Tobacco Addiction | +60 articles

[mr peabody]

Psychedelic therapy offers promise for smoking cessation*

by Stephanie O'Neill | NPR | Dec 22 2019

For many Americans, psychedelics still evoke the psychedelic '60s, bringing to mind the sex-and-drugs lifestyle of the hippie counterculture.

But that stereotype lags behind reality, by several decades. Today, psychedelic experimentation is more likely to refer to dozens of clinical trials taking place at universities and research facilities. The psychedelics under study range from psilocybin, the active ingredient in psychedelic mushrooms, to MDMA, to LSD, among others. Researchers are studying them for their therapeutic potential in treating hard-to-treat conditions such as PTSD, addiction, depression and anxiety.

The promise of freedom from cigarettes was what compelled Carine Chen-McLaughlin, 65, to enroll in an experimental study of psilocybin therapy for smokers. She was desperate to break free from her decades-long physical addiction to nicotine. Quitting smoking had felt impossible for so long.

"It's basically saying good-bye to a very old friend, and worrying about: 'Am I going to be OK without this good friend?'" the Baltimore resident says.

Like many of the 49 million tobacco users in the U.S., Chen-McLaughlin wanted to quit and had tried various methods: nicotine gum, the nicotine patch and even stopping cold turkey. But nothing worked for more than a couple days.

The clinical trial she joined took place in her hometown of Baltimore, at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. While she was a bit anxious about the experiment, Chen-McLaughlin was "nevertheless hopeful about trying something totally different."

"I think I was more excited that...maybe, maybe this is it!" she says with a laugh.

A research revival

Therapeutic research on psilocybin, LSD and other psychedelic drugs isn't new. Beginning in the 1950s, researchers investigated them as potential treatments for alcohol addiction, cancer-related anxiety, depression and other common psychological ills.

But then came the "psychedelic '60s," a time when American counterculture embraced these then-legal drugs. The resulting widespread use — and abuse — of psychedelics ultimately triggered a backlash that led the federal government to criminalize these substances. By the early 1970s, many ongoing studies into the potential medical benefits of psychedelics had halted.

"Unfortunately, all of that legitimate research was really sacrificed because of the association between psychedelics and the counterculture," says Matthew Johnson, an associate professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and the lead investigator in the psilocybin study for smoking cessation.

Today, however, a new wave of psychedelic research has taken hold, with dozens of clinical studies happening at U.S. academic institutions. In fact, some of the experimental therapies involving psilocbyin have recently received "breakthrough therapy" designations from the FDA, which can help speed their progress towards eventual market approval.

Although the studies are legal, the federal government does not provide any financial support for psychedelic research, so the researchers must rely on private organizations for funding. The Johns Hopkins study, for instance, is supported by the non-profit Heffter Research Institute in New Mexico.

"We're ever hopeful and we're continuing to put in funding applications," Johnson says. "But so far, the National Institutes of Health has not funded any therapeutic research with psilocybin."

Dr. Charles Grob, a psychiatrist at UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine, has studied the therapeutic potential of psychedelics since the 1980s. His four-year-long pilot study of psilocybin-assisted therapy on patients with anxiety and advanced-stage cancer was among the first studies to launch this modern-day era of psychedelic research. It was published in the Archives of General Psychiatry in 2011.

Grob attributes the resurgence of research interest in psychedelics to several factors: a dire need for new mental health treatments, a more sophisticated understanding of the underlying psychedelic compounds and a growing body of research literature showing promising results from around the world.

"All those trends are helping to destigmatize the use of psychedelics for psychological healing," Grob says.

"Slowly but surely, our colleagues throughout the health fields have started to recognize that these treatment models may have something very positive and very unique to offer," he says.

Therapeutic advantages — and risks

Studies show psychedelics aren't physically addictive. And research has shown them to be safe when administered properly to healthy patients. But Johnson cautions that psychedelics can be abused.

"We are not encouraging people to take psilocybin on their own," Johnson says. "There are definitely risks, we know what those are ... and we have a way to address them in these research studies."

In particular, a study by Johnson and his team, published in 2018, shows psilocybin can cause harm to those with a predisposition to psychosis. So potential study participants undergo "a couple of very long days" of screening before they can be admitted into the clinical trial," he says.

For those deemed healthy and able to undergo this therapy, there are no long-term or ongoing prescriptions, as is the case with other therapies for quitting smoking, like Chantix.

In Johnson's current study, the patient ingests only one dose of psilocybin during a special session that takes place about halfway through a series of 10 cognitive behavioral therapy sessions.​

Promising results in those quitting cigarettes

So far, about 40 out of 80 participants have completed the 13-week protocol for the Johns Hopkins study. It begins with four hours of preparatory counseling before the patient takes the lab-produced psilocybin in pill form.

The psilocybin session lasts about six hours and is supervised by two therapeutic "guides" who provide comfort and assurance as needed. As the psychedelic kicks in, patients are counseled to close their eyes, go inward and experience whatever shows up.

"So far, half of the 40 participants who've completed the current Johns Hopkins smoking cessation program have quit smoking, as confirmed by urine and breath samples," Johnson says.

"That compares to a 10% to 35% success rate for conventional therapies such as nicotine-replacement medications or cognitive behavioral therapy alone," says Johnson.

Johnson says the evidence collected so far suggests a couple more doses of psilocybin might prove even more successful.

In his pilot study published in 2014, 15 participants received a similar amount of counseling as those in Chen-McLaughlin's group. But instead of one dose of psilocybin, they got three. "Six months later, 80% were smoke-free," Johnson says.

Still, Johnson cautions against too much enthusiasm just yet, because the studies at this point are small.

He says if his current study maintains a favorable success rate, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration would then require him to replicate that success in larger, Phase 3 clinical trials before the agency could consider approving psilocybin-assisted therapy as a treatment for addicted smokers.

"The caveat to all this is that we have so much more to learn and to explore, to really understand what's going on," he says.

A shift in perspective

How psilocybin might help with addiction is not yet clear.

"Our best guess at this point is that while the drug is active, the brain is operating in a dramatically, qualitatively different fashion," Johnson says.

Most notably, areas of the brain that normally don't communicate begin to do so, while well-worn neural pathways go quiet. What's more, because psychedelics don't numb the mind in the way alcohol and some other drugs do, patients report leaving the session with their newfound insights intact.

"People often report a remarkable clarity," Johnson says."They know what's going on during the experience and they can observe their life and themselves from a much different vantage point – a much broader vantage point."

This perspective shift is part of the "mystical experience" that recreational psilocybin users report, and that spiritual users, such as shamans, have described for centuries. One theory of how these drugs may help is that experiencing feelings of unity, sacredness and transcendence can help change thought patterns that fuel addiction.

That doesn't mean the experience is necessarily easy, or even enjoyable. Chen-McLaughlin reported that as she lay for hours on the couch, the psilocybin unleashed a host of fears, which took the form of swirling dark clouds that she believed were trying to suffocate her.

"And that was really super, super scary," she says. "And I cried, I think at least four out of five, six hours."

Yet, she says, through the entire experience, she had a vision of her recently-deceased mother, who seemed to stand by as a sort of spiritual sentry, helping her to face those dark, cloud-like fears. At that very point, as she became determined to confront them, Chen-McLaughlin says, the dark clouds dissipated — and so did her desire to smoke.

"I haven't smoked since March 23, 2018," she says, adding that she has no clear idea why it worked.

Since her psilocybin experience, Chen-McLaughlin has not only quit smoking, she reports feeling physically repulsed by cigarettes. One day when she was feeling stressed, she asked her cigarette-smoking husband for a puff of his. But when she reached for it, she says, she couldn't even make herself touch it.

"You could pay me $5,000 and I couldn't do it," she says. "I know it sounds really weird, but that's what happened: Something in my brain sort of got switched."

Still, she attributes her success in quitting smoking not just to psilocybin, but to a combination of the drug and all the hours of cognitive behavioral therapy she received along with it.

"If I just walked in and took a psilocybin pill," she says, "I don't think it would have worked."

*From the article here :

NPR Cookie Consent and Choices

 

[mr peabody]

Carine Chen-McLaughlin

How magic mushrooms are helping smokers kick the habit*

by Madeline Sofia and Geoff Brumfiel | NPR | Oct 15 2019

Carine Chen-McLaughlin smoked for more than 40 years.

She didn't want to be a smoker. She'd tried to stop dozens of times over the decades. But she always came back.

"Smoking was one of my oldest, dearest friends," she said of her habit. "To not have that relationship was very, very scary."

Then she heard about a clinical trial to treat nicotine addiction with something a little unusual: magic mushrooms. Well, not actual magic mushrooms, but a little pill of a drug called psilocybin. It's the ingredient in mushrooms that gives people hallucinogenic visions.

New research shows that psilocybin might be an effective treatment for diseases such as depression and addiction. While the work is still in its early stages, there are signs that psilocybin might help addicts shake the habit by causing the brain to talk with itself in different ways.

"These brain changes lead to, oftentimes, a sense of unity," says Matthew Johnson, an experimental psychologist at Johns Hopkins University. "It all may sound a little 'woo-woo,' " he admits, "but it seems to be working. Early results suggest that psilocybin, coupled with therapy, may be far more effective than other treatments for smoking, such as the nicotine patch."

Magic mushrooms have been used by indigenous communities for thousands of years, and research on psilocybin isn't all that new either. Work began in the 1950s and 1960s. But studies involving it and other psychedelics dropped off following the passage of the Controlled Substance Act in 1970, which outlawed hallucinogens and other drugs.

"The medical applications became, really, a casualty of a political war," Johnson says.

Chen-McLaughlin started smoking in 1971, around the same time that the first round of research was shutting down. By 2017, she was ready to quit once and for all. She decided to take part in the experimental therapy run by Johnson, which used psilocybin to treat smokers.

She didn't just show up and pop a pill. Instead, she spent weeks prepping with the researchers, undergoing tests and hours of talking with counselors about why she smoked.

Then it was game time.

Chen-McLaughlin showed up to the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center Campus in Baltimore and was led to a "trip room," with a big, comfortable couch for the patient, soft lighting and some nature art on the walls — a bit like a fancy yoga studio.

Just before 9 a.m., she took the pill.

Even though she'd never tripped before, "I wouldn't say I was, like, shaking in my boots nervous," she recalls. "I didn't feel like they would let anything happen to me." About 40 minutes later, things started getting weird. She experienced a sensation of floating. She closed her eyes.

"I saw monsters, I saw aliens," she recalls. "I had these big, gray, puffy clouds that kept sinking in from the ceiling, and I thought I was going to suffocate."

While she was tripping, she didn't talk very much to the clinicians. Instead, she just focused on letting go of two things that had long defined her: her job as a social worker, which she was set to retire from, and smoking.

Several hours later, "when I woke up, I was processed out. I was exhausted and I wasn't scared anymore," she recalls.

Psilocybin seems to work because it temporarily rewires the brain, according to Johnson. Sections that don't normally talk to each other appear to communicate more, and parts of the brain that normally do talk to each other talk less.

Johnson says an analogy is to imagine living in a city where you suddenly stop talking to your neighbors, and start talking to people way across town you don't normally talk to. "That can lead to novel ways of looking at oneself, thinking about the world in a different way, having insightful experiences," Johnson says.

David Nutt, a professor of neuropsychopharmacology at Imperial College London, says that in addition to making connections, psilocybin also seems to break negative linkages in the brain. His studies on treating depression with psilocybin show that the drug can disrupt negative feedback networks in the brain. "That network is nonfunctioning for many hours," he says. "By breaking down those networks, there's a chance they won't re-form."

It seemed to work for Chen-McLaughlin. Just hours after her psychedelic trip, she went out for dinner with her husband. When he lit up, she thought she'd try a puff. But she found that she couldn't.

"My hand would not let me touch that cigarette," she says. "To this day, if you paid me a million dollars to touch a cigarette with my hand, I cannot."

A year-and-a-half later, she remains smoke-free. "I think something in my brain got turned off," she says.

Johnson's small initial psilocybin study was extremely promising. So now he is doing a larger, more rigorous trial comparing the nicotine patch to psilocybin. Results are still coming in, but right now, half of the people who took psilocybin are smoke-free after a year. That's about twice as effective as the patch.

Nutt, who's now conducting his own follow-up trials on depression treatments, is impressed with Johnson's work. Nutt believes psilocybin potentially also could be used to treat other addictions, such as alcohol and opioids.

But there are some reasons to be cautious.

First, don't try this at home. The amount of psilocybin Johnson administers in his trials is considered a high dose, and it's paired with months of counseling. Nutt of Imperial College says that bad trips of the sort Chen-McLaughlin experienced can be common for those using the drug for treatment of diseases. Memories and experiences dredged up by the drug can be challenging and disturbing.

"You need therapists to help guide them and also prevent those memories from turning into traumatic memories," Nutt says.

Second, the treatment is really expensive and the whole process takes months.

Finally, not everybody should use psilocybin. People with predispositions for schizophrenia and other psychotic illnesses may be harmed by taking the drug.

