Today’s Question: Can psilocybin (Magic Mushrooms) be used to treat depression? I’m Dr. Mary Clifton. I’m an internal medicine doctor. Psilocybin in fact, has been tied to the treatment of depression in addition to the treatment of PTSD and also severe anxiety disorder.
The Pearls
[0:15] Psilocybin in fact, has been tied to the treatment of depression in addition to the treatment of PTSD and also severe anxiety disorder.
[0:35] A big problem with using psilocybin is that it’s hard to get a regulated dose.
[0:45] We don’t get a great source for a consistent dose of psilocybin.
[1:05] A group of fairly young people, kids that have just recently graduated from undergraduate education, came up with a new method of bio-production for psilocybin.
[1:30] As the E. coli multiplied, the presence of the psilocybin increased in stable, regulated, controlled ways.
Psilocybin Mushrooms
The Transcription
Today’s Question: Can psilocybin be used to treat depression? I’m Dr. Mary Clifton. Psilocybin in fact, has been tied to the treatment of depression
Psilocybin in fact, has been tied to the treatment of depression in addition to the treatment of PTSD and also severe anxiety disorder.
A big problem with using psilocybin is that it’s hard to get a regulated dose. – Tweet this!
I mean, it’s a mushroom and the psilocybin isn’t actually the active ingredient. It’s the precursor that breaks down in the body to the psychoactive ingredient psilocin. We don’t get a great source for a consistent dose of psilocybin.
That’s a problem because if you’re trying to study a medication, you need to be able to give a standard prescribed dose and see what the potential outcome is.
It looks like some researchers have corrected that.
Instead of the psilocybin being grown in a classic mushroom, they extracted the DNA and then inserted it into E. coli. The E. coli is just a common bacterium found in your gut.
As the E. coli multiplied, the presence of the psilocybin increased in stable, regulated, controlled ways.
This is so exciting because a mechanism of bio-production for psilocybin is going to allow us to move forward aggressively with clinical trials because in some cases, even a single dose of psilocybin is shown to reduce the symptoms of depression for many, many months.
This is a huge step toward the industrial production and the future for psilocybin.
* Learn all about psilocybin, a hallucinogenic substance that can be obtained from certain types of mushroom, commonly referred to as ‘magic mushrooms.
DR. MARY CLIFTON
Dr. Mary Clifton is an Internal Medicine doctor with 20 years of experience in both the hospital and private practice and a recognized expert in CBD, Cannabis, and Medical Marijuana. She is a published researcher, national speaker on women’s health and osteoporosis, and author of four books, and two new soon-to-be-released books on CBD and Cannabis – what you need to know, how to use them and a COOKBOOK to support ease of use.
