Story Tip: Psychedelic Drug Psilocybin Tamps Down Brains Ego ...

Psychedelics are a group of psychoactive drugs that can induce hallucinations and feelings of euphoria. Although some research suggests they can treat certain mental health conditions, they can cause dependence and be dangerous if misused.

Some cultures use psychedelics for religious and spiritual practices. People also use psychedelics for recreational purposes, although many psychedelic substances are controlled and illegal in the United States.

Emerging evidence suggests that certain psychedelics may have medicinal benefits for a range of health conditions, particularly common mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression.

This article discusses the characteristics, potential medicinal benefits, and risks of psychedelics.

Psychedelics are also known as hallucinogens because taking them can result in hallucinations. Hallucinations are sensory experiences that cause a person to see, hear, smell, taste, or feel things that are not really there. Someone who takes psychedelics may experience changes in their awareness of their thoughts and surroundings.

Some psychedelics come from plants or mushrooms (often referred to as magic mushrooms), while others are synthetic and manufactured by humans.

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), there are two main types of psychedelics: classic hallucinogens and dissociative drugs.

Classic hallucinogens include substances such as:

LSD is a potent mind-altering chemical that is clear or white in color and has no smell. It is made from lysergic acid, which is found in a fungus that grows on grains.

Psilocybin is the main active ingredient in magic mushrooms, which include a wide range of mushrooms found in tropical and subtropical regions of South America, Mexico, and the U.S.

Peyote is a small cactus native to Mexico and southern regions of the U.S. It can also be synthetic.

It is used in some Native American religious ceremonies, but the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) restricts it as a Schedule I substance. It contains mescaline, which can cause hallucinations, altered body image, and euphoria.

DMT is a powerful chemical present in certain plant groups, including Phalaris, Delosperma, Acacia, Mimosa, and in the leaves of citrus plants. People can make a tea called ayahuasca, which is also known as hoasca, aya, or yag, from the natural plant version.

There is also a synthetic version of DMT, which is a white powder that people can smoke.

251-NBOMe is a synthetic substance originally developed by neuroscience researchers. It has similar qualities to LSD and MDMA. MDMA stands for 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine, and is a recreational psychoactive drug. However, 251-NBOMe is more powerful than LSD and MDMA.

Dissociative drugs include substances such as:

Surgeons used PCP in the 1950s as a general anesthetic, but manufacturers stopped producing it due to its serious side effects, which included postoperative delirium and hallucinations. At high doses, PCP can cause seizures, severe muscle contractions, violent or aggressive behavior, and symptoms of psychosis.

At lower doses, PCP can cause feelings of detachment from a persons surroundings and self, slurred speech, and loss of coordination. It is also a strong pain reliever.

The effects of PCP can develop within 25 minutes after smoking, and 3060 minutes after swallowing. Some people experience these effects for 48 hours.

It is an illegal, schedule II controlled drug. Its street names include:

A person can consume PCP by smoking, snorting, or swallowing the drug. It comes in powder, crystal, tablet, capsules, and liquid forms, with powder and liquid PCP being the most commonly sold forms.

Doctors and veterinarians use ketamine as an anesthetic for humans and animals undergoing surgery.

According to the DEA, most of the illegally-distributed ketamine is stolen from veterinary surgeries. It is often sold at parties, nightclubs, and raves. It is manufactured commercially as a liquid or powder. Liquid ketamine can be mixed into drinks. Powder ketamine can be smoked and snorted.

A person who takes ketamine may experience distortions to sights and sounds, feelings of dissociation, and a sense of calm. It also relieves pain.

It is also used to facilitate sexual assault and is also known as a date rape drug.

Its effects can last for 3060 minutes.

Its street names include:

DXM is found in a wide range of over-the-counter cold and cough medicines, such as syrups, tablets, and gel capsules. It is a cough suppressor that does not tend to cause side effects.

