For years, hallucinogenic drugs like LSD, psilocybin and dimethyltryptamine(DMT) have been banned from any form of use. But in more recent years, there has been a major shift in their use from psychedelic to medical.
In fact, researchers from the United Kingdom have been given the go-ahead to use DMT in their very first clinical trial, all to figure out whether it can be used to treat a wide range of mental health issues, including depression. DMT, which is also called ‘the spirit molecule’ amongst other names, has been used illegally for years, and it’s actually known to give the user a major visionary trip or hallucination. It’s something that has been used for years for shamanic rituals in South America as well.
A report was released in The Guardian in early December of 2020 where the drug received the go signal by the Medicines and Healthcare Product Regulatory Agency (MHRA). In the early stages of the trial, it will be given to healthy individuals, but the following trial will include patients that happen to suffer from depression. Patients will be given DMT alongside psychotherapy.
According to the chief medical and scientific officer at Small Pharma, Carol Routledge, using DMT before therapy is considered ‘similar to shaking up a snow globe before letting the flakes settle.’ She also shared that the trial will run alongside the Imperial College in London as well.
Routledge explained, “The psychedelic drug breaks up all of the ruminative thought processes in your brain – it literally undoes what has been done by either the stress you’ve been through or the depressive thoughts you have – and hugely increases the making of new connections.”
“Then the [psychotherapy] session afterwards is the letting-things-settle piece of things – it helps you to make sense of those thoughts and puts you back on the right track.”
“We think this could be a treatment for a number of depressive disorders besides major depression, including PTSD, treatment-resistant depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and possibly some types of substance abuse,” she added.
DMT goes by a few names, although ‘spirit molecule’ is the most popular. Some of its other street names is Dimitri, Fantasia, Businessman’s Trip and Forty-Five- minute psychosis, which honestly, speaks volumes. Because of its highly potent hallucinogenic properties, it has been used in ayahuasca, which is a brew used in shamanistic rituals for over hundreds of centuries in South America. But eventually, the drug found its way into Europe and North America as a recreational drug, used much like LSD and psilocybin, or ‘magic mushrooms.’ Although the hit or “trip”- as it’s otherwise called – is much shorter in comparison to the other drugs.
Much like psilocybin and acid, DMT is still considered a Class A drug by British authorities. This means that it’s on the same level as heroin, methamphetamine and cocaine. If someone is caught in possession of any of these substances, they can face a penalty of up to seven years in jail or even life imprisonment for drug trafficking.
The UK researchers are hoping to begin their first DMT trials by January. The study will involve 32 healthy volunteers that have never taken any psychedelic drugs, not even ketamine or ecstasy. They will be given the lowest possible dose of the drug to give them a psychedelic experience. Meanwhile, the second trial will involve 36 patients, all of whom suffer from clinical depression.
Notably, DMT isn’t the first hallucinogenic drug to be used in a clinical trial. Not too long ago, magic mushrooms were also tested in a study for use in therapeutic settings. A study that was held back in December of 2016 in NYU showed that just a single dose of psilocybin quickly lessens feelings of anxiety and depression in cancer patients, with few side effects at that. The difference with DMT is that the effects are said to be way more intense and come on quickly, but they also end much faster than the other drugs.
Unlike DMT, psilocybin treatment can take all day since the effects last for a lengthened period of time, which makes them a major commitment for patients. DMT, on the other hand, will probably just take a couple of hours. According to the CEO of Small Pharma, Peter Rands,“We expect DMT to be rapid-acting, equivalent or perhaps even better than psilocybin, so within hours of a session you will get rapid relief [from your depression]. We also expect the effect to be sustained over a similar time period.”
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