OAS Endorses Fast-Track Psilocybin Research

OAS Endorses Fast-Track Psilocybin Research

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 25, 2021 – Ponte Vedra, Florida

Once A Soldier Endorses a Warp Speed Option for Psilocybin Research To Save Veteran Lives

Psilocybin drugs are the rising starts when it comes to killing PTSD in post-9/11 Veterans

In recent days, we have modified our website to include the three major psilocybin treatment options researched today. MDMA, ketamine and magic mushrooms have separated themselves as superior to big-pharma anti-depressant medications. They have shown the unique ability to rewire the brain and destroy a Veteran’s PTSD. Marijuana to a lesser extend provides mental relief from PTSD, but psilocybin has that extra break-though into the subconscious. That’s where the real healing, and magic, takes place. For examples of what it’s like to meet your demons and win during a trip, check this out.

“There is a mounting body of evidence to support our view. And this research is coming from highly-reputable institutions in the US, such as the psilocybin research coming from Johns Hopkins.  We are losing the war on PTSD. PTSD is what kills our Veterans. All forms of micro-dosing these mind-altering drugs shows greater promise than the current schedule of anti-depressants offered by the Veterans’ Administration. We fast-tracked a vaccine for COVID-19, and rightly so. It’s time for that sense of urgency to motivate more help for Veterans with PTSD.” says Dave Barbush, CEO of Once A Soldier.

Indeed, earlier this year, all of the major Veteran Service Organizations (VSOs) in the nation expressed their support, as well.

The best scenario for a successful psilocybin treatment plan includes a clinical setting, a trained staff, and a low cost. The best part of the data to date has been that the relief comes fast and is near permanent. Veterans themselves have weighed in on their feelings about it. They like the outcome. Their PTSD is gone. They may not like the process, but they don’t like being dulled by their anti-depressants either.

Mr. Barbush continued. “Our motivation for fast-tracking research and a parallel training of staff to be “trip buddies” comes from hearing the suicide stories from Veterans families. The horror inflicted upon the Veteran during war is passed down to the family in the years before the suicide. The suicide itself also enables the disorder to continue to grow.

Furthermore, our position includes a robust go-to market strategy that educates all levels of soldiers and family about PTSD treatments, screenings and practical advice on life insurance and post-suicide options.”

“Let’s face it, we are losing the war on Veteran suicide at this time. The more effort we’ve put into it to date, the less we’ve seen it working. In fact, the numbers are rising. And those numbers – the branded 22 a day, were probably low to begin with.”

 

Oregon and Canada Allow Psychedelic Mushrooms for PTSD

Oregon and Canada Allow Psychedelic Mushrooms for PTSD

Psilocybins to be Stored and Administered at Licensed Facilites

Oregon will become the first state in the country to legalize psilocybin Tuesday with the passage of Measure 109. Multiple cities have decriminalized the substance, but Oregon will become the first to permit supervised use statewide if that majority holds.
 
The Canadian government is allowing patients who are not terminally ill to legally consume psychedelic mushrooms, on the heels of Oregon’s decision to give people access to shrooms for therapeutic reasons. 

Magic Mushroom in the Wild

Magic Mushrooms Live Up To Their Name

Mona Strelaeff, a 67 year-old woman living in Victoria, B.C., said she was granted an exemption to the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act allowing her to consume shrooms to treat ongoing trauma. 

“I have struggled with anxiety, depression, and addiction for years,” Strelaeff wrote in an email to VICE World News. “During my psilocybin therapy I went deep, way back to when I was a little girl and all those things that happened to me. All the unresolved trauma, it came back and I was beyond terrified, shaking uncontrollably, and crying,” she said. 

Strelaeff told VICE World News she suffered from “an extreme sense of despair and depression” while in remission from breast cancer diagnosed 12 years ago (she has since recovered from the cancer). 

Some of this trauma was related to her cancer, while some of it stemmed from repressed material from childhood. 

With the psilocybin therapy, “I conquered those tough memories and after a while I realized…I ain’t scared of jack (shit),” she said. 

 

​Recent research at universities including Johns Hopkins, Imperial College in London and the University of California, Los Angeles, have shown promising results of psilocybin therapy on depression, PTSD and addiction.

How Psilocybin Mushrooms Work

The compounds in psilocybin mushrooms may give users a “mind-melting” feeling, but in fact, the drug does just the opposite —  psilocybin actually boosts the brain’s connectivity, according to an October 2014 study. Researchers at King’s College London asked 15 volunteers undergo brain scanning by a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) machine. They did so once after ingesting a dose of magic mushrooms, and once after taking a placebo. The resulting brain connectivity maps showed that, while under the influence of the drug, the brain synchronizes activity among areas that would not normally be connected. This alteration in activity could explain the dreamy state that ‘shroom users report experiencing after taking the drug, the researchers said. 

‘Shrooms act in other strange ways upon the brain. Psilocybin works by binding to receptors for the neurotransmitter serotonin. Although it’s not clear exactly how this binding affects the brain, studies have found that the drug has other brain-communication-related effects in addition to increased synchronicity.

