The Psychedelic Renaissance

Part 1: Promising new (and old) treatments may change the treatment of mental health forever

In modern translation, Renaissance means rebirth, revival and recovery. And if you have been watching, even a little bit, the popular press coverage around the medicinal use of psychedelics, it is easy to see why that descriptor has been attached. After a long winter of being relegated to illegal, Schedule I drugs, nature’s pharmacy of psychedelic compounds are going through a rebirth of exploration and acceptance for the treatment of an increasingly wide range of mental health issues. It has been a long time coming. After promising studies in the 1950’s and 1960’s showing the use of LSD and psilocybin in treating addiction, depression and end of life distress, that all came to an abrupt halt with the criminalization of LSD and psilocybin in 1970. Similarly in the 1970’s and 80’s MDMA began to see use as a therapeutic treatment for anxiety and trauma. Unfortunately, MDMA met the same fate as LSD and with rising recreational use in the US, was listed as a Schedule I drug. This was against the protests of clinicians who had been using it therapeutically and would lose access to the drug. It is useful to pause for a moment and understand exactly what it means to be a Schedule I drug. To go into this most stringent category: 1) the drug or other substance has a high potential for abuse, 2) the drug or other substance has no currently accepted medical treatment use in the U.S, 3) it has a lack of accepted safety for use under medical supervision. The researchers who fought against these classifications clearly lost their battle. But even knowing what we did “back then” it is clear that the classification may have been more of a matter of politics and national sentiment around recreational drug use and less about their therapeutic potential. They could have been classified as Schedule III, been removed from recreational circulation and still allowed for continued therapeutic use and research. Just for comparison, cocaine and methamphetamine are Schedule II !!!!

The full story of psychedelics’ transformation from nascent therapeutic treatments to Schedule I classification is too long for this format, but told with typical storytelling prowess by Michael Pollan in his 2018 book “How to Change Your Mind.” Shared in his thoughtful, always inquisitive style, it was a bestseller and a wake up call for many around the world on the potential impact of these compounds. For some though, who had been “keeping the lights on” in hopes of returning these compounds to therapeutic practice, this Renaissance could not come soon enough. The tireless efforts of the MAPS Foundation (Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies), the Beckley Foundation, and researchers like Dr. Roland Griffiths, among many others, who never gave up the quest to have these compounds restored to use for their therapeutic potential.

Perhaps you might be wondering, what’s the big deal? We have anti-depressants and anti-anxiety medications. Isn’t this already a solved problem? If you have been lucky enough not to be touched by depression in your family, please count your blessings. Some current estimates, worldwide, put the numbers at 10% of the GLOBAL population facing mental health issues (~800 million) and ~300 million of those specifically facing depression. 33% of those individuals will be treatment resistant, meaning no treatment for depression currently on the market alleviates their suffering, that’s 100 million people. Additionally, the global numbers for PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) are staggering, at least another 300 million individuals. PTSD isn’t just about war, its about survivors of many kind of trauma — refugee camps, political persecution, sex trafficking — sadly the list goes on and on.

So here’s the big deal. What clinicians and researchers are finding (again) is that psychedelic substances are not just treatments, they can be curative. Let’s breathe that in. Individuals, some of whom have been facing a lifetime of suffering from anxiety, depression and trauma, can be cured. This is the part of the story that makes my hair stand on end and brings tears to my eyes. This is precisely why the psychedelic renaissance is so exciting. It gives hope to a hopeless field. It’s been almost a decade since a new antidepressant was approved in the US, and while they were well tolerated, most were no more effective than the ones we’ve had since the 1980’s. And those, clinically, aren’t even all that effective. Additionally, individuals may need to remain on those treatments for life. In a sign of hope, and of this new renaissance, ketamine was recently approved for treatment of depression in 2019. This is arguably a huge step forward in its therapeutic potential, but the drug itself has been around since 1970, primarily used as an anesthetic. So it’s exciting that it is approved, but it’s not “new.” I will quickly insert the caveat that these compounds are not a DIY cure. We are not talking (yet) about sending individuals home with a prescription! Clinicians and practitioners in this field will assert that the medicine with the right “set and setting” are currently the only way to assure the therapeutic efficacy of these compounds and ensure that the patient has safe and transformative experience. This in itself is exciting because it reconnects the therapeutic medicine to the therapeutic experience. Something that had been sadly separated, at least in the US, for a long time.

The psychedelic renaissance is not limited to previously identified compounds. It has caused a resurgence and renewed excitement around medicinal chemistry and neuropharmacology. Perhaps we can use some of these compounds, both ancient and synthetic to further unlock the brain’s workings and “unknot” the troublesome states of anxiety, addiction and depression.

In the second part of this blog, I will review some of the compounds, their effects and why neuroscience is now taking a starring role in these “new” mental health treatments. Additionally, we will be hosting a Tech Webinar on this topic on February 17, 2021. You can register for the webinar here. But in the meantime, we can be grateful for the wisdom of ancient healers who preserved these medicines so that we may discover them again, just when humanity needs them most.

Prime Movers Lab invests in breakthrough scientific startups founded by Prime Movers, the inventors who transform billions of lives. We invest in companies reinventing energy, transportation, infrastructure, manufacturing, human augmentation, and agriculture.

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