Fund research for psychedelic drugs: experts

OTTAWA Canadian researchers are urging Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor to support broad research on the use of psychedelic drugs —including LSD and an active ingredient in magic mushrooms — as medical treatments for conditions including addiction and depression.

Mark Haden, an adjunct professor at the University of British Columbia and executive director of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), is among leading experts who say psychedelics could offer a breakthrough for a range of health conditions including post-traumatic stress disorder and opioid addiction — an urgent national health crisis.

It is “absolutely pressing” for the federal government to examine the safe use of the drugs in controlled clinical settings, Haden said, adding that a “psychedelic renaissance” underway in the research world could greatly benefit patients.

“Researchers have walked through the wide open door and are demonstrating a level of effectiveness that has not been seen in things like addictions treatment,” Haden said.

“What we have is a fentanyl crisis on our hands but we also have a crisis of spending way too much money criminalizing people for their drugs. It is a nonevidence based approach.”

MDMA — commonly known as ecstasy— was the subject of a clinical trial in Vancouver sponsored by MAPS and authorized in 2009. It studied the drug’s effectiveness in treating PTSD.

The research did not get federal funding.

“We’ve done the work ... it is a multi-country trial and the phase two clinical data was examined by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) in the States and they granted this process as breakthrough status,” he said.