Alcohol Addiction | +80 articles

[mr peabody]

LSD may help treat alcoholism

by Maia Szalavitz | Time | 9 Mar 2012

The psychedelic drug LSD can help people with alcoholism quit or cut back their drinking, according to a new analysis of data originally collected in the 1960s. The study adds to a renaissance of research interest in mind-expanding medications for psychiatric disorders.

Norwegian scientists conducted a meta-analysis, combining the results of six randomized trials that tested the effect of a single dose of LSD for alcoholism in 536 adults. Researchers found that 59% of participants who took acid either dramatically cut back their drinking or quit, compared with 38% of controls, who either took a much smaller dose of acid or used another drinking-prevention treatment. Only eight cases of adverse effects or “bad trips” were reported, none of them lasting longer than the high itself.

Earlier conclusions from the literature suggested that LSD was not effective for alcoholism, but those results appear related to the fact that individual studies on the subject did not include enough participants to demonstrate significant differences between the groups.

“LSD had a significant beneficial effect on alcohol misuse at the first follow-up assessment,” write the authors of the new paper, published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology. “The effectiveness of a single dose of LSD compares well with the effectiveness of daily naltrexone [reVia, Vivitrol] acamprosate [Campral], or disulfiram [Antabuse].” Those are the drugs currently approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat alcoholism.

The study found that the differences between LSD and control groups were statistically significant from two months to six months after treatment, but one year later, there was no longer a measurable improvement in those who had taken LSD. But given the persistence of alcoholism, it is perhaps more surprising that the effects of one dose of LSD lasted up to six months than it is that it would “wear off” a year later.

The treatment of alcoholism using LSD is not as unconventional as it may appear to the unitiated. In fact, AA co-founder Bill Wilson was an early advocate of acid treatment for alcohol abuse; unlike some of his followers, Wilson never believed that AA was the only way to deal with alcoholism. He took LSD himself, finding that the mind-expanding substance facilitated a similar spiritual state to the one that had helped him stop drinking in the first place. In his official AA biography, Pass It On, he’s quoted as saying:

It is a generally acknowledged fact in spiritual development that ego reduction makes the influx of God’s grace possible. … I consider LSD to be of some value to some people, and practically no damage to anyone. It will never take the place of any of the existing means by which we can reduce the ego, and keep it reduced.

Similarly, the rationale for the treatment regimen used in some of the early LSD trials was that the powerful drug would “break down” alcoholics’ egos and thereby create a spiritual awakening. This was not supposed to be a fun or mellow trip.

For example, in one of the trials included in the current analysis, the patients were actually strapped to their beds within a therapeutic community, a setting that typically involves extensive confrontation and humiliation aimed at revising their personalities. Research now shows, rather unsurprisingly, that trying to annihilate people emotionally is dangerous and can lead to long-term damage, even when it’s done without a powerful hallucinogen. Previous studies on LSD suggest that researchers may have underestimated the drug’s potential by using it as part of a counterproductive therapeutic strategy.

Studies show that the psychedelic experience is very sensitive to context, which is why the CIA used the drug as an interrogation aid while hippies viewed it as vehicle for bring about worldwide peace and love.

But LSD is not the only psychedelic drug that has shown promise in addiction treatment. An African drug, ibogaine, was also found in early trials to reduce or even eliminate withdrawal symptoms from heroin while producing an intense and often emotionally exhausting experience.

This property was discovered in 1962 by a heroin addict, Howard Lotsof, who took ibogaine on the street and found that afterward, he no longer felt physical withdrawal symptoms or craving. He stayed off heroin, patented the use of ibogaine for treatment of multiple addictions and spent the rest of his life advocating for more research. Unfortunately, the drug remains tangled in controversy due to deaths associated with street use and the lingering taint of the 1960s that shadows all psychedelic-drug research.

Still, with increasing data suggesting that psychedelics, including MDMA and psilocybin, may be useful in the treatment of psychiatric disorders ranging from depression to post-traumatic stress disorder, perhaps careful study will finally determine a role for these kinds of treatments in psychiatry.

In addiction research, however, it’s important to temper enthusiasm and keep from overselling psychedelic “cures.” Lotsof once told me about what happened to some of his friends after they discovered that ibogaine had gotten him through heroin withdrawal with no struggle.

As predicted, his fellow addicts reported the same lack of withdrawal. Like Lotsof, his friends also felt free — they no longer felt a physical need for heroin. But unlike Lotsof, his friends had no desire to quit; they continued to score heroin because they wanted to get high. It suggests that addiction is much more than withdrawal, physical dependence and craving.

Psychedelic experience — like all other intense life events — may offer the potential for growth and change. How people respond, however, depends on far more than a drug.

http://healthland.time.com/2012/03/09/lsd-may-help-treat-alcoholism/​

 

[mr peabody]

Can ketamine cure alcoholism?

A radical new therapy which uses the drug ketamine to wipe out booze-related memories could revolutionize how alcohol addiction is treated, scientists say. Researchers at University College London (UCL) are experimenting with a potential ketamine treatment to see if a single, one-off dose can treat the condition. They say there is growing evidence that ketamine, which is used as a recreational narcotic, can have a positive impact on those dealing with alcoholism.

"There is evidence that ketamine could be useful as a treatment for alcoholism," head researcher Ravi Das told the Guardian. "The drug could suppress memory triggers - clinking glasses, the sight of beer, arriving home after work, which create the urge to drink alcohol," he said. "Memories that you form can be hijacked by drugs in some people. If you were an alcoholic you might have a strong memory of being in a certain place and wanting to drink. Those memories get continuously triggered by things in the environment that you cant avoid," Das said. "The main problem is the really high relapse rate after treatment."

"People can successfully quit using over the short term while they're being monitored in the hospital, but when they return home, they're exposed to those environmental triggers again," he explained.

https://www.rt.com/uk/375010-radical...py-alcoholism/

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How safe is ibogaine?

Ibogaine increases electricity in the heart, which is one of the reasons why reputable clinics do cardiac screenings – to assess how the heart conducts electricity. Ibogaine has some features that require vigilance, and most experts conclude that thorough pre-screening and medical monitoring during the experience is crucial to its safety as a treatment for alcohol detoxification.

Ibogaine also induces bradycardia (lowers heart rate, normally by about 10 beats per minute during a typical dose of 12–20mg/kg). The risk of bradycardia is that the heart rate can go very low. If the heart rate stays too low for too long, this can require immediate administration of atropine. This is a serious life-threatening situation that requires medical intervention.

QT prolongation is another major risk with ibogaine. The QT interval is a measure of the heart’s electrical cycle - the time it takes for the ventricle to get ready from one contraction to the next. During this period, the heart is vulnerable to cardiac arrhythmias. Alcohol withdrawal also results in QT prolongation, so combining ibogaine with alcohol detox can be extremely dangerous.

https://www.psymposia.com/magazine/h...00-treatments/

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After suffering for years from alcohol addiction, I forced myself to seek ibogaine treatment. Ibogaine's healing properties are unbelievable. I was stunned at how great I felt after the treatment. Cravings and withdrawal were virtually non-existent.

-Joshua V.​

 

[mr peabody]

How ibogaine helped me conquer alcoholism

reset.me | 13 Jul 2014

I drank heavily and smoked since I was 18 or 20, taking drugs of all kinds along the way but really seemed to get into the habit of drinking alcohol the most. I live in Milwaukee and went to college here and its socially acceptable to get bombed on the regular and continue with your life. Drinking really is a destination here. So as any of the other drugs I've done fell away due to boredom or lack of skill using them, I just gravitated to the spirits, bad ones, for me anyway. I come from a long line of alcoholics, actually.

I chose a new center that was intrinsically tied to a shaman that came from Africa and has been using Iboga in the Bwiti tradition for a long time. The people that started this place have been training with him for the past number of years to be able to administer and provide an experience that is as comfortable as can be when facing things that aren’t too easy to face. These folks are people with their own stories of abuse and healing. Their own paths to be working with this medicine. And they conduct the ceremonies in a traditional Bwiti way that I didn’t hear about from any of the other centers.

The experience with Iboga is broken into 2 journeys at this center. One is a detox and the other they call a psycho-spiritual journey. The detox varies for everyone and it can last up to 10 days if one is coming off of a heavy heroin diet, or it could be an hour if one is considerably clean. I think.. Now the detox doesn’t just mean a physical detox as Iboga cleans out everything not worth having in you. That being thoughts about oneself that are detrimental, experiences that are harrowing from any age that have stuck to your psyche, bad food, prescription drugs, mental processes etc. It cleans it all out.

As the first journey was the detox Ill start there. We started around the fire and the few providers shared their experiences with how they came to Iboga and came to be working with it. The fire ceremony is important to bring the fire spirits to the area and keep it lit for the duration of the journey. We had a spoonful of raw Iboga root bark that had been ground up all dry and bitter tasting, then chased it with water. That was about 830pm… The time is integral in translating the story just to consider the length of the experience. Then the patriarch of the place spoke of the Bwiti tradition and some of their ways of thinking. Built of tradition and not religion, a way showing, seeing, and experiencing instead of something based on faith. It is something to experience, wholly visceral and tangible. After awhile we were given another bit of Iboga in red pill form that was extract. Then we had more talk of Bwiti tradition.

About what I think was two hours had passed and at this point I was feeling the medicine and decided it was time to go into the temple. The temple is a room made up of 5 single beds spaced about a foot apart and was lit by a few candles around an alter of power objects from Africa. A room in a house actually that is turned into a sacred space safe for traveling. After a quick trip to the bathroom I laid down with my head toward the alter and my feet pointed outside. I was feeling like I had a lead blanket over me like the ones you wear while getting an X-ray and my body was vibrating heavily and tingling with electricity. I can’t remember what my mind was doing… I think I was just noticing how my body felt. A few minutes later one of the providers came over and asked how I was and told me he was going to put some pygmy dust on my 3rd eye with his finger and then he was going to tap on my forehead until I could see his finger. I told him I could perceive his finger but not see it. He told me it was ok and not to worry about it. I then got a blindfold to lay over my eyes because even the candle light was distracting with my eyes closed. As I lay there I started noticing my thoughts and how rapid they were, just blasting to and fro, fast, a bunch of images were moving in front of me but i couldn't seem to grasp them. I’d think “Oh, that's important, remember that” and as I thought it they would morph into something else and be gone with no memory of what it was. That happened numerous times.