In one study, brain imaging of volunteers who took psilocybin revealed decreased activity in information-transfer areas such as the thalamus, a structure deep in the middle of the brain. Slowing down the activity in areas such as the thalamus may allow information to travel more freely throughout the brain, because that region is a gatekeeper that usually limits connections, according to the researchers from Imperial College London.

 
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Latest FDA-Approved PTSD And Depression Treatments

Latest FDA-Approved PTSD And Depression Treatments

A Timeline of New Psychedelic Therapy Options

Prompted by a TV news report about the FDA’s approval of yet another psychedeleic antidepressant, I thought it might be a good idea to group all these breakthroughs together to compare and contrast. 

If you’re out of the loop on this front, let me bring you up to speed quickly. In short, it turns out that the hippies were right: using psychedelic drugs is a mind-blowing experience. Street drugs like LSD, Ecstasy and Super K have been approved by the FDA for use to treat “treament-resistant” patients. These drugs are administered in a clinical setting using micro-doses. Typically, the patient is under supervision for 2 hours after the dosing. There is a treatment pattern and the results are immediate and durable. 

On the downside, they are expensive and not covered by insurance. 

Here’s our recap timeline of the new psychedelic therapy options:

MARCH 5, 2019

Spravato (esketamine) nasal spray, in conjunction with an oral antidepressant, for the treatment of depression in adults who have tried other antidepressant medicines but have not benefited from them (treatment-resistant depression).

Ketamine is approved and labeled by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) for both of these uses in the United States. Ketamine was originally developed as an anesthetic and an analgesic or pain reliever.

Prazosin was approved for the treatment of high blood pressure in 1976 but it is now mostly used for the treatment of nightmares in patients with post-traumatic stress disorder, a use that was not originally approved.

AUGUST 2018

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted approval to COMPASS Pathways’ planned clinical trial to test psilocybin therapy in patients with treatment-resistant depression.

The phase 2b dose-ranging trial will involve 216 patients across 12-15 research sites in North America and Europe, beginning in the UK later this month. Federal regulatory agencies have already granted approval for such a trial in the UK, Canada, and the Netherlands.

 

Connect With Our Families

AUGUST 8 2006

Ketamine Found to Give Almost Immediate Relief for Severe Depression
Symptoms of depression can be made to disappear in less than two hours with a common anesthetic, not the weeks or months required for onset of relief with traditional antidepressants, according to results of a pilot study.

FEBRUARY 29 2008

FDA Approves Wyeth’s Pristiq
Desvenlafaxine is an antidepressant (serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor type-SNRI) used in the treatment of depression.

It works by restoring the balance of natural substances (neurotransmitters such as serotonin and norepinephrine) in the brain. Desvenlafaxine may improve your mood, feelings of well-being, and energy level. Pristiq is a medication licensed for the treatment of depression. By blocking the reuptake of serotonin and norepinephrine in the brain, the drug can help improve symptoms. Pristiq, which is available by prescription only, comes in the form of an extended-release tablet, and is generally taken once daily. Potential side effects include dizziness, insomnia, headaches, and nausea.

DECEMBER 29 1987

FDA Approves Lilly’s Prozac
Prozac is an antidepressant in a group of drugs called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). Prozac affects chemicals in the brain that may become unbalanced and cause depression, panic, anxiety, or obsessive-compulsive symptoms.

Prozac is used to treat major depressive disorder, bulimia nervosa (an eating disorder) obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic disorder, and premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD).

Prozac is sometimes used together with another medication called olanzapine (Zyprexa) to treat depression caused by bipolar disorder (manic depression). This combination is also used to treat depression after at least 2 other medications have been tried without successful treatment of symptoms.

Here’s a portion of the FDA’s March 5, 2019 Press Announcement

 

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Spravato (esketamine) nasal spray, in conjunction with an oral antidepressant, for the treatment of depression in adults who have tried other antidepressant medicines but have not benefited from them (treatment-resistant depression). Because of the risk of serious adverse outcomes resulting from sedation and dissociation caused by Spravato administration, and the potential for abuse and misuse of the drug, it is only available through a restricted distribution system, under a Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS).

Patients with major depressive disorder who, despite trying at least two antidepressant treatments given at adequate doses for an adequate duration in the current episode, have not responded to treatment are considered to have treatment-resistant depression.

The patient self-administers Spravato nasal spray under the supervision of a health care provider in a certified doctor’s office or clinic, and the spray cannot be taken home. The health care provider will instruct the patient on how to operate the nasal spray device. During and after each use of the nasal spray device, the health care provider will check the patient and determine when the patient is ready to leave.

The most common side effects experienced by patients treated with Spravato in the clinical trials were disassociation, dizziness, nausea, sedation, vertigo, decreased feeling or sensitivity (hypoesthesia), anxiety, lethargy, increased blood pressure, vomiting and feeling drunk.

Esketamine is the s-enantiomer of ketamine. Ketamine is a mixture of two enantiomers (mirror image molecules). This is the first FDA approval of esketamine for any use. The FDA approved ketamine (Ketalar) in 1970.

 

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Once a Soldier in on a mission to connect civilians and veterans that care about easing the financial and emotional burden of the family after a veteran suicide. If you care about helping these familes caught in a nightmare not of their making, please donate.