Foundation for Drug Policy Solutions Executive Vice President Luke Niforatos went on Colorado Public Radio to talk about the weak science and worrying side effects of psychedelics when used to treat mental health issues. You can (and should) listen to him here; you can also read the full transcript below.
HOST: As we start to allow the use of psilocybin therapy here in Colorado, what are the biggest concerns you have with the availability of the treatment?
LUKE: Yeah. So first of all, we’re in unprecedented territory here with this program. Never before in the history of this country have we relegated medicine and the study of medicine, and what the pros and cons could be to entrepreneurs and political votes.
We did that, I guess, with medical marijuana, but here with psychedelics, we’re doing it again. Before that, it never had happened. We entrusted the FDA, we entrusted scientists, doctors, and medical professionals in addition to our nation’s prestigious, world-renowned American Medical Association and other medical societies to advise us on what medicine is.
Right out the gate, I’m very concerned about this program here in Colorado, as well as the program in Oregon because they’re not science or evidence-based. These are programs that only exist because of a political ballot measure, where millions of dollars were spent by profit-seeking entrepreneurs, people who are enthusiasts and like to use these substances non-medically themselves. My concerns are a few.
First of all, the industry capture. We have major Silicon Valley and Wall Street investors who are involved now that are pushing psilocybin and other psychedelic substances for a whole laundry list of ailments. So concerned about the profit incentive.
I’m also concerned about the lack of science that is taking place in this process. It’s not scientists, there’s no clinical trials. In Colorado, they’re called Natural Health Medicine Centers by law, because that’s what was voted on.
Unfortunately, that is a total misnomer. No scientists have cleared these products to be medicine. There’s no dosage.
You ask any person at any of the centers that are approved in Colorado, what the dose of psilocybin is for PTSD, for example. The lack of science, very concerning. Finally, the third big concern I have is there’s a total lack of knowledge on behalf of the public as to what these substances will do, what the contraindications are.
If you’re using certain kind of medication, will psilocybin adversely interact with that medication? What happens if you have an adverse experience in one of these natural health medicine centers? Most of the people are woefully undertrained, not even allowed to prescribe real medications.
So there’s a lot of concerns there too.
HOST: Luke, there’s more studies coming out suggesting that psychedelics like psilocybin are inherently therapeutic. What do you want the public to understand about the risks or limitations of these substances?
LUKE: Yeah. So the research does not indicate that psilocybin is inherently therapeutic. I think that’s a strong way to put it.
So I would just say that there’s research that suggests that it has strong therapeutic potential. But it has again not been approved by the FDA. Psilocybin has not been approved by any major medical body in the world as a treatment for any disorder at this point.
There’s a lot of promise though. There are a number of studies that show this is a breakthrough therapy which potentially is a breakthrough therapy, which is why the FDA has marked it as such, but has yet to approve it. So I think the message for me is not that psilocybin can’t help anyone.
I think there’s a strong chance that psilocybin in very controlled and specific settings with very specific ailments will be helpful. However, the message is that we also are seeing caution from the research right now. There was a recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association that found that people who are using psychedelic substances like psilocybin are 21 times more likely to develop schizophrenia than the general public.
There are a lot of other research articles that have been published in the last five years talking about the link with psychosis, talking about the link with other adverse incomes.
HOST: What do you see instead as the responsible path that you say? If it is not the psilocybin path, is there a path that you see forward for people who are dealing with not only PTSD but other mental health concerns?
LUKE: I think the number one thing we have to do is we need to trust the scientists. We need to trust our doctors. I mean, if you’re not going to trust the scientists and doctors as it relates to medicine, then who are you going to trust?
Do you want to trust Elon Musk, for example, who is currently using ketamine and a lot of other substances and heavily invested in this space? Or maybe Peter Thiel, another major billionaire investor who is also heavily invested in getting psychedelics out to the public. I don’t think we should trust people with direct profit incentives to tell us what medicine is.
I also think that we should be concerned when somebody is a regular user of these drugs for recreational purposes, and now they’re saying it’s medicine. I don’t think we should trust them either. I think it’s not perfect, but we have the FDA, we’ve had it for 100 years.
We have entrusted the FDA, and they haven’t been perfect, such as with opioids, but we’ve entrusted them, doctors and scientists, to carefully, critically review these medications and tell us what works and what doesn’t, what is safe for patients and what is not. I think psilocybin, it is being fast-tracked by the FDA. I think what we need to do is with psilocybin is wait till the FDA has made a final determination on the various psilocybin products that may be approved for medical use.
And until then, I would say buyer beware, I would stay away from these natural health medicine centers. I would go to your doctor instead and ask them for the best evidence-based care.