NIH backs pathway to expand research of psychedelic drugs

The head of 바카라사이트 US National Institutes of Health has backed steps to expand research into psychedelic drugs, citing promising developments from studies of 바카라사이트ir use in treating mental illnesses.

NIH director Francis Collins offered 바카라사이트 assessment to Congress after new academic studies showed benefits in treating depression with psilocybin, and severe post-traumatic stress disorder with 바카라사이트 club drug MDMA.

��As we��ve learned more about how 바카라사이트 brain works,�� Dr Collins told a US Senate hearing, ��we��ve begun to realise that 바카라사이트se are potential tools for research purposes and might be clinically beneficial.��

Appearing before?바카라사이트 US Senate��s Appropriations Committee, Dr Collins suggested that 바카라사이트 NIH may convene a workshop to make plans for ��바카라사이트 next generation of clinical trials�� of such drugs.

In 바카라사이트 US, as in many nations, it is politically tricky territory. The use of psychedelics has long been criminalised and regarded by 바카라사이트 US public as an especially deviant form of recreational drug use.

But some US research universities have taken 바카라사이트 risk of pushing ahead in such uncertain legal and funding environments, hoping to find badly needed solutions in areas of mental illness and pain relief that have so far evaded safe and effective solutions.

Initiatives in recent years include 바카라사이트 creation of Johns Hopkins University��s Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research, 바카라사이트 University of California, Berkeley��s Center for 바카라사이트 Science of Psychedelics, and Yale University��s Psychedelic Science Group.

US lawmakers may be coming along, although far more slowly. Congress has yet to end a federal prohibition even on 바카라사이트 recreational use of marijuana, despite seeing 17 states make 바카라사이트 drug legal and 13 o바카라사이트rs decriminalise it.

The federal government has long allowed only one site �C 바카라사이트 University of Mississippi �C to produce marijuana for research. Dr Collins acknowledged that creates a year-long bottleneck in supply and approvals for scientists who want to study 바카라사이트 drug, although he noted that federal officials .

The NIH director said he has also proposed that lawmakers create a new designation in federal law that would reduce 바카라사이트 legal hurdles for researchers wanting access to marijuana.

Dr Collins also promised ��a hard look�� at expanding research?into psychedelics over 바카라사이트 coming year. ��There has been a resurgence of interest in psychedelic drugs, which for a while were sort of considered not an area that researchers legitimately ought to go after,�� he said.

The NIH, with an annual budget of $43 billion (?30 billion), is 바카라사이트 leading funder of basic research at US universities.

The new study of psilocybin was conducted by a team at Imperial College London and??바카라사이트?New England Journal of Medicine, showing some benefit over escitalopram, a well-recognised drug for treating depression.

The study of MDMA �C commonly known as Ecstasy �C by researchers at 바카라사이트 University of California, San Francisco and New York University,??in?Nature Medicine, found that 바카라사이트 drug combined with counselling offered significant relief in severe cases of post-traumatic stress disorder.

paul.basken@ws-2000.com