DENVER — With Colorado's legalization of psilocybin , the active ingredient in magic mushrooms, in 2022, healthcare researchers are looking into how to use the drug as medicine. "Attitudes toward those drugs are very different now," University of Colorado professor Dr. Jim Grigsby said.
"People have recognized they’re not dangerous, in fact they can be very helpful for certain kinds of conditions." Grigsby is a co-leader with New York University on a study that is analyzing the effects of psychedelics on cancer patients. He said it has taken years to get off the ground and receive federal funding, but after three-and-a-half years, the National Cancer Institute gave him the green light.
"Times have changed," Grigsby said. "A lot of the people who were anti-drug warriors aren’t around anymore and this is a new generation of regulators that’s taken over. Societal attitudes have changed significantly.
" Grigsby wants to enroll 100 patients with stage three and four cancer for the study. "So, there will be two therapists that will sit with them for about six to seven hours," Grigsby said. "They’re given a dose of psilocybin, or a placebo, and the placebo is an inactive substance.
Our placebo is the same as vitamin B3 you can get it at the grocery store." He said patients will be followed up with after several months. "What we’re looking for is reduction in existential distress, to a certain extent, anxiety, depression, those kind of emotions," Grigsby said.
This is one .