GREENVILLE, S.C. (FOX Carolina) – Psychedelics that were once considered illegal are now getting a positive push from the FDA. The agency is putting certain mental health treatments on an ultra-fast track.
Following an April 18 executive order from President Trump directing the Department of Health and Human Services to accelerate access to treatments for serious mental illness, the FDA announced it is issuing national priority vouchers to three companies studying psychedelic medications.
Psilocybin, which is from magic mushrooms, is being studied for treatment-resistant depression and major depressive disorder. Methylone is being studied for PTSD. The agency is also allowing an early-phase clinical study of noribogaine hydrochloride, a derivative of ibogaine, for alcohol use disorder.
Emergency care doctor Jonathan Leake, who is also certified in psychedelic-assisted therapy, says many of these treatments help re-activate parts of the brain. He is the co-founder of Derive Health, which offers ketamine therapy.
How the treatments work
“The way I kind of think about this is we’re kind of rebalancing the brain through that neurotransmitter effect, and then we’re kind of pouring fertilizer on it so it can grow these connections and really stick,” Leake said.
Leake says it’s important for patients to be supervised by a medical professional while on these drugs, because they could create an out-of-body experience.
“We really need to make sure that we have trained physicians and therapists who know how to work with these medicines so that we can kind of extract the most benefit from it, right? And not actually do more harm or cause more damage by just giving the medicine without any support,” Leake said.
Clinical trials underway
Some clinical trials are already underway in the U.S. The Scottsdale Research Institute in Arizona is studying psilocybin for treatment of PTSD.
Retired Glendale Fire Captain Mark Herrman participated in the trial and says the drug helped him.
“I show up different as a father, as a son. I have a peace about me now that I didn’t have before. I wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for psilocybin,” Herrman said.
Herrman’s full story is here.
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