It is not an illegal or controlled substance because it is used to treat health conditions. When taken as a treatment for a cough, a typical dose for adults is between 1530 milligrams (mg), three to four times a day.

However, some people misuse DXM to achieve the feelings of euphoria it creates when taken in doses of 2501,500 mg much higher than the therapeutic range.

When a person takes DXM at these higher doses, it can have hallucinatory effects. It can also cause confusion, inappropriate laughter, agitation, paranoia, and a feeling of floating.

Salvia is a plant native to Mexico.

Its common street names are Maria Pastora, sally-D, and salvia.

People can smoke, chew, or vaporize Salvia, and its effects can come on quickly.

Some effects can include seeing bright lights and colors, shapes, and visual distortions of bodies or objects. It can also cause feelings of panic, fear, and paranoia, as well as hallucinations and uncontrollable laughter.

According to the DEA, Salvia is not a controlled substance under the Controlled Substances Act, although some U.S. states do control it.

Researchers have found a range of possible medical benefits of psychedelics, including:

An animal study published in Neuropsychopharmacologyin 2022 suggests that repeat doses of LSD over time can help to reduce stress-related anxiety and depression symptoms.

In terms of LSDs effects on humans, a 2018 study in Psychopharmacology found that people taking LSD in conjunction with having psychotherapy sessions reported increased feelings of happiness, trust, and empathy, resulting in positive social effects and altruism.

Furthermore, in 2019, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) approved a drug closely related to ketamine, called esketamine, for treating severe depression in people for whom other treatments dont work.

Psilocybin may also be helpful in the treatment of depression and anxiety when these mental health conditions are specifically linked to life threatening diseases, according to a 2020 systematic review and meta-analyses of clinical trials in Biomedicines.

Authors of a 2017 study into the therapeutic effects of psilocybin stated that more research is needed to confirm whether this particular psychedelic can benefit OCD after a small, 2009 study stated it decreased OCD symptoms in all of its study participants.

The 2017 study stated that participants experienced reductions in their symptoms regardless of the dose they took and questioned whether the results were influenced by a placebo effect.

In a 2017 qualitative study in Harm Reduction Journal, researchers explored how alternative treatments, including psychedelics, could help people with migraine and cluster headaches. People using these substances for this purpose reported that psilocybin, LSD, and related psychedelics worked to prevent and treat cluster headaches and migraine.

According to a 2018 review, between the 1950s and 1970s, researchers carried out early phase studies investigating the effectiveness of classic psychedelics, but then discontinued their work. However, the evidence available from that time suggests that classic hallucinogens can be effective therapies, especially in the case of treating alcoholism with LSD.

Additionally, the authors of a 2020 systematic review found evidence to further support this therapeutic use.

This research presents encouraging evidence for the use of psychedelics in the treatment of a range of health conditions. However, researchers need to carry out more, and larger, well-designed clinical trials to help medical regulatory agencies decide whether to authorize psychedelics as medical treatments.

People who use psychedelics may experience one or several of a range of side effects, which range from moderate to severe. Along with the altered perception of reality that comes with hallucinations, which may be frightening to experience, short-term side effects of psychedelics can include paranoia and psychosis.

Psychedelic-induced psychosis can also persist in some people. These individuals can experience ongoing mental health issues, such as paranoia, altered mood, and visual disturbances.

Other people may experience a type of flashback known as Hallucinogen Persisting Perception Disorder (HPPD). The flashbacks can happen between a few days to over a year after the person took the psychedelics. People have sometimes mistaken the associated symptoms for a stroke or brain tumor.

In the most serious of cases, the long-term effects of using dissociative drugs, in particular, may include suicidal thoughts.

Psychedelics come in two main categories: classic hallucinogens and dissociative drugs. Emerging research suggests a range of potential therapeutic uses for psychedelics, from treating anxiety and depression to reducing the symptoms of OCD.

However, scientists need to carry out more clinical studies to investigate how effective psychedelics are for health conditions and the safety and long-term effects of psychedelics.