I started feeling like my necklace was constricting me and I needed to take it off, I never take it off and I felt like it just needed it to be off. So I sat up and kept my eyes closed as to not be distracted and undid the clasp and slid it over my head. As I brought it to the front of my face I could see my hands. My hands right in front of me with my eyes closed… and I rotated them back and forth from the palm to the back, to the palm to the back. Just noticing that I could see without opening my eyes. Then I saw my legs, the bed, looking up I saw the pane glass door that was open to the night air, then to my right a fellow journeyman and his bed and bucket. Never had I seen so clear with my 3rd eye. I put my necklace on the floor next to me with a slight cling and laid back down completely astonished.

Now my mind was racing and the images kept coming and morphing and disappearing. I’d shift my position on the mattress and think that I was disturbing the other folks around me, or how I was being perceived laying there. The guy next to me was purging. That was distracting to the point of being pulled out of the trance and I realized I had to pee, so I sat up and motioned for the bathroom. There were 3 providers in the temple that would help with guidance, walking to the bathroom, changing buckets, anything you might need help with in that state of mind. I had to pee so much and I peed almost every time he threw up. The vomiting was almost comforting though. It just felt like… get it out man, get it all out. Then I’d go pee again, probably once an hour during the entire experience. I think it was cleansing my bladder, liver and kidneys from years of boozing. So I’d lay back down and shift and think about how I was disturbing someone, NO ONE was paying attention to my posture or movements to the point of judgement. But I thought they were. That's when I thought… why was I thinking of the way someone else was perceiving me in this state. Everyone was going through their own journey. I did that for a number of hours. Thinking how well I was doing not purging, I was handling the medicine. What a good tripper and traveler I was, look at me. It was all in my mind. I’d been looking for approval and doing things my entire life based on what other people thought of me. Or what I thought other people would think of me if I did. That was a profound thought. I didn’t understand how important that realization was until the next day though it was definitely an “ah ha” moment. Then the thought of how powerful thoughts are came into my mind. How they shape everything around us and our perception of everything around us and how they shape ourselves, and then everything I thought of would materialize.

Part of the Iboga journey is to be able to access yourself, ancestors, and the Iboga plant itself and ask for guidance in answering any questions you have about your life… or anything for that matter. I had thought of a question I’d written down about fear. I've always moved through my life with a lot of fear. Fear of what others will think of me, fear of the unknown, fear of people finding out what I was thinking about myself (which was usually detrimental), fear of failure, success, etc. But I thought of a different question right then instead. I thought “how can I be a better husband to my wife?” Why that instead of focusing on myself, I don’t know, that's just what happened. Probably because I'm not well adjusted to being able to control my own mind. Just then an image of my wife on a go cart showed up and underneath it the words “trust her” in the font of American currency wrote itself out. I thought "Wow, ok… why would I not trust her? She’s never done anything for me not to trust her." I then thought about trust and how I've not really trusted many people to the degree of REALLY trusting them. With their opinions, or actions, or whatever. A lot of judgment and stipulation in my trust for others. I then saw images of a million interactions going back to my childhood involving my attitude toward people and how I’d not really trusted. It appeared to me right at that moment I’d never completely trusted myself… and in doing so, never believed in anyone else. Let that resonate… or read it again. I looked as far back as I could trying to find a time when I had trusted myself completely, and couldn’t find a time when I had. My question had morphed into the correct words. ‘When had I started to become fearful’ was re formed into ‘when had I lost my trust.’ I understood that my fear was a by product of such.

I also saw porn images I've watched, sitcoms from the 80’s. For real, I’d find myself in a happy days episode or Mork and Mindy, it was bizarre. Like those shows had programmed something in my young mind about how the world works. I saw old girlfriends, things I was hurt by, and all kinds of stuff that I thought was “lower” in vibration. I thought I was supposed to be having a trip into higher consciousness… I didn’t realize until later after the many hours that passed and into the next day that these were all things that were being taken out of me as a detox.

At dawn one by one we all left the temple for our rooms to be alone and sift through the images and feelings we’d experienced during the journey. Each one of us being escorted by one of the providers that had been in the temple with us through the night. Back in my room I cried like Ive never cried before. And because I was ready to heal and just surrendered I just let it come. I probably cried and sobbed for about 2-3 hours on and off. Every time I felt like I had to cry I just cried. I let it all out. Now some of you may be used to crying and I thought I was. I cry at the beauty of a song that touches me or a movie that's done right. Or at my son and his accomplishments or failures, and maybe just how beautiful things are to him. I usually hold back though and defer it to some other time, which never comes. So I just let it go. There weren’t really any thoughts tied to it besides how I've treated myself and my family over the years. Nothing ridiculously horrible, just embarrassing or bad to me. Things I’d missed from being hungover or being drunk at inappropriate times or things I’d said. HA, so I guess it wasn’t nothing...

The providers would come and check on us about every hour, bring us fruit and make sure we had water. Granted I wasn’t able to eat anything until 9 or 10 the next evening. The time line was pretty harrowing as I said before. Ceremony started at 7:30, medicine was ingested around 8:30, go into temple I guess around 9:30 or 10. At dawn we’d go to the rooms and sleep wouldn’t come until around midnight the next night. So that puts it at about 30 hours of introspection. They say Iboga will let you sleep when its done working on you. But I was so tired and drained from the experience that I’d just lay there awake remembering and trying to write or record my voice with some of the things that happened.

After some sleep we had a day of rest and were taken to some hot springs for a mud bath and a swim. Some delicious organic food was served up and we met other folks from a similar Iboga center and talked with them and each other about our experience. Everyone's experience was just as different than the next. The similarities seemed to be only in the “ah ha” moments.

Sunday was the next ceremony and it started the same way with all of us around the fire and a few people shared some things, then they asked us to share some things from our first journey. I think a lot of folks felt like it was really almost too personal. Or maybe they hadn’t processed some of the heavier stuff that they saw or felt during. I offered up the 2 major things that I didn’t think were too personal to share and vocalized about how I feel like I’d been doing things for approval for most of my life instead of doing things for myself. And not trusting myself for however long. We also had our questions written down for the guided part of the journey if we ever got there. Later in the week the doctor that lives there stated that people spend 10 years to come to conclusions like that and it happened in one night. He said he didn’t know how Iboga does it, but it does. He has seen it over and over. Besides being there for any health concerns he is studying the effects of Iboga for these reasons.

We also did a few other things that I’ll leave out. If you choose to have the experience you can see for yourself. This time the medicine started to hit me early and I figured it was time to go into temple and lay down. As I lay down, one of the providers gave me the blindfold for my eyes. I lay there and put my hands directly across from each other over my chest. I could feel the electricity between them and sort of played with it for a bit. Its an amazing feeling to play with the energy, its like two magnets pushing against each other. I was in awe of that and could feel my body just vibrating like crazy, like I was plugged in. I've had other psychedelic experiences and it was quite similar with the onset. Granted it wasn’t a nervous feeling like the onset of acid or mushrooms can be. But having a psychedelic reference point was nice. I started to spin round n round like the alcohol spins and I opened my eyes and said stop, and the spinning stopped… then closed my eyes and it started up again. But then the spins shifted and I felt like I was spinning flat on top of a figure eight like the infinity symbol but it was just my head and feet dipping instead of a full out spin.

The medicine started to really come on and I wasn’t sure what to expect. I was trying to have no expectations but it was really coming on and I wasn’t sure what was happening. My body just kept vibrating at a higher level minute by minute and it wasn’t topping off, the medicine was kicking. So I felt an intuition and voice inside me say “go”. Then I said to myself “I’ll let the medicine come on stronger,” then again, "Go, no I’ll wait, I should go, no I’ll wait." I was really afraid but I didn’t know of what and I wasn’t sure of where I was gonna go? I was just staring into black space. I was really fighting with myself and maybe it was just to let go… or to actually go somewhere. All I know is what happened next is one of the most poignant and helpful things I’ve ever felt when it comes to having support from friends and family. Out of my pillow from under my head my sons face showed up in all its two front toothless glory and whispered into my ear… ”Just go daddy” I’m tearing up as I write this. “Just go.” Then behind my son my wife shows up and she puts her arms around him, and she says “This is why you came down here, you should go.” And what did I say?! I’ll wait till the medicine kicks in a bit more!!!!! Gsus! There was something blocking my view off to the left like a black object… I couldn’t see past it and that was the way I wanted to go or where I was being pulled toward. I then saw two really good friends Dustin and Kristine in the sky off in space. I asked them .. "Is it clear over there?” Dustin goes, “Yeah, it's clear, you can go.” Kristine was patting her thighs and clapping encouragingly saying “Yeah, go, go” and Dustin is saying “gooooo” like he’s calling me onto a wave..this one’s yours man I can see it, go go go, like paddle man, you got this. My wife is saying Go and my boy is saying Go. In this cacophonous sound of 5 people coming to a crescendo of GO! I couldn't deny it anymore. My body was just really moving, like my spirit was about to come out of it. I raised my arm like I was in school or something and said to one of the providers… ”Hey, I need some guidance over here..." He asked what was going on and I said “I’m being told I need to go,” and he says, “Where do you need to go?” Like he was wondering hmmm, what's he wanting, does he feel he needs to leave the temple or something?… not sure. I was lucid enough to tell him .. ”Oh shit, I’m not explaining myself correctly,” and told him the scene that was happening as we were speaking with everyone telling me to go. He said “Alright, let’s do it.” I don’t remember if that's exactly what he said, but it was similar in resonance.

He guided me to my house and told me to go inside. Remember that I said in this state anything I thought of would materialize? Literally anything that came into my mind would appear. I went inside the front door of my house and stood in my living room. He asked if anyone was there and I panned the room with my eye. In the dining room… it was me. I was standing face to face with myself.

Many things happened during this part of the journey and Im not going to go into it here but it was extraordinary in every aspect. I dealt with so many things that have hampered me in my past. I had questions written out that the provider read to me and I would repeat them aloud getting answers immediately from myself. You can ask anything and most of my questions were very personal in nature about events and people in my life past and present. And for the first time in my life things were clear about where I’d come from, who I am, and my place in all of it.

At one point I started breathing really heavily and the vibration of my body was extreme, just total surrender…and it was buzzing. I started breathing hard enough and I was not focusing on the questions at hand. Later a guy in the ceremony said he had sat up thinking something may have been wrong. The provider asked me what was going on. I said if I have to fly again I’m flying with my soul. He asked me what I was doing and I said I was flying with my soul into space and a very high speed, holding onto his ankle. I mean we were moving! Just sonic. He said "Well you can fly all night maybe you can ask him to come back so we can get to some of these questions answered." I had a full page written out. Kinda funny actually. We came back down to earth and sat back down on some stairs of a deck where we were talking.