Research on psilocybin is still in its early phases, but there appears to be growing interest from the medical community. And it isn't just researchers who are reconsidering psilocybin. This year, Oakland, Calif., and Denver decriminalized magic mushrooms. Similar efforts are underway in Oregon.

Matthew Johnson welcomes the resurgence in interest, and he says this is the time to give psychedelics another look.

"Depression and addiction are major causes of death in our society, and it's not getting better — it's getting worse," he says. "I think there's a broader societal recognition that we need to be creative and not dismiss things because of arbitrary associations."

*From the article here :

NPR Cookie Consent and Choices

 

[mr peabody]

Electron microscope image of lung cancer cells.

Quitters avoid most of the subsequent risk of lung cancer*

by Cancer Research UK | Medical Xpress | 29 Jan 2020

Protective cells in the lungs of ex-smokers could explain why quitting smoking reduces the risk of developing lung cancer, cancer researchers have determined.

Scientists from the Wellcome Sanger Institute and UCL have discovered that compared to current smokers, people who had stopped smoking had more genetically healthy lung cells, which have a much lower risk of developing into cancer.

The research, published in Nature today, is part of the $US 26M Mutographs of Cancer project, a Cancer Research UK Grand Challenge initiative. The project detects DNA 'signatures' that indicate the source of damage, to better understand the causes of cancer, and discover the ones we may not yet be aware of.

The study shows that quitting smoking could do much more than just stopping further damage to the lungs. Researchers believe it could also allow new, healthy cells to actively replenish the lining of our airways. This shift in proportion of healthy to damaged cells could help protect against cancer.

These results highlight the benefits of stopping smoking completely, at any age.

Lung cancer is the most common cause of cancer death in the UK, accounting for 21% of all cancer deaths. Smoking tobacco damages DNA and hugely increases the risk of lung cancer, with around 72 per cent of the 47,000 annual lung cancer cases in the UK caused by smoking. In the US, it is estimated that around 229,000 cases of lung cancer will be diagnosed in 2020.

Damage to the DNA in cells lining the lungs creates genetic errors, and some of these are 'driver mutations', which are changes that give the cell a growth advantage. Eventually, an accumulation of these driver mutations can let the cells divide uncontrollably and become cancerous. However, when someone stops smoking, they avoid most of the subsequent risk of lung cancer.

In the first major study of the genetic effects of smoking on 'normal', non-cancerous lung cells, researchers analysed lung biopsies from 16 people including smokers, ex-smokers, people who had never smoked and children.

They sequenced the DNA of 632 individual cells from these biopsies and looked at the pattern of genetic changes in these non-cancerous lung cells.

The lungs of health smokers contained up to four times as many genetically healthy cells than those of current smokers.

The researchers found that despite not being cancerous, more than 9 out of every 10 lung cells in current smokers had up to 10,000 extra genetic changes—mutations—compared with non-smokers, and these mutations were caused directly by the chemicals in tobacco smoke. More than a quarter of these damaged cells had at least one cancer-driver mutation, which explains why the risk of lung cancer is so much higher in people who smoke.

Unexpectedly, in people who had stopped smoking, there was a sizable group of cells lining the airways that had escaped the genetic damage from their past smoking. Genetically, these cells were on par with those from people who had never smoked: they had much less genetic damage from smoking and would have a low risk of developing into cancer.

The researchers found that ex-smokers had four times more of these healthy cells than people who still smoked—representing up to 40% of the total lung cells in ex-smokers.

Joint senior author Dr. Peter Campbell, from the Wellcome Sanger Institute, said: "People who have smoked heavily for 30, 40 or more years often say to me that it's too late to stop smoking—the damage is already done. What is so exciting about our study is that it shows that it's never too late to quit—some of the people in our study had smoked more than 15,000 packs of cigarettes over their life, but within a few years of quitting many of the cells lining their airways showed no evidence of damage from tobacco."

Dr. Kate Gowers, joint first author from UCL, said: "Our study is the first time that scientists have looked in detail at the genetic effects of smoking on individual healthy lung cells. We found that even these healthy lung cells from smokers contained thousands of genetic mutations. These can be thought of as mini time-bombs waiting for the next hit that causes them to progress to cancer. Further research with larger numbers of people is needed to understand how cancer develops from these damaged lung cells."

While the study showed that these healthy lung cells could start to repair the lining of the airways in ex-smokers and help protect them against lung cancer, smoking also causes damage deeper in the lung that can lead to emphysema—chronic lung disease. This damage is not reversible, even after stopping smoking.

Professor Sam Janes, joint senior author from UCL and University College London Hospitals Trust, said: "Our study has an important public health message and shows that it really is worth quitting smoking to reduce the risk of lung cancer. Stopping smoking at any age does not just slow the accumulation of further damage, but could reawaken cells unharmed by past lifestyle choices. Further research into this process could help to understand how these cells protect against cancer, and could potentially lead to new avenues of research into anti-cancer therapeutics."

Dr. Rachel Orritt, Health Information Manager at Cancer Research UK, said: "It's a really motivating idea that people who stop smoking might reap the benefits twice over—by preventing more tobacco-related damage to lung cells, and by giving their lungs the chance to balance out some of the existing damage with healthier cells. What's needed now are larger studies that look at cell changes in the same people over time to confirm these findings."

"The results add to existing evidence that, if you smoke, stopping completely is the best thing you can do for your health. It's not always easy to kick the habit, but getting support from a free, local Stop Smoking Service roughly triples the chance of success compared to going it alone."

*From the article here :

Never too late to quit—protective cells could cut risk of lung cancer for ex-smokers

Protective cells in the lungs of ex-smokers could explain why quitting smoking reduces the risk of developing lung cancer, Cancer Research UK-funded researchers have determined.

medicalxpress.com

 

[mr peabody]

Psilocybin study for tobacco addiction receives first federal grant

by Emily Jarvie | PSYCHEDELIC SPOTLIGHT | 19 oCT 2021

A Johns Hopkins Medicine professor says "it was only a matter of time," while lead researcher calls the historic grant "monumental" for the psychedelics movement.

Johns Hopkins Medicine has been awarded almost $4 million from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to explore potential impacts of psilocybin on tobacco addiction, marking the first federal grant awarded to research the therapeutic effects of a classic psychedelic in 50 years.

“The historical importance of this grant is monumental,” said Dr. Matthew W. Johnson, the principal investigator in the three-year research project to be completed in collaboration with the University of Alabama at Birmingham and New York University

The study will be carried out simultaneously at the three institutions to diversify the pool of participants, increasing confidence that the results apply to a wide range of people with tobacco addiction. It builds on earlier research into psilocybin—a psychoactive compound native to certain species of mushrooms—for tobacco smoking cessation, an effort commenced by Dr. Johnson 13 years ago.

In 2014, a pilot study found the use of psilocybin in the context of a cognitive behavioral therapy treatment program could help long-time smokers to quit. After six months, 80% of participants continued to abstain from smoking.

The current trial also involves cognitive behavioral therapy—a form of psychotherapy that focuses on pinpointing negative thought patterns that contribute to behavioral or mental health issues. Researchers believe psilocybin can break up a person’s addictive thought and behavior patterns, helping them quit smoking.

As there has been a resurgence in interest in the therapeutic potential of psychedelics over the past 20 years, known as the psychedelic renaissance, most of the recent research in this field has been funded by philanthropists.

The NIH’s decision to fund Johns Hopkins Medicine’s study comes after the body—which is the largest public funder of biomedical research in the world—was notably absent in terms of investing in psychedelic medicine. It could mark a turning point for the field.

“We knew it was only a matter of time before the NIH would fund this work because the data is so compelling and because this work has demonstrated to be safe,” said Susan Hill Ward, Professor in Psychedelics and Consciousness at Johns Hopkins Medicine. “Psilocybin does have very real risks, but these risks are squarely mitigated in controlled settings through screening, preparation, monitoring, and follow-up care.”

Earlier this year, Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies Founder and Director Dr. Rick Doblin, and psychiatrists Dr. Brian Barnett and Dr. Julie Holland in an article called on the NIH to support the development of psychedelic therapies. “The NIH’s absence from investment in psychedelic medicine is unfortunate since it is preventing talented researchers from entering the field and possibly slowing the development of urgently needed innovative treatments,” they said.

They suggested should the NIH decide to make its mark on the psychedelic renaissance: “The scientific community’s efforts to harness psychedelics for deciphering and mending the mind may be on the brink of a giant leap forward.”

*From the article here :

Psilocybin Study Receives First Federal Psychedelics Research Grant in 50 Years

Johns Hopkins' study of psilocybin and tobacco addiction makes psychedelics research history with $4 million NIH grant.

psychedelicspotlight.com

 

[mr peabody]

Iboga TA for cigarette addiction

I had my trip on Thursday morning. I was scared to indulge in iboga after my last relapse. Things just weren't the same, I was simply terrified. But I had to do it. I needed to quit cigarettes and get rid of my drug cravings that had resurfaced.

I had tried to quit the cigarettes on my own, but I wasn't even able to go a full 24 hours without them. It was extremely difficult for me. I have heard that every time you start smoking cigarettes again it gets harder to quit than the last time. I had never really believed that until now.

So here I was, finding quitting extremely difficult, kicking myself in the ass for my relapse and feeling quite literally lost. Everything had fallen apart. And the best I could do was literally pretend to myself and to everyone around me that everything was okay, when in fact... it wasn't, at all. I felt like I was never going to get out of the mess that I'd made for myself! I had lost all faith in myself and the entire universe around me!

I had my last smoke Wednesday night and decided to go to bed, even though I had been taking short naps all day to forget my miserable existence. I awoke Thursday morning bright and early to a crystal meth dream. How could this be? I had only relapsed on crystal meth for 2 days prior! I had a solid half year from the actual stuff beforehand... How could 2 days bring on such a strong surreal dream of the stuff!? "What am I supposed to do now?" I thought to myself.

That was enough for me, I told myself it was now or never. So in I went to my drawer with the iboga TA extract. I had weighed and capsuled the iboga beforehand, so all was prepared. Even though it was 5am and the house was sound asleep, I felt ready and clearly, I was. I ingested a Gravol to help with the nausea 30 minutes prior to ingesting the iboga TA, and then I ingested the 5 iboga TA capsules (1.5 grams in total).

No turning back now.

An hour after ingesting the capsules it began. The Gravol seemed to be working okay for the nausea. I had a heart and blood pressure monitor right beside me for the entire trip in case anything was off, but everything went smoothly.

There were lots of visions during my experience, but I find iboga's visions to be very gentle and subtle. They're not as much in your face like a mushroom or LSD trip. The actual message itself is the gold (I don't do it for the visions). If you're looking for a visual trip, look elsewhere. Ayahuasca perhaps.

I was told so many insightful, truthful and loving things by the spirit of iboga. It is a very powerful tool for our recovery, and an even stronger entity like being. More powerful than anyone can actually put into words (it is something one has to actually experience themselves to fully grasp. I had a pen and paper right beside me for anything important that came up, as I didn't want to take the chance at forgetting anything meaningful (and I still have my iboga notes today and will always keep them close to heart).

This was it, my last chance and my new beginning. And God damn, that is literally exactly what it was. I'm so happy I chose to do the iboga TA. When used properly and safely it is literally the most helpful thing out there. I've gone to meetings, rehabs, jails & institutions. Iboga without a doubt is it. A gift from the actual God himself without a single doubt in my mind now.

It's incredible. Not only has the substance eliminated my cravings and desires for drugs. Not only has it showed me literally a whole new way of living. It's even given me my actual faith back. And I mean like actual. I have a religion again. I believe in a real God. A "higher power". A universal love. Whatever the hell you wanna call it. I believe. I've literally been shown the true power, and that's nothing anyone can take away from me. It's just incredible really. I'm so happy again.

I was just literally shown soooo much, and in such a short period too!!! Just nutz. It really is like doing 10 years of therapy in one night. I also love the comparison I've heard other people make when they say it's like defragmenting your brain. And it is. Cleaning out the cob webs. Going back to a simple time. Renewing yourself. Going back to your youth!

Some other words I've heard used towards Iboga are; "the cure", "a reset", etc. and I would agree. But it's not just like you take it and that's it. I had to do my proper research. I had to know what I was getting into. I had read that iboga can be used as a catalyst to quit smoking cigarettes, and that's what I decided to use it for (referring to the actual cigarette addiction).

I've gotten myself back, and to me, that's more than I could have asked for. It was literally worth all the puking. Iboga is not an easy substance to go through that's for sure. As I have heard one of my mentors speak about in one of his documentaries say, "It's the hard way to pray." Going to Church and praying is easy. (I still go to Church once a week too actually, no joke).

Anyways yeah, it's sweet. It's helped me in so many ways. It explained to me the dangers of the substances that I was using in depth, and showed me my truest heart. It separated me from my addiction, and that seems to be how it was actually able to do that without the addiction getting in my way for a change.

