Study Finds Nitrous Oxide Can Ease Depression Symptoms

Daily Mail:

Laughing gas can ease symptoms of depression in just two hours, new research suggests.

A pilot study involving 20 patients who’d previously not responded to up to 12 different antidepressants found they were significantly more likely to improve with ‘laughing gas’ treatment than those given a placebo gas. The benefits lasted several days.

Now, in a new four-week study, 200 patients with depression will be treated with a mix of nitrous oxide (commonly known as laughing gas) and oxygen for an hour.

This is the first I’ve heard of using nitrous oxide to treat depression, but it makes sense that it could work. After all, ketamine (which is also classified as a psychedelic dissociative) has proved effective for treating depression too. These drugs work in the brain a bit differently than traditional antidepressants, acting on glutamate instead of serotonin or dopamine.

Psychedelic drugs like nitrous and ketamine might eventually begin to cannibalize the market for today’s antidepressants, but you can bet your bottom dollar that players in the pharmaceutical industry will try to maximize their market shares of the future pharmaceutical psychedelic medicine market.

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Compass Pathways Granted Patent for New Psilocybin Formulation

The story about Compass Pathways’ new patent first broke in a press release on Monday:

COMPASS Pathways, a mental health care company, announced today that it has been granted US Patent No 10,519,175, relating to methods of treating drug-resistant depression with a psilocybin formulation, by the US Patent and Trademark Office. The patent covers the use of COMPASS's synthesised investigational psilocybin formulation, COMP360, in a psilocybin therapy protocol for patients with treatment-resistant depression. Psilocybin is an active ingredient in so-called 'magic mushrooms'.

Last month, COMPASS reported that COMP360 was well tolerated when administered to healthy adult volunteers with support from specially trained therapists in a randomised placebo-controlled trial. COMPASS is currently running a phase IIb clinical trial of COMP360 in treatment-resistant depression.This trial is recruiting 216 patients from across Europe and North America who suffer with depression that hasn't responded to established medications, and will be the largest clinical trial of a psilocybin formulation to date. In 2018, COMPASS received FDA "Breakthrough Therapy" designation for its programme of psilocybin therapy for treatment-resistant depression.

Although this wasn’t a clear description of what the patent actually covers, fortunately the patent’s abstract clarified things a little bit:

This invention relates to the large-scale production of psilocybin for use in medicine. More particularly, it relates to a method of obtaining high purity crystalline psilocybin, particularly, in the form of Polymorph A. It further relates to a method for the manufacture of psilocybin and intermediates in the production thereof and formulations containing psilocybin.

So it turns out that Compass received a patent for its new method of creating large quantities of crystalline psilocybin, which you might recall Psychedelic Science Review covered a couple weeks ago, when Barb Bauer explored how this new crystal form could catalyze the development of new pharmaceutical psychedelics.

Regardless of whether you think pharmaceutical psychedelics should exist or not, make no mistake—they’re coming. Fast.

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In Defense of the Concept of Addiction

Stanton Peele, writing for Filter:

The term—and concept of—“addiction” is regularly frowned upon or even attacked by people in our field. But it won’t disappear, nor should it.

There are four groups or schools of thought that de-emphasize or disparage “addiction.” And their reasons for doing so all have value.

But for me, their arguments point us not to the abandonment of the term, but to its reconception in order to make it accurate and useful.

Before I elaborate, I’ll summarize these “anti-addiction” groups and their positions.

Peele goes on to briefly explain why psychiatrists, epidemiologists, critics of an expanded view of addiction, and harm reductionists often argue against the idea of addiction. Following the introduction is his stance on addiction, which I find to be quite compelling. In fact, this is one of the best pieces of writing on the topic that I’ve ever come across.

I highly suggest you give it a read too.

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A Single Dose of Psilocybin Mushrooms Can Reduce Anxiety for Nearly Five Years

Chris Moore, writing for MERRY JANE:

In the original 2016 study, researchers gave a single dose of psilocybin to 29 people suffering from life-threatening forms of cancer. Each of these patients was previously diagnosed with anxiety and/or depression as a direct result of their illness. Six months after taking this single dose, between 60 and 80 percent of patients reported a significant reduction in symptoms of depression and anxiety.

Years later, the original research team followed up with patients from the original study to see if the positivity generated from the psilocybin experience was still in effect. Out of the surviving 16 patients, 15 agreed to take additional psychological assessments between 3.2 and 4.5 years after the initial study.

“Reductions in anxiety, depression, hopelessness, demoralization, and death-anxiety were sustained at the first and second follow-ups,” the authors wrote in the follow-up study, published in the Journal of Pharmacology. At the second follow-up, 4.5 years after the original study, 60 to 80 percent of patients still showed signs of decreased anxiety and depression. “Participants overwhelmingly (71-100%) attributed positive life changes to the psilocybin-assisted therapy experience and rated it among the most personally meaningful and spiritually significant experiences of their lives.”

What a remarkable result. To think that a person who suffers from anxiety or depression could eat a few magic mushrooms (or in this case, take a psilocybin pill) alongside a trained psychotherapist and experience significant mental health improvements for the next 4.5 years is simply amazing. The pharmaceutical industry is almost certainly taking note of this news and will do its damnedest to find a way to capitalize on psychedelics like psilocybin.