Like I said I'm not going into the main answers I received because if you want it, you can have your own experience. But I’ll tell you this, it was the most spiritual experience of my life. And I've had a few in my life but they were nothing like this. I got access to the spirit world and spent a number of hours there traveling and reconnecting with my spirit guide and soul. And I was the bumbling fella trailing behind trying to keep up with them both. I remember yelling to my soul as they walked up a hillside “Where are you going?” He said ”As long as he’s around I’m hanging with him.”

After a brief exchange about going around with each other into the ether, we took off on a chalkboard eraser in to the spirit world to see some things I was to be shown. At this point in the journey had become extraordinarily psychedelic and it was all I could do to stay focused and ride around on the vehicle which we chose to use. I would get distracted by something the Bwiti music would be building in the trip and I would go into it and become part of it. After I don’t know how long I would think to myself… ”I was doing something…not sure what but I was focusing..” I’d hear a whistle and look up, and there would be my soul and my guide on the eraser and they’d motion for me with an arm wave saying c’mon let's go. With no judgement I’d be back in the front seat and we be trucking along looking at the nature of reincarnation, the fate of the earth, my birth, and questions I hadn’t even thought of. Every time I’d get lost in the trip I’d do the same thing. My guide and I worked out a meeting place after a few times of just coming to and having them whistle. I would picture a kid's slide, one of those spiral slides at a playground. It was blue with a yellow top. I’d come to, out of some psychedelic mechanism remembering I was doing something and in an instant, I’d run up that slide under the hood of yellow and hop into the eraser and we’d set off again into the ether. A generalized meeting place that would appear just as I thought of it.

I do apologize I can’t divulge all of this part of the journey because I know I would want to hear it from someone after all the stuff from the detox. But it was such a beautiful experience reuniting with myself and my guide that its just that close to my heart that I don’t want to put it all out there. We all have these things in us that are just for us.

It is very soothing to have some clarity on the things that have tripped me up for so long. Some perspective that I had not know previously. It's like all of the things I learned were already things I knew but couldn’t access until I let go fully and surrendered. I can’t emphasize enough the amount of surrender it took to just let all this information come. I know some folks fight this stuff and that's gotta be harder than just letting it happen. I was ready to heal and let whatever information come through that was going to, the good, the bad and the ugly, accept and let it go. It wasn’t pleasant seeing and reliving certain things from my past, but it was awe inspiring.

I could’ve written a novel considering the amount of things I experienced during the journeys and during the 8 days I was there. Granted if I had better grammatical knowledge I probably would. And this was just a small portion of all the pageantry and fireworks that an Iboga experience can bring. As I sit here on my porch with the mid-western summer rain coming down in buckets and my son sound asleep in bed I feel extremely grateful. Grateful for the man I once was that pushed to seek answers and healing. And the man I am now, continuing to work on myself in so many ways. I was, as Mike Ness’s album title describes, ‘cheating at solitaire’ and it was wholly unfair to myself. It seems to me that the medicine called to me. Or I was drawn to it. Whichever the case, Iboga is what provided the catalyst to change for me. It helped me get out of a pattern of bad thoughts, horrible actions, and negative vibrations mostly focused toward myself. It's not a magic pill, it doesn’t do the work for you. It seems to open a doorway to walk through. But the work has to be done continually, it just seems clearer now as to what I have to do for myself to sustain a healthy and happy life.

The lessons have stayed with me for the most part though the novelty of the experience has faded. I'm watching my thoughts more clearly, I am grateful every morning for the day prior, and the day to come, and I conquered my alcoholism and the hounding of that demon.

I stand taller, breath deeper, and feel calmer.

I am grateful.

http://reset.me/personal-story/personal-story-healing-ibogaine/​

 

[mr peabody]

Ibogaine followed by 5-MeO-DMT for the treatment of alcohol use disorder

Joseph Barsuglia, Martin Polanco, Robert Palmer, Benjamin Malcolmk, Benjamin Kelmendi, Tanya Calvey

Ibogaine is a plant-derived alkaloid and dissociative psychedelic that demonstrates anti-addictive properties with several substances of abuse, including alcohol. 5-MeO-DMT is a naturally occurring psychedelic known to occasion potent mystical-type experiences and also demonstrates anti-addictive properties. The potential therapeutic effects of both compounds in treating alcohol use disorder require further investigation and there are no published human neuroimaging findings of either treatment to date. We present the case of a 31-year-old male military veteran with moderate alcohol use disorder who sought treatment at an inpatient clinic in Mexico that utilized a sequential protocol with ibogaine hydrochloride on day 1, followed by vaporized 5-MeO-DMT on day 3. The patient received SPECT neuro-imaging that included a resting-state protocol before, and 3 days after completion of the program. During the patient’s ibogaine treatment, he experienced dream-like visions that included content pertaining to his alcohol use and resolution of past developmental traumas.

He described his treatment with 5-MeO-DMT as a peak transformational and spiritual breakthrough. On post-treatment SPECT neuro imaging, increases in brain perfusion were noted in bilateral caudate nuclei, left putamen, right insula, as well as temporal, occipital, and cerebellar regions compared to the patient’s baseline scan. The patient reported improvement in mood, cessation of alcohol use, and reduced cravings at 5 days post-treatment, effects which were sustained at 1 month, with a partial return to mild alcohol use at 2 months. In this case, serial administration of ibogaine and 5-MeO-DMT resulted in increased perfusion in multiple brain regions broadly associated with alcohol use disorders and known pharmacology of both compounds, which coincided with a short-term therapeutic outcome. We present theoretical considerations regarding the potential of both psychedelic medicines in treating alcohol use disorders in the context of these isolated findings, and areas for future investigation.

INTRODUCTION

Multiple psychedelic compounds demonstrate initial evidence of anti-addictive properties in the treatment of alcohol abuse, which is a top preventable leading cause of death in the United States. The Food and Drug Administration approved medications to treat alcoholism, such as disulfiram, naltrexone, and acamprosate, have demonstrated limited efficacy, and more effective treatments are warranted against this deadly condition. Ibogaine is a plant-derived psychedelic dissociative compound that is administered internationally in controlled settings and demonstrates addiction-interrupting properties with alcohol. Additional investigation is required to assess the efficacy of ibogaine in treating alcohol use disorders and document effects on the human brain.

Ayahuasca is a widely used psychedelic Amazonian plant mixture which contains DMT and is associated with reduced alcohol use in ritual users and animal models. Psilocybin is an alternate organic psychoactive tryptamine which demonstrates efficacy for treating alcohol dependence in humans, and its anti-addictive effects are meditated through occasioning mystical-type experiences. A lesser studied, though pharmacologically related tryptamine, 5-MeO-DMT occasions mystical experiences at a similar or greater intensity than psilocybin, possesses anti-addictive properties, and thus may have benefit in treating alcohol use disorders. The following investigation includes a rationale for administering both ibogaine and 5-MeO-DMT in the context of alcohol addiction treatment, and the resultant neurological sequelae in a case study of an individual treated for alcohol abuse with both compounds in a psychedelic treatment program in Mexico.

IBOGAINE AS A TREATMENT FOR ALCOHOL USE DISORDER

Ibogaine is a primary alkaloid present in the root bark of the Tabernanthe iboga plant, which has an ancient history of ceremonial use in Central Africa. In recent decades, a number of studies have demonstrated the efficacy of ibogaine in treating opioid dependence. The treatment response rates to a single administration of ibogaine in recent observational studies with opioid users are promising. Remission statistics range from 75% in a small 1-year observational follow-up study in New Zealand, to 30–50% in larger observational studies from clinics in Mexico. These observational outcomes far surpass general efficacy ranges of widely utilized opioid replacement drugs such as methadone and buprenorphine. Ibogaine demonstrates a spectrum of anti-addictive properties with a number of substances of abuse, including cocaine, amphetamines, nicotine, and alcohol. Pharmacological models suggest that ibogaine is a promising therapeutic agent for treating alcohol use disorders; however, to date, no formal studies have examined this specific application in humans.

In addition to its direct anti-addictive neurobiological properties, ibogaine occasions potent dissociative and waking dream-like states that engender transformative psychological insights. In individuals with substance use disorders, ibogaine stimulates heightened memory retrieval specifically related to drug abuse, the perception of one’s own future with or without drug use, and visions which reveal powerful insights into the psychological factors contributing to the addiction, such as emotionally unresolved personal traumas. Several studies have shown that lifetime trauma incidence is a primary predictor of developing an addictive disorder, and during ibogaine treatment, individuals with different forms of substance addictions consistently report therapeutic processing of autobiographical imagery, childhood experiences, an evocation of repressed traumatic memories.

One study found that the subjective intensity of altered states of consciousness during the ibogaine experience was associated with an individual’s ability to make adaptive changes as well as how “changed” a person felt as a result of treatment. In a retrospective study, ibogaine treatment responders were more likely to report their ibogaine experience as spiritually meaningful, and that they gained insight into the cause of their addiction compared to non-responders. In addition, ibogaine administration is associated with improvement in mood and anxiety symptoms, which are precipitants and contributors to alcohol-related problems. Collectively, ibogaine demonstrates multiple potential pharmacological and psychological properties for treating alcohol use disorders.

CONCLUSION

Ibogaine and 5-MeO-DMT demonstrate initial behavioral and pharmacological evidence as potential treatments for alcohol use disorder. SPECT imaging revealed improvements in multiple relevant brain regions associated with substance addiction in a patient with alcohol use disorder. Through visionary/transcendental mystical-type experiences, the patient processed psychological content associated with his trauma and addiction history. These findings could serve to advance future investigations and controlled human neuro-imaging studies. Future studies should examine the neurological effects of both compounds independently in larger samples, and correlate outcomes with phenomenology of psychedelic states. In this case, both compounds presented therapeutic potential in the treatment of post-traumatic stress. Given the comorbidity and global disease burden of PTSD and alcoholism, additional research is both necessary and timely.​

 

[mr peabody]

A radical new approach for beating alcohol addiction

by Jennifer Bleyer | Psychology Today | 2 May 2017

Jason didn't fit the stereotype of an alcoholic. A 39-year-old marketing executive with a master's degree, he never blacked out or erupted in a stormy rage. His family's home in Albuquerque wasn't strewn with empty liquor bottles. He had never crashed his car. Yet Jason had been drawn to alcohol ever since his first sip of beer at age 8, and it was typical for him to have half a dozen drinks after work. He was crushed but not entirely shocked on the spring afternoon in 2015 when his wife announced that she couldn't tolerate his inebriation anymore, packed up their kids, and moved out.

The next day Jason saw a notice in the alternative weekly newspaper: "Concerned about your drinking? Interested in alternatives to the treatments that are currently available?" The ad announced that University of New Mexico researchers were seeking participants for a new trial involving an experimental medication that might help curb alcohol abuse. Jason dialed the phone number on the ad and was surprised to learn that the experimental medicine was psilocybin.