Because it was an inner spirit that seemed to be connected to me somehow, I was able to believe in it and still do to this day (multiple days after the experience). And even better, because I am not on benzos anymore, I will literally remember and cherish my whole experience for a change, so that's nice too lol.

It wasn't like some random stranger preaching at me or bitching at a meeting. It was something bigger. So much bigger. It was real. More down to earth than anything really out there. Actually understandable I guess you could say.

The iboga spirit literally healed me! The substance itself literally does have way more potential than a lot of people out there give it, that's for sure! There's nothing out there that compares in benefit for the human race. It is truly that actual "it." And I actually believe that now that I've lived it myself.Top

Since then I haven't had a single cigarette. I literally quit overnight like it was nothing. I was surprised at how easy and willing I actually became. Even as I write this now, I haven't had a cigarette going on 5 days now thanks to the Iboga and I literally feel great! And my actual cravings to drugs and substances has vanished completely. I'm not haunted with thoughts or dreams about using crystal meth anymore. I was shown the bads of that substance overnight and given a lesson I'll never forget. I've got myself back!

I had a hole in my heart from the substances that I was using and now that hole just isn't there anymore. I'm back to me. I can do whatever I want again and feel happy and know that I'm no longer a slave to evil.

The only thing I will note is I found that even though I had only taken 50mgs of Gravol beforehand, I still found the Gravol to put a groggy feeling on me during the beginning of the experience and this I would rather go without. Even though it did help me puke a lot less.

Another thing I had realized after going into the experience (that I want to make note of here) is that my last relapse with the substances had actually overridden me and caused me to hate iboga for some reason. I don't mean hate hate, what I mean is, yeah they simply override things. It was as if I had forgotten everything I was shown the last trip and had now succumb to the sin that the substances had been creating (even though deep down I knew it was all wrong).

And like I said, I was scared as hell to go back into the iboga, but I knew something had to be done!!!! And I'm sure as hell glad I did now.

My love for iboga is back and so is my love for my life. An A+++ experience!

http://www.bluelight.org/vb/threads/...stimonial-2018​

 

[mr peabody]

Clinical trial shows new smartphone app helps smokers quit

by Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center | Medical Xpress | 21 Sep 2020

Scientists at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center believe they've found a better of use of mobile technology to help adult cigarette smokers quit.

In a large clinical trial published in JAMA Internal Medicine, a team led by Dr. Jonathan Bricker, a professor in Fred Hutch's Public Health Sciences Division, tested the efficacy of the new smartphone app iCanQuit against the National Cancer Institute's QuitGuide. iCanQuit is based on acceptance and commitment therapy, or ACT, and QuitGuide is based on U.S. clinical practice guidelines.

While apps to quit smoking have been downloaded over 33 million times, there has been little proof they actually work. Using a rigorous double-blind, randomized clinical trial involving over 2,400 adult smokers throughout the U.S., the researchers found the iCanQuit app to be nearly 1 1/2 times more effective than QuitGuide in helping smokers quit after 12 months. Based on their findings, Bricker's team suggests that for every 100,000 smokers reached with iCanQuit, 28,000 would quit smoking.

"Our study offers a new approach to quitting smoking," said Bricker. "By deploying ACT-based methods that focus on acceptance of smoking triggers instead of avoidance of smoking triggers, we believe iCanQuit can help more smokers kick the habit and thereby reduce premature deaths."

According to the World Health Organization, "smokers are at higher risk of developing severe COVID-19 outcomes and death." Smoking and tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable death, killing over 8 million people per year. About 80% of lung cancer deaths result from smoking, and the American Cancer Society expects over 135,000 lung cancer deaths in the U.S. this year.

"Prevention is the best strategy to reduce cancer's burden and save lives," said Brianna Sullivan, project manager of Bricker's team and a study co-author. "By combining Fred Hutch's scientific expertise with effective and user-friendly technology, we're providing smokers the tools needed to live healthier, longer and more vital lives."

Android users can download the iCanQuit app via the Google Play store and iOS device users can download it via the App store. Passcodes to open the app are available by emailing [email protected].

Fred Hutch-led clinical trial shows new smartphone app helps smokers quit

Scientists at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center believe they've found a better of use of mobile technology to help adult cigarette smokers quit.

medicalxpress.com

 

[mr peabody]

Magic mushrooms help longtime smokers quit

Albert Garcia-Romeu, Mary Cosimano and Roland Griffiths | Johns Hopkins University

Johns Hopkins researchers report that a small number of longtime smokers who had failed many attempts to drop the habit did so after a carefully controlled and monitored use of psilocybin, the active hallucinogenic agent in so-called "magic mushrooms,” in the context of a cognitive behavioral therapy treatment program.

The abstinence rate for study participants was 80 percent after six months, substantially higher than typical success rates in smoking cessation trials, says Matthew W. Johnson, Ph.D., an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the corresponding author on the study.

Approximately 35 percent experience six-month success rates when taking varenicline, which is widely considered to be the most effective smoking cessation drug. Other treatments, including nicotine replacement and behavioral therapies, have success rates that are typically less than 30 percent, Johnson adds.

But the researchers, in a report on the study, published online on Sept. 11 in the Journal of Psychopharmacology, strongly caution that their study results are not an endorsement of do-it-yourself psychedelic drug use for smoking cessation, but instead are specific to the controlled administration of the drug in the context of a treatment program involving cognitive behavioral therapy.

“Quitting smoking isn’t a simple biological reaction to psilocybin, as with other medications that directly affect nicotine receptors,” Johnson says. “When administered after careful preparation and in a therapeutic context, psilocybin can lead to deep reflection about one’s life and spark motivation to change.”

Study participants were 10 men and five women, all mentally and physically healthy. They were an average age of 51; smoked, on average, 19 cigarettes a day for 31 years; and had repeatedly tried and failed to stop smoking. Ten participants reported minimal past use of hallucinogens, with the most recent use being an average of 27 years before study intake. Five had never used hallucinogens.

After researchers informed subjects about what their experience with the drug might be like, the first dose of psilocybin was administered by pill the day each participant planned to quit smoking. Two subsequent sessions, with higher doses of the mind-altering drug, were held two weeks and eight weeks later.

During each psilocybin session, which lasted six to seven hours, participants were closely monitored by two members of the research team in a comfortable, homelike setting. Most of the time, participants wore eyeshades and earphones that played music, and they were encouraged to relax and focus on their inner experiences.

The hallucinogenic compound was administered as part of a comprehensive cognitive behavior therapy smoking cessation program that included weekly one-on-one counseling sessions and techniques such as keeping a diary before quitting in order to assess when and why cravings occur.

The researchers, who are part of a team that has long had federal funding to study the psychoactive effects of psychedelic drugs, suggest psilocybin may help break the addictive pattern of thoughts and behaviors that have become ingrained after years of smoking. The benefits also seem to last after the drug has worn off.

Johnson's next study will compare smoking success rates for people who take psilocybin versus those who use nicotine patches. He will use MRI scans to study brain activity in participants.

'Magic Mushrooms' Help Longtime Smokers 'Quit - 09/11/2014

Johns Hopkins researchers report that a small number of longtime smokers who had failed many attempts to drop the habit did so after a carefully controlled and monitored use of psilocybin, the active hallucinogenic agent in so-called "magic mushrooms,” in the context of a cognitive behavioral...

www.hopkinsmedicine.org

 

[mr peabody]

One woman's story about how psilocybin helped her quit smoking

Kathleen Conneally had smoked since she was 12, but one day in the spring of 2013, that changed. Conneally arrived at a lab in Baltimore that looked more like a cozy living room, with a cream-colored couch and paintings of mountains on the walls. She took a pill from a golden goblet and popped it in her mouth. In the care of trained guides, she began to see wild colors, shapes, and ideas.

Conneally was a participant in an addiction study conducted by researchers at Johns Hopkins University, who wanted to determine whether the relentless pull of nicotine could be weakened by psilocybin.

Conneally’s trip, the second in a series of three such “sessions,” was probably the best outcome the researchers could have hoped for. She saw herself as purple flower rising high above her earthly problems, which looked small and stupid by comparison. Even more measly and insignificant was an image of herself, huddled and puffing on a cigarette.

“Just breathe, and there’s no smoke, and no chemicals, and no problems,” she recalled herself thinking.

Leaving the lab 5 hours later, she was sure she would never smoke again. Before, the stresses of her life would stir an overwhelming desire for cigarettes. But now, she said, “I can just cross that off my list. I don’t have to do it anymore.”

She hasn’t had a cigarette in more than three years.

There were 15 people in Conneally’s study, and 12 of them quit smoking—a much higher success rate than the 35 percent or so who quit through other methods. A much larger study is now underway to verify the results.

Matthew Johnson, an associate professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins and the lead author of the study, was interested in psilocybin because of the success researchers had in using LSD to treat alcoholics in the 1960s. He liked that psilocybin was shorter-acting than LSD and had less societal stigma. It also has few side effects or addictive properties of its own.

According to Johnson, depression and addiction both involve a narrowing of vision—a tunnel that it takes a profound experience to suck someone out of. "Psilocybin," he says, "can foster something called cross-talk between regions of the brain that don’t normally communicate. Cross-talk, in turn, is associated with novel ways of looking at problems."

They’re “dealing with stuff they haven’t dealt with in years or decades,” Johnson said. While tripping, “people reflect on their childhood, their parents, their siblings, all their relationships, their love life, their current relationships.” Meanwhile, their minds become a kaleidoscope: “Colors are brighter. The walls might be waving. There might be a halo around things,” he said.

Addiction to cigarettes consists of much more than physical cravings. It’s social. At best, it’s a ritual, and at worst, a crutch. Psychedelics appear to help people go beyond physical cigarette cravings and examine what’s really making them smoke. “People will recognize this profound self-worth that they’ve dismissed,” he said. “They look at their life and see themselves as a miracle.”

Though she began smoking during as a child, Conneally quit cold-turkey when she was 27. But she picked it up again in 2008, when her life was “pretty much falling apart,” as she describes it.

That year, she turned 40, and the economy crashed. Conneally’s partner, Whitney, was laid off. Finances grew tight and difficult to manage, which felt cruelly ironic to Conneally, a certified public accountant.

“Happy 40th birthday,” she thought. She reached, as she always had in pressure-cooker moments, for her cigarettes.

This time, she figured she was never going to quit. She'd tried everything from gum to hypnosis. She white-knuckled through a few cold-turkey attempts and scared herself with how it made her scream at the kids.

But when she heard about Johnson’s study, she thought, “why not?” A Dead-head back in the day, she was no stranger to trippy experiences. At least it would be fun, she thought.

The first session was assuredly not. “I started to panic and have anxiety thinking that I wasn’t doing it right,” she said. She worried the trip wouldn't work, and as a study participant, she wouldn't be allowed to smoke when it was over.

Conneally sunk into a depression after the first trip. A few weeks later, she cried on her way to the second session.

But this time, something was different. The music was better; she felt freer. “My spirit soared,” she said. “I had this great vision of rising above and being a goddess.” She saw her worries like ants in the distance: Her abusive father; the air-conditioning unit where she would hide from her family and smoke. The participants in Johnson’s study had weeks of talk therapy before they tripped. Now everything she had talked about with her counselors was coming together. “I just am,” she thought, “and I need to let go of this stuff.”

A sense of mysticism seems central to the trip treatment. Eleven of Johnson’s 12 study subjects rated the psilocybin trip among the five most spiritually significant experiences in their lives. Some considered it a crash-course in mindfulness, or years of therapy crammed into a single day.

Johnson cautions that his study doesn’t mean people should take mushrooms on their own to cure various ailments, or at all. People don’t necessarily need to take psychedelics to break free of their destructive brain patterns. It can happen with any mystical life experience—the kind that changes everything that comes afterward. Living in a foreign country, giving birth to a child, and even falling in love—all of these approach the brain-rearranging power of psychedelics, at least for some people.

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/a...hrooms/487286/​

 

[mr peabody]

Smoking cessation associated with psychedelic use*

Matthew Johnson, PhD, Albert Garcia-Romeu, PhD, Patrick Johnson, PhD, and Roland Griffiths, PhD

Data suggest psychedelics such as psilocybin and LSD may hold therapeutic potential in the treatment of addictions, including tobacco dependence. This retrospective cross-sectional anonymous online survey characterized 358 individuals (52 females) who reported having quit or reduced smoking after ingesting a psychedelic in a non-laboratory setting ≥1 year ago. On average, participants smoked 14 cigarettes/day for 8 years, and had 5 previous quit attempts before their psychedelic experience. Of the 358 participants, 38% reported continuous smoking cessation after psychedelic use (quitters). Among quitters, 74% reported >2 years abstinence. Of the 358 participants, 28% reported a persisting reduction in smoking (reducers), from a mode of 300 cigarettes/month before, to a mode of 1 cigarette/month after the experience. Among reducers, 62% reported >2 years of reduced smoking. Finally, 34% of the 358 participants (relapsers) reported temporary smoking reduction before returning to baseline smoking levels, with a mode time range to relapse of 3–6 months. Relapsers rated their psychedelic experience significantly lower in personal meaning and spiritual significance than both other groups. Participants across all groups reported less severe affective withdrawal symptoms (e.g. depression, craving) after psychedelic use compared with previous quit attempts, suggesting a potential mechanism of action for psychedelic-associated smoking cessation/reduction. Changes in life priorities/values were endorsed as the most important psychological factor associated with smoking cessation/reduction. Results suggest psychedelics may hold promise in treating tobacco addiction as potentially mediated by spiritual experience, changed priorities/values, and improved emotional regulation.

