Year-in-Review: Psychedelic Advances in 2021
Part 2: Medical Advances
As the Utah Bee looks forward, we take a look back at the past-year’s significant advances for psychedelic use and acceptance in the United States. These advances include major activity on both legal and medical fronts. This article covers medical advances. The previous article covered legal advances.
On the medical front, psychedelics enjoyed a major leap forward in 2021. First, data from a major study laid the groundwork for FDA approval of MDMA-assisted therapy for the treatment of PTSD. That data found that 88% of people treated with MDMA-assisted therapy experienced a clinically significant reduction in PTSD symptoms and 67% no longer qualified for a PTSD diagnosis. Final FDA approval is likely in 2023, after another phase-3 trial is concluded.
Second, researchers at Yale University found that psilocybin promotes neural plasticity. Though much additional research is needed—(the Yale study involved mice)—the findings are extraordinary, suggesting that psilocybin actually rewires the brain by increasing both the number and strength of neuronal connections. This suggests possible explanations for findings that psilocybin effectively addresses depression and other mental health issues that often show disrepair of the frontal cortex.
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Third, a phase-2 study by researchers at London’s Imperial College reports that psilocybin is at least as effective as anti-depressants. The researchers note that secondary data suggests that psilocybin might be much more effective, but additional research needs to be conducted.
Last (for this article, but not nearly the year), the medical front was significantly advanced by new opportunities for federal funding of psilocybin research. The specific funding was four-million dollars granted to Johns Hopkins University by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study psilocybin and tobacco addiction. The federal funding for psychedelic research signals a possible reversal of a ban on federal funding that has been in place for 50 years.