The United States opens up to psilocybin for medical use

While medical cannabis is becoming more and more tolerated in the United States, another banned and controversial substance is beginning to attract interest for its medicinal properties. We're talking about psilocybin, the substance found in hallucinogenic mushrooms. So, for once, in this article we're not going to talk about cannabis, but about the famous magic mushrooms.

The therapeutic potential of psilocybin

Like cannabis, hallucinogenic mushrooms are classified in the most restrictive tier of the DEA's list of controlled substances. They are thus considered to have a very high abuse potential with no recognized medical value. They are illegal at federal level - and in all US states - and possession is considered a crime. As with medical cannabis, this status restricts research into psilocybin, its effects and therapeutic potential.

A number of studies have been carried out with promising results. They suggest that psilocybin may relieve anxiety and depression cancer patients and, more generally could be a solution to depression It could also relieve symptoms of Horton's headache or algie vasculaire de la face, particularly intense headaches, and could be effective in the treatment of addiction. Finally, some of its applications are not so far removed from those of CBD or THC.

In 2018, the FDA approved the use of psilobicyne in a study to investigate its potential as a alternative to conventional treatments of depression in drug-resistant patients. Read more about the results of this study, the FDA has classified the substance as a «breakthrough drug», suggesting that it will be examining a possible reclassification. Ectasy received the same status for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder.

Last October, researchers at John Hopkins University asked in an article the reclassification of psilocybin as a controlled substance. The university has just opened a psychedelic research center, funded by $17 million in donations, to give «psychedelic medicine» a prominent place in the scientific establishment.

The potential of psychedelics in psychotherapy is thus beginning to be recognized, despite a limited understanding of their effects. In high doses, they can be dangerous and cause bad trips, but everything seems to depend on dosage. In medicine, we speak of micro-dosing over a long period of time.

Local initiatives

For the time being, psilocybin remains a prohibited substance throughout the United States. However, some municipalities have taken the initiative to decriminalize the use of magic mushrooms. Such is the case with Denver in Colorado, for example, where the Denver for Psilocybin succeeded in putting such an initiative to the vote. Citizens approved it by 50.5% last May. Most recently, the city of Oakland, California has just done the same. Finally, efforts are underway in Oregon to put a similar initiative to the citizen vote in 2020.

«We're in the midst of a psychedelic renaissance,» says Kevin Matthews, campaign manager for the Group's Denver for Psilocybin and veteran.

Finally, cannabis and psilocybin share much in common: regarded as highly dangerous substances by the US government, despite preliminary scientific and empirical evidence to the contrary and suggesting high therapeutic potential, they are both moving from the status of hated substances to relative social acceptance and recognition of their medical value.