Discussion

This online survey study provides detailed information on a sample of 358 individuals who reported smoking cessation or reduction after using a serotonergic psychedelic in a non-laboratory setting ≥1 year ago. Individual smoking outcomes varied, including total smoking abstinence after the reference psychedelic experience (Quit group), persisting reductions in previous smoking rate (Reduce group), and reductions in regular daily smoking ultimately culminating in relapse to baseline smoking levels (Relapse group). Participants were predominantly young White males who reported using a psychedelic recreationally, with no premeditated intention to decrease their smoking. However, participants claimed that they experienced a subsequent cessation or reduction in their smoking that they attributed in part to their reference psychedelic experience. These findings are consistent with laboratory data finding that controlled administration of 5-HT2AR agonists may hold therapeutic potential in treating tobacco and other substance use disorders, as well as anthropological reports suggesting that structured (i.e. religious) psychedelic use may confer benefits against addiction. It should be noted though that volunteers who underwent psilocybin-facilitated smoking cessation treatment in a prior laboratory study were purposefully attempting to quit smoking, while participants in this survey were largely not intending to reduce their smoking. If psychedelics are capable of prompting smoking cessation or reduction in those not seeking to reduce smoking, potential efficacy may be even more likely in those who are treatment seeking and under therapeutic supervision.

Several group differences highlight potentially relevant clinical factors regarding smoking cessation and relapse. Ratings of personal meaning and spiritual significance of the reference psychedelic experience differed statistically between groups, with individuals who maintained long-term smoking abstinence rating their reference psychedelic experience as more personally meaningful and spiritually significant than those who relapsed to smoking, and those who reported persisting smoking reductions rating their reference psychedelic experience more spiritually significant than those who relapsed. Thus, these results support prior laboratory research demonstrating psychedelics’ potential to occasion highly meaningful and spiritually significant experiences, and suggest a mediating role for spiritual experience in promoting long-term smoking abstinence.

Moreover, participants in the Relapse group reported smoking more cigarettes per day on average prior to the reference psychedelic experience than those in the Quit group. Therefore, it is possible that the greater rate of smoking and the younger age at which the reference psychedelic experience occurred in the Relapse group may account for their failure to maintain abstinence/reduction, rather than variance in alexithymia or personal meaning and spiritual significance of the psychedelic experience.

Groups did not differ significantly with respect to demographics (aside from differences in cigarettes smoked per day discussed above), the psychedelic used, setting, or intention for use during the reference psychedelic experience. Although negative effects were reported at similar rates across groups, these were typically confined to the period of acute drug effects, and were predominantly described as either psychological (i.e. dysphoria, anxiety), or physical discomfort (e.g. stomachache, headache). Adverse effects of psychedelics are relatively well documented, and represent risks to the user, especially in uncontrolled settings. Furthermore, illegal drugs acquired on the black-market are rarely verified with regard to substance, purity, and dose, representing an additional serious risk factor. Thus, we do not encourage psychedelic use outside of medical or research settings that can provide the appropriate screening, structure, and supervision to ensure safety. The majority of participants reported 10 or fewer lifetime uses of the psychedelics examined, consistent with the low addictive potential of this drug class.

Regarding potential mechanisms of action, decreased affective withdrawal symptoms after psychedelic-associated compared to other, non-psychedelic-associated quit attempts suggest an important role for psychedelics in attenuating low mood and craving, which are known to precipitate relapse. Such effects may be related to psychedelics’ serotonergic mechanism of action at the 5-HT2A and possibly 5-HT1A receptors.

Participants also reported other behavioral changes as a result of their psychedelic session, with individuals across all three groups reporting reduction or cessation of alcohol as a result of their psychedelic experience. These data support the hypothesis that psychedelic experiences may result in behaviorally plastic states in which habitual or addictive behaviors can be re-evaluated. These findings suggest that psychedelics may provide benefits against a range of substance use disorders, rather than being specific to tobacco per se.

The insights and processes that appear to be prompted by psychedelics, and which may lead to smoking cessation or reduction, may not be unique to psychedelics. For example, abstinence from tobacco and other drugs is sometimes prompted by naturalistic spiritual or insightful experiences. Also, survey data indicate that smokers generally consider spirituality to be relevant to smoking cessation. It is our hypothesis that administration of psychedelics under structured conditions may strongly increase the likelihood of motivational insights leading to persisting behavior change such as smoking cessation. Further, we propose that while these motivational insights from psychedelics occur and sometimes prompt people to quit smoking in recreational or non-clinical contexts, such effects are likely to lead to substantially higher probability of persisting behavior change (abstinence) when smoking cessation is the a priori goal of the psychedelic experience, and when combined with effective behavioral therapy.

*From the article here :

An online survey of tobacco smoking cessation associated with naturalistic psychedelic use

 

[mr peabody]

The growing evidence for psilocybin-facilitated smoking cessation

by Michael Haichin, PharmD | Psychedelic Science Review | 15 Jul 2020

Cigarette smoking is the leading cause of preventable death. Smoking cessation represents one of the most significant health choices an individual can make. Current treatment options, including varenicline, bupropion, nicotine replacement therapy, and cognitive behavioral therapy demonstrate limited effectiveness. When used optimally, only 25-35% of smokers who try to quit remain abstinent for six months or longer.

Over the past decade, however, new evidence has emerged in favour of a treatment paradigm using psilocybin combined with CBT. Psilocybin is a compound found in so-called magic mushrooms. It is a prodrug of the active metabolite, psilocin. Research has demonstrated that psilocin binds to the serotonin 5-HT2A receptor and elicits psychedelic effects.

Reviewing the available evidence

In 2014, Dr. Matthew Johnson and colleagues at Johns Hopkins University published the results of an open-label pilot study meant to assess the safety and potential efficacy of psilocybin in treating tobacco addiction, inspired in part by research on psychedelics from the 1950s-70s that demonstrated some efficacy in treating alcohol and opioid dependence.

After thorough subject screening according to established psychedelic research safety guidelines, 15 psychiatrically healthy nicotine-dependent individuals – smoking an average of 19 cigarettes/day for 31 years, with a mean 6 previous lifetime quit attempts – were enrolled in the study. The participants received 15 weeks of CBT in combination with 2 or 3 psilocybin sessions. During the psilocybin sessions, subjects were given synthetic psilocybin in a capsule and were encouraged to focus on their intent to quit, while wearing eyeshades and headphones with music playing. Two research staff participated as facilitators, providing support and reassurance when necessary, without giving any smoking cessation-specific guidance.

The first psilocybin session was a moderate dose, and coincided with the target quit date during week 5. Participants received a second psilocybin session at week seven and an optional third session during week 13, both of which were a high dose, unless a moderate dose was requested. Side effects associated with psilocybin included modest increases in heart rate and blood pressure, strong feelings of fear and anxiety, and post-session headaches of mild severity.

At the 6-month follow-up, 12/15 participants were abstinent based on both self-reports and the presence of cotinine in urine and exhaled carbon monoxide, which are byproducts of nicotine metabolism and evidence of recent smoking. A longer-term follow-up study led by Albert Garcia-Romeu of Johns Hopkins showed 10/15 subjects remained abstinent after 12 months, and 9/12 after an average of 2.5 years following the target quit date. While the results are impressive compared to available treatment options, it is important to note the lack of randomization or control group prevents drawing direct conclusions about psilocybin’s efficacy.

Although the exact mechanism is unclear, those participants who had stronger psilocybin- occasioned mystical experiences were more likely to have reduced cravings and be successful in quitting. Studies of psilocybin’s efficacy in treating cancer-related anxiety and depression as well as alcohol dependence reveal a similar association between mystical-type experiences and positive therapeutic outcomes. This points to a potential common psychological mechanism precipitating changes in an individual’s sense of self and behavior. Qualitative research of participant accounts indicated that the psilocybin sessions gave vivid insights into their self-identity and reasons for smoking.

The pilot trial results are supported by a survey study of 358 individuals who reported quitting or reducing their smoking after taking a classic psychedelic. Participants reported perceiving withdrawal symptoms such as depression or irritability to be less severe compared to previous quit attempts. Despite the limitations of the pilot study’s design and the low overall quality of evidence, abstinence rates of that magnitude after only 2-3 doses of a medication – otherwise unheard of in psychiatry – are hard to ignore and merit further inquiry.

Ongoing research

The team at Johns Hopkins, again led by Dr. Johnson, is currently conducting a randomized controlled trial with 80 treatment-resistant, nicotine-dependent subjects. The trial is comparing a single high dose psilocybin session to an 8 to 10-week standard course of NRT (via patch), both in adjunct to 13 weeks of CBT. Fifty of the participants will also undergo MRI brain scans before and after the target quit date to help determine which brain-based mechanisms may correlate with treatment success. The advantage of this design is in providing a direct comparison to a common form of treatment. It also avoids the challenges of blinding subjects and researchers, a common criticism of psychedelic research, since it is difficult to develop a credible placebo that blinds the psychedelic experience.

Dr. Johnson informed Psychedelic Science Review that of the 44 subjects that have currently reached the 12-month follow-up point, 59% of the psilocybin group are biologically verified abstinent, compared to 23% in the NRT group. When asked about a possible decrease in efficacy related to the reduction of psilocybin sessions compared with the pilot study, Dr. Johnson was quick to put the results into context: “I think this misses the bigger picture because even the 59% number is higher than anything published in the scientific literature. Of course, this could change as the study continues.” The trial was originally estimated to be completed by December 2021, but due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, new study participants are on hold while those who have already completed their sessions receive their biologically verified follow-up remotely.

Looking forward

Compass Pathways and Usona are two pharmaceutical companies that have received Breakthrough Therapy Status from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), using psilocybin-assisted therapy for treatment-resistant depression and major depressive disorder, respectively. Neither organization has stated the intention to expand to a smoking cessation indication. “It is too early to tell what organization might move psilocybin for smoking cessation into phase III trials for potential approval,” Johnson explains.

Other companies are looking to alternate psychedelic compounds – such as DMT in the case of Entheon Biomedical – to have a similar effect in helping smokers quit. When discussing the translation of his research, Dr. Johnson is optimistic: “I have little doubt that any number of organizations would have that interest given the size of the smoking cessation market, and given the dozens of companies now in the psychedelic medication area.”

The Growing Evidence for Psilocybin-Facilitated Smoking Cessation

Comments from Matthew Johnson of Johns Hopkins provide an update on this research.

psychedelicreview.com

 

[mr peabody]

Psilocybin study for tobacco addiction receives first federal psychedelics research grant in 50 years

A Johns Hopkins Medicine professor says "it was only a matter of time," while lead researcher calls the historic grant "monumental" for the psychedelics movement.

by Emily Jarvie | PSYCHEDELIC SPOTLIGHT | 19 Oct, 2021

Psychedelics research is having a moment.

Johns Hopkins Medicine has been awarded almost $4 million from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to explore potential impacts of psilocybin on tobacco addiction, marking the first federal grant awarded to research the therapeutic effects of a classic psychedelic in 50 years.

“The historical importance of this grant is monumental,” said Dr. Matthew W. Johnson, the principal investigator in the three-year research project to be completed in collaboration with the University of Alabama at Birmingham and New York University

The study will be carried out simultaneously at the three institutions to diversify the pool of participants, increasing confidence that the results apply to a wide range of people with tobacco addiction. It builds on earlier research into psilocybin—a psychoactive compound native to certain species of mushrooms—for tobacco smoking cessation, an effort commenced by Dr. Johnson 13 years ago.

In 2014, a pilot study found the use of psilocybin in the context of a cognitive behavioral therapy treatment program could help long-time smokers to quit. After six months, 80% of participants continued to abstain from smoking.

The current trial also involves cognitive behavioral therapy—a form of psychotherapy that focuses on pinpointing negative thought patterns that contribute to behavioral or mental health issues. Researchers believe psilocybin can break up a person’s addictive thought and behavior patterns, helping them quit smoking.

As there has been a resurgence in interest in the therapeutic potential of psychedelics over the past 20 years, known as the psychedelic renaissance, most of the recent research in this field has been funded by philanthropists.

The NIH’s decision to fund Johns Hopkins Medicine’s study comes after the body—which is the largest public funder of biomedical research in the world—was notably absent in terms of investing in psychedelic medicine. It could mark a turning point for the field.