Jason was accepted into the second trial, which included 12 weeks of psychotherapy. After four weeks of psychotherapy, he arrived in a clinical room that had been appointed with art, homey furniture, and soft lighting and was given a pill of synthetic psilocybin. He lay down on a couch and donned eyeshades and headphones that piped in a programmed selection of music. Sitting nearby throughout the session were male and female co-therapists, who did little more than direct Jason to focus his attention internally and go where his mind took him. Within minutes, he burst into tears.

"I wept for almost 6 hours, really heavy purging, as if I had just needed an excuse to stop the world and take this emotional ride." He saw that his alcoholism was a major stressor in his family's life and gazed with unalloyed clarity at his own lack of commitment to the most important thing in his life?his marriage and kids. "I believed that I had screwed up in every way," he says. "There was so much internal guilt bottled up." After several hours, the emotional tempest settled, and Jason was left with an incandescent feeling of love for his family, and forgiveness of himself.

Four weeks later, he arrived for the second psilocybin session, which he described afterward in a journal. The initial fall was swift and intense, he wrote. "I wanted to immerse myself in the sounds from every corner and crevice of the room. Fully aware that I had no control over any circumstance or train of thought, I simply took the ride. There came a point where I realized I could in fact navigate."

With a greater sense of control this time, he focused his attention again on his life and aspects of himself that felt broken. He saw himself and his wife far in the future, happy and profoundly connected, and envisioned his stepdaughter and the couple's then 4-year-old daughter as strong women that he and his wife had lovingly guided into adulthood. Jason's attention barely drifted toward his relationship with alcohol. It was all about his relationship to himself and his loved ones.

Even though there was little explicit content about drinking in his two psilocybin sessions, Jason was effortlessly abstinent after their completion. He did eventually drink again, but moderately, with a conscientiousness he'd never experienced with alcohol before.

2 years after completing the UNM study, Jasons drinking remains limited and under control. He may have a couple beers or glasses of wine after work, but, he says, "I'm not using it to medicate myself anymore. I've come to see drinking as an individual decision, one I can decide against."

His wife took him back and moved home with their kids. They entered marriage counseling, and Jason credits the inner peace he found in the sessions as one of the most important factors in his success. The couple strengthened their communication and renewed their bond. Their family life now feels harmonious and connected. And although the psilocybin trial seldom crosses his mind, the insights it catalyzed reverberate in his life daily.

"I think alcohol was a way for me to disassociate from the here and now," he says. "The sessions taught me to hit the Pause button and take time for things that actually matter. I learned the importance of really being present."

A Radical New Approach to Beating Addiction

Psychedelic drugs are in the vanguard of treatment for addiction, raising the paradoxical question of how one mind-altering substance can override dependence on another.

www.psychologytoday.com

 

[mr peabody]

Ayahuasca, a cure for alcoholism

by Pablo Noguiera

Jorge* is around 60 years old, works a white collar job, has gray hair, married children, and grown grandchildren. People who work with him would never imagine that he participates in religious rituals using a mind altering tea. Yet thanks to ayahuasca, Jorge renounced his alcoholism, a big change for someone who, when he was younger, would buy a few cases of whiskey at once. "I opened the boxes and started emptying the bottles in the kitchen sink. My wife was shocked," he told me.

He's not the only alcoholic to renounce booze after an experience with ayahuasca. In 2010, after a decade of failed treatments, Robert Rhatigan took a trip to the Peruvian Amazon, where he participated in 4 rituals conducted by a shaman. During a speech at a TEDx event, he recounted how he "saw several components from his mind floating in space, as if they were pieces of a puzzle" while under the effects of ayahuasca. The experience lasted two hours and by the end of the ceremony, he saw the pieces returning to his head. The one that corresponded to his alcohol addiction no longer fit in. There he knew that he was cured. "My transformation is something far from understood in Western medicine," he says.

There are some hospitals, universities, and research institutes around the world that are experimenting with powerful psychoactive substances, such as psilocybin, ibogaine and even LSD are being analyzed in hospitals and research institutes all around the world.

"Regarding ayahuasca studies, Brazil is at the forefront of research," said Luis Fernando Tfoli, professor of the medical psychology and psychiatry department of Unicamp and coordinator of the Laboratory of Interdisciplinary Studies of psychoactive drugs, in Portuguese.

This year, a study conducted by Brazilian researchers was published in Nature. The piece examined the effects of the drink on two men and four women who showed symptoms of depression, ranging from moderate to severe. The participants consumed ayahuasca only once in doses that ranged between 120ml to 200ml prepared by a church of Santo Daime. They then had their mental health monitored through three questionnaires repeated eight times, the first one 40 minutes after intake and the last one three weeks later.

The results showed that there were improvements shown by every participant, disregarding the levels of depression they displayed. According to one of the surveys, one day after the experiment, there had been a reduction of 62 percent in symptoms. One week later, the efficacy kept going up, getting up to 72 percent. According to another survey, depression symptoms such as sadness, difficulty concentrating, suicidal and negative thoughts, had been reduced by 82 percent. Side effects were not detected, although half of the subjects had vomited under influence of the tea.

The results impressed the researchers. "We observed antidepressant effects the first hours after administering ayahuasca, and they remained significant for two to three weeks," Flavia de Lima Osrio and Rafael Guimares dos Santos, two of the authors, said in an email in Portuguese. She's a lecturer in the department of neurosciences and behavioral sciences of the Universidade de Sao Paulo (USP) Medical School in Ribeiro Preto and he is a postdoctoral researcher in the same department. "Besides, ayahuasca was tolerated quite well by the patients. The majority described the experience as positive, even if there was vomiting and nausea."

The results are good news for those needing quick-acting treatments. "Antidepressants that are currently available take weeks to produce therapeutic effects, in addition to having significant side effects, such as sexual dysfunction and weight gain," Flavia wrote. "Many patients don't get an effective therapeutic response. New pharmaceuticals, that act faster and more efficiently with less side effects, are necessary."​

 

[mr peabody]

University of North Carolina

Scientists discover key neural circuit regulating alcohol consumption

University of North Carolina | Neuroscience News | Dec 13 2019

Specific neurons in the central nucleus of the amygdala regulate alcohol consumption.

Scientists have known that a region of the brain called the central nucleus of the amygdala (CeA) plays a role in behaviors related to alcohol use and consumption in general. It’s been less known which precise populations of brain cells and their projections to other brain regions mediate these behaviors. Now, UNC School of Medicine scientists discovered that specific neurons in the CeA contribute to reward-like behaviors, alcohol consumption in particular.

Published in the Journal of Neuroscience, this research pinpoints a specific neural circuit that when altered caused animal models to drink less alcohol.

“The fact that these neurons promote reward-like behavior, that extremely low levels of alcohol consumption activate these cells, and that activation of these neurons drive alcohol drinking in animals without extensive prior drinking experience suggests that they may be important for early alcohol use and reward,” said senior author Zoe McElligott, PhD, assistant professor of psychiatry and pharmacology.

“It’s our hope that by understanding the function of this circuit, we can better predict what happens in the brains of people who transition from casual alcohol use to subsequent abuse of alcohol, and the development of alcohol use disorders.”

McElligott, who is also a member of the UNC Bowles Center for Alcohol Studies, set out to investigate if a population of neurons that express a specific neuropeptide (neurotensin or NTS) contributes to reward-like behaviors and alcohol drinking. She was especially interested in these neurons in the context of inexperienced alcohol use, such as when a person first begins to drink alcohol. Also, NTS neurons are a subpopulation of other neurons in this CeA brain region that have been implicated in anxiety and fear – known as the somatostatin and corticotropin releasing factor neurons.

Using modern genetic and viral technologies in male mice, McElligott and colleagues found that selectively lesioning or ablating the NTS neurons in the CeA, while maintaining other types of CeA neurons, would cause the animals to drink less alcohol. This manipulation did not alter anxiety-like behavior. It also did not affect the consumption of other palatable liquids such as sucrose, saccharin, and bitter quinine solutions.

“We found that these NTS neurons in the CeA send a strong projection to the hindbrain, where they inhibit the parabrachial nucleus, near the brainstem,” McElligott said.

Using optogenetics – a technique where light activates these neurons – the researchers stimulated the terminal projections of the CeA-NTS neurons in the parabrachial and found that this stimulation inhibited the neurons in the parabrachial. When the scientists stimulated this projection with a laser in one half of the animal’s box, animals would spend more time where the stimulation would occur.

Animals also learned to perform a task to get the laser stimulation to turn on, and they would do this repeatedly, suggesting that they found this stimulation to be rewarding.

“Furthermore, when we stimulated this projection, animals would drink more alcohol as compared to when they had an opportunity to drink alcohol without laser stimulation,” McElligott said. “In contrast to our study where we ablated the NTS neurons, laser stimulation of this parabrachial pathway also caused the animals to consume caloric and non-caloric sweetened beverages. When the animals were presented with regular food and a sweet food, however, laser stimulation did not enhance the consumption regardless of the mouse’s hunger state. This suggests that different circuits may regulate the consumption of rewarding fluids and solids.”

McElligott and her graduate student María Luisa Torruella Suarez, the first author of this study, hope to explore how alcohol experience may change these neurons over time.

“Would these cells respond differently after animals have been drinking high quantities of alcohol over time?” McElligott said. “We also want to discover which populations of neurons in the parabrachial are receiving inputs from these neurons. Fully understanding this circuit could be the key to developing therapeutics to help people with alcohol use disorders.”

Scientists discover key neural circuit regulating alcohol consumption - Neuroscience News

Specific neurons in the central nucleus of the amygdala regulate alcohol consumption.

neurosciencenews.com

 

[mr peabody]

A single dose of LSD significantly reduced alcohol consumption in mice*

Kenneth Alper, Bin Dong, Relish Shah, Henry Sershen, K. Yaragudri Vinod

A class of serotonin type 2A receptor (5-HT2AR) agonists - psychedelics - are reported to be effective in some clinical studies of AUD, and other substance use disorders. Among the classical psychedelics, LSD, the prototype of this group of compounds, has the most extensive history of use in clinical research on AUD. The literature on LSD for the treatment of AUD extends back to the 1950s, and a meta-analysis that included 6 randomized controlled trials involving a total of 536 subjects found that treatment with a single dose of LSD significantly reduced alcohol misuse for up to three months.

This is apparently the first study to report on the effects of LSD on the self-administration of alcohol in animals. The literature reporting on the effect of classical hallucinogens on animal drug or alcohol self-administration is apparently limited to a single study, that found that the psychedelic DOI, administered 15 minutes prior to a 12-hour test session, diminished alcohol preference in a two-lever water versus ethanol choice procedure in rats.

