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Psychedelic drug treatment

  • Auteur de la discussion Auteur de la discussion Dr. Leospace
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Dr. Leospace

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Psychedelic drug treatment - A good death

After a 40-year virtual ban on research involving psychedelic drugs, scientists look anew at their potential in treating pain and anxiety

Diane never smoked marijuana, and she disapproved of her mother's past drug experiments. But cancer made the 33-year-old teacher ready to try anything that might help: she hoped she would find a cure in herbs from a Tibetan doctor or in the hands of a faith healer deep in the Brazilian rain forest.

Then, as the pain and fatigue of advanced colon cancer left Diane increasingly bedridden, she just wanted the strength to get out of bed.

That's when she found ecstasy, the illegal drug people often take at all-night dance parties. Though ecstasy is addictive and can damage hearts and brain cells, some researchers say the hallucinogen can also inspire deep feelings of well-being and intimacy with others.

For a few hours at a time as the ecstasy took hold, Diane would leave her disease behind and walk in the park, sing with her parents, or talk about death without fear, her mother said.

Ecstasy "was the only thing that controlled the pain and her breathing," said Diane's mother, a Boston-area resident who asked not to be identified because last year she helped provide the illegal drugs for her daughter, whose middle name was Diane. "She was emotionally and spiritually uplifted" when she was on ecstasy. "She was her funny, witty self."

Forty years after widespread abuse led to a virtual ban on medical research involving psychedelic drugs, experiences like Diane's are leading scientists to take a second look. Though ecstasy, LSD, and "magic mushrooms" are now known by their partying reputation, psychedelic drugs were once seen as a promising treatment for schizophrenia and other mental conditions.

Already, researchers in Miami are giving heroin addicts a hallucinogen called ibogaine in an attempt to reduce withdrawal symptoms. Rape victims in South Carolina take ecstasy in a study designed to help them talk about their ordeals. And soon, Dr. John Halpern at McLean Hospital in Belmont will begin giving ecstasy to people with advanced cancer to help them cope with the pain and anxiety of dying.

For advocates of psychedelic drug research, the study at McLean, an affiliate of Harvard University, represents a chance to reduce the stigma hanging over the field. Back in the 1960s, Harvard professor Timothy Leary helped spur the backlash against psychedelic drugs with ethically questionable experiments and by advocating recreational LSD use to "turn on, tune in, drop out." Halpern, by contrast, is a respected researcher whose past studies have found no evidence of brain damage among Navajos who regularly ingested peyote, a psychedelic drug derived from cactus.

'This is not Leary saying to young people . . . "Take LSD. Drop out, and we're going to change society,' " said Rick Doblin, president of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, an advocacy group that has pushed for resumption of psychedelic studies for years. "This is something that can be helpful to people who have never done drugs before, and after they are done, they are not going to go out and undermine the foundations of our society."

But the research is politically loaded, coming at a time when the Bush administration is fighting efforts to offer marijuana as an anti-nausea medicine for cancer patients. Federal officials fear that research showing medical value for illegal drugs will only encourage drug abuse. Dr. David Murray, special assistant in the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, said that some psychedelic studies are fueled by an agenda to promote the use of these drugs.

"This might not be a dispassionate quest for truth," he said, noting that Doblin's group has sued the federal government in support of a University of Massachusetts professor who wants to grow marijuana for research. Initially Doblin's group also planned to pay $250,000 for the ecstasy study at McLean, though Doblin withdrew support in favor of a donation from Peter Lewis, chairman of the Progressive Group of Insurance Cos. in Ohio.

Partly because of such skepticism, Halpern's research was held up for more than a year while he struggled to get federal permits. That was more time than Diane had when her mother first read an article last June in which Doblin suggested that ecstasy might help in "facing directly life's great challenge, to die gracefully and in peace." So, after being turned away by Halpern, Diane's mother found her own "psychedelic therapist" who was willing to lead Diane on trips with ecstasy, also known by its chemical name, MDMA.

"Before her first session, Diane could only get out of bed for a few minutes at a time. Sitting or standing caused her pain to spike to unbearable levels," her mother wrote in an essay after Diane died last fall. "During the first session with MDMA, Diane's pain receded, her spirits soared, and she was able to walk to a park near my house and hang out with a friend."

The psychedelic therapist, who asked that he not be named because of fear of prosecution, admitted in an interview with the Globe that he was only guessing at what might help Diane -- and he was initially afraid that he might kill her. After all, she was on a dozen medications, including methadone, which had caused an irregular heart rhythm -- and ecstasy can make heart problems worse.