“We knew it was only a matter of time before the NIH would fund this work because the data is so compelling and because this work has demonstrated to be safe,” said Susan Hill Ward, Professor in Psychedelics and Consciousness at Johns Hopkins Medicine. “Psilocybin does have very real risks, but these risks are squarely mitigated in controlled settings through screening, preparation, monitoring, and follow-up care.”

Earlier this year, Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies Founder and Director Dr. Rick Doblin, and psychiatrists Dr. Brian Barnett and Dr. Julie Holland in an article called on the NIH to support the development of psychedelic therapies. “The NIH’s absence from investment in psychedelic medicine is unfortunate since it is preventing talented researchers from entering the field and possibly slowing the development of urgently needed innovative treatments,” they said.

They suggested should the NIH decide to make its mark on the psychedelic renaissance: “The scientific community’s efforts to harness psychedelics for deciphering and mending the mind may be on the brink of a giant leap forward.”

https://psychedelicspotlight.com/ps...al-psychedelics-research-grant-johns-hopkins/​

 

[mr peabody]

How I Quit Smoking with Psilocybin

by John Robertson | Psychedelic Frontier

Last year, I decided to combine a personal psychedelic experiment with a decision to finally quit smoking tobacco. At the time I was neither a heavy nor regular smoker, but the fact that I smoked at all, usually in social situations and with drinks, disappointed me. I used psilocybin truffles and placed three sessions inside a 15 week course, modelled on a nicotine cessation study at Johns Hopkins university.

Addiction

I first started smoking tobacco regularly over a decade ago. I was in my second year of university and playing bass in a rock band. I thought it would be cool. Well the habit hung around for a decade. Since then I smoked on and off, to varying degrees, always telling myself that I’d quit properly later, and setting the age of 30 as a cutoff.

Well, in 2020, I was 31. And I’d already ‘quit’ smoking twice: first in 2013 and then again in 2018, the second time reading Allen Carr’s book The Easyway to Quit Smoking. Both attempts were successful for some months, but each time I would pick it up again later somewhere along the line.

The tobacco monster kept finding ways to sneak back in. He’d usually appear by way of spliffs: our European joints, marijuana mixed with tobacco. I’d share a spliff during an evening with friends, and then somehow, days later, I’d find myself on the balcony during a work break with a cigarette in my hand.

What happened to my cutoff of 30? It’d been and gone and I still hadn’t fully given up. I started to notice that whenever I smoked around others, I’d feel embarrassed. Other people were often surprised. The behaviour was out of character, and it didn’t align with my values of health.

Inspiration

In 2019, someone contacted me through New Moon, the psychedelic retreat project I was working on. They were interested in creating a programme and retreat for people who wanted to quit smoking. She had involuntarily quit smoking herself after a mushroom experience at a young age, and now she wanted to help other people along the same journey. We talked about a possible collaboration. I looked at research papers from the nicotine cessation studies done at Johns Hopkins University and had created my own summary as a preparation for one of our calls. She ended up going on to work with Usona and, after we fell out of touch, nothing more came of it.

When the first lockdown was announced and my psychedelic retreat work was out of the question, I decided to spend time on personal projects. I thought, let’s quit smoking once and for all.

Breathing, that which keeps us alive, that provides oxygen to our cells, is a sacred act. Air flows through our bodies, it invigorates us, it energises us.

I went back to the research papers and started creating my own study replica. It became a lockdown project as I created a model as close to the chosen study that I could.

There were a couple of versions of the study, and I went for a study that utilised a 15 week course. It had psilocybin sessions on weeks five and seven, with an optional one on week twelve. I put the dates in my calendar, setting my first two sessions on new and full moons, and arranging for a friend to sit for me for the high dose session. I prepared all the other materials for the preparation and follow up, and the session itself.

With everything set up, I began the course.

I signed a contract, with my friend as a witness, vowing to quit smoking tobacco on the date of the first session. I contacted my Mum and Dad and put them down as contacts that I could call upon if in need.

Following the study guidelines, I attended weekly preparation meetings in the four weeks leading up to the first psilocybin experience. These consisted of a short mindfulness meditation, a therapy session, and then classic quit smoking strategies such as setting up and keeping a smoke diary, reviewing progress, and learning about dealing with urges after quitting. 1 They also included learning about the health benefits of quitting smoking, which I neatly summarised and saved as the background image on my phone.

Each preparation session closed with smelling a scented oil and performing a guided visualisation, envisioning myself one year in the future, feeling great about having gone smoke-free.

I replaced the therapy sessions with journaling, playing therapist to myself as I explored the same topics: childhood and early family life; current and past relationships; work, hobbies, and other important activities; and spiritual and philosophical beliefs.

Outside the weekly preparation meetings, I had to read negative association cards every time I smoked. These included phrases such as ‘this cigarette is making me feel Rotten‘ and ‘this is an Unpleasant experience’’. When doing this mental reprogramming I thought of the people who created the study, combining this with psilocybin and visualisation exercises. “They really know what they are doing” I thought. No wonder the quit rates are so impressive.

Each week, the first cigarette after the visualisation became harder and harder to smoke. It became increasingly revolting and I had to force down cigarettes to keep up with the reprogramme. The first one after the meeting was always the hardest to smoke. After the fourth and final meeting, I couldn’t even finish the cigarette as it was making me feel so sick.

The night before my first psychedelic session, I finished my prep activities and took a late night walk. In a small ritual, I placed my tobacco and lighter on the street, setting it down outside a kiosk on a busy street corner.

It was no longer for me.
​

Experience

The next day I conducted my first session at home, heavily borrowing from the protocol used in the study.

I began by smelling the scented oil, stated my motivational statement out loud, gave thanks and read a prayer. I began the playlist, took my dose, and logged it with the time. I put on my headphones and eye mask, and lay down, relaxing myself ahead of the trip.

The content of that first session was personal. Five people from my life appeared over the course of the journey, one after the other. With each one, I witnessed conversations that I was to have with them in the future. I wrote up the content of those conversations the following day, and in the following weeks went about having them in real life. For one of the more difficult conversations, I even took my notes with me and used them as a reference.

Nothing in particular came up about smoking. After my walk the night before, it felt like the ritual was already done, and the trip was something of a formality.

Two weeks later I had my high dose session. I’d been thorough in my preparation, both personal and logistical, and I felt ready.

Rising early, my friend and I cycled to a garden house outside the city centre. After going for a swim in a nearby canal and preparing the space, we began.

Some part of me knew that something big was coming and things began to move in the emotional body even before I’d consumed any truffles. Feelings began to bubble up as I spoke my opening prayer and I wiped away tears that were streaming down my face.

Deep truths came back to me that day. Moving beyond personal issues that came up in the first session, broader, more spiritual themes came up.

With an unordinary intensity, I sensed life.

Wonder and awe at being alive,

I felt a veneration for the sanctity of life.

We all have that vital life force inside of us,

And moving through us,

We can all breathe.

Breathing, that which keeps us alive, that provides oxygen to our cells, is a sacred act.

Air flows through our bodies, it invigorates us, it energises us.

Being able to breathe is a miracle.

It is a gift.

It is to be cherished and appreciated and grateful for.

The breath is sacred.

Then I thought of myself smoking…

Why would I make it harder to breathe?

Why would I ever choose to do that?

It was totally bemusing.

To do something that hinders my ability to breathe. Something that damages the incredible organism of the human body that I have. To inhibit my ability to do the most basic of functions for living?

It made no sense whatsoever.

At that moment, smoking seemed like the craziest thing in the world.

My perspective was shifted in a seamless and easy manner.

Then, after breath, a new theme emerged: Service.

How can I be of service to the world? How can I help my fellow human?

It starts with me, looking after myself. The better health I am in, physically, psychologically, the more capable I become, the more I am able to help others. That’s a simple fact.

Connecting my individual goal to the social level brought further clarity. It also brought further fuel to my motivation. In my psychedelic state, I’d been taken beyond my personal desires and zoomed out to a broader view. I was able to see beyond myself and connect to something larger.

Giving up smoking is about more than just me. It’s for the greater good.

Gratitude

And that was it, no looking back. I remain grateful to have laid that demon to rest. I did my follow ups and my integration meetings, and I still occasionally go over notes from the high dose session. Sure, the smoking cravings still emerge from time to time, but recognising the cues helps me to stay on course.

I am grateful for the experience, but beyond the experience, grateful for the opportunity to undergo such a course, and for the access to the medicine.

I know I am in a privileged position and that many others do not have the opportunity to use psychedelics as I do. I extend compassion for all those who seek access, to those who would benefit but do not have the means or opportunity. With this thought in mind I continue to support the creation of safe access for all, so that more people may be able to benefit from the wondrous gifts of psychedelics.

How I Quit Smoking with Psilocybin - Psychedelic Frontier

Today’s guest post is by my good friend John Robertson, who blogs at Maps of the Mind. Last year, I decided to combine a personal psychedelic experiment with a decision to finally quit smoking tobacco. At the time I was neither a heavy nor regular smoker, but the fact that I smoked at all...

psychedelicfrontier.com

 

[mr peabody]

Psilocybin + Therapy = Smoking*

by Marlene Rupp | sapiensoup.com

Smoking causes almost half a million deaths in the U.S. every year and is related to annual health care expenditures of $170 billion. Overcoming nicotine addiction poses a real challenge to smokers. Smoking cessation programs such as the popular Quit for Life program achieve abstinence rates of only 17 percent at six months. If supported with medication and weekly counseling meetings, the success rate can rise to 35 percent, dependent on the medication used. The highest success rates were seen in programs containing extensive cognitive-behavioral therapy, plus pharmaceuticals, plus nicotine replacements. Such comprehensive programs show abstinence rates of 45 to 59 percent at six months.

Matthew Johnson, expert in drug dependence at Johns Hopkins, wanted to see if psilocybin could help smokers to quit their addiction. In an open-label pilot study, 15 nicotine-dependent smokers were guided through a 15-week smoking cessation protocol which provided high levels of psychological support, but no pharmaceuticals or nicotine replacements. The participants had smoked on average 19 cigarettes per day for 31 years and had attempted to quit smoking six times before. After the program, which included up to three psilocybin sessions, 80 percent of the participants were smoke free at the six-month mark.

At 12 months after the quitting date, 67 percent of participants were smoke free, and 87 percent rated their psilocybin sessions amongst the five most personally meaningful and spiritually significant experiences of their lives. Even 2.5 years after the quitting date, a solid 60 percent of study participants remained smoke-free.

The numbers produced by these three studies are impressive to say the least. Equally impressive is hearing what the participants have to say about these treatment experiences.

Real people, real experiences

Six months after a single psilocybin session, the research team followed up with the participants and interviewed them about their session experience and their life ever since.

“It was like the light switch being turned on in a dark house.”

Almost half of participants reported major lifestyle changes during the months following the psilocybin session. Frequent changes involved improvements to diet, exercise, and cutting down on drinking alcohol. “I lost a lot of weight just purely because I didn’t want to eat badly and that went on for some months. I couldn’t eat what I knew wasn’t good for me.” Some changed their social circles, went out more, got new jobs, learned to drive, built a new kitchen, volunteered with refugees, traveled or picked up acting, comedy or dance classes.

Across all the stories, researchers identified two major themes of inner change. First, a change from disconnection to connection and second, a change from emotional avoidance to acceptance.

Disconnection to connection

Depression can feel as if you’re in a “mental prison” where you’ve gotten stuck in your thoughts. It “robs you of your confidence in yourself” and makes you increasingly less able to engage with your environment. The result is isolation, and whether it’s a perceived or actual isolation, depression is a lonely condition.

About the time following the psilocybin session, participants reported how they “had the mental agility to overcome problems.” They noticed a boost in self-worth, how they were able to adopt fresh perspectives and how they rekindled previous interests. “My wife and I went for dinner for the first time in 6 years: we were like a couple of teenagers.” told one participant. Another shared “I went past a bike shop and went in off the street and said ‘can I hang out and help out?’ I went there for 6 months and helped renovate his shop.”

Some described it as reconnecting to “who they had been” before the depression had developed. Their self-perception changed. Nearly half of the group described realizations of “being a good person” and feelings of self-compassion and self-worth. They felt not only more connected to their surrounding but also more connected to themselves.

Avoidance to acceptance

Boys don’t cry. A common root of depression is the inability or unwillingness to deal with certain emotions. “My whole life I’ve self-medicated to try to make emotions more bearable, sometimes with food, cigarettes, painkillers.”

One participant saw 'emotions as weakness' because he had been raised in an environment where he learned to “put his feelings in a box because you can’t be upset, you’re a man.” Others had gone through traumatic events in their past. Regardless the origin, when participants came face-to-face with their emotions during the psilocybin sessions—which happened regularly—it triggered intense yet cathartic experiences. Powerful bouts of sobbing were observed throughout the sessions, which participants later described as “purification”.

After the session, participants noticed a fresh openness to experiencing emotions, a change that was often long-lasting. One participant described it as “a rebooting of the mind”, another noting that “it reconfigures you somehow.”