Mechanisms that could logically be proposed to explain the findings reported here include effects on G-protein coupled signal transduction and downstream effectors, second messengers, and gene expression. Since classical psychedelics produce 5-HT2AR desensitization, it has been suggested that persistently reduced signaling in downstream pathways linked to 5-HT2AR might explain sustained effects observed in clinical studies on substance use or mood and anxiety symptoms.

In summary, this study found that LSD administered as a single dose reduced alcohol consumption and preference in mice. These findings indicate that the apparent effect of LSD in AUD observed in clinical samples may be modeled in animals, suggesting the involvement of a biologically mediated determinant, and supporting the potential utility of classical psychedelics as a paradigm for target identification in drug discovery and the investigation of the neurobiology of addiction.

*From the study here :
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphar.2018.00994/full​

 

[mr peabody]

Ketamine psychedelic therapy for alcohol dependence

by Evgeny M. Krupitsky & A. Ya. Grinenko

We carried out a controlled clinical trial on the efficacy of ketamine psychedelic therapy. To determine the efficiency of the treatment, we collected follow-up information on all the patients who had taken part in this study a year after their discharge. According to data, abstinence of more than 1 year was observed in 73 out of 111 people who had undergone the KPT. Thirty people relapsed, and in the control group of 100 patients whose treatment consisted only of conventional methods, only 24 patients remained sober for more than one year. Thus, the follow-up study demonstrated that ketamine-assisted psychedelic therapy increases the efficacy of conventional alcoholism treatment.

Two-year follow-up data were collected for the 81 patients who had undergone the KPT. According to data, abstinence of more than 2 years was observed in 33 out of these 81 patients. 38 patients had relapsed. We could not obtain two-year follow-up data for 10 patients. Three-year follow-up data were collected for the 42 patients who had undergone KPT. According to data, abstinence of more than 3 years was observed in 14 out of these 42 patients. 24 patients relapsed. The two- and three-year follow-up data are also evidence of the high efficacy of KPT.

We have worked with KPT since 1985, and have already treated more than 1000 alcoholic patients without any complications. KPT seems to be a safe and effective method of treatment for alcohol dependence. It seems to be an especially powerful tool in Russia, where there was no psychedelic "revolution" in the 60s, where almost nobody knows what "psychedelics" mean, and where almost nobody can even imagine that these drugs can be used for recreation, and for fun. Therefore in Russia, KPT looks particularly unusual and powerful.

http://fll-italia.it/context.jsp?ID_...11254&area=279

• • •

Can ketamine cure alcoholism?

A radical new therapy which uses the drug ketamine to wipe out booze-related memories could revolutionize how alcohol addiction is treated, scientists say. Researchers at University College London (UCL) are experimenting with a potential ketamine treatment to see if a single, one-off dose can treat the condition. They say there is growing evidence that ketamine, which is used as a recreational narcotic, can have a positive impact on those dealing with alcoholism.

"There is evidence that it could be useful as a treatment for alcoholism," head researcher Ravi Das told the Guardian. "The drug could suppress memory triggers - clinking glasses, the sight of beer, arriving home after work, which create the urge to drink alcohol," he said. "Memories that you form can be hijacked by drugs in some people. If you were an alcoholic you might have a strong memory of being in a certain place and wanting to drink. Those memories get continuously triggered by things in the environment that you cant avoid," Das said. "The main problem is the really high relapse rate after treatment."

"People can successfully quit using over the short term while they're being monitored in hospital, but when they return home, they're exposed to those environmental triggers again," he explained.

https://www.rt.com/uk/375010-radical...py-alcoholism/​

 

[mr peabody]

Psychedelic therapy for alcohol addiction

by Amie Moses, B.Sc., B.A.| LEARNING MIND | 6 Sep 2014

Millions of people are battling addiction and alcoholism with little success as traditional methods fail. Psychedelic drugs, such as LSD, can help treat those battling alcoholism.

In one of the most famous studies on the subject, published by Yale University and titled, "The use of LSD-25 in the treatment of alcoholism and other psychiatric problems" from 1961, 100 patients were picked from Hollywood Hospital in British Columbia, Canada, treated with LSD and made vast improvements. The results showed that 81 percent of patients were improved by the end of the study. One of the patients, a 44 year old salesman, commented, "This experience has given me quite a bit of awakening and a real good look at myself. It seemed to clear a lot of garbage away; I can now see and appreciate things about myself that I never knew existed before. Although it's not a 'cure-all', it does make you see new ways to enjoy life and accept the idea that alcohol isn't a necessity."

https://www.learning-mind.com/psyche...tal-disorders/​

 

[mr peabody]

Inside an innovative study of MDMA therapy for alcohol use disorder

by Kiran Sidhu | April 10, 2019

Dr. Ben Sessa, a UK-based psychiatrist, is currently running Britain’s first ever clinical study with MDMA, in Bristol, for people with alcohol use disorder. So far, seven people have completed the course with no relapse.

Dr. Sessa works with children and adults in his general practice, and specializes in addiction. In the field of psychedelic research, working through Imperial College, London, he has been involved in trials with LSD, psilocybin, DMT, MDMA and ketamine over the last 10 years.

So how might MDMA help people with alcohol use disorder? Many such patients with alcohol use disorder have a history of psychological trauma, notes Sessa. He says between 60 and 70 percent of his patients in addiction services have another psychiatric diagnosis—and adds that psychological trauma, of some kind, is apparent in the history of up to 90 percent of addictions. There is a strong association between alcohol use disorder and PTSD.

MDMA is known and classified an an “empathogen” or “entactogen”—it increases feelings of empathy and compassion, boosting levels of self-awareness. This explains the sense of “oneness with the universe” that users often report. As MDMA raises levels of serotonin and other neurotransmitters in the brain, it promotes a sense of trust and openness, which some researchers believe make it powerful and very useful in drug psychotherapy.

MDMA therapy is aimed at reducing the patient’s fear response—allowing them to address, reflect upon, challenge and overcome past traumatic memories that they would usually avoid and therefore not be able to tackle with psychotherapy alone.

Dr. Sessa’s therapy, performed at a university-based research facility in Bristol, is an eight-week course of weekly psychotherapy sessions. Most of it is not drug-assisted; MDMA is taken just twice orally, in capsule form, on weeks three and six, interspersed with the weekly talk therapy sessions.

For each of the two MDMA sessions, the patient initially takes a dose of 125mg, followed two hours later by a booster dose of 62.5mg, equalling 187.5mg total. (For comparison, a typical “ecstasy” pill might contain between 100-150mg of MDMA.) Sessa is planning to recruit a total of 20 people with alcohol use disorder for the current study. Candidates should be willing to travel and commit to the full study period; they’re also required to be English-speaking and literate. The list of exclusions include those who suffer from a personality disorder or cardiac disease.

I asked Dr. Sessa whether there might be a danger in MDMA use for people who already have an addiction; could they in turn develop an addiction to MDMA? He responded that "despite MDMA’s widespread use—an estimated 750,000 people use it each weekend in the UK—MDMA addiction is virtually unheard of."

“Addiction is a complex situation due to long-term trauma and a host of complex psycho-social issues. So simply taking MDMA a couple of times as part of a therapeutic trial will not turn a person into an MDMA ‘addict.’ No evidence for that. After 15 years of clinical MDMA research—and over 1,600 therapeutic sessions with MDMA, not one single patient has gone on to seek illegal MDMA [to my knowledge] because they have become addicted. It simply doesn’t happen,” he said.

According to statistics from the UK’s National Health Service, in 2016/7, the year with the most recently available data, there were an estimated 337,000 hospital admissions where the main reason was attributable to alcohol. Yet despite this dire situation and the untapped potential of drugs like MDMA to help people with alcohol problems, the societal consensus is that psychedelics are unsafe. MDMA remains illegal in the vast majority of countries around the world.

Unlike marijuana—which is now legal in Canada and 10 US states for recreational use, and the majority of states (33) for medical use—MDMA is only just beginning to be recognized for its potential therapeutic benefits, with increasing numbers of US trials conducted or planned.

But aren’t there still grounds for concern over the potential dangers of prescribing a drug that has been so under-studied in the past? Not one to mince his words, Dr. Sessa replied, “Yes, that’s true. I ought not to promote all those toxic drugs such as Quetiapine, Olanzeopine, Seroxat, Ritalin, Lithium, Diazepam, Prozac, Penicillin, Carbamazepine and cancer chemotherapy drugs. They are indeed all very toxic. Truth is, the psychedelic drugs are considerably less toxic than pretty much any other drug I use with my patients on a daily basis. The reason why I am interested in psychedelic medicine is because I don’t like those toxic drugs listed above. Psychedelic therapy offers patients the best opportunity we have to get them off all that stuff and live a drug-free life.”

Sessa also points that clinical MDMA is different from illicit version of the drug—street ecstasy is often cut with other chemicals, which can be harmful.

The use of psychedelics to treat alcohol use disorder is not new. Bill Wilson, the founder of the abstinence-based fellowship Alcoholics Anonymous, famously underwent a few sessions of LSD-assisted psychotherapy in 1956, and he said, “It is a generally acknowledged fact in spiritual development that ego reduction makes make the influx of God’s grace possible. So I consider LSD to be of some value to some people, and practically no damage to anyone.”

But most research came to a halt in the 1970s, as the US-led War on Drugs cranked into gear. However, in 2012, six randomized trials from the ‘50s and ‘60s of LSD-assisted therapy for alcohol use disorder were reviewed in a meta-analysis, illustrating commendable results (59 percent of LSD-patients significantly improved), and things have moved forward from there. Until now, however, there have been no published studies proposing MDMA-assisted therapy as treatment for any substance disorder.

Yet much resistance remains. I put it to Dr. Sessa that many people might still question whether LSD or MDMA use—whether under medical supervision or illicit—is really necessary, and ask what people can get from these drugs that they can’t find in everyday life.

“That’s a very patronizing viewpoint,” he replied. “It’s not an either/or situation. People don’t use LSD because they lack something in everyday life—other than LSD! It’s like saying: ‘Why do you listen to jazz? Can’t you get everything you need from life without jazz?’ It’s meaningless. LSD use isn’t an alternative to normal life for people who lack something. LSD users also enjoy a wide variety of other activities; they simply want to add LSD to their rich tapestry of life experiences. And good for them!”

“I think we should be more suspicious of people who don’t want to try LSD,” he continued. “They are the ones who—for no good reason other than the irrational fear that has been drummed into them from immoral drug policy laws—have decided to omit a potentially interesting and profound experience from their lives. A ‘heavy and regular’ LSD user might be just twice a year—or far less. LSD isn’t an alternative to life. It’s an addition.”

