Johns Hopkins To Lead First Federally-Funded Psychedelic Study In Decades

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For the first time in about five decades, the US government has issued a federal grant for psychchedelics studies. The funds have been given to three universities: New York University, Johns Hopkins University, and Alabama University in Birmingham. This grant is intended to study the Psychchedelic Psilocybin compound as a potential therapy tool to overcome addiction.

After a promising tool for mental health, psychchedelics have been scheduled for substances in the United States for decades, effectively ending most of the research on these compounds. Apart from their ongoing illegality, psychchedelics once again exploded in popularity, especially the practice of “microdosing,” with users provide anecdotal reports about benefits ranging from better mental performance to improving mental health and sociability.

New public interest in psychchedelics and claims made about their potential benefits has triggered a new era of research into compounds in the US, including Psilocybin, which is a psychoactive chemical found in various eaten -eating fungal species. The new federal grant was issued by the National Institute of Drug Abuse to study psilocybin as a potential way to help smokers overcome their addiction.

According to Johns Hopkins University, this will lead a three -year study in collaboration with two other educational institutions. The university will simultaneously conduct their own research section, evaluating whether psilocybin might be suitable as a treatment of addiction for smokers. This grant offers almost $ 4 million for this research, which according to the university will display the “diversified collection of participants” which is possible, in part, by the multi-state research design.

The main investigation of this study Matthew Johnson, Ph.D., first began to evaluate psilocybin as a potential therapy for smoking stopping 13 years ago, according to the university, including pilot studies published in 2014 which offers very promising results. What’s interesting is the existing research evidence that psilocybin may be substantially more effective in helping smokers stop compared to existing treatment options.