Additionally, many psychedelics are illegal and can cause dependence.

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Psychedelics: Risks, benefits, and more - Medical News Today

Psychedelics or psychedelic drugs, are a subclass of a broader class of drugs commonly referred to as hallucinogenic drugs. These drugs alter ones conscious perception and thinking processes (cognition) in such a manner that the individuals conscious experience of the world is altered in a way different than other drugs alter it.

For instance, central nervous system depressants and central nervous system stimulants simply amplify familiar states of conscious experience, whereas psychedelic drugs alter these in such a manner that they are no longer familiar states, but to many people represent new states of consciousness.

Most of these drugs are believed to primarily affect the neurotransmitter serotonin, although many have multiple effects.

There is a misconception that marijuana and/or cannabis products are hallucinogens; however, these actually belong to the drug class cannabinoids, which is a class of drugs that does exhibit some hallucinogenic properties but also exhibits properties of stimulants and central nervous system depressants. The hallucinogenic properties of cannabis pale in comparison to the hallucinogenic properties of the drugs discussed in this article.

Apart from different cultural variations in the use of peyote and other mushrooms, typical users of psychedelic drugs are younger, often fairly well educated, and often individuals seeking to broaden their spiritual or cognitive experiences. These drugs are frequently mixed with other drug. Individuals who mix psychedelic drugs with other drugs are often putting themselves at risk due to poor judgment and potential overdose issues with drugs like alcohol, narcotic drugs, benzodiazepines, and stimulants.

Take our free, 5-minute substance abuse self-assessment below if you think you or someone you love might be struggling with substance abuse. The evaluation consists of 11 yes or no questions that are intended to be used as an informational tool to assess the severity and probability of a substance use disorder. The test is free, confidential, and no personal information is needed to receive the result.

LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide) is a drug that even when taken in very small amounts produces very powerful alterations of mood and vivid visual hallucinations. Most often, individuals who take LSD experience euphoria; however, three can be quite a range of symptoms that include extreme wellbeing to feelings of severe anxiety and even of total despair and hopelessness. LSD is typically taken in a tablet or a liquid form that can be taken with certain types of ingestible papers.

The typical doses individuals who use LSD take are very small, between 100 and 200 micromilligrams, and they produce long-lasting effects that can last up to 12 hours. There appear to be no recorded fatalities from overdosing on LSD alone, and reports in the literature of LSD overdoses often include the use of LSD with other potentially dangerous drugs. Case studies reporting the reactions of individuals from very high doses of LSD indicate that no significant long-term effects occurred in these people.

There remains to be no significant documented physical effects from long-term use of LSD. Even though individuals appear to develop some level of tolerance to LSD, there is no significant literature describing withdrawal symptoms; thus, there is no evidence that physical dependence on LSD occurs. There does not appear to be any significant literature associating LSD use with the development of a substance use disorder or addiction, although there are most certainly isolated cases of chronic LSD abuse.

There are some potential emotional issues that appear to be associated with long-term use of LSD. Some research reports that some long-term users of LSD may have higher rates of depression, anxiety, and issues with motivation to engage in typical everyday tasks. Individuals undergoing negative experiences (bad trips) can potentially develop serious emotional issues.

Of course, individuals under the influence of LSD are prone to poor decision-making and may suffer accidents related to very vivid perceptual distortions, such as visual hallucinations. There is a potential for a small proportion individuals to develop flashbacks weeks to even years following chronic use of LSD, a condition known as hallucinogen-induced persistent perception disorder (see below).

There are over 100 species of mushrooms that contain the psychoactive substance psilocybin. Many of these also contain other psychoactive substances that act in similar manner to psilocybin. Magic mushrooms that contain psilocybin (4-phosphoryloxy-N, N-dimethyltryptamine) are typically eaten. Common responses include:

There appear to be no documented case studies of fatalities as a result of overdosing on magic mushrooms alone, as individuals who have suffered fatalities after using mushrooms are also known to have used other potentially dangerous drugs in combination with the mushrooms. Of course, this does not mean that it is impossible to overdose to the point where there is a potential risk.