In spite of such resistance to seeing illegal drugs in new ways, I asked Dr. Sessa if he thinks the public’s narrative around drugs—particularly psychedelics—has started to change.

“Yes, the narrative is starting to change. After 48 years of the failed War on Drugs, the prisons full, the mafia made rich and usage of and harms of drugs not even dented by years of social oppression, people are indeed beginning to question the clinical and social efficacy and moral authority of failed drug policy.”

Inside an Innovative Study of MDMA Therapy for Alcohol Use Disorder

Dr. Ben Sessa, a UK-based psychiatrist, is currently running Britain’s first ever clinical study with MDMA, in Bristol, for people ...

filtermag.org

 

[mr peabody]

Alcoholics Anonymous: How LSD almost became the 13th Step

by Ben Grenrock | Oct 18, 2018

On a December day in 1960, Baptist minister Reverend William Potoroka had one of the most transcendent spiritual experiences of his life. It was an event that would reframe his understanding of science, spirituality and of his own personal vocation. “I felt that I was ascending a spiral staircase and that this was leading me up, up, into the light,” he recalled. “It was as if my ascent would soon put me within gazing distance of God and his throne.”

Potoroka’s encounter with the numinous didn’t take place inside of a church, nor was it prompted by a particularly potent session of prayer—it occurred at the Weyburn Mental Hospital in Saskatchewan, Canada. But Potoroka wasn’t crazy. He wasn’t a patient at the hospital. He’d come there to investigate an experimental treatment for alcoholism. The reverend had come to the mental hospital to take LSD.

Today, the idea of Canadian ministers popping tabs of acid in a sanitarium sounds more like a scene from a Jodorowsky film than history. But in the early 1960s before the psychedelic revolution made LSD synonymous with paisley garments, spiked Kool Aid and free love, an event such as this one made at least slightly more sense. A recently published thesis, written by Michael James Christopher Lyons at the University of Saskatchewan, endeavors to explain how Reverend Potoroka’s experience came to pass. Likewise, the thesis connects his subsequent realizations with the current boom in psychedelic science by exploring the confluence of social, religious and scientific factors that led to Potoroka’s trip.

As Lyons points out in his thesis, prior to being considered illegal drugs, psychedelics—and particularly LSD—were being studied by medical establishments around the world with the intention of using them to treat various psychiatric disorders. From 1950 to 1965, close to 40,000 patients were given LSD for conditions ranging from schizophrenia to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Many early results appeared promising, with a series of positive reports on the drug’s benefits appearing in Time magazine and high profile figures such as actor Cary Grant publicly lauding how LSD helped him succeed in conquering mental issues where standard talk therapy, hypnosis and yoga had all failed.

In 1956, the American Medical Association (AMA) officially declared alcoholism a disease. This distinction led the psychiatric community to seek out biochemical solutions for a problem that had previously been thought of as a moral failing. As LSD was then being explored as a potent yet little-understood cure for a slew of psychological issues, clinical trials to treat alcoholism with LSD were soon underway.

The goal of the earliest of these trials was to use LSD to mimic the temporary psychosis caused by alcohol withdrawal known as delirium tremens, thereby scaring the patient away from alcohol consumption via a sort of aversion therapy. But this method didn’t work very well, considering, as Lyons explains, that instead of reacting to their experience with horror, “patients often responded favourably [sic], claiming to enjoy the experience, and even suggested that it had provided a window into a spiritual environment/landscape.”

Realizing that perhaps the self-reflective insights that their patients reported might be a more effective avenue toward recovery than chemically induced terror, doctors at the University of Saskatchewan and the Weyburn Mental Hospital—Abram Hoffer, Humphry Osmond and Sven Jensen—decided to change their approach. Instead of attempting to stimulate delirium tremens, they began a series of trials that would pair LSD's novel capacity for prompting self-examination and spirituality with a far less invasive treatment for alcoholism—Alcoholics Anonymous (AA).

Dr. Jensen’s treatment model in particular sought to incorporate AA into this hybrid course of treatment. His method was structured as an eight-week program in which 10 male patients who suffered from alcoholism would receive standard psychiatric treatments, like patient interviews and group therapy, in conjunction with attending weekly meetings at the local AA chapter in Weyburn. In the eighth week of treatment, patients who had yet to see their condition improve were given LSD.

Even at the time, aspiring to cure alcoholism via the combination of LSD and AA wasn’t unprecedented. Just a few years prior, Bill Wilson, the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, had taken LSD and written a series of letters to his colleagues espousing its positive mental after effects and considering its potential for helping alcoholics recover. Wilson later distanced himself from AA, as many other influential members of the program took issue with the idea of incorporating a psychoactive drug into a system of steps designed to end drug use. But Wilson wasn’t alone in seeing LSD’s potential to aid addicts on their path to recovery. And the specific aspect of the acid experience he thought most promising for this use was precisely what Dr. Jensen identified in his trials as its most valuable component and what led Reverend Potoroka to experiment with LSD in 1960.

Summarizing Bill Wilson’s thoughts in the wake of his experience with acid, Betty Eisner, an American psychologist who presided over Wilson’s clinical exposure to the drug, wrote, “Alcoholics get to a point in the [program] where they need to have a spiritual experience, but not all of them are able to have one.” Wilson saw LSD as a way of catalyzing such an experience, one that would allow members to more easily surrender to their “higher power”—a key component in the 12 steps that constitute AA’s path to recovery.

Administering LSD to addicts in Saskatchewan, Jensen appears to have reached the same conclusion. Through observing the experimental program at Weyburn, Jensen came to believe that administering LSD in certain situations could increase AA’s effectiveness in helping addicts to recover. Lyons explains that, “Jenson perceived that effective addictions treatment ought to occur in an environment that was both clinical and spiritual,” in order to facilitate the best chance for recovery. Confronted with data that seemed to indicate that a level of spirituality was needed to produce the results he sought, the doctor did what any good doctor does when operating in a field outside of his expertise: He called in a specialist.

Alcoholism was a problem that weighed heavily on the mind of Reverend William Potoroka, who was both a follower of the sect of Christianity known as the Social Gospel and the executive director of the Alcohol Education Service in Manitoba. Essentially, followers of the Social Gospel seek to apply Christian ethics to practical problems in society, believing that the Second Coming of Christ will only occur once these issues—poverty, child labor, economic equality, racism, etc.—are eliminated through human effort. As such, Potoroka was as dedicated to solving the problem of alcoholism as anyone.

When he was invited by Jensen to offer a spiritual perspective on the Weyburn study and when he took LSD himself, Potoroka found himself at the intersection of the age-old debate between science and religion. From a purely medical perspective, a patient is treated by undergoing some sort of clinically vetted process to heal their body—for example, a combination of talk therapy, AA meetings and LSD to solve one’s drinking problem. One the other hand, as Lyons explains, from a “Christian perspective the way to remedy one’s problem drinking was through prayer and sacrament. This activity would bring the individual closer to God and would then theoretically heal or strengthen the moral problem.”

Potoroka described his healing experience with LSD this way: "Through a several-staged experience of being pulled upward, or of aspiration, I believe that I received an enhancement of my idea of God and grace. This came to me from what I believed before the experience and how much more God and grace mean to me because of the experience. LSD helped me so to make contact with the spiritual treasures I knew of… [and] I found new riches there."

So if a drug heals a person in the way Potoroka described, is it a medical or a spiritual treatment modality? What happens when one takes a drug as if it were a sacrament, if one takes it in order to heal because the drug brings that individual closer to God?

What happened, as Jensen found with Potoroka’s help, is that about 50% of the patients achieved a full recovery, in which “recovery” was defined as complete and prolonged cessation of their drinking. While significant, 50% isn’t a shockingly impressive figure when compared with the considerably higher success rates that are currently being produced by modern clinical trials in the field of psychedelic medicine. The medical community of the early 1960s wasn’t impressed either, and, citing various procedural issues with the study, it was largely ignored at the time.

But even if Jenson’s specific method wasn’t a breakthrough in the treatment of alcoholism, what he, Potoroka and Wilson discovered about the path to successfully curing addictive behaviors should not be forgotten. When reporting on his experience with LSD to the church, Potoroka wrote, “Alcoholism was regarded as an illness of the body, the mind and the spirit. The LSD treatment is a way of getting at two of the three sides of the illness—the mind, and especially the spirit.” A focus on what’s going on with the “spirit” is pretty much what you’d expect from a Christian minister’s trip-report. But in recent studies and trials exploring the use of psychedelics for medicinal purposes, doctors and patients alike point to a spiritual component as being an essential, if inexplicable, piece in the puzzle of why these drugs appear so effective.

In his thesis, Lyons spends a lot of time explaining how Potoroka’s willingness to not only take LSD himself, but to then advocate its use as a treatment modality to the church, “suggests that there was a blending of Christianity and biomedicine through the psychedelic experiences of LSD that seemed to occupy a philosophical space between medicine and spirituality.” He sees Potoroka as a figure who reconciled the divide between the medical and spiritual communities and attests that “the field of psychedelic research occupied the intellectual space of both mysticism and biomedical practices.”

Considering that in indigenous communities this same dual role of healer and spiritual guide has traditionally been occupied by shamans who’ve successfully used psychedelics to heal their “patients” for millennia, perhaps an understanding of how spirituality relates to illness is the missing link in the field of psychedelic science. Perhaps Jensen, Potoroka, Wilson and the other doctors who participated in the trials at Weyburn learned something that modern medicine is about to rediscover. Conceivably, blending the spiritual and the scientific is the way future practitioners will treat alcoholism, depression and many other psychological and medical conditions in the very near future.

Alcoholics Anonymous: How LSD Almost Became the 13th Step

On a December day in 1960, Baptist minister Reverend William Potoroka had one of the most transcendent spiritual experiences of his life. It was an event that would reframe his understanding of science, spirituality and of his own personal vocation. “I felt that I was ascending a spiral...

prohbtd.com

 

[mr peabody]

New study finds psychedelics help alcoholics stop drinking

by Ben Taub | IFL SCIENCE | 15 May 2019

More than 80 percent of participants in a new study were able to overcome their alcoholism after taking a psychedelic drug like LSD or magic mushrooms, suggesting that these mind-altering substances could have a key role to play in the treatment of addictions.

The therapeutic potential of psychedelics has captured the attention of the scientific community over recent years, with several studies indicating that they may be effective at treating depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and a range of other psychological conditions. And while early research conducted in the 1950s and 1960s showed that certain psychedelics may also facilitate recovery from addiction, further exploration of the topic had until now remained frozen due to legal restrictions on the use of these substances.