All participants said they preferred psilocybin over conventional treatments. To many of them, antidepressants and talk therapies seemed as if they were reinforcing disconnection and emotional avoidance. Some participants explained that their past therapists were trying to motivate them from the ‘outside’. Psilocybin, however, helped them to access an ‘inner voice’ which they said felt immensely powerful and highly motivating. “It’s almost as if when you take the capsules it’s like taking onboard your own psychotherapist.” With psilocybin, they had an empowered experience of self-reflection, which previous therapy attempts did not provide.

Rosalind Watts, the lead researcher of this study, proposes that with psilocybin “patients and clinicians may be granted a broader palette of treatment options in the future, affording them an opportunity to select a treatment that best suits the specific needs and/or desires of a given patient.”

*From the article here :

Psychedelics and Mental Health

Psychedelic drugs appear to be extraordinarily effective in treating mental disorders: latest research results show immediate and long-lasting effects in mood disorders and addiction.

sapiensoup.com

​

 

[mr peabody]

Can psilocybin help smokers quit?

by Tim Maughan | BBC

A team of scientists are giving psychedelics to smoking addicts to help them cut the habit. Tim Maughan visited the lab where this surprising research is emerging.

Nicotine patches, chewing gum, cold turkey. Giving up cigarettes can be tough, but there are many strategies smokers can try. Matthew Johnson wants to add another: he says he can help smokers quit by giving them another drug – psilocybin – that has been illegal for years in much of Europe and North America. And yes, he realises that sounds unconventional.

Quitting cigarettes can be tough, but there are many strategies smokers can try. Matt Johnson wants to add another: he says he can help smokers quit by giving them another drug, psilocybin, that has been illegal for years in much of Europe and North America. And yes, herealises that sounds unconventional.

"The idea that this research sounds counterintuitive, it makes sense to me,"he tells me as we sit in his office at Johns Hopkins Behavioural Pharmacology Research Unit in Baltimore.

Johnson is a behavioural pharmacologist who has been researching the relationship between drugs and human behaviour for more than 20 years. The last 10 of those have been spent here at Johns Hopkins, where he and his team have focused on psilocybin, a naturally occurring psychedelic and the active ingredient in magic mushrooms. "Illegal it might be, but if psilocybin is given to smokers a few times in a carefully controlled way, it can be a remarkably effective aid to help them kick the habit," he says.

"Most people will naturally assume that we're looking at substitution therapy in the spirit of methadone for heroin addiction or nicotine patch or nicotine gum to replace smoking. But we're not talking about putting someone on psilocybin or mushrooms every day. It's not trading one addiction for the other."

This new research was inspired by work done in the 50s and 60s that looked at using psilocybin and LSD as treatments for addiction. Although results back then were hugely promising, the research hit a dead end as use of these substances spread from labs and into the emerging drug counter-culture.

"It's been off limits for all the wrong reasons," Johnson explains. "We know these substances continue to be used, and because of not wanting to encourage uncontrolled recreational use, we've been so restrictive that we haven't allowed research. We're really playing a catch-up game. This stuff should've been done in the mid 70s, the whole research agenda was just put in deep freeze for multiple decades."

In 2008 Johnson co-authored a paper which outlined how to conduct medical trials with psilocybin. The paper signaled a change in attitude towards these compounds, reflected by the fact that more than 460 psilocybin sessions have now been conducted at Johns Hopkins alone, ranging from investigating its use by cancer patients through to its effects on meditation. But its the Smoking Cessation programme, which has just finished its pilot stage, that has attracted the most recent attention.

The program seems deceptively simple at first. Fifteen volunteers, all long time smokers from the Baltimore area who have tried and failed to quit smoking multiple times, start with a course of cognitive behavioural therapy. CBT is the standard psychological approach to quitting smoking, encouraging subjects to reflect on their established thinking patterns.

A vital part of the Hopkins programmes CBT approach is the writing and reciting of a personal mantra; a simple phrase that each volunteer creates that encapsulates why they want to quit. "This is really our mission statement. If you had one sentence that you could remind yourself down the road why you quit. We've had people for whom its about family: I want to be there for my granddaughter. For other people, it's more philosophical, The air that I breathe. I want it to be free."

This mantra becomes even more central on the day they take their first psilocybin. After four sessions of CBT, the volunteers smoke what is meant to be their last cigarette. For some this is the night before, for others its literally just before the session. "We've had people smoke in the parking lot right before they come in here," Johnson tells me.

Then, its time for the drug. Albert Garcia-Romeu, a post-doctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins, who guides the volunteers through the CBT and the psilocybin sessions, describes how it works: "We have them take the capsule and give them some slippers. We want them to relax into the day and feel almost like they're in a spa."

"We practice before. Give them our hand so that they have the support if they need it," explains Mary Cosimano, another of the guides who has been working in the field for more than 15 years. "We tell them, We're here for you as much as you like."

"Once the drug effect starts to kick in, we encourage them just to lie down," continues Garcia-Romeu. "They put on headphones. They cover their eyes. We have them just lay back and watch and wait"

From this point, the researchers step back. What we do here is psychedelic therapy, explains Garcia-Romeu. "That's high-dose, generally not a talking therapy. We encourage them to go inward. That's really where a lot of the important work happens. I'm mostly just there as a safety-monitor."

The aim is to give the volunteers a profound experience that causes them to reassess their relationship with smoking. That might sound New Age, but Garcia-Romeu explains it to me in a way that sounds much more grounded.

"Research shows there is a 71% success rate for people who quit smoking just after they had a heart attack. A heart attack would certainly qualify as a profound experience, but it's not something you can go around triggering in people in order to stop them from smoking. Instead the aim is to use a powerful psychedelic trip to trigger a similar effect, an intense, abstract experience that changes the patients perspective."

The secret to triggering this kind of experience is setting and context, Johnson explains. "Our clinical impression is that those experiences are most likely to happen under conditions where the person is made to feel as safe as possible, that they've developed a very strong rapport with the people that they're with. We ask them to bring pictures of themselves over the years, family, people, places, and things. We've had people who have filled the room with pictures," explains Cosimano. "Things that could be important to them, objects. People have set up altars. People bring stuffed animals or a blanket. Things that can make them feel comfortable, safe, cosy, meaningful."

Garcia-Romeu and Cosimano show me the session room, the place where these rituals take place. Its pretty much exactly as theyd described it to me, a small, cosy room, softly lit with a comfortable couch. Books on Michelangelo and Van Gogh are scattered around. Theres an undeniable feeling of safety and comfort in the almost womb-like room, where volunteers spend up to six hours until the drugs effects have worn off, after which they are taken home by a member of their family.

The trial program, small though it is, has produced tantalising results. Out of the 15 people, 12 were still smoke-free six months following the trials, according to the researchers. "We think and hope there is something new going on here," says Johnson.

"We've had people in this study claim extraordinary things, like that they don't feel nicotine withdrawal and they've been smoking for pack a day for 40 years. Just seeing that in one person is pretty profound."

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/2015...e-smokers-quit​

 

[mr peabody]

2C-E "an incredible tool" for arresting cigarette addiction

EROWID | 31 Mar 2022

My girlfriend, J, and I acquired six grams of 2C-E HCl powder from an online vendor, and had four amazingly powerful 2C-E trips in a month. I was a smoker prior to this for 6 years. I'd been trying to quit on an off with all attempts failing miserably for about 2 years prior to this experience; I didn't like being a smoker, and I felt seriously addicted to nicotine. It was a filthy habit, but quitting didn't seem like an option, as I was working a shitty kitchen job and living with people who drank and smoked.

I can't recall exactly the chronology of my quitting and 2C-E use, but it was something like this. I remember smoking on my first 2C-E trip, and still feeling like I "enjoyed" my cigarette, but I was thinking an awful lot about the sheer stupidity of it. I also engaged in this type of thinking when sober, but it was different somehow on 2C-E. The 2nd and 3rd time I tripped on 2C-E, I think I may have had 1 cigarette. However, these times the cigarette's dry acrid smoke was especially potent to my heightened senses, and I had taken larger doses of 2C-E, and my mind was working much faster and was way further outside the box so to speak.

I'm having difficulty describing how I felt 2C-E was important in helping me stop my addiction to nicotine. It wasn't like 2C-E helped any physical symptoms. What helped me to quit was the positive mental reinforcement I gained from 2C-E. The reinforcement manifested in several ways during the trip, such as realizing the emotional impact of needing a cigarette in order to feel satisfied, crazy psychedelic imaginings and mental imagery of the damage I was doing to myself when I smoked. Although this was not unpleasant, it was like "well if you?re going to put formaldehyde and tar in there, then this is what you might look like in 40 years!"

The fourth trip I remember not smoking a single cigarette, and all my cravings felt very manageable mentally. It felt as through 2C-E helped me find the strength to remind myself why I don't want to be a smoker any longer, EVERY time I felt a craving arise. It was like I thought about my addiction on 2C-E so intense, that I could never again pretend to ignore the fact that it really bothers me to be a smoker. I used a nicotine patch for a short time immediately after I quit smoking, but I didn't use it for anywhere near as long as directed (10 weeks). And after I stopped using the patch, no symptoms returned, and still 4.5 months later, no relapse.

As a side note, J was never a smoker, and did not like me being a smoker. So although I say 2C-E helped me quit smoking, I also wanted to quit prior to using 2C-E. But I felt as thought 2C-E helped me quit in a very unexpected way. Quitting smoking was never an issue I wanted to tackle by using psychedelics, it was just a bonus this incredible teacher gave me. The best thing about 2C-E is that all the changes it brings about feel as if they come from the heart. It was very natural feeling, despite the synthetic nature of the drug.

https://erowid.org/experiences/exp.php?ID=70931​

 

[mr peabody]

An LSD trip helped me quit smoking

For 18 years I was a stubbornly addicted smoker, but I didn't break out of the bad habit until I took a tab of acid with my friend and realized how badly I wanted to leave cigarettes behind.

by Thijs Roes | VICE

For 18 years I was a light yet stubbornly addicted smoker. Perhaps my habit was a result of growing up with a Dutch mom who handed me wisdom like: “Thijs, you’re 11 now. It’s time for you to learn how to roll smokes for your mommy.” There were periods where I’d just smoke one cigarette a day, and there were times when a pack wouldn’t see me through. But quitting—really quitting—was something I found I was able to manage for a week at most.

I was also a terribly annoying smoker. The kind that tries to quit for years by not buying his own packs, thus becoming the friend everyone avoids at parties (sorry, guys). I would smoke during school, but not during work. Like I said—light smoker, ridiculously addicted.

Earlier this year, I reached a few conclusions that seem completely obvious, but are still the kind of truths that addicts love to ignore:​

• Smoking is a boring, useless addiction. The only joy in smoking is giving in to the addiction.​
• There is only one moment out of billions of years of history in which I’m alive. What a waste to shorten that blip of time with something so boring.​
• Going out with friends can be fun, but if we all went out for shots of apple juice instead, I’d be just as content. Smoking is more like a random compulsive activity than an actual experience.​

Those thoughts started running through my head earlier this year, and went on for about a month. In the end, it was almost like something broke inside of me. I realized that smoking now filled me with self-hatred, and that realization came during a weekend binge on LSD.

It's always fun, LSD. It may have become slightly out of fashion since the 1960s, but I have always regarded it as a milder version of taking mushrooms—albeit a longer-lasting trip. The fear and panic surrounding it always seemed excessive to me, but of course everyone who takes it has a different experience.

As I was gazing up at the stars during that trippy night in spring, my best friend and I were talking about life and the three smokers' truths I mentioned above. I realized I had carried them with me for a while now, without ever making a disciplined decision.

I can’t describe it in any other way than feeling as if a switch were flipped inside me. Suddenly, I realized how ridiculous smoking was—why was I doing something that made me feel miserable? Of course I was completely spaced out, but the psychedelics helped me zoom out and break through my own frozen ideas about not being able to quit. I didn’t think, Yeah, yeah, yeah, I really need to quit soon. The only thought I had was: I don’t want to do this anymore.

"Sounds like a familiar story," says clinical psychologist Pål-Ørjan Johansen. Together with his wife Teri S. Krebs, Johansen has been conducting research into psychedelics and alcohol addiction as part of a research fellowship at Harvard Medical School. "We've heard of addictions to alcohol, heroin, and tobacco that were broken with help from psychedelics. The reason seems to be that substances like LSD can provide a moment of clarity that can help you see your existence as a whole and get a long-term perspective into certain personal issues.”

Research into the medical application of substances like LSD and psilocybin (the active ingredient in psychedelic mushrooms) are still in their very early phases. The 1950s and 1960s are remembered as a golden age of scientific research into psychedelics, but that doesn't mean it wasn't problematic. Some trials weren't big enough to prove anything in particular, other experiments (carried out by the CIA) were horrifically unethical, and once the drug became illegal in the mid 60s it never fully recovered from the cultural backlash that ensued.

Research efforts have expanded in the last few years, but scientific psychedelic inquiry is still pretty small-scale. "There are three clinical research projects in the United States right now, and several more are being prepared," says Johansen.