After experimenting with various psychedelic drugs, he found a dose of ecstasy -- about twice the level to be used in the McLean study -- that seemed to bring Diane peace, allowing them to talk directly about her illness. Diane's mother recalled that "on one occasion, the therapist asked Diane how she felt about her pain. She said it was like an unruly child in need of attention. She would send it love."

On her final day, Diane slept peacefully for hours after taking ecstasy, her mother said, without moans and gasps. That night, "she opened her eyes with an expression of absolute wonder, reached out to touch her dad, and died," according to Diane's mother. "We are honored to have witnessed and shared a holy experience, my daughter's good death."

But outside observers caution that psychedelic drug treatment is ethically risky: What begins as treatment for anxiety could become experiments in altering a dying person's consciousness. That, one analyst said, could take away from someone's ability to be fully engaged at the end of life.

"If we're altering their mental experience and their sense of . . . the dying process, then we're crossing some boundaries that need to be very highly considered," said Keith Meador, director of the theology and medicine program at Duke University Divinity School.

For now, Halpern said, he just wants to do the research to better understand how the drugs affect people with cancer, 40 percent of whom say in surveys that they don't get enough treatment for pain. Working with an oncologist from the Lahey Clinic in Burlington, he is beginning to look for 12 advanced cancer patients to undergo ecstasy therapy as well as counseling.

"It's always been about doing good science," said Halpern. "Is this helpful for people with cancer and their families? That is the only question we are trying to answer."

Source: Global Newspaper Company
 
I have been a chronic pain patient for 15 years and have used almost every kind of narcotic to relieve my pain. I now use methadone at 10 mgs. four times a day. It doesn't have as much of a buzz as other opiates do, but it stops 70% of my pain. I always have a background static of pain tugging at me.I forgot how it feels to be painfree until I ate 5 grams of psilocybian mushrooms a month ago.It was wonderful,all pain was gone,completely gone. It would be a great comfort for people in hospices, end of life treatments, and people like me.
Peace and happiness, jackflash.
 
whoo never knew that shrooms could do that!
 
forest a dit:
whoo never knew that shrooms could do that!

Forest didnt you know that acid was given to relife cronic pain-describe was that acid make mind blocking placebo effect on pain or it do have effect organic on pain but even now scientist doesnt how pain reflection is working.Weed is another stuff and many like that-I will send you mail what you have to get as starter in magic .We are all just entusiastic starters,arent we? 8)
 
GORAN, I wasn;t aware that psychedelics were used to" relive" pain. From my 35 years of research I understood their use to distract or inhabit the areas of the brain that would have made the patient aware that they were having pain.
I've always thought that narcotics,for the most part,gave such an eurphoric feeling that a person was distracted from and didn't care about their pain at the time. My experience has been that ALL pain was gone when under the influence of psilocybian mushrooms.I can't say the same about LSD because it seems to tense my muscles and can increase my pain. Just thought I'd add a little to the discussion. Peace and happiness, jackflash.
 
Aldous Huxley was takeing LSD when he was dieing wrom cancer.His last wish was to give him 4 times higher dose then abnormal,when he was near death.Halucinogens are agonist of serotonin but in same time antagonists-so pain impulse was decrised.Narcotics(morphine,codein,oxycodein,fentanyl,pentazocin,pethidine and in some countries diecetlmorphine-Heroin) was not enough to block pain cause tolerance.Higher doses would kill patiens.Then LSD,Psilocin,Meskalin,THC,high dose of nicotine-killing neurons,or PCP/Ketamin is introduced,but it depends on country and healt care thay provide-for me veary sad. :( 8) :?:
 
well i`m glad u found ur (savior) is mushrooms :)
they can indeed totally make the pain go away

but doesnt it feel really bad after? ? that the pain seems even worse ?
 
