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A senior U.S. health official on Wednesday touted the therapeutic potential of psychedelics such as psilocybin and MDMA, and he has also criticized ongoing federal restrictions hindering marijuana research.

Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), was interviewed by Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI) during a hearing for the Senate Subcommittee on Psychedelics and Cannabis Funds.

The senator said there was “potentially promising, peer-reviewed clinical research” on the substances, citing them a letter that NIH sent him in 2019 that recognized the medicinal value of certain psychedelics. He asked for a status update on how the agency is handling the problem.

“There has been a resurgence of interest in psychedelics, which for a while were not considered an area researchers should rightly seek,” replied Collins. “And I think as we learned more about how the brain works, we realized that these are potential tools for research purposes and that they can be of clinical use.”

He proactively cited psilocybin as an example, noting that clinical studies have shown that the compound appears to be effective in treating depression and that “this could be pretty exciting because we’re all looking for new ways to do it”. The official said MDMA and LSD are also being studied, but psilocybin is getting the most attention right now.

Watch the NIH director talk about psychedelics and marijuana research around 1:41:00 PM.

When asked about the next steps for NIH when it comes to psychedelics, Collins said He’s spoken to other federal agencies like the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) about whether it’s a good time to think about a workshop to say, “OK, what have we learned so far, and what more could we want? Designing the next generation of clinical trials to find out where these benefits are – beyond depression to PTSD? “

“I think we’ll want to take a closer look at that over the next year,” he said.

Federal agencies are already researching psychedelics, along with the National Cancer Institute (NCI), which is part of the NIH. with a speaker series that started last month This included a discussion of the therapeutic potential of psilocybin mushrooms.

At the hearing, Schatz asked Collins about marijuana research and whether the NIH has made progress in removing barriers to studying the plant – a subject he explored in a 2019 letter that the agency replied laterwith the recommendation to give researchers access to cannabis from state-approved pharmacies.

“We’re making some progress,” said Collins. However, due to cannabis’ Schedule I status, researchers must overcome significant hurdles in order to gain access to cannabis. Additionally, there is currently only one federally approved source of marijuana for study at the University of Mississippi.

He joked, “When I became a NIH director, I was told, ‘Hey, you run a marijuana farm.’ Who knew? “

The director said the researchers had “all sorts of limitations” and that there was “limited access”. He noted that the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) recently moved Expand the number of marijuana manufacturersBut he said what the government “really needs” is “to mitigate the restriction on Schedule I”.

He said he had spoken to NIDA Director Nora Volkow about the issue and believed that there should be a modified Schedule I category called Schedule IR “which would basically take a different route if you were to use this material for Would use research purposes. “

Collins who has discussed federal barriers to Cannabis science with several past congressional hearings, also obliged to work with Schatz ‘office at Legislation to further remove marijuana research barriers.

The tone of the drug policy discussion in the Senate subcommittee was markedly different from that on the House side, where a panel also held a hearing on the NIH budget on Tuesday.

Meanwhile To meetLegislators asked Volkow a number of questions related to marijuana and one about kratom.

She discussed the risks of cannabis use during pregnancy and adolescence, the age at which the brain stops developing in adults, and the importance of researching the risks and benefits of kratom, a herbal substance that some have used as an alternative to opioids .

Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD), a longtime opponent of legalization, asked Volkow, “Is recreational marijuana use in adolescents with developing brains a good idea?”

“No,” said the director flatly.

A strong bipartisan majority supports marijuana legalization in New Hampshire

Photo elements courtesy of carlosemmaskype and Apollo.