Introduction
When it comes to the use of recreational drugs, a very popular, and often unjustified equation is drug = addiction. But what if I told you that psychedelics can potentially do the opposite?
As paradoxical as it may sound, quite a few studies show that these substances can help overcome two of the most common addictions — smoking and alcoholism.
For this reason, clinical trials testing psychedelics’ effects on tobacco and alcohol addiction, as well as on other substance use disorders, are currently being conducted to investigate their effectiveness at a more global level.
What are the results so far?
How close are the experts to prescribing drugs such as psilocybin or LSD for substance misuse?
We’ll try to answer these and other questions while looking at the future prospects for psychedelics in addiction therapy.
Psychedelics for addiction: evidence and possible mechanisms
Psychedelics research for mental health has been significantly limited in the last 50 years, since the Controlled Substance Act relegated these substances to Schedule I drugs (their use is prohibited even under medical supervision), officially marking their reputation with prejudice and stigma.
However, the promising results achieved in the last 20 years show that psychedelics could mark a turning point in clinical psychiatry and wellbeing practices. In addition to this is their non-addictive nature.
An example of this is a 2014 study on heavy smokers where 80% of the participants had become abstinent 6 months after the administration of three different doses of psilocybin.
In another study, involving again administration of psilocybin, but this time to alcoholics, participants’ heavy-drinking days significantly decreased, while their abstinence level increased.
So we’ve seen some examples of the remarkable impact psychedelics can have on alcohol and tobacco abusers… but what process actually mediates these beneficial effects?
According to the results of the alcohol addiction study, increased abstinence was correlated with the level of mystical experience, where the more meaningful the trip, the lower the need of the participants to drink.
However, the psychoplastinogenic properties of psychedelics themselves (the ability of a drug to induce plasticity in a neuron, which is the capacity to change and adapt in response to stimuli
) are also thought to help patients escape from the brain loops triggering addictive behaviors.Clinical trials of psychedelics therapy for addiction
Over the years, clinical trials have been developed to investigate the potential of psychedelics for substance abuse cessation, especially for alcohol and tobacco, but also for addictive drugs.
From the analysis of clinical trials of the last 25 years, it was found that the drinking habits of alcohol and tobacco addicts had a significantly positive change after the administration of psilocybin.
At present, a clinical trial sponsored by NYU Langone Health is exploring the potential of psilocybin to treat alcohol dependence on more than 100 participants, and the first findings reported the same changes in drinking behavior seen in the research studies (but this time for a larger part of the population).
Also MDMA is being studied for alcoholism research, in a clinical trial conducted by Awakn Life Sciences, the Imperial Colleg,e and the University of Bristol, which will soon enter phase IIb with encouraging results obtained so far.
Besides alcohol and tobacco use disorders, psychedelics could be administered to treat other types of addictions as well, such as cocaine, methamphetamine and opioids use disorders; ibogaine was shown in multiple studies to limit and stop opioid dependence, as well as decrease withdrawal symptoms.
Substance abuse treatments including psychedelics: where are we now?
The beneficial effects of psychedelics to treat substance abuse are gradually becoming more and more evident. Still, their chance to be approved for prescription is challenged by the opposing opinion of most psychiatrists, concerned about their addictive potential.
Despite their non-addictive nature, hallucinogens can indeed cause hallucinogen use disorder (when users become dependent on the drug) in some cases, but this happens rarely and the major risk factors have been identified.
More clinical trials with supporting evidence are needed for the integration of psychedelics in rehab treatments and addiction cessation therapies, but if we think about all the progress being made in the last decade of research, its approval could be closer than we imagine.
