The National Institute on Drug Abuse is financing research on the use of magic mushrooms in managing cigarette addiction. The top federal drug agency recently awarded the grant to researchers from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, New York University and Johns Hopkins University to investigate how psilocybin could help individuals quit smoking cigarettes.
Last week, Matthew Johnson, a professor at Johns Hopkins University, revealed that the researchers had been awarded the grant, noting that he believed that it was the first grant from the federal government in more than five decades to directly study the therapeutic benefits of a classic psychedelic.
Classic psychedelics refers to psychedelic substances that are found in nature, including LSD, mescaline, DMT and psilocybin.
The research will be a high-risk, multicenter clinical study into psilocybin’s therapeutic potential in curbing tobacco addiction. It will build on prior research that found that the substance could play a crucial role in treating substance misuse disorders. The study’s level of funding as well as its parameters remain unclear.
In an interview, Peter Hendricks, who is also involved in the study, stated that it was encouraging to receive public funding for research on psychedelics. He noted that he hoped this move would allow for more scientific studies on other psychedelics to be conducted and, ultimately, the advancement of a treatment model that possessed the potential to reduce suffering around the world.
Johnson, who will be the lead researcher in the study, has been suggesting that a pilot study into psilocybin’s medical value for this treatment be conducted since 2014. He explained that follow-up hadn’t been done despite early findings suggesting that hallucinogens could be used to treat substance use disorders.
In a recent interview, Nora Volkow, the director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, stated that the reform movement to remove restrictions on psychedelics and the increased media attention on psychedelic research was contributing to an increase in the use of these substances among young people, which was in turn causing a decline in the consumption of alcohol.
As mentioned above, Johns Hopkins University will be taking the lead role in the study, which makes sense when one considers the fact that researchers at the institution have been studying psychedelic substances for decades.
In 2019, the university launched the Center for Psychedelic and Conscious Research, a psychedelic research center focused on studying the possible therapeutic uses for psychedelics, such as in treating opioid withdrawal, anorexia, Alzheimer’s disease and depression.
As more academic institutions take up the challenge of conducting scientific studies on psychedelics, the strides made by for-profit companies such as Tryp Therapeutics Inc. (CSE: TRYP) (OTCQB: TRYPF) will take on even greater meaning due to the rapidly growing body of science-backed information about these compounds.
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to Tryp Therapeutics Inc. (CSE: TRYP) (OTCQB: TRYPF) available in the company’s newsroom at https://ibn.fm/TRYPF
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