Could these psychedelic drugs be making the trip to a BC doctor’s office near you?

published on September 8, 2015 by Nick Eagland

BC medical researchers champion study into psychedelic treatment for addiction, depression, anxiety

A trip to the doctor’s office could someday mean a trip inside the doctor’s office, if researchers calling for further study into the use of psychedelics for treating illness get their way.

Dr. Evan Wood, co-director of the Urban Health Research Initiative at the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, is one of four medical researchers behind an analysis published Tuesday focusing on the resurgence of research into psychedelic substances for treating illnesses, including addiction, depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Wood said that while motivational interviewing and cognitive behavioural therapy can lead to change in a patient, the use of psychedelics can bring about a “transformative spiritual experience” and a new level of insight where those traditional methods come up short.

“The pharmaceutical industry would like to see a model where people are labelled with a chronic disease and they take a pill every day,” Wood said.

“What’s being considered here is a total paradigm shift, where we’re talking about people having an experience and coming out the other side of that with a new skill set and a new way of thinking that can actually have them manage and move past some of those historical challenges.”