The US Drug Enforcement Administration has issued a license to Ohio State University allowing researchers to grow psilocybin mushrooms for use in scientific studies. The license, which was awarded to Ohio State and its partner Inner State Inc. , a mental health and wellness research and development company, is the first DEA-licensed whole research psilocybin mushroom culture.
“This license is a major milestone not only for the Inner State and the State of Ohio, but for the entire field of psychedelic research,” Inner State CEO Ashley Walsh said Wednesday in a statement. quote by Columbus Dispatch.
Multiple studies have shown this psilocybin, which is the primary psychoactive compound in magic mushrooms, may have extraordinary potential as a treatment for many serious mental health conditions. But psilocybin studies typically use forms of the drug that have been made in a lab. A new license issued by the DEA allows Ohio and the inland state to grow whole psilocybin mushrooms to naturally produce the compound. Under the terms of the license, all psilocybin mushrooms will be grown in a federally registered facility under strict DEA regulations.
Ohio State researchers Jason Sloat and Dr. Jason Sloat and Dr. . Ko San Joe.
Researchers believe that using whole mushrooms in mental health studies could give participants the advantage of other compounds besides psilocybin, which may provide additional therapeutic benefits. Walsh said it is possible that psilocybin mushrooms have “multidimensional therapeutic properties” that could more effectively improve the quality of life of people with severe mental illnesses.
Ongoing research into psychedelic medications including psilocybin, MDMA and ketamine has shown that the drugs have potential therapeutic benefits, especially for serious mental health conditions such as depression, addicted And anxiety. a Stady Published in the peer-reviewed journal JAMA Psychiatry in 2020, it found that psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy was an effective, fast-acting treatment for a group of 24 participants with major depressive disorder. Separate search The publication in 2016 determined that psilocybin treatment led to a significant and sustained reduction in depression and anxiety in patients with life-threatening cancer.
In 2017, the FDA designated MDMA as an innovative treatment for PTSD, a move that streamlined clinical trials to test the drug’s efficacy. The following year, the FDA granted the same case to psilocybin as a breakthrough treatment for treatment-resistant depression.
Alan Davis is director of the Center for Psychedelic Research and Education at Ohio State University’s College of Social Work, which he launched last year with the help of a private donation of $1.5 million. The Center has developed a 25-hour continuing education program and an undergraduate minor in Psychedelic Studies. In January, the center launched the first clinical trial to explore the use of psilocybin as a treatment for veterans diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Currently, clinical trials have been completed for people with addiction, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and social anxiety. [and] End-of-life distress in terminally ill patients”. Davis said Columbus Monthly earlier this year. “All of these studies so far have shown really promising effects.”
Ongoing research suggests that treatment with drugs such as psilocybin, when combined with psychotherapy, can “reduce and, for some, improve mental health problems they are dealing with,” Davis says. “With some studies, they have seen that these positive effects can last from six to 12 months.”
Other universities are also studying the therapeutic value of psilocybin and other psychedelic drugs, but Davis says Ohio State is the first to establish such a center in a social work setting. He added that educating professionals with social work degrees is essential because they represent the bulk of the workforce that deals directly with patients in a clinical setting.
“Usually the only message that gets disseminated is: ‘Drugs are harmful, drugs are dangerous, don’t do drugs,’” Davis said. “This is intended to provide that foundational knowledge to people so they can understand all the interdisciplinary work that has been done on psychedelics.”
Slot believes we can learn a lot from mushrooms, noting that government bans have held back study and held back researchers for decades during an era of great advances in the biological sciences, especially genetics. He hopes that recent efforts to destigmatize hallucinogens will succeed so that research can continue to advance.
“I don’t think hallucinogenic drugs are going away. They understand the nature of consciousness, the relationship between mind and body,” Sloat said. “These are fundamental questions of our nature.”
