Is CBD Really Non-Psychoactive ? Jahan Marcu, Ph.D., Ali S. Matthews, and Martin A. Lee On May 17, 2016 https://www.projectcbd.org/science/cbd-really-non-psychoactive Data shows that CBD interacts directly with the CB1 cannabinoid receptor in therapeutically relevant ways while modulating THC's psychoactive effects. Cannabidiol and the CB1 Receptor Understanding how cannabidiol (CBD) exerts its myriad effects on human physiology is a work in progress. Thus far, scientists have identified more than 60 different molecular pathways through which CBD operates. It is known, for example, that CBD acts through multiple receptor-independent channels and it also binds to various receptors in the brain, including serotonin 5HT1A (which contributes to CBD’s [...]
Lire la suiteTribune pour l’expérimentation des psychédéliques en médecine, contre la dépression, l’anxiété, les addictions et pour les soins palliatifs. Société Psychédélique Française, novembre 2019 D’après l’Organisation mondiale de la santé, une personne sur quatre dans le monde sera affectée à un moment donné de sa vie par des troubles mentaux ou neurologiques. Or, après des décennies d’oubli, nous assistons en dehors de nos frontières à un regain de la recherche clinique psychothérapeutique sur les psychédéliques et au développement de thérapies novatrices impliquant ces substances. Les psychédéliques sont des composés, issus du monde vivant ou de la chimie, provoquant des effets analogues sur le psychisme [...]
Lire la suiteFDA's Rapid Approval of Esketamine for Severe Depression Questioned Pauline Anderson Medscape, November 13, 2019 https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/921248 While some experts have hailed intranasal esketamine (Spravato, Janssen) as a "game changer" for treatment-resistant depression (TRD), others are concerned over the US Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) rapid approval of the drug. Dr Erick Turner In an editorial published online October 31 in Lancet Psychiatry, Erick H. Turner, MD, who sits on one of the FDA advisory committees that recommended approval of Spravato, said the drug did not meet standard criteria for FDA approval and that there was little evidence to support its safety and efficacy based on data from [...]
Lire la suiteEmerging from the dark side : new therapeutic applications of scheduled psychoactive substances Edward James, Thomas L. Robertshaw & Andrew D. Westwell Future medicinal chemistry, February 2019 Doi : 10.4155/fmc-2018-0447 Keywords : harm reduction • healthcare • MDMA • positive psychology • psilocybin • psychoactive • psychotherapy The discovery and development of new medicines occupies years of painstaking and expensive scientific work, with multidisciplinary teams working together in the hope of developing a new chemical entity that outperforms the current standard of care within the chosen disease setting. Once optimized in the laboratory and achieving acceptable regulatory preclinical benchmarks, years of clinical evaluation are required [...]
Lire la suiteA Systematic Review on the Pharmacokinetics of Cannabidiol in Humans Sophie A. Millar, Nicole L. Stone, Andrew S. Yates and Saoirse E. O’Sullivan Frontiers in Pharmacology, 26 November 2018 https://doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2018.01365 Background : Cannabidiol is being pursued as a therapeutic treatment for multiple conditions, usually by oral delivery. Animal studies suggest oral bioavailability is low, but literature in humans is not sufficient. The aim of this review was to collate published data in this area. Methods : A systematic search of PubMed and EMBASE (including MEDLINE) was conducted to retrieve all articles reporting pharmacokinetic data of CBD in humans. Results : Of 792 articles retireved, 24 included [...]
Lire la suiteRevisiting Wasson’s Soma : Exploring the Effects of Preparation on the Chemistry of Amanita muscaria. Kevin FEENEY Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 2010, 42, (4), 499-506 In 1968 R. Gordon Wasson first proposed his groundbreaking theory identifying Soma, the hallucinogenic sacrament of the Vedas, as the classic spotted fairy tale mushroom – Amanita muscaria. While Wasson’s theory is compelling on many levels he neglected to explain how the pressing and filtering of Soma, as described in the Rig Veda, supported his theory of Soma’s identity. This omission has led to several criticisms of his theory, including: (1) that such an elaborate process of extraction [...]
Lire la suiteReceptor-Enriched Analysis of functional connectivity by targets (REACT) : A novel, multimodal analytical approach informed by PET to study the pharmacodynamic response of the brain under MDMA Ottavia Dipasquale, Pierluigi Selvaggi, Mattia Veronese, Anthony S. Gabay, Federico Turkheimer, Mitul A. Mehta NeuroImage, 2019, 195, 252–260 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2019.04.007 A B S T R A C T One of the main limitations of pharmacological fMRI is its inability to provide a molecular insight into the main effect of compounds, leaving an open question about the relationship between drug effects and haemodynamic response. The aim of this study is to investigate the acute effects of 3,4-methylene-dioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) on functional [...]
Lire la suitePsilocybin exerts distinct effects on resting state networks 1 associated with serotonin and dopamine in mice Joanes Grandjean, David Buehlmann, Michaela Buerge, Hannes Sigrist, Erich Seifritz, Franz X. Vollenweider, Christopher R. Pryce, Markus Rudin Preprint · September 2019 Doi : 10.1101/751255 Abstract Hallucinogenic agents have been proposed as potent antidepressants; this includes the serotonin (5-HT) receptor 2A agonist psilocybin. In human subjects, psilocybin alters functional connectivity (FC) within the default-mode network (DMN), a constellation of inter-connected regions that is involved in self-reference and displays altered FC in depressive disorders. In this study we investigated the effects of psilocybin on FC in the analogue of the [...]
Lire la suiteA History of Drug Use : Mind-Altering Drugs in Social Context Eric Shepperd January 21, 2017, 26 p. It seems that an intrinsic property of consciousness is a desire to alter itself. The natural world is full of tools for changing the functioning of the mind, and both humans and nonhuman animals have used many different drugs throughout history. Some are derived directly from plant or animal sources, while others are refined extracts, or synthesized by purely chemical methods. Many of the drugs in use today are applied primarily for physiologically therapeutic purposes, while others have primarily psychological components, or a combination thereof. Psychoactive [...]
Lire la suiteAyahuasca, Psychedelic Studies and Health Sciences: The Politics of Knowledge and Inquiry into an Amazonian Plant Brew Kenneth W. Tupper, and Beatriz C. Labate Current Drug Abuse Reviews, 2014, 7, 71-80 Abstract : This article offers critical sociological and philosophical reflections on ayahuasca and other psychedelics as objects of research in medicine, health and human sciences. It situates 21st century scientific inquiry on ayahuasca in the broader context of how early modern European social trends and intellectual pursuits translated into new forms of empiricism and experimental philosophy, but later evolved into a form of dogmatism that convenienced the political suppression of academic inquiry into [...]
Lire la suite