Brain Scientists Are Tripping Out Over Psychedelics

Short Wave

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🗓️ 21 December 2022

⏱️ 11 minutes

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Summary

Psychedelic drugs – like LSD, salvia, ayahuasca, Ibogaine, MDMA (AKA ecstasy), or psilocybin (AKA 'magic mushrooms' or 'shrooms') – are experiencing a resurgence of interest in their potential medical benefits.

At the Neuroscience 2022 meeting held by the Society of Neuroscience, the appetite for psychedelic research permeated the sessions, discussions, and even after-hours barroom talk — drawing in researchers, neuroscientists, companies, reporters, and advocates alike.

"In the last couple of years there has been a lot of excitement in psychedelics. I think it started first in the popular media." says Alex Kwan, associate professor at Cornell University. "Neuroscience, actually, I think took another year or two to catch on."

Today on the show, host Aaron Scott and NPR's brain correspondent Jon Hamilton chat psychedelic drugs — whether this renewed interest will represent incremental or revolutionary changes in the fields of medicine, psychology, and neuroscience.

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to Shortwave from NPR.
0:04.6	Hippotheds, Aaron Scott here and today we are going to turn on and tune in to some
0:11.7	mind-bending brain science, which means we have MPR science correspondent John Hamilton.
0:16.4	Hello John.
0:17.4	Hello Aaron.
0:18.7	When we last talked a couple of weeks ago, you were on your way to the Society for Neuroscience
0:23.5	Meeting in San Diego.
0:25.2	Great, 23,000 brain scientists all in one convention center.
0:30.1	It is absolutely my favorite nerd fest.
0:33.7	What were all those brainiacs talking about?
0:36.6	Drugs Aaron, psychedelic drugs.
0:39.6	Okey-dokey.
0:40.6	Drugs like MDMA, also known as ecstasy and psilocybin.
0:44.7	That's the chemical that makes magic mushrooms magic.
0:47.6	Of course there's also LSD and plant-based hallucinogens like salvia, ayahuasca, ibogaine.
0:54.8	John, you are starting to sound like a friendly drug dealer at Burning Man here.
0:59.0	Yeah, it might sound like it, but I'm talking about a scientific meeting here.
1:03.8	Brain scientists are looking at psychedelic drugs because these chemicals may be the key
1:08.6	to a whole new way of treating psychiatric disorders.
1:11.8	I'm talking about problems like anxiety, depression, PTSD, substance abuse, obsessive-compulsive
1:18.4	disorder, even chronic pain.
1:21.3	These drugs also offer a way to study things like learning and consciousness.
	...

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