ProStoner a dit:
well i`m glad u found ur (savior) is mushrooms :)
they can indeed totally make the pain go away

but doesnt it feel really bad after? ? that the pain seems even worse ?
No , after the shrooms effects wear off the pain does not increase. In fact the pain is reduced for a day or two, but while the effects of the shrooms are working there is none.
Peace , jackflash. :)
 
ProStoner a dit:
well i`m glad u found ur (savior) is mushrooms :)
they can indeed totally make the pain go away

but doesnt it feel really bad after? ? that the pain seems even worse

Opiats wear off after 24-72 hours depends wich opiat is taken.LSD(for shrooms and for cacti I do not know for sure) works minimum 124 hours to 240 hours-I have proof but is on croatian so you whant be able to read it.And what I reed after LSD thay continuosly gives to terminal patient opiats for whaiting time to brain is prepered by lowering resistance to Acid and when patient feel firt stronger pain he gets another dose of LSD-but in veary little number of states.SHAME AND PITTY FOR SCIENSE AND GOVERMENT FOR DYING PATIENTS. :x :( :roll: :?:
 
jackflash a dit:
No , after the shrooms effects wear off the pain does not increase. In fact the pain is reduced for a day or two, but while the effects of the shrooms are working there is none.
Peace , jackflash. :)

This is a very interesting effect of psychoactives. Do you have any idea how the shrooms help to reduce pain? Do you hallucinate or need to hallucinate to reduce the pain??

PS: Maps is doing research on lsd/mushrooms and cluster headache: http://www.maps.org/research/cluster/psilo-lsd/. Not exactly the same of course, but still interesting I think. The shrooms work for up to 6 months to prevent these headaches.
 
Dr. Leospace a dit:
jackflash a dit:
No , after the shrooms effects wear off the pain does not increase. In fact the pain is reduced for a day or two, but while the effects of the shrooms are working there is none.
Peace , jackflash. :)

This is a very interesting effect of psychoactives. Do you have any idea how the shrooms help to reduce pain? Do you hallucinate or need to hallucinate to reduce the pain??

PS: Maps is doing research on lsd/mushrooms and cluster headache: http://www.maps.org/research/cluster/psilo-lsd/. Not exactly the same of course, but still interesting I think. The shrooms work for up to 6 months to prevent these headaches.
No, I don,t have to be at the hallucination level but it certainly helps as a pleasent distraction. For me, most pain is gone in less thaan hour. I notice the reduction to start in 20-30 minutes and about an hour my pain is gone. I don't start to get geometric visuals or patterns until near the second hour on. This is well after my pain relief was experienced. Hope this helps .
Peace jackflash
 
Psilocybe mushrooms and LSD are being used to treat cluster headaches and migraines.
MAPS is trying to get a study approved to find out how well these substabces work and if they could be developed into an approved treatment.

Check out:
http://www.maps.org and http://www.clusterbusters.com

As far as the original post

Though ecstasy is addictive and can damage hearts and brain cells
This is not correct and has not been proven. The study that vlaimed to prove brain damage has been withdrawn by the research team as it was dfound they gave the monkeys methamphetamine and not MDMA.
The addiction potential has not been studied at all to my knowledge and is likely to be only a mild psychological dependency.

Back in the 1960s, Harvard professor Timothy Leary helped spur the backlash against psychedelic drugs with ethically questionable experiments and by advocating recreational LSD use to "turn on, tune in, drop out." Halpern, by contrast, is a respected researcher whose past studies have found no evidence of brain damage among Navajos who regularly ingested peyote, a psychedelic drug derived from cactus.
Interestingly the comment implies Leary was not a respected and serious researcher. He was and conducted several still accepted and important studies with psilocybes and LSD at the Concord prison. His perceived downfall was that he got personally involved with his studies, a fact that has been used to discredit him and the substances he studied time and time again.



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jilola a dit:
Dr. Leospace a dit:
Back in the 1960s, Harvard professor Timothy Leary helped spur the backlash against psychedelic drugs with ethically questionable experiments and by advocating recreational LSD use to "turn on, tune in, drop out." Halpern, by contrast, is a respected researcher whose past studies have found no evidence of brain damage among Navajos who regularly ingested peyote, a psychedelic drug derived from cactus.
Interestingly the comment implies Leary was not a respected and serious researcher. He was and conducted several still accepted and important studies with psilocybes and LSD at the Concord prison. His perceived downfall was that he got personally involved with his studies, a fact that has been used to discredit him and the substances he studied time and time again.

Timothy Leary was not a fully respected researcher and maybe they were right. The research at the end of his scientific career included giving LSD to a great number of people in uncontrolled settings, more for politics than for research. And his slogan "turn on, tune in, drop out" which advocates to drop out of society didn't help either.

There is some critisism on dr. Halpern as well although on a totally different level, as I posted here:
Halperngate
 
Well, Leary ended up more of a guru than a scientist but that doesn't udo his previous work.
Before he got mixed up in his own research he was well respected and had a position at Harvard. Up to that point he had an exemplary career. Too bad the later escapades have masked the earlier Leary.
 
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