Right after I published a version of this story on VICE in the Netherlands last month, the results of the world’s first research into smoking and psychedelics came out.

Out of 15 heavy smokers who took part in the study, 12 remained smoke-free after six months of psychotherapy aided with psilocybin.

Krebs and Johansen found similar conclusions after their analysis of randomized controlled trials of LSD for alcoholism.“Those who had taken a full dose of LSD," Krebs says, "were twice as likely to decrease their alcohol consumption or remain abstinent, as compared with subjects who took a low dose of LSD or a placebo.”

I count myself as a success story, too. In the days that followed my LSD trip, I could feel my body craving nicotine, but there was nothing in my mind telling me to give into that feeling. I treated it like a mosquito bite: Just wait till it's over and it won’t bother you again.

About two months later, Argentina kicked Holland out of the World Cup. If there was ever a moment to start smoking again, that was it. I wanted to test myself and see if I had really broken my addiction, so I grabbed my friend’s cigarette, took a drag—and couldn’t imagine there was ever a moment that I had enjoyed smoking. It tasted like a night at a bar that went on for too long.

People shouldn't think they can just drop acid once and expect that it will solve any illness or addiction they have, of course. It just so happened that I had an experience with psychedelics in which I tried to figure out why I had been smoking for such a long time, and I'm generally the type of person who enjoys psychoanalyzing myself.

“It's hard work to quit after years of alcoholism or smoking," says Johansen. "Our opinion is that patients will need to have several doses of psychedelics in combination with treatment. It is no magic tool, but it can act as a catalyst for epiphanies and can make you ask questions like, ‘If not now, when?’”

I don't think I would have ever been able to quit smoking without that hit of LSD. I'd tried giving up in the past, but my lack of self-discipline always stood in the way. Some people say drug use is something that shouldn’t be promoted, but I’m still waiting for the person who will explain to me why I should be ashamed for my experience. I’m extremely happy that I’m done with smoking. And who knows? Maybe my next dose of acid will finally send me to the gym.

An LSD Trip Helped Me Quit Smoking

For 18 years I was a stubbornly addicted smoker, but I didn't break out of the bad habit until I took a tab of acid with my friend and realized how badly I wanted to leave cigarettes behind.

www.vice.com

 

[mr peabody]

Psilocybin could be a therapeutic breakthrough for addiction

by Tara Law | TIME | 19 Apr 2022

To the uninitiated, psilocybin—the substance that gives ‘magic mushrooms’ their psychedelic qualities—could be dismissed as a recreational drug. Like many other psychedelics, it is banned by the U.S. government as a Schedule 1 substance, meaning it supposedly has high potential for abuse and no currently accepted medical use in treatment. However, to many medical science researchers, psilocybin is much more: a promising treatment for a range of health issues. In particular, experts increasingly see the chemical as a potentially effective, low-risk tool to help patients break their dependencies on other substances. Given that more than 100,000 people died after overdosing on opioids and other drugs in the U.S. last year, it’s an understatement to say it’s urgent to find new, effective treatments for substance use disorder.

The research supporting psilocybin’s use in this context has been growing for a while now. One of the most recent such studies, published in Scientific Reports on April 7, looked at data from 214,505 U.S. adults in the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) from 2015 to 2019, and found an association between past use of psilocybin—at any time in their lives—and a reduced risk of opioid use disorder. The researchers looked at 11 criteria that scientists use to diagnose opioid use disorder (for instance, spending a significant amount of time getting and using drugs), and found that past psilocybin use was significantly correlated with lowered odds of seven of items on the list, and with marginally lowered odds of two others.

There’s a major caveat with this study: because it was looking at correlations, it didn’t find any definitive proof that psilocybin use in-and-of-itself reduces the risk of opioid use disorder. "While the researchers controlled for things like educational attainment, annual household income, and age, there may be social or personal characteristics that make psilocybin users different from people who didn’t decide to use the drug," says Grant Jones, a graduate researcher at Harvard University who co-authored the study. “Maybe there’s different psychological profiles that make [some people] more immune to developing substance use disorders; we don’t know,” says Jones.

Nevertheless, the study adds to growing evidence that psilocybin is worth investigating as a treatment for substance use disorder. For example, a 2017 Johns Hopkins University pilot study, co-authored by Albert Garcia-Romeu, found that the majority of 15 participants were able to quit smoking for at least 16 months after receiving two to three moderate to high-level doses of psilocybin. A similar proof-of-concept study into alcohol use disorder in 2015, led by Michael Bogenschutz, a professor of psychiatry at New York University Grossman School of Medicine, found that abstinence among addicts increased significantly following the use of psilocybin. Observational studies, including Jones’ report and additional research from Garcia-Romeu, have also found that psilocybin is associated with a reduced risk of using substances like cocaine, marijuana, and opioids.

Additional research has shown another potential therapeutic use of psilocybin: to assuage depression. For instance, a small randomized clinical trial published in JAMA Psychiatry in 2020 found that psilocybin-assisted therapy caused a rapid reduction in the symptoms of major depression symptoms, and that the effects remained statistically significant at least four weeks later. Another study, published this year in the Journal of Psychopharmacology, found that among a small group of participants with depression who received two doses of psilocybin with supportive therapy, 75% still had some response to the treatment, and that 58% were in complete remission from depression. In another study co-authored by Jones, published earlier this year in the Journal of Psychopharmacology, he and colleague Matthew K. Nock reviewed NSDUH data, and found that psilocybin use was associated with a reduced risk of major depressive episodes.

Despite all that, Jones acknowledges that there’s still a lot to learn about psychedelics. “The thing that always strikes me about psychedelic research is that even though there’s an immense amount of excitement, and a lot of attention, and a lot of a lot of financial support that’s flowing into the space, the actual body of literature is still very sparse,” Jones said. “I think we’re exploring the boundaries of the benefits of well-being.”

Why might psilocybin help treat addiction?

Several clinical trials focused on mental illnesses like depression have shown that psilocybin appears to boost patients’ moods, even weeks after taking the drug. Exactly how remains uncertain, but researchers have a few ideas. For example, psilocybin appears to increase the brain’s neuroplasticity—the ability for neural networks to shift and rewire. In a study published April 11 in Nature Medicine, for example, researchers found that psilocybin helped to broadly build more connections between different parts of the brain, while simultaneously reducing interactions between brain areas connected with depression—and, in terms of outcomes, psilocybin use seemed to reduce patients’ depressive symptoms. In research in both people and animals, psilocybin appears to make it easier to break out of habits and become more adaptive, says Bogenschutz. “It increases the capacity of the brain to change, and therefore for thinking and behavior to change.”

In addition, evidence from animal trials suggests psilocybin’s effect on mental wellbeing may be connected, in part, to its ability to reduce inflammation—an immune response in the body’s tissues to dangers ranging from stress to physical injuries, which researchers have found is associated with psychiatric disorders like depression.

Biological mechanisms aren’t the only reason scientists are excited about psilocybin and other psychedelics—there’s also the psychological experience of taking the drugs. “The types of experiences that people often have with these drugs can be highly meaningful, insightful, and also sometimes spiritual in nature,” says Garcia-Romeu. “When you ask them, those experiences are the reason that they’re making these better choices, and they’re making these behavioral changes.”

The unique advantages of psilocybin

Researchers point to two characteristics that make psilocybin an especially attractive potential treatment for mental health conditions. First, while it can trigger some dangerous side effects if not used in a controlled environment, it tends not to be addictive. Second, psilocybin can have long-lasting effects, which means people would only have to take it intermittently, putting them at a reduced risk from any side effects. “That’s a huge advantage in terms of safety…compared to taking a pill every day, and having that side effect profile follow you for months, possibly years, depending on how long you take it,” says Matthew Johnson, a professor in psychedelics and consciousness at Johns Hopkins University.

In many ways, research on psilocybin’s potential is still just beginning. Almost all psychedelic research in the U.S. came to an abrupt halt after the U.S. stepped up regulation of pharmaceutical research in the 1960s and criminalized the manufacturing and possession of psilocybin and other psychedelics. Scientists are still “reopening the books” on psychedelics to make up for decades of stalled research, says Garcia-Romeu. At this point, only a relatively few clinical trials have been published on psilocybin as a treatment for any type of substance use disorder, and many of those trials have involved a very small number of participants.

But the resulting evidence has been accumulating, and is generating an increasing amount of scientific attention on the possibilities of the drug—including, last fall, the first federal grant for studying a psychedelic treatment in 50 years, for a double-blind randomized trial looking into psilocybin as a smoking cessation tool. In Bogenschutz’s words, "science has reached a first tipping point where there’s now enough evidence [that] it’s really hard not to take the potential of psychedelics seriously.”

Scientists who study addiction science are anxiously awaiting the results of this, and other burgeoning research into the potential of psychedelics in their field. Substance use disorders are chronically undertreated, and few have highly effective treatment options. For example, only a minority of Americans with alcohol use disorder—the most common substance use disorder in the U.S.—receive treatment; a nationwide study conducted by the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis put the share of alcoholics getting the care they needed from 2015-2019 at only about 6%.

In Bogenschutz’s opinion, the psychology and physiology underlying addiction to any given substance has a lot in common with that driving addiction to other such dependencies. And that, he believes, is what makes psychedelics so promising a therapeutic for substance abuse—it seems, he says, to be a sort of panacea for addiction. “Something about psychedelic treatment of addiction that is exciting, is that the ways the mechanisms we hope it will work, are not really specific to any particular addiction,” he says. “These drugs could represent a therapeutic breakthrough for alcohol use disorder, other addictions, mood and anxiety disorders—a whole host of conditions.”

Psilocybin Could be a Therapeutic Breakthrough For Addiction

A new study adds to growing evidence that psilocybin is worth investigating as a treatment for substance use disorder.

time.com

 

[mr peabody]

How magic mushrooms help smokers kick the habit*

Madeline K. Sofia & Geoff Brumfiel | NPR | 15 Oct 2019

Carine Chen-McLaughlin smoked for more than 40 years.

She didn't want to be a smoker. She'd tried to stop dozens of times over the decades. But she always came back.

Smoking was "one of my oldest, dearest friends," she said of her habit. "To not have that relationship was very, very scary."

Then she heard about a clinical trial to treat nicotine addiction with something a little unusual: magic mushrooms. Well, not actual magic mushrooms, but a little pill of a drug called psilocybin. It's the ingredient in mushrooms that gives people hallucinogenic visions.

New research shows that psilocybin might be an effective treatment for diseases such as depression and addiction. While the work is still in its early stages, there are signs that psilocybin might help addicts shake the habit by causing the brain to talk with itself in different ways.

"These brain changes lead to, oftentimes, a sense of unity," says Matthew Johnson, an experimental psychologist at Johns Hopkins University. It all may sound a little "woo-woo," he admits, but it seems to be working. Early results suggest that psilocybin, coupled with therapy, may be far more effective than other treatments for smoking, such as the nicotine patch.

Magic mushrooms have been used by indigenous communities for thousands of years, and research on psilocybin isn't all that new either. Work began in the 1950s and 1960s. But studies involving it and other psychedelics dropped off following the passage of the Controlled Substance Act in 1970, which outlawed hallucinogens and other drugs.

"The medical applications became, really, a casualty of a political war," Johnson says.

Chen-McLaughlin started smoking in 1971, around the same time that the first round of research was shutting down. By 2017, she was ready to quit once and for all. She decided to take part in the experimental therapy run by Johnson, which used psilocybin to treat smokers.

She didn't just show up and pop a pill. Instead, she spent weeks prepping with the researchers, undergoing tests and hours of talking with counselors about why she smoked.

Then it was game time.

Chen-McLaughlin showed up to the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center Campus in Baltimore and was led to a "trip room," with a big, comfortable couch for the patient, soft lighting and some nature art on the walls — a bit like a fancy yoga studio.

Just before 9 a.m., she took the pill.

Even though she'd never tripped before, "I wouldn't say I was, like, shaking in my boots nervous," she recalls. "I didn't feel like they would let anything happen to me." About 40 minutes later, things started getting weird. She experienced a sensation of floating. She closed her eyes.

"I saw monsters, I saw aliens," she recalls. "I had these big, gray, puffy clouds that kept sinking in from the ceiling, and I thought I was going to suffocate."

While she was tripping, she didn't talk very much to the clinicians. Instead, she just focused on letting go of two things that had long defined her: her job as a social worker, which she was set to retire from, and smoking.

Several hours later, "when I woke up, I was processed out. I was exhausted and I wasn't scared anymore," she recalls.

Psilocybin seems to work because it temporarily rewires the brain, according to Johnson. Sections that don't normally talk to each other appear to communicate more, and parts of the brain that normally do talk to each other talk less.

Johnson says an analogy is to imagine living in a city where you suddenly stop talking to your neighbors, and start talking to people way across town you don't normally talk to. "That can lead to novel ways of looking at oneself, thinking about the world in a different way, having insightful experiences," Johnson says.