There are also no reports of physical dependence developing from chronic use of psilocybin (exhibiting both tolerance and withdrawal); however, tolerance probably does occur in isolation in people who use the drug regularly. Because of the powerful sensory distortions produced by the drug, individuals under the influence of the drug are certainly prone to engaging in poor judgment and in being associated in accidents. In addition, there might be some instances of several emotional discomfort or even potential psychosis due to the hallucinogenic effects caused by the drug.

Peyote is a spineless cactus that needs a number of small protrusions that are commonly referred to as buttons. The buttons are taken and processed for the psychoactive ingredients found in peyote. The buttons are cut off and then dried out. They can be soaked in alcohol or water, or chewed. Some individuals grind the buttons into powder and smoke it.

The drug processed from peyote is mescaline, a well-known hallucinogenic drug. In the United States, certain members of Native American tribes and churches are allowed to use peyote in their religious services, even though it is classified by the United States Drug Enforcement Administration as a Schedule I controlled substance.

The effects of peyote include:

Like the other drugs mentioned above, it appears that tolerance to mescaline (peyote) develops rather rapidly; however, there are no reports of physical withdrawal symptoms in chronic users who stop using peyote. Peyote does not appear to be a drug associated with significant drug abuse. There are no reliable reports of serious physical damage resulting from overdose; however, as with any of these drugs, the potential for accidents or engaging in behaviors that can be risky due to poor judgment while under the influence of peyote is certainly present.

Although psychedelic drugs are not associated with the development of physical dependence and a significant risk for the development of addiction, any form of drug can be abused. Signs of abuse to any of the above drugs would include:

One or more of these signs may indicate the potential development of a substance use disorder.

One significant, but rare, consequence of chronic use of psychedelic drugs is the development of a disorder known as hallucinogen-induced persistent perception disorder. This disorder occurs when individuals who no longer use these drugs experience flashbacks weeks, months, or even years after their last use. Flashbacks consist of experiences that typically occurred while under the influence of the drug, but they occur without actually taking the drug. It appears that a little over 4 percent of individuals who chronically used hallucinogens or psychedelic drugs develop this disorder.

The flashbacks appear to come out of nowhere, and individuals are totally surprised by them. Common experiences include flashing lights, flashing colors, seeing halos around people, and severe emotional distress. People can also experience very vivid and frightening hallucinations as they are totally unexpected.

Individuals who have co-occurring disorders (a psychological disorder like depression or bipolar disorder alongside chronic use of psychedelic drugs) appear to be at risk for this disorder. Other risk factors include having a history of negative experiences under the influence of the particular psychedelic drug (e.g., bad trips), consistently using other drugs in combination with psychedelic drugs (e.g., such as alcohol or marijuana), and a chronic history of using psychedelic drugs like LSD or mescaline. There is no formal treatment for this disorder. Individuals who suffer from it typically receive medications to address any specific symptoms and may also learn stress reduction and relaxation techniques.

As with any drug, mixing psychedelics with other substances like other drugs or alcohol may increase the likelihood of an overdose.

Potential signs of overdose include:

If you or a loved one is experiencing an overdose, seek medical attention immediately.

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Psychedelic Drug Effects, Side Effects & Dangers

The Berkeley City Council will soon consider a psychedelics decriminalization project that includes not only natural entheogenic substances but also the synthetic hallucinogen LSD, reported Berkeleyside.

According to Berkeley community health commissioners Joseph Holcomb Adams and Karma Smart, the reason why LSD is included in the list of decriminalized substances is that it meets the technical definition of what a psychedelic is.

The original project was first drafted in 2019 by Decriminalize Nature Oakland and council member Rigel Robinson and involved the deprioritization of natural psychedelics -AKA entheogenic plants and fungi. It lingered in Berkeleys Community Health Commission (CHC) office until 2021 when commissioners Adams and Smart rewrote it.

