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Tim Ferriss on the topic of psychedelics.
For more information, please contact Michael Pollan about his latest book, "How to Change Your Mind?" After talking through Pollan's trips and diving into the science of how drugs appear to impact the brain, Ferriss' interest was piqued.
On Friday, with Ferriss' financial backing, researchers will open the doors to the world's first research hub dedicated exclusively to psychedelics.
Located in London, the Imperial Center for Psychedelic Research will be able to help you find your way to the world of medicine, magic mushrooms, and LSD in approved medical treatments. Scientists will focus on addressing severe brain diseases which will remain difficult to treat, such as depression and anorexia.
"Current treatments are not cutting it." Robin Carhart-Harris, the head of the new center and a neuroscience and pharmacology researcher at London's Imperial College, told Business Insider.
The center's other funders include Sanjay Singhal, banker-turned-philanthropist and Google advisor Shamil Chandaria, British executive Anton Bilton, and venture capitalist Bohdana Tamas.
While psychedelics like ayahuasca have played a medical and spiritual role in indigenous cultures across the globe, the new center will be the first formal hub of its kind.
"These compounds may help treat intractable conditions affecting tens of millions of people, and they may better understand the nature of consciousness itself," Ferris said in a statement.
A flurry of one of the best interests in psychedelics
The center is opening on the heels of a flurry of potential interest in psychedelics.
Up until last month, there had been essentially only one type of federally-approved antidepressant for decades. That drug is a pill called an SSRI. Lexapro and Prozac. But in March, the US Food and Drug Administration approved the first new non-SSRI depression drug: a nasal spray inspired by the semi-psychedelic drug ketamine.
"Things have really started to gain momentum," Carhart-Harris said.
With nearly $ 4 million from its five founding donors, the center is also interested in a clinic. Ideally, the clinic would function as a prototype for future psychedelic medical facilities. Carhart-Harris said he hopes for a healthy, well-being.
Scientists will build on a foundation of pioneering work on drugs like magic mushrooms and LSD
In Carhart-Harris 'view, the new center will help build on a foundation of pioneering efforts in studying psychedelics' medical potential.
Under his leadership, scientists at Imperial College were the first to study whether or not the psychoactive component of magic mushrooms had a positive impact on patients with severe depression. They were also global leaders in exploring the impacts of LSD on the human brain using modern brain-imaging technology.
New York and Baltimore, New York, launched their own clinical trials designed to further probe the drugs' therapeutic potential. They've now studied psilocybin in cancer patients facing severe anxiety about death; ecstasy in veterans with PTSD; and ayahuasca in people with depression.
Read more: Regulators just approved a new depression drug with the potential to be a game-changer
Still, psychedelic researchers have faced roadblocks along the way, Carhart-Harris said.
The National Institutes of Health and the UK's National Health Service.
"We've faced the perfect storm of stigma," Carhart-Harris said. "Psychedelics are scary to some people, and then mental illness, that can be a sensitive topic." Even psychotherapy and psychology are also heavily stigmatized.
Earlier this year, Carhart-Harris' group started a new trial in people with depression that would compare psilocybin with a traditional antidepressant. Next year, they would like to assess whether the same drug could also have potential to treat anorexia. Both diseases seem to be characterized by a kind of rigidity, he said. Whether they are about self-doubt or food, cyclical and pervasive thoughts on the brain in a whirlwind of negativity.
"Psychedelics seem to relax these biases of thought and behavior so you get a kind of openness," Carhart-Harris said.
"That's a window of opportunity for you when you can grow healthy changes, you're on a good track."
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