#306 — Psychedelics & Mortality

Making Sense with Sam Harris

Waking Up with Sam Harris

Samharris, Currentevents, Politics, Ethics, Religion, Neuroscience, Science, Society & Culture, Philosophy

4.6 • 29.1K Ratings

🗓️ 13 December 2022

⏱️ 105 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Sam Harris speaks with Roland Griffiths about psychedelics and mortality. They discuss the current state of psychedelic research, the timeline for FDA approvals, the risks to mental health posed by psychedelics in vulnerable populations, the use of psychedelics among the well, the relationship between psychedelics and meditation, advice for “bad” trips, microdosing, Roland’s stage-4 cancer diagnosis, reflections on death, and other topics.

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Learning how to train your mind is the single greatest investment you can make in life. That’s why Sam Harris created the Waking Up app. From rational mindfulness practice to lessons on some of life’s most important topics, join Sam as he demystifies the practice of meditation and explores the theory behind it.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the Making Sense podcast.
0:24.2	This is Sam Harris.
0:26.1	Today I'm speaking to Roland Griffiths, Roland is a professor in the Department of Psychiatry
0:31.9	and Neurosciences at Johns Hopkins University and the founding director of the Johns Hopkins
0:37.6	Center on Psychedelic and Consciousness Research.
0:41.0	He has authored over 400 scientific publications and he has been a consultant to the National
0:47.0	Institutes of Health, the World Health Organization, and numerous pharmaceutical companies.
0:53.9	Roland has also conducted extensive research with sedative hypnotics, caffeine, and other
0:59.4	mood-altering drugs.
1:01.9	In 1994 Roland got very interested in meditation and this made him curious about altered states
1:07.7	of consciousness generally, which prompted him in 1999 to initiate the first study in
1:14.3	decades on psilocybin.
1:17.3	And since then he's been at the forefront of renewed scientific interest in psychedelics.
1:22.7	This research has looked at the utility of psilocybin and MDMA in particular in the
1:28.4	treatment of anxiety and cancer patients, treatment resistant depression, PTSD, as well as their
1:34.6	utility for improving the lives of otherwise well people.
1:40.8	As you'll hear, there have been big changes in Roland's life since we last spoke.
1:44.9	We last spoke almost exactly three years ago.
1:48.0	Since then he's received a Stage 4 cancer diagnosis which appears to be untreatable and
1:55.3	we talk about that.
1:57.4	And as part of his end of life planning, Roland has created a major project at Johns Hopkins
2:04.5	to endow a professorship that comes with research funds in perpetuity.
	...

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