Top federal health officials say there are emerging signs that psychedelics have “significant potential” to treat certain mental conditions. This topic is of “great interest” to researchers.
Nora Volkow, Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse’s (NIDA), was asked by Sen. Brian Schatz(D-HI) about the research that the NIDA has done on psychedelics at a Thursday hearing.
The NIDA chief acknowledged that psychedelic research was effectively halted “for many years” due to cultural stigmatization and increased criminalization during the drug war. However, he noted that things have changed.
She said that preliminary research shows that psychedelics can be used to treat addiction and severe depression. “We’re engaging the scientific community in order to try and understand how they work and how they affect the brain.”
Volkow stated that “this is an area of high interest and [the National Institute of Mental Health] as well as NIDA are working together to expand and accelerate the research.”
Watch NIDA Director weigh in on psychedelic research starting at 1:22 and 31 into the video:
The official responded to Sen. Susan Collins’ (R-ME) question about the “relationship between marijuana use, and psychiatric disorder” at the hearing.
Volkow responded that the agency was “very concerned” with frequent use of high THC cannabis products and that “we must understand what the consequences of using cannabis may be.”
Schatz, as well as Volkow, have expressed an interest in expanding the research on psychedelics. This is because more states are beginning to reform their laws, and they want to discover therapeutic uses for substances such psilocybin or MDMA.
Last year, Schatz, along with Sen. Cory Booker, (D-NJ), urged top federal officials to give an update on Research into the Therapeutic Potential of Psychedelics. They argued that federal prohibition had stymied research.
NIDA and NIMH replied to the inquiry, saying that federal prohibition made it harder to study the benefits of psychedelics . This required researchers to jump through extra regulatory hoops. Volkow said previously that she hesitates to personally study Schedule I drugs due to these complications.
In 2021, the director told Marijuana Moment that researchers should prioritize psychedelics research because more people will use the substances as they are exposed to studies that show their therapeutic potential.
Congress is now taking psychedelics seriously, as a result of renewed research and reform. In March, for instance, bipartisan and multi-party congressional legislators filed an updated version to streamline federal rescheduling “breakthrough therapies” such as psilocybin or MDMA to promote drug research and development.
Booker, Sen. Rand Paul, (R. KY) and Rep. Nancy Mace, (R. SC) led another bill last year, which was designed to clarify the federal “Right to Try”, (RTT), laws that give seriously ill people access to Schedule I medications, such as marijuana, psychedelics, like psilocybin, and MDMA. The bill was not passed by the end the session.
The relaunch of a congressional Caucus devoted to promoting research on the therapeutic potentials of entheogenic drugs coincided roughly with the introduction of the bipartisan bill psychedelics this session.
State legislators in the U.S. are advancing psychedelic legislation that focuses primarily on research.
Oregon officials issued psilocybin licensing in preparation for the state to open centers that will allow people to receive psychedelic treatments at regulated facilities.
Colorado’s state legislature also sent a bill that would implement regulations for the legalization of psychedelics after voters approved a historic ballot measure last year.
Texas Voters will Decide on Marijuana decriminalization ballot measures in San Antonio and Harker Heights on Saturday
The first time Marijuana Moment featured the post Top federal official touts’significant potential’ of psychedelics at Senate hearing.