The new project seeks to decriminalizepersonal consumption, while sharing, gifting or distributing psychedelics wouldstill be criminalized. As this second part opposes the original proposal by Decriminalize Nature,which decriminalized possession and deprioritized cultivation, use, sharing, purchasing, transporting or distributing natural substances,the nonprofit is against the upcomingpsychedelics reform and hopes the city council will reconsider the original project.

We believe the simplicity of the original version, removing criminal penalties for growing, gathering, and gifting of natural entheogenic plants and fungi and practices, will have a better chance of passing at council, said nonprofit member Norris.

The project will be presented nextTuesdayto the CHC, when the commission will decide whether to refer it to the City Council for a final vote.

When the original resolution was drafted by Decriminalize Nature and councilmember Rigel Robinson in mid-2019, the CHC created a special subcommittee to study the project and report to the city council, but the emergence of COVID-19 had all resources redirected to the pandemic.

Subcommittee members Adams and Smart took the original proposal back on earlier this yearbut were concerned that it would enable an unregulated buying and selling of psychedelics without a harm reduction strategy.

The new version proposes thatBerkeley works with outer organizations to provide psychedelic education and harm-reduction strategies.

Furthermore, the commissioners changed the term entheogenic plants to psychedelic drugs, defined as substances that stimulate a specific subtype of serotonin brain receptor, 5-HT2A.

The new proposal drafters said they are grouping the compounds based on shared pharmacology and effects. The list of these classic psychedelics includes magic mushrooms, mescaline, LSD, DMT and ayahuasca, but leaves out, for instance, ibogaine, as it works on a different brain receptor.

Peyote was also excluded, following an exemption request by the National Council of Native American Churches (NACNA) in order to ensure the cactus preservation.

Photo courtesy ofOlia Danilevich onPexels.

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Psychedelics Decriminalization Project In Berkeley, Cal Includes ...

AN ANCIENT Peruvian civilization drugged children with psychedelics before sacrificing them in a religious ritual to their Gods, scientists now claim.

New research shows the Nazca societydrugged at least one young child with the hallucinogenic San Pedro Cactus before their death.

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The research, to be released in the December 2022 issue of the Journal of Archaeological Science, centered on the remains of 22 individuals found in the Yauca Valley, Cahuachi, and Estaqueria in Peru known Nazca ruins sites.

Out of the samples, only eleven dated to the Early Nazca Period, including two individuals who tested positive for psychoactive substances" - a female and a child.

This was discovered through testing hair found on the female and child's trophy heads.

Specifically, the child tested positive for a high level of mescaline a hallucinogen brought on by the high consumption of the San Pedro Cactus.

Meanwhile, scientists determined that the female had chewed coca leaves before she died.

This research is purportedly the first proof that some trophy head victims were drugged before their death.

"The trophy head is the first case of the consumption of San Pedro by an individual living on the southern Peruvian coast," lead author Dagmara Socha told Live Science.

"It's also the first evidence that some of the victims who were made into trophy heads were given stimulants before they died."

The study's authors described the female and adolescent trophy heads as rare as the majority found belonged to adult males.

The results of the study support the idea that some of the trophy heads dated to the Early Nazca Period could have been obtained from ritually sacrificed victims, rather than during warfare, the study reads.

The study also tested the hair of two male trophy heads both of which lacked any drug compounds.

They suggest that this could indicate different social origins of the victims or other simple factors like hair structure or preservation.

"We actually don't know how often these [plants] were being used," Socha said.

"In the case of San Pedro, it's not well preserved in an archaeological context, and in the case of the coca leaves and Banisteriopsis caapi, they were never found to be growing in this region during that time period."

While the findings are groundbreaking, the study's authors also recommend further analysis of their research saying it may shed new light on the interpretation and evolution of ritual headhunting in pre-Columbian Peru through the ages.

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Ancient mummified child was drugged with psychedelics before ritual ...