Vancouver, BC forges new paths in revival of psychedelic research
“There were months of work getting ethics approval, designing the study, finding the instruments that we would use to collect psychometric data. Then, for four days, we were all holed up in a longhouse.” … In 2011, e was invited to an Indigenous community in a remote area of British Columbia. Working for the Centre for Addictions Research of B.C., he was one of a small team of scientists who observed 12 people take ayahuasca, an Amazonian mixture that induces vivid visual and auditory hallucinations as well as deep emotional and intellectual reflection.
Most of the 12 patients were victims of severe childhood trauma who struggled with addictions to a variety of drugs: alcohol, cocaine, and opioids such as heroin … “I got my spirit back,” a 49-year-old woman told researchers. “It’s so beautiful outside, and where was all that all this time? You know, I was just living with a black cloud over me. And the black cloud’s been removed.” Positive feedback continued in follow-up interviews conducted during the next six months. “But we didn’t know what we actually had until we analyzed the data,” Thomas said. “Then we saw it.” … A 2013 paper Thomas coauthored for the academic journal Current Drug Abuse Reviews describes the results: “Self-reported alcohol, tobacco and cocaine use declined, although cannabis and opiate use did not; reported reductions in problematic cocaine use were statistically significant. “Given the potential to decrease the personal suffering and social costs associated with addiction, further research on ayahuasca-assisted addictions treatment is warranted.”
Original Article (Straight):
Vancouver, BC [Canada] forges new paths in revival of psychedelic research
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