David Nutt, a professor of neuropsychopharmacology at Imperial College London, says that in addition to making connections, psilocybin also seems to break negative linkages in the brain. His studies on treating depression with psilocybin show that the drug can disrupt negative feedback networks in the brain. "That network is nonfunctioning for many hours," he says. "By breaking down those networks, there's a chance they won't re-form."

It seemed to work for Chen-McLaughlin. Just hours after her psychedelic trip, she went out for dinner with her husband. When he lit up, she thought she'd try a puff. But she found that she couldn't.

"My hand would not let me touch that cigarette," she says. "To this day, if you paid me a million dollars to touch a cigarette with my hand, I cannot."

A year-and-a-half later, she remains smoke-free. "I think something in my brain got turned off," she says.

Johnson's small initial psilocybin study was extremely promising. So now he is doing a larger, more rigorous trial comparing the nicotine patch to psilocybin. Results are still coming in, but right now, half of the people who took psilocybin are smoke-free after a year. That's about twice as effective as the patch.

Nutt, who's now conducting his own follow-up trials on depression treatments, is impressed with Johnson's work. Nutt believes psilocybin potentially also could be used to treat other addictions, such as alcohol and opioids.

But there are some reasons to be cautious.

First, don't try this at home. The amount of psilocybin Johnson administers in his trials is considered a high dose, and it's paired with months of counseling. Nutt of Imperial College says that bad trips of the sort Chen-McLaughlin experienced can be common for those using the drug for treatment of diseases. Memories and experiences dredged up by the drug can be challenging and disturbing.

"You need therapists to help guide them and also prevent those memories from turning into traumatic memories," Nutt says.

Second, the treatment is really expensive and the whole process takes months.

Finally, not everybody should use psilocybin. People with predispositions for schizophrenia and other psychotic illnesses may be harmed by taking the drug.

Research on psilocybin is still in its early phases, but there appears to be growing interest from the medical community. And it isn't just researchers who are reconsidering psilocybin. This year, Oakland, Calif., and Denver decriminalized magic mushrooms. Similar efforts are underway in Oregon.

Matthew Johnson welcomes the resurgence in interest, and he says this is the time to give psychedelics another look.

"Depression and addiction are major causes of death in our society, and it's not getting better — it's getting worse," he says. "I think there's a broader societal recognition that we need to be creative and not dismiss things because of arbitrary associations."

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Psychedelic therapy offers promise for those struggling to quit smoking*

by Stephanie O'Neill | NPR | 27 May 2022

For many Americans, psychedelics still evoke the '60s, bringing to mind the sex-and-drugs lifestyle of hippie counterculture.

But that stereotype lags behind reality, by several decades. Today, psychedelic experimentation is more likely to refer to dozens of clinical trials taking place at universities and research facilities. The psychedelics under study range from psilocybin, the active ingredient in psychedelic mushrooms, to MDMA, to LSD, among others. Researchers are studying them for their therapeutic potential in treating hard-to-treat conditions such as PTSD, addiction, depression and anxiety.

The promise of freedom from cigarettes was what compelled Carine Chen-McLaughlin, 65, to enroll in an experimental study of psilocybin therapy for smokers. She was desperate to break free from her decades-long physical addiction to nicotine. Quitting smoking had felt impossible for so long.

"It's basically saying good-bye to a very old friend, and worrying about: 'Am I going to be OK without this good friend?'" the Baltimore resident says.

Like many of the 49 million tobacco users in the U.S., Chen-McLaughlin wanted to quit and had tried various methods: nicotine gum, the nicotine patch and even stopping cold turkey. But nothing worked for more than a couple days.

The clinical trial she joined took place in her hometown of Baltimore, at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. While she was a bit anxious about the experiment, Chen-McLaughlin says she was nevertheless hopeful about trying something totally different.

"I think I was more excited that...maybe, maybe this is it!" she says with a laugh.

A research revival

Therapeutic research on psilocybin, LSD and other psychedelic drugs isn't new. Beginning in the 1950s, researchers investigated them as potential treatments for alcohol addiction, cancer-related anxiety, depression and other common psychological ills.

But then came the "psychedelic '60s," a time when American counterculture embraced these then-legal drugs. The resulting widespread use — and abuse — of psychedelics ultimately triggered a backlash that led the federal government to criminalize these substances. By the early 1970s, many ongoing studies into the potential medical benefits of psychedelics had halted.

"Unfortunately, all of that legitimate research was really sacrificed because of the association between psychedelics and the counterculture," says Matthew Johnson, an associate professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and the lead investigator in the psilocybin study for smoking cessation.

Today, however, a new wave of psychedelic research has taken hold, with dozens of clinical studies happening at U.S. academic institutions. In fact, some of the experimental therapies involving psilocbyin have recently received "breakthrough therapy" designations from the FDA, which can help speed their progress towards eventual market approval.

Although the studies are legal, the federal government does not provide any financial support for psychedelic research, so the researchers must rely on private organizations for funding. The Johns Hopkins study, for instance, is supported by the non-profit Heffter Research Institute in New Mexico.

"We're ever hopeful and we're continuing to put in [funding] applications," Johnson says. "But so far, the National Institutes of Health has not funded any therapeutic research with psilocybin."

Dr. Charles Grob, a psychiatrist at UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine, has studied the therapeutic potential of psychedelics since the 1980s. His four-year-long pilot study of psilocybin-assisted therapy on patients with anxiety and advanced-stage cancer was among the first studies to launch this modern-day era of psychedelic research. It was published in the Archives of General Psychiatry in 2011.

Grob attributes the resurgence of research interest in psychedelics to several factors: a dire need for new mental health treatments, a more sophisticated understanding of the underlying hallucinogenic compounds and a growing body of research literature showing promising results from around the world.

"All those trends are helping to destigmatize the use of psychedelics for psychological healing," Grob says.

"Slowly but surely, our colleagues throughout the health fields have started to recognize that these treatment models may have something very positive and very unique to offer," he says.

Therapeutic advantages — and risks

Studies show psychedelics aren't physically addictive. And research has shown them to be safe when administered properly to healthy patients. But Johnson cautions that psychedelics can be abused.

"We are not encouraging people to take psilocybin on their own," Johnson says. "There are definitely risks, we know what those are ... and we have a way to address them in these research studies."

In particular, a study by Johnson and his team, published in 2018, shows psilocybin can cause harm to those with a predisposition to psychosis. "So potential study participants undergo "a couple of very long days" of screening before they can be admitted into the clinical trial," he says.

For those deemed healthy and able to undergo this therapy, there are no long-term or ongoing prescriptions, as is the case with other therapies for quitting smoking, like Chantix.

In Johnson's current study, the patient ingests only one dose of psilocybin during a special session that takes place about halfway through a series of 10 cognitive behavioral therapy sessions.

Promising results for quitting cigarettes

So far, about 40 out of 80 participants have completed the 13-week protocol for the Johns Hopkins study. It begins with four hours of preparatory counseling before the patient takes the lab-produced psilocybin in pill form.

The psilocybin session lasts about six hours and is supervised by two therapeutic "guides" who provide comfort and assurance as needed. As the psychedelic kicks in, patients are counseled to close their eyes, go inward and experience whatever shows up.

So far, half of the 40 participants who've completed the current Johns Hopkins smoking cessation program have quit smoking, as confirmed by urine and breath samples, Johnson says.

"That compares to a 10% to 35% success rate for conventional therapies such as nicotine-replacement medications or cognitive behavioral therapy alone," says Johnson.

Johnson says the evidence collected so far suggests a couple more doses of psilocybin might prove even more successful.

In his pilot study published in 2014, "15 participants received a similar amount of counseling as those in Chen-McLaughlin's group. But instead of one dose of psilocybin, they got three. Six months later, 80% were smoke-free," Johnson says.

Still, Johnson cautions against too much enthusiasm just yet, because the studies at this point are small.

He says if his current study maintains a favorable success rate, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration would then require him to replicate that success in larger, Phase 3 clinical trials before the agency could consider approving psilocybin-assisted therapy as a treatment for addicted smokers.

"The caveat to all this is that we have so much more to learn and to explore, to really understand what's going on," he says.

A shift in perspective

How psilocybin might help with addiction is not yet clear.

"Our best guess at this point is that while the drug is active, the brain is operating in a dramatically, qualitatively different fashion," Johnson says.

Most notably, areas of the brain that normally don't communicate begin to do so, while well-worn neural pathways go quiet. What's more, because psychedelics don't numb the mind in the way alcohol and some other drugs do, patients report leaving the session with their newfound insights intact.

"People often report a remarkable clarity," Johnson says."They know what's going on [during the experience and] they can observe their life and themselves from a much different vantage point – a much broader vantage point."

This perspective shift is part of the "mystical experience" that recreational psilocybin users report, and that spiritual users, such as shamans, have described for centuries. One theory of how these drugs may help is that experiencing feelings of unity, sacredness and transcendence can help change thought patterns that fuel addiction.

That doesn't mean the experience is necessarily easy, or even enjoyable. Chen-McLaughlin reported that as she lay for hours on the couch,the psilocybin unleashed a host of fears, which took the form of swirling dark clouds that she believed were trying to suffocate her.

"And that was really super, super scary," she says. "And I cried, I think at least four out of five, six hours."

Yet, she says, through the entire experience, she had a vision of her recently-deceased mother, who seemed to stand by as a sort of spiritual sentry, helping her to face those dark, cloud-like fears. At that very point, as she became determined to confront them, Chen-McLaughlin says, the dark clouds dissipated — and so did her desire to smoke.

"I haven't smoked since March 23, 2018," she says, adding that she has no clear idea why it worked.

Since her psilocybin experience, Chen-McLaughlin has not only quit smoking, she reports feeling physically repulsed by cigarettes. One day when she was feeling stressed, she asked her cigarette-smoking husband for a puff of his. But when she reached for it, she says, she couldn't even make herself touch it.

"You could pay me $5,000 and I couldn't do it," she says. "I know it sounds really weird, but that's what happened: Something in my brain sort of got switched."

Still, she attributes her success in quitting smoking not just to psilocybin, but to a combination of the drug and all the hours of cognitive behavioral therapy she received along with it.

"If I just walked in and took a psilocybin pill," she says, " I don't think it would have worked."

Stephanie O'Neill is a health and science writer in California.

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90% of lung cancers could be avoided by eliminating tobacco use

World Health Organization | 10 Jun 2022

A new report from WHO/Europe confirms that tobacco use remains a public health issue of the utmost importance. This is particularly true in the WHO European Region, which has the highest proportion of tobacco use in the world, with 209 million people smoking. The report examines health impacts, prevalence of tobacco use and health systems’ response.

This year’s WNTD campaign focuses on tobacco and lung health, aiming to raise awareness about the negative impact of tobacco on people’s lung health and the cost-effective, feasible solutions that can help reduce the risk to lung health posed by tobacco. The report notes that almost 9 in 10 deaths from trachea, bronchus and lung cancer in the European Region are related to tobacco. In other words, 90% of lung cancers could be avoided by eliminating tobacco use.

The report reveals many other concerning trends that underscore the need for strong action on tobacco control, including the following:

- 18% of noncommunicable disease (NCD) deaths were attributable to tobacco use in 2018 in the European Region, meaning almost 1 in 5 premature NCD deaths could be avoided by eliminating tobacco use.

- The proportion of NCD deaths due to tobacco was 4 times higher for men, which should be reflected in gender-sensitive prevention and control strategies.

- 27% of cancer deaths were attributable to tobacco use in 2018.

- 21% of women (74 million) currently smoke in the European Region, the highest percentage globally, and changing this trend requires further definition and implementation of gender-responsive strategies.

- Tobacco-use prevalence among adults and children remains high, but it appears to be decreasing – although, not uniformly.

- While encouraging, the decrease in tobacco use is not enough to reach the 30% reduction target set in the Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases in the WHO European Region 2016–2025 – this will be feasible, but only if countries place greater attention on continuing and enhancing tobacco prevention and control efforts by making full use of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) and its guidelines.

“There's huge potential to improve health by implementing policies that we know are effective, such as increasing taxation, using plain packaging, banning advertising and eliminating exposure to second-hand smoke. Without countries taking action, we will miss the opportunity to use tobacco control as a major lever for improving public health,” said Kristina Mauer-Stender. “The trends report reveals some key opportunities for action, for example addressing tobacco control in countries where women have not yet started to smoke.”

The report emphasizes the need for Member States to intensify preventive action, from health interventions, to marketing, to fiscal policy and stronger regulation. Countries should consider embedding tobacco control in the sustainable development agenda and approaching it from a human rights perspective. This can help open doors to new partners and expand the tobacco control community beyond ministries of health and public health organizations. Such new avenues for tobacco control could encourage the use of previously underutilized and powerful instruments that generate support for tobacco control measures.

90% of lung cancers can be avoided by eliminating tobacco use, new WHO report reveals

Launched on World No Tobacco Day, a new WHO/Europe report offers confirmation that tobacco use remains a public health issue of utmost importance. This is particularly true in the WHO European Region, which has the highest proportion of tobacco use in the world, with an estimated 209 million...

www.euro.who.int