However, it’s important to keep in mind that although this follow-up study reported excellent results, it focused on a very small group of subjects: only 15 people agreed to participate. But these data do confirm something that myself and others around the world have found to be true anecdotally—psychedelics, taken with the proper set and setting in mind and with a focus on preparation and integration, can be incredibly healing medicines.

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This Week in Psychoactives - 1.10.20

Cannabis

• Scientists Discover Two New Cannabinoids (VICE)

• Thailand rolls out cannabis clinic based on traditional medicine (Reuters)

• Most employers in Nevada can no longer utilize pre-employment drug tests for marijuana (KSNV)

• Federal Marijuana Reform Will Get Another Congressional Hearing Next Week (Marijuana Moment)

• South Dakota: Adult-Use Marijuana Initiative Certified for 2020 Ballot (NORML)

• Specialists warn about risks of cannabis edibles (Medical News Today)

• Don't Panic — Weed Edibles Are Just as Safe as We Thought, Actually (MERRY JANE)

• CBD for Hallucinogen Persisting Perception Disorder (HPPD) (One World Herald)

• Marijuana Will Be Legalized in New York, Cuomo Vows (The New York Times)

• Nova Scotia is nearly out of edibles and other 2.0 products (Leafly)

• Illinois Dispensaries Ran Out of Weed During First Week of Legal Sales (Reason)

• More Than Half of Cannabis Tourists Bring Weed Home, New Survey Finds (MERRY JANE)

• Legal Pot Takes a Bite out of Beer Consumption in Canada (Bloomberg)

• Federal Reserve Bank Examines Marijuana Industry’s Growth (Marijuana Moment)

• Mississippi: Medical Cannabis Initiative Certified for 2020 Ballot (NORML)

• Survey: 26% of young people have driven high or ridden with a high driver (Leafly)

• Legalizing Medical Marijuana Makes People Have More Sex, Study Shows (Marijuana Moment)

Magic Mushrooms

• California’s Mushroom Decrim Campaign Cleared to Begin Voter Signature Drive (Filter)

• Shroom-Therapy Startup Edges Toward FDA Approval (Bloomberg)

• Dave Chappelle And Aziz Ansari Took Magic Mushrooms To Celebrate Comedy Award (Marijuana Moment)

• Will Shroom Dispensaries Become a Thing Anytime Soon? (DoubleBlind)

MDMA

• Use of ‘gateway drug’ MDMA on the rise among young Japanese (The Asahi Shimbun)

Ketamine

• Trump touted a new antidepressant as a solution for veterans. Only 15 have been treated (STAT)

Opioids

• Fentanyl deaths on the rise as drug is added to heroin, warns report (The Guardian)

• Black Americans Were Prescribed Opioids Less Frequently Because Of Racial Bias, New Analysis Shows (WBUR)

• Nasal spray found to be quickest, easiest way to deliver antidote naloxone for opioid overdose (News-Medical.net)

• What We Can Learn From a Tiny Baltic Country's Two-Decade Fentanyl Crisis (VICE)

Methamphetamine

• The rise in meth and cocaine overdoses, explained (Vox)

Caffeine

• Drinking green tea, rather than black, may help you live longer, new study suggests (CNN)

Nicotine

• What if a Vaping Tax Encouraged Cigarette Smoking? (The New York Times)

• Juul Hits Deliver More Nicotine Than Cigarettes, Study Finds (Rolling Stone)

• Can 18-Year-Olds Still Buy Tobacco Legally in Arizona? AG Suggests Yes (Phoenix New Times)

Benzodiazepines

• Benzodiazepines: Another Prescription Drug Problem (The Fix)

Alcohol

• U.S. Alcohol-Related Deaths Have Doubled, Study Says (NPR)

• 'Sober curiosity': Dry January a wellspring for booze-free beverages (The Washington Times)

• The real reason midlife women should give up booze: PROFESSOR DAVID NUTT reveals how alcohol increases risk of breast cancer, bad skin and hot flushes (Daily Mail)

GHB

• GHB: The drug used as a 'rapist's weapon of choice' (BBC)

• Britain’s “Most Prolific” Rapist Spurs Misguided GHB Crackdown (Filter)

Kratom

• Kratom, usually made use of as a replacement for many opioids, is currently prohibited in France (OBN)

Miscellaneous

• Medical University of South Carolina To Launch New Psychedelic Research Center (High Times)

• Transforming psychedelics into mainstream medicines (STAT)

• More than 60,000 Mexicans have disappeared amid drug war, officials say (The Washington Post)

• The 'psychedelics coach' with drug-fuelled career advice (BBC)

• People are seeing ‘Cats’ while high out of their minds. These are their stories. (The Washington Post)

• This D.C. Group Wants To Decriminalize Magic Mushrooms And Some Psychedelic Plants (WAMU)

• Philly’s supervised injection site backers say they won’t delay opening while Justice Dept. appeals (The Philadelphia Inquirer)

• Addiction Treatment Facilities Fall Badly Short, Shows Federal Study (Filter)

• People Visiting Safe Injection Sites Are Less Likely To Die Compared To Other Drug Consumers, Study Finds (Marijuana Moment)

• Presidential Candidate Lincoln Chafee Backs Decriminalizing Drugs (Marijuana Moment)

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Disclaimer: "This Week in Psychoactives" does not censor or analyze the news links presented here. The purpose of this column is solely to catalogue how psychedelics are presented by the mass media, which includes everything from the latest scientific research to misinformation.

Image by Psychedelic Astronaut.