UA STUDY POSITIVE ON PSYCHEDELIC SUBSTANCE

In a small-scale preliminary study, a UA psychiatrist has found that
psilocybin, the active agent in psychedelic mushrooms, is effective
in relieving the symptoms of people who suffer from severe obsessive
compulsive disorder.

Dr. Francisco A. Moreno and his colleagues conducted the first
FDA-approved clinical study of psilocybin since it was outlawed in
1970. The results are published in the latest edition of the Journal
of Clinical Psychiatry.

Moreno cautions that the study was simply to test the safety of
administering psilocybin to OCD patients. The effectiveness of the
drug is still in question until a larger controlled study can be conducted.

Still, in each of the nine patients in the study, psilocybin
completely removed OCD symptoms for a period of generally four to 24
hours, with some patients remaining symptom-free for days.

"What we saw acutely was a drastic decrease in symptoms," he said.
"The obsessions would really dissolve or reduce drastically for a
period of time." People would report that it had been years since
they had felt so good, he said.

Provisions and policies for scientific research of controlled
substances like psilocybin were included in the 1970 Comprehensive
Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act, which outlawed psilocybin.

New research into psilocybin does not reflect any change in
government policy, said Rogene Waite, a spokeswoman for the Drug
Enforcement Administration. The same review process has governed such
research the entire time although researchers may have been hesitant
to consider using psilocybin in the past, she said.

Currently, there is no treatment in the medical literature that eases
OCD symptoms remotely as fast, Moreno said. Other drugs take several
weeks to show an effect, but the psilocybin was almost immediate.

Still, it's not a drug patients could take daily and in any case,
doctors don't know what would happen with repeated use: Would the
effects be additive and longer-lasting over time? Or would the
effects dissipate as the patient developed a tolerance?

Moreno, who is in "grant-seeking mode," said the next step is to
conduct an expanded study. The findings would be far more convincing
on the effectiveness of psilocybin in OCD patients, he said.

"We're very cautious about making too much of the early results,"
Moreno said. "I don't want to characterize it as psychedelics are the
way to go. Although it seemed to be safe, this was done in the
context of supervision by trained professionals in a medical setting.
This is not ready to be used by the public just because nine people
tolerated it."

A spokeswoman for the Food and Drug Administration declined to
comment on the research, citing "confidentiality."

Moreno, whose specialty is in treatment resistance, started thinking
about the psilocybin study in the mid-1990s after a patient said the
only time he was ever free of OCD symptoms was a decade earlier in
college when he experimented with psychedelic mushrooms. Psilocybin
and other drugs in that family work by activating certain serotonin
receptors, in some ways similar to the mechanisms of anti-depressants
used to treat OCD.

Moreno examined the medical literature on psilocybin and LSD and
found some other cases in which OCD patients reported improvement
under similar conditions. He started the study in 2001, gradually
recruiting patients through 2004.

Under strict rules to guard against complications, Moreno gathered
nine OCD patients who had treatment with the typical medications and
had prior positive experience with psychedelic drugs. The patients
were tested between one and four times, with 29 sessions in all.

They were administered one of four dose levels of psilocybin in the
morning and were monitored in a modified office for eight hours. The
patients were given eye shades and listened to music, with
instructions to turn their attention inward.

They were each interviewed at the end of the day about their
experiences and kept in the hospital overnight to make sure they had
no drug complications.

The patients had a range of obsessions and compulsions, including
fear of being contaminated, elaborate cleaning rituals, tapping or
touching rituals and mental rituals. One patient wouldn't touch the
floor with anything but the soles of his shoes. Others would shower
for hours or put on pants over and over again until they felt right.

"They know it's senseless. They know it doesn't do anything for them,
but if they don't do it they become very distraught and very
uncomfortable and have a very difficult time functioning," Moreno said.

OCD symptoms develop as early as childhood but typically in the teen
years. Over time the mental barriers make it hard for patients to
lead normal, day-to-day lives.

Leslie Tolbert, UA vice president for research, graduate studies and
economic development, said the university's Human Subjects Protection
Program sets the rules for all research involving people to ensure
the safety of participants and maximize the usefulness of the study.
Psilocybin, like any other controlled substance, is heavily monitored.

Any further study of psilocybin at the UA would be federally funded
and subject to review and oversight at that level as well, she said.

"We don't have great treatments out there for OCD and any indication
that there is a path to explore for something that would be effective
seems an important thing to respond to," Tolbert said. "It's
important that if psilocybin, perhaps in lower doses than are
hallucinogenic, really has an impact, it's known. It's not a trivial
question. There is a huge number of people who could benefit."

A few other researchers across the country have been involved in
psilocybin research in the last several years, with some looking at
the mystical experiences or sense of well-being associated with the
drug, others examining its effect on patients with post-traumatic
stress disorder and others examining it as a possible treatment for
cluster headaches.

"Our study goes a little bit more in line with the use of
pharmaceuticals to treat a bona fide clinical condition," Moreno said.

Read more about OCD causes, symptoms and treatments at go.azstarnet.com/ocd

"I don't want to characterize it as psychedelics are the way to go.
Although it seemed to be safe, this was done in the context of
supervision by trained professionals in a medical setting."

Dr. Francisco A. Moreno

UA psychiatrist