4 minute read
DAY: THE FUTURE IS FUNGAL
The Future is FunModern medicine can work wonders on a host of illnesses and accompanying symptoms, but when it comes to mental health and many neurodegenerative issues, scientists are still searching for solutions. Here we find the shift in social, scientific and regulatory views in the last decade opening up a world of potential.
According to the National Institute of Environmental Health Services, neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s have no known cures. Drugs currently on the market are instead aimed at combating symptoms and slowing disease progression. As of 2016 it was estimated that 5.4 million Americans were living with Alzheimer’s alone. Anyone that has watched a loved one wither away knows the devastation of a neurodegenerative diagnosis, but for the rest of adults not yet confronted with such suffering, a list of other issues takes priority.
Among the roughly 17 million adults in America battling depression, the National Institute of Mental Health estimates that 11 million have experienced “severe impairment.” The heft of our modern mental health crisis is weighing heavily on the nation. We see it in the suicide rates - a number that the American Psychological Association says increased by 30% between 2000 and 2016. We see it in substance abuse rates - where the American Addiction Centers count 19.7 million afflicted Americans, age 12 and up. And we see it in the faces of family and friends still struggling around us, with roughly one in eight Americans over age 12 reporting regular antidepressant use (according to the National Center for Health Statistics).
While the future of treatment seems fuzzy, one thing is vividly clear: Our current system is failing those battling the burden of neurological diseases. Fortunately, research in psilocybin and LSD has provided new hope in health care. The promise of affordable, non-addictive treatments has sparked scholarly and public interest alike. For anyone new to the world of psychedelics, a brief introduction to the main neurotropic compounds (related to fungi) may be warranted. Psilocybin is the alkaloid found in “magic mushrooms” that we associate with the psychedelic experience. According to the International Center for Ethnobotanical Education, Research, and Service, there are over 180 unique varieties of fungi that carry this particular compound. It’s not the only interesting find in the fungal world, however.
Lysergic acid diethylamide (better known as LSD) was first derived by Albert Hofmann in 1938 from another fungus known as ergot.
Many years and one famous bicycle ride later, the world was introduced to “acid.” (Go ahead and Google “Bicycle Day” if you’re feeling a bit lost at this point). Magic mushrooms and acid took hold in American society as recreational substances, but the healing potential was always present. As Dr. Robin Carhart-Harris explains, psilocybin and LSD are hallucinogens that “stimulate a particular serotonin receptor subtype expressed on neurons in the brain.”
This receptor is known as serotonin 2A (5-HT2A) - the same signal transmitter that, according to the 1st edition of Serotonin Receptors in Neurobiology tells us, “has been implicated in mental disorders with complex etiologies that are still not clearly understood, in processes such as learning and memory, and also in neurogenesis.” These are many of the same functional areas that neurological scientists are still seeking answers to.
At Johns Hopkins University, there’s a massive amount of money and time being devoted to finding these answers.
A group of private donors has put up $17 million to build “the largest research center of its kind in the world.” The Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research will study the effects of psychedelics on brain functions like behavior, learning, mood, memory and more: Studies of psilocybin in patients will determine its effectiveness as a new therapy for opioid addiction, Alzheimer’s disease, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome (formerly known as chronic Lyme disease), anorexia nervosa and alcohol use in people with major depression. Universities and organizations like the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies and the Heffter Research Institute have been looking into these topics and treatments for some time, so why the sudden spark in public interest?
The answer isn’t entirely simple, but we seem to have reached a point in modern American history where a mixture of social unstiffening, high health care costs, and a DIY lifestyle movement demand new solutions. Each day, more citizens seem eager to choose non-traditional pharmaceuticals and explore options in alternative medicine.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved some clinical trials of psychedelics in the past, but the topic has been more widely explored in recent years. In 2015, a large population study by
the Norwegian University of Science and Technology looked at adults in the U.S. and “failed to find evidence for a link between psychedelic use (lysergic acid diethylamide, psilocybin or mescaline) and mental health problems.” The results crushed much of the Nixon-era skepticism lingering around the dangers of these drugs. The FDA has since named several other psychedelic trials “breakthrough therapies.” This official designation “is intended to expedite the development and review of drugs for serious or life-threatening conditions.” Furthermore, cities like Denver and Oakland have begun to decriminalize psychedelic mushrooms altogether. It seems that the U.S. is entering a new frontier. One we can only hope leads to breakthroughs in health and happiness. Magic mushrooms and acid took hold in American society as recreational substances, but the healing potential was always present. Amanda Day is a Leaf Nation contributing writer and photographer, based in Eugene and providing Cannabis photos & video services.
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