Picking up where this previous generation of scientists had left off, a team of researchers from Johns Hopkins University conducted an online survey of people with a history of alcohol use disorder (AUD) who had reported a reduction in drinking after using psychedelics at home.

A total of 343 people replied to the survey, 38 percent of whom said they had managed to reduce their drinking after using LSD, while 36 percent claimed to have decreased their alcohol consumption after taking psilocybin – the active compound in magic mushrooms.

Appearing in the Journal of Psychopharmacology, the study describes how respondents had been struggling with alcoholism for an average of seven years prior to their psychedelic experience, with 72 percent qualifying for a severe AUD diagnosis. After their psychedelic trip, however, an incredible 83 percent no longer met the criteria for AUD of any kind.

While the authors can’t say exactly how these substances help to alleviate alcoholism, the most common explanation given by respondents was that their cravings became much more tolerable after using psychedelics. The biological and neurological mechanisms for this effect remain unknown, although given that psychedelics bind to serotonin receptor sites in the brain, it is possible that this key neurotransmitter may be somehow responsible for this reduction in cravings.

Results also showed an interesting correlation between the intensity of the mystical or spiritual nature of a psychedelic experience and the improvement in AUD symptoms. The study authors find this intriguing, and note that the most successful addiction treatment modalities – such as Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and other 12-Step programs – place a heavy emphasis on spirituality. What’s even more curious is that, according to the authors, AA co-founder Bill Wilson once participated in a clinical study of LSD in the 1950s, and supposedly described this experience as comparable to the spiritual awakening to which he attributed his own sobriety.

It is important to note that self-reporting questionnaires such as this have numerous limitations, and the data presented in this study should not be regarded as evidence that psychedelics can cure alcoholism. However, with an ever-increasing body of scientific literature now pointing to the potential of these substances to facilitate recovery from addiction and other psychological disorders, it seems there is a strong case for investigating the topic further.

Psychedelic Drugs Can Help Alcoholics Stop Drinking, According To New Study

More than 80 percent of participants in a new study were able to overcome their alcoholism after taking a psychedelic drug like LSD or magic mushrooms, sug

www.iflscience.com

 

[mr peabody]

Psychedelics' role in beating alcoholism

by Sarah Sloat | INVERSE | May 17, 2019

In the ‘50s and ‘60s, psychedelic drugs were studied for their potential to help people stop problematic drinking. At the time, the research primarily focused on the effects of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), which seemed to help curb alcohol addiction, albeit not consistently. Now, after the 50-year research hiatus necessitated by the drug’s illegal status, scientists are once again finding psychedelics to be useful tools in fighting addiction, as research published Tuesday in The Journal of Psychopharmacology illustrates.

Matthew Johnson, Ph.D., an associate professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, tells Inverse that this work is a “thread that was left dangling” from that earlier era of research. In the paper, Johnson and colleagues present evidence that psychedelics can lead to a reduction — and sometimes complete cessation — of problematic alcohol use.

To gather their data, the team recruit participants through social media and websites devoted to drug discussion and research, including the Erowid Center and the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS). Through anonymous online surveys, they collected data on 343 participants who were predominantly white, male, and American, and, importantly, had reported at least seven years of problematic drinking before they had a psychedelic experience.

Of the group, 72 percent met the criteria for alcohol use disorder, and 74 percent reported they had either used LSD or psilocybin, the psychoactive molecule in “magic” mushrooms. Out of those who took the drugs, 62 percent were looking for a spiritual experience or wanted to explore their psychological state.

Just 10 percent of this group took the drugs with the hope they could help them reduce their reliance on alcohol. But as it turns out, the majority of the participants still experienced a change in their drinking habits after taking the drugs.

The survey results showed a dramatic change in the number of alcoholic drinks people consumed before taking a “moderate or high dose” of either LSD or psilocybin and the number of drinks they were consuming a year later. After their drug experience, 83 percent of the participants no longer met the criteria for having alcohol use disorder. In turn, 28 percent of the participants reported that their psychedelic experience was the reason they decided to change their lifestyle.

How psychedelics help with addiction

It’s the nature of the psychedelic experience that predicts long-term success when it comes to addiction, says Johnson. Psychedelic drugs, he explains, have effects that are more similar to psychotherapy than to traditional medications for combating alcohol addiction. In other words, while psychedelics do actively interact with the brain, their benefits manifest in the experiences a person has after consumption.

“When you talk to someone who has managed to overcome addiction, they often talk about who they had to answer big picture questions that connect to what’s important in life,” Johnson says. “Psychedelics prompt those kinds of questions. Even though we have a lot more to explore, I think it’s likely that its the intense nature of the drug’s psychological experience that’s underlying its high success rates.”

The results are in line with previous findings from Johns Hopkins, which found that psilocybin was much more effective in helping long-term smokers quit compared to the smoking cessation drug varenicline. Currently, there are a number of ongoing studies at the university examining how psychedelics can induce behavior change across a range of disorders, including anorexia and opioid addiction.

In regards to this study, Johnson says "the goal is to keep following the data and, if it looks like it’s effective and safe, pursue a path where it can eventually be approved for treatments outside of research use — much like the current path MDMA is on. "

“There’s incredible potential here,” Johnson says. “So far, it’s a good bet that these tools will be broadly applicable to a number of disorders.”

Alcoholism: Psychedelics Like LSD, Psilocybin Show Potential for Treatment

"There's incredible potential here."

www.inverse.com

 

[mr peabody]

LSD is helping people end their Alcohol Dependence

by Kristin Houser | May 17th 2019

A newly published study suggests that consuming LSD may help people overcome alcohol dependency — yet another exciting development in the burgeoning field of psychedelics research.

“There’s incredible potential here,” Johns Hopkins University researcher Matthew Johnson told Inverse. “So far, it’s a good bet that these tools will be broadly applicable to a number of disorders.”

Survey says

For the study, which was published Tuesday in The Journal of Psychopharmacology, the researchers used social media and drug discussion websites to track down 343 people who reported a minimum of seven years of problematic drinking prior to having a psychedelic experience.

They then asked the participants — 72 percent of whom met the criteria for alcohol use disorder — to complete anonymous online surveys.

From the surveys, the researchers learned many participants had dramatically decreased the number of drinks they consumed a year after their psychedelic experience. In fact, 83 percent of participants no longer met alcohol use disorder criteria, and 28 percent credited their psychedelic experience for the change in lifestyle.

Life changing

It’s hard to demonstrate a direct link between the psychedelic experience and the decrease in alcohol consumption. However, Johnson thinks it makes sense that mind-opening drugs could have a positive impact on the lives of people battling alcohol dependence.

“When you talk to someone who has managed to overcome addiction, they often talk about [how] they had to answer big picture questions that connect to what’s important in life,” he told Inverse. “Psychedelics prompt those kinds of questions.”

LSD is helping people end their alcohol dependence

Most of this study's participants drank far less after tripping.

futurism.com

 

[mr peabody]

Stanislav Grof

LSD and the treatment of alcohol addiction

by Stanislav Grof

In 1952, Humphrey Osmond and I had become familiar with psychotomimetic reactions induced by LSD. There was a marked similarity between these reactions and schizophrenia and the toxic psychoses. Delirium Tremens (DT's) is one of the common toxic states, and it occurred to us LSD might be used to produce models of DT's. Many alcoholics ascribed the beginning of their recovery to hitting bottom, and often that meant having a particularly memorable attack of DT's. We thought that LSD could be used this way with no risk to the patient. We treated our first two alcoholics at the Saskatchewan Hospital, Weyburn, Saskatchewan, and one recovered.

Other early pilot studies were encouraging, and we increased the tempo of our research until at one time six of our major psychiatric centers in Saskatchewan were using it. As of now, we must have treated close to one thousand alcoholics.

Within a few years after our first patients were treated, we became aware that a large proportion of our alcoholics did not have psychotomimetic reactions. Their experiences were exciting and pleasant, and yielded insight into their drinking problems. It became evident that a new phenomenon had been recognized in psychiatry. Osmond created the word psychedelic to define these experiences, and announced this at a meeting of the New York Academy of Sciences in 1957.

Following this, our research was aimed at improving the quality and quantity of psychedelic reactions. In the past ten years, major studies, under the direction of Dr. Ross MacLean, Hollywood Hospital, New Westminster, British Columbia, and Dr. S. Unger at Spring Grove State Hospital, Baltimore, Maryland, have added materially to our knowledge of the effect of psychedelic therapy on alcoholism.

The one striking conclusion is that every scientist using psychedelic therapy with alcoholics found the same proportion of recoveries. Whether the experiments were considered controlled or not, about 50 per cent were able to remain sober or to drink much less. This seems to be a universal statistic for LSD therapy.​

 

[mr peabody]

Psychedelics may be a powerful treatment for alcoholism

by Matt Davis | 27 May, 2019

Richard Nixon's war on drugs was misguided for several reasons, but one of the worst has to be the moratorium it placed on scientific research. As regulation and stigma piled on top of one another, it became more and more difficult to study the impacts and potential practical uses of recreational drugs. Today, we have the benefit of a more understanding world and are learning more about the chemicals we thought we knew everything about.

Researchers from Johns Hopkins University recently published a paper in the Journal of Psychopharmacology demonstrating the benefit of psychedelics in the treatment of alcoholism. The research team recruited 343 individuals to participate in a survey from drug discussion and research organizations such as the Erowid Center and the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies. In order to qualify for the study, the participants needed to meet the criteria for alcohol use disorder, or AUD.

72 percent of these individuals had severe AUD. In the Diagnostic Statistical Manual (DSM), individuals with severe AUD are defined as possessing 6 or more of 11 symptoms, which include criteria like "Alcohol is often taken in larger amounts or over a longer period than was intended" and "A great deal of time is spent in activities necessary to obtain alcohol, use alcohol, or recover from its effects." On average, the participants drank about 25 alcoholic beverages per week, had been drinking problematically for 7 years, and felt a significant amount of distress due to their alcohol use.

Crucially, each of these individuals had also had a psychedelic experience, mainly through the use of LSD or psilocybin. Only 10% of the study participants reported that they had taken psychedelics with the hope of treating their alcoholism, but after taking these drugs, a full 83% of the participants no longer met the criteria for AUD a year later. As a result of this improvement to their drinking habits, the participants reduced their drinking to just 4 drinks per week from their previous average of 25.

Some study participants also described insights that they gained from their psychedelic experiences: "It allowed me to feel whole again and forced me to reconnect with emotional trauma. It gave me insight into the nature of addiction and how it enslaves us — physically, mentally and spiritually. Addiction numbs us to any kind of growth as a human being." Another stated that "I realize that I need help from a power greater than myself to overcome my alcoholism and that the psychedelics themselves were effective but cannot cure my disease."

