Fuente: Prohibición Partners Lugar: Global Cannabis Report 5th Edition Contents

Report Overview
The Medicines (Deep Dives)
Consumer Attitudes
Health & Science
Legal Landscape
Industry Voices





Spotlight on Health



Rising Illness Prevalence: According to the WHO, depression is already the leading cause of disability worldwide (more than 322 million people suffer from depression) and is a major contributor to the overall global burden of disease. WHO data show that some 4.4% of the world’s population are estimated to suffer from a common mental disorder (ranging from anxiety to major depressive disorders).



The Failure of Conventional Treatments: Conventional pharmaceuticals, prescribed for these and other mental health conditions, have had varying success to date and companies are now looking elsewhere for solutions. The widespread and long-term use of traditional antidepressants has been dubbed as a ‘public health experiment on a large scale’ according to Dr Daniel Engle, as nobody truly knows what the impact will be on public health or on those individuals who have spent many years on antidepressants.



Psychedelics as a Solution: Psychedelics naturally promote serotonin levels in the brain and so may offer a viable alternative to conventional medicine when treating such conditions in the future. The ability of one-and-done psychedelic options, for example ibogaine, to provide medium- to long-term relief from the symptoms of mental health conditions such as SUD, with a considerable reduction in the likelihood of relapse; or one to two doses of psilocybin for the effective treatment of TRD, within a short course of treatment (six to eight sessions), will majorly disrupt the existing market for conventional treatments.



Potential Therapies



We have categorised three types of treatment covered here:




Psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy (MDMA, psilocybin): Two to three doses of the psychedelic substance in combination with up to six sessions of psychotherapy. Both the Usona Institute and COMPASS Pathways have received US FDA breakthrough therapy designation for psilocybin for the treatment of MDD and TRD respectively.



Infusion therapy (ketamine, possibly psilocybin/MDMA in future): A series of low-dose IV infusions of a psychedelic substance over the course of two to three weeks, in a medicalised setting. Such as a clinic. Up to six infusions are recommended in order to alleviate symptoms for up to three months.



Available on prescription (psilocybin, LSD): While none of the psychedelic treatments profiled in this report are currently available from pharmacies or dispensaries, a number of companies are developing products that they hope will eventually be available on prescription for patients to take home. These include MindMed’s LSD microdosing treatment for ADHD and Tassili Life Sciences’ psilocybin treatment for mTBI and PTSD.




Set, Setting and Integration



During a psychedelic-assisted therapy session, ‘set’ and ‘setting’ are of central importance to the patient’s experience.




Set: Refers to mind-set, a complex mix of expectation and mood, personality and past experience.



Setting: Refers to the context in which the session takes place, including basic factors like the comfort and aesthetic of the room, and more complex factors like the quality of the relationship with the clinicians and the atmosphere they help to create.



Integration: Immediately after the psychedelic session and in the following days, a process of ‘integration’ is facilitated by the therapist. During these conversations, the patient has the opportunity to process, make sense of, and give meaningful expression to their psychedelic experience. This is a vital part of the therapy.




Spiritual & Cultural Context



Using psychedelics to treat mental health conditions may be seen as a novelty by some modern-day health practitioners and patients alike, but the healing potential and spiritual significance of psychedelic substances have been documented over millennia and are recognised by many diverse indigenous communities around the world.



Psilocybin mushrooms have a long history of traditional use from indigenous Australians over 10,000 years ago, to the ancient native peoples of Central America (particularly in Mexico), who believed that psilocybe mushrooms were sacred. In West and Central Africa, ibogaine has traditionally been used by the Bantu and pygmy communities of Gabon, specifically in Bwiti religious ceremonies and as an aide to healing.



The challenge going forward will be to utilise the healing properties of psychedelics… to develop modern psychedelic-assisted therapies and medicines while also scaling up the process to meet global demand.






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