This week, we've heard from researchers trying to untangle the effects of the "trip" that often comes with psychedelics and ketamine from the ways these drugs might change the human brain. For part three of our series on psychedelic drug research, we get a glimpse into why some researchers are taking the "trip" out of these drugs altogether. You don't need to have heard the previous two episodes to understand this episode on what could be next for psychedelic medicine.Catch the rest of this series on psychedelics and related drugs this week by following us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. They're the previous two episodes in our podcast feed.Have other questions about psychedelics and the brain? Let us know by emailing [email protected]! Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
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You're listening to Shortwave from NPR. Hey, short wavers, Regina Barber here, and we're back with the final episode in our series on the science behind psychedelics and related drugs. I'm here with producer Rachel Carlson, who reported out this whole series. Hey, Rachel.
Gina, hi. So first, this episode will make sense for people who haven't heard the previous episodes. That said, in our last episode, we talked about why some researchers are interested in not just the chemical effects of drugs like psychedelics and ketamine, but all these other factors that come with them, like the trip, or therapy, or even expectations patients have about the drugs themselves.
Yeah. But other researchers say while all those factors might be important, not everyone can or wants to take psychedelic drugs. Here's one of those researchers, David Olson.
He's a chemical neuroscientist at UC Davis, and he told me... Pretend that I've got a crystal ball and I can see into the future. And in the future, every insurance company will fully reimburse for psychedelic assisted psychotherapy. Even in that future, there are a lot of people who will still be left behind.
For example, most practitioners would say that people who have bipolar disorder or schizophrenia shouldn't take psychedelics. That's why David's making drugs that are inspired by psychedelics, but without a trip. Wow. OK, so tell me more. So David co-founded a company called Delix Therapeutics. They use the structure of drugs like ketamine, LSD, ibogaine, MDMA. And then?
We just move things around a little bit here and there, tweak their structures just a little bit to make them better versions of themselves.
OK, move things around like Legos. Literally, Gina, in my brain, I was picturing scientists playing with these tiny little molecular blocks. And then David told me that's actually not that far off.
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