LSD

MindMed's study could be a significant step in the long process of potentially bringing a new treatment for generalized anxiety disorder to the market. The ...

"In reality it's just a chemical compound that binds to a serotonin receptor and causes changes to the way people think or feel," Lichter said. "'To fathom hell or go angelic, just take a pinch of psychedelic' is the phrase Osmond came up with," Lichter said. "And psychedelics look like they are getting more normalized in the minds of patients and communities versus being on the fringes of recreational use." The drug has a tarnished reputation for being associated with counterculture, anti-war protests and "bad trips." "Acute administration of LSD produced long-lasting and notable reductions of anxiety and co-morbid depression symptoms for up to 16 weeks. "So we believe it works in a very different way pharmacologically than any other drug that has to be taken on a daily basis." He believes there's no better place to kick start a psychedelic renaissance—a resurgence of research on the taboo substances—than Miami-Dade County. The National Institutes of Health funded more than a hundred grants for the drug's study prior to its prohibition. The proprietary "pharmaceutically optimized" form of LSD is named MM-120 and owned by MindMed, a small psychedelic biotechnology company based in New York. The first patient in Miami Lakes, Kakar said, reclined on a couch while under the influence of the drug—headset, eye mask and blanket provided. Psychedelics—like LSD or "acid", Psilocybin or "magic mushrooms," among others—are not new, not in a recreational nor a therapeutic context. The study, kicking off a second phase, is designed to monitor both the drug's effects and to find the most effective dosage.