According to the study participants, the psychedelic experiences helped them overcome their addiction in four major ways. They believed that the psychedelic helped them to change their life values or priorities; that it changed their perspective on the future, such that they began valuing long-term benefits more; that it changed their own opinion of their ability to abstain; and that it reframed the task of quitting as a spiritual endeavor.

Interestingly, not only were the participants more likely to abstain from alcohol, but the process of quitting went more smoothly than their previous attempts, too. They reported that common experiences during alcohol withdrawal such as cravings, depression, anxiety, irritability, and restlessness were much less severe compared to the times the participants tried to quit without the aid of psychedelics.

The lack of federal financial support and prohibitive regulation makes it difficult to conduct experiments on the role of psychedelics as a means of therapy. Despite this, evidence is slowly accumulating that they have the potential to unmake grievous habits and heal significant mental harm. With more research such as this and with any luck, the scientific community will be able to assess psychedelics' real potential and suggest evidence-backed policies and treatment methods to help improve people's lives.

Johns Hopkins: Psychedelics may be effective treatment for alcoholism

Some study participants also described insights that they gained from their psychedelic experiences: "It allowed me to feel whole again and forced me to reconnect with emotional trauma. It gave me insight into the nature of addiction and how it enslaves us — physically, mentally and spiritually...

bigthink.com

 

[mr peabody]

Treating alcoholism with psychedelics

by Wesley Thoricatha | Psychedelic Times

Alcoholism is a terrible disease that can be destructive to health, career, and family; it can also be fatal. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention reports that nearly 88,000 people die from alcohol-related causes every year, making it the 3rd-highest preventable cause of death in the US. Traditional alcohol recovery programs can help, but alcohol addiction remains a serious issue spanning various age groups and income brackets.

Treating alcoholism through psychedelic therapy has been studied since the 1950s, and research continues today into the treatment potential of substances like LSD, psilocybin mushrooms, and ibogaine. The findings are encouraging and potentially life-changing for those who haven’t found relief through Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) or traditional rehab programs.

Can LSD help reduce alcohol misuse?

In the first major LSD studies in the 60s. scientists conducted randomized clinical trials on the effects of LSD treatment for alcoholism, but the results of those studies were largely ignored or forgotten following the post-60s psychedelics backlash.

Recently, Norwegian scientists Teri Krebs and Pål-Ørjan Johansen took a close look at this data, and conducted a meta-analysis of over 500 participants within six different clinical trials. Their findings, published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology in 2012, suggested that LSD could have a measurable positive effect on reducing alcohol misuse, even after a single dose.

More support for LSD in the treatment of alcoholism comes from Bill Wilson, the founder of AA. In his biography, Pass It On, Wilson talks about his experimentation with LSD and likens its transformational power to the spiritual awakening he had (that convinced him to stop drinking). He communicates in the book that LSD poses little risk for the majority of people, and that it can play an important role in breaking down one’s ego and allowing a lasting inner transformation to occur.

The power to create a peak experience that dissolves egoic patterns is certainly present in LSD, but it is also a common trait of many other psychedelic substances. In other words, there is an array of hallucinogens that may offer hope to those struggling with alcoholism.

Other psychedelic options for treating alcoholism

“These are unusual models in that it’s not like you take a pill every day for months or a year…You take a pill, you have an experience. The experience is powerful and insightful and rich.” - Dr. Stephen Ross, director of the alcohol and drug abuse program at Bellevue Hospital Center and lead psychedelics researcher at NYU Medical School.

In a recent study carried out by the University of New Mexico, researchers explored how psilocybin could be used to treat alcohol addiction. The findings showed that, like LSD, psilocybin showed promise for patients wanting to reduce or eliminate their dependency on alcohol. Psilocybin may even offer slight advantages as a treatment option; it doesn’t share LSD’s social stigma, and the trip duration is shorter.

As a result of these studies, scientists, advocates, and organizations are pushing for more psychedelics research, to better understand the immense potential of psychedelic therapy in addiction recovery. Thanks to psychedelics, we are witnessing the dawn of an exciting new era in addiction treatment, for alcoholism and substance abuse in general.

On the Psychedelic Wagon: Treating Alcoholism With LSD, Mushrooms, and Psychedelic Therapy - Psychedelic Times

Treating alcoholism isn't simple or easy, but new research suggests psychedelic therapy can offer hope and promising treatment alternatives for sufferers.

psychedelictimes.com

 

[mr peabody]

Ibogaine and the treatment of alcoholism

ICEERS is collaborating with researchers from the University of Sao Paulo, to carry out a clinical trial studying the tolerability and efficacy of ibogaine in the treatment of alcoholism. Starting in early 2018, this study will be the first in a series of clinical trials by the team that aim to study the efficacy of ibogaine in the treatment of different types of addictions. The study is being led by principal investigator Dr. Rafael Guimaraes dos Santos, along with senior investigator and study co-supervisor Dr. Jaime Hallak, and collaborator Dr. Jose Carlos Bouso, from ICEERS.

About 5% of the world’s adult population has some type of alcohol-related disorder, which are associated with 3% of all deaths in the world. Currently available medications have some efficacy for treatment, but the adverse effects and relatively long length of treatment are factors that may reduce patients’ motivation to continue taking the medication correctly. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct research with new drugs for the treatment of alcoholism.

Animal studies suggest that one or a few doses of ibogaine significantly reduce withdrawal symptoms and the intensity of use of various drugs, including opioids, psychostimulants, and alcohol. However, there are no controlled clinical studies that have explored these effects, since all studies published until the present are case reports, case series, and open-label (no use of placebo) studies. Previous reports describing the use of ibogaine in non-medical settings were often vague, thus seriously limiting the generalization of the results.

This new study was designed to overcome these limitations. It will evaluate the safety, tolerability and efficacy of increasing doses of ibogaine in 12 alcoholic patients after they have passed their abstinence syndrome in a controlled hospital setting. The setting is the Psychiatric Unit of the Clinics Hospital of the Ribeirao Preto Medical School (HCFMRP), in the University of Sao Paulo (USP), Ribeirao Preto, Brazil. USP is the largest Brazilian public university and one of Latin America’s most prestigious. Furthermore, our study is receiving financial support by some of the most important Brazilian agencies supporting education and research, such as CNPq (National Council for Scientific and Technological Development) and and FAPESP (the Sao Paulo Research Foundation).

Importantly, previous reports used doses ranging from 6 to 29 mg/kg. In our study each patient will be hospitalized for 20 days for safety and tolerability evaluation, and will receive 3 increasing doses of ibogaine. The first 3 of the 12 patients will receive oral doses of 20 to 400 mg of ibogaine in an open-label design. If the 3 higher doses (240, 320 and 400 mg) are well tolerated, the next 9 volunteers will randomly be provided either these doses or placebos in a double-blind design. With this design we will observe the safety and tolerability of increasing doses of ibogaine and its possible efficacy. Volunteers will also be evaluated 7, 14 and 21 days and 1, 3, 6 and 12 months after leaving the hospital to monitor their consumption of alcohol and other drugs. Furthermore, this study will be the first to explore the possible effects of ibogaine on endocannabinoid, brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), and interleukin plasma levels.

This is the only ibogaine study using the most rigorous methodology. If we find that ibogaine administered in these doses is safe and effective in reducing alcohol consumption, we are planning further trials with larger sample sizes. Moreover, in parallel to this alcoholism study in Brazil, we are preparing an additional clinical trial that will study ibogaine for the treatment of methadone dependence in Spain. Together, we hope these studies may answer our questions regarding the safety and efficacy of ibogaine to treat drug dependence.

http://news.iceers.org/2018/03/new-r...of-alcoholism/​

 

[mr peabody]

Treating alcohol addiction with psychedelics

by Wesley Thoricatha | Psychedelic Times | 28 Aug 2015

Alcoholism is a terrible disease that can be destructive to health, career, and family; it can also be fatal. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention reports that nearly 88,000 people die from alcohol-related causes every year, making it the 3rd-highest preventable cause of death in the US. Traditional alcohol recovery programs can help, but alcohol addiction remains a serious issue spanning various age groups and income brackets.

Treating alcoholism through psychedelic therapy has been studied since the 1950s, and research continues today into the treatment potential of substances like LSD, psilocybin mushrooms, and ibogaine. The findings are encouraging and potentially life-changing for those who haven’t found relief through Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) or traditional rehab programs.

Can LSD help reduce alcohol misuse?

Some of the first major LSD studies and experiments occurred during the 1960s. Scientists conducted randomized clinical trials on the effects of LSD treatment for alcoholism, but the results of those studies were largely ignored or forgotten following the post-60s psychedelics backlash.

Recently, Norwegian scientists Teri Krebs and Pal-Orjan Johansen decided to take a close look at this wealth of past data, and they conducted a meta-analysis of over 500 participants within six different clinical trials. Their findings, published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology in 2012, suggested that LSD could have a measurable positive effect on reducing alcohol misuse, even after a single dose.

More support for LSD in the treatment of alcoholism comes from Bill Wilson, the founder of AA. In his biography, Pass It On, Wilson talks about his experimentation with LSD and likens its transformational power to the spiritual awakening he had (that convinced him to stop drinking). He communicates in the book that LSD poses little risk for the majority of people, and that it can play an important role in breaking down one’s ego and allowing a lasting inner transformation to occur.

The power to create a peak experience that dissolves egoic patterns is certainly present in LSD, but it is also a common trait of many other psychedelic substances. In other words, there is an array of psychedelics that may offer hope to those struggling with alcoholism.

“These are unusual models in that it’s not like you take a pill every day for months or a year…You take a pill, you have an experience. The experience is powerful and insightful and rich.” - Dr. Stephen Ross, director of the alcohol and drug abuse program at Bellevue Hospital Center and lead psychedelics researcher at NYU Medical School.

Another recent study carried out by the University of New Mexico explored how psilocybin could be used to treat alcohol addiction. It found that, like LSD, psilocybin showed promise for patients wanting to reduce or eliminate their dependency on alcohol. Psilocybin may even offer advantages as a treatment option; it doesn’t share LSD’s social stigma, and the trip duration is shorter.

As a result of these encouraging studies, scientists, advocates, and organizations are pushing for more psychedelics research, to better understand the immense potential of psychedelic therapy in addiction recovery. Thanks to psychedelics like LSD and psilocybin, we are witnessing the dawn of an exciting new era in addiction treatment for alcoholism.

https://psychedelictimes.com/psilocy...delic-therapy/