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A single dose of\u00a0psilocybin could help cocaine users kick their addiction, new research shows\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Results showed that those who received a single dose of psilocybin were more likely to abstain from cocaine than those who were given a placebo.\u00a0<\/p>\n
To be included, participants had to be over the age of 25, used cocaine on at least four days in the past month and have a desire to quit.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Those with other mood disorders being treated with antidepressants, high blood pressure or a history of bipolar disorder were also excluded.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
After initial prescreening, participants then completed up to five psychotherapy sessions and seven days of no cocaine before the study period commenced.<\/p>\n
After the all\u2013day drug session, where participants were given either psilocybin or an antihistamine in capsule form, they underwent five more therapy sessions.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Follow\u2013up assessments were carried out 90 days and 180 days after the final therapy session.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Results showed those treated with psilocybin alongside psychotherapy were far less likely to relapse and had a greater percentage of cocaine\u2013free days.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Study lead author,\u00a0Dr Peter Hendricks, from the University of Alabama, said the findings are especially pertinent given the number of Americans now dying from overdoses involving stimulants.<\/p>\n
Cocaine deaths are on the rise globally, with addicts finding it extremely difficult to challenge impulsive behaviours.<\/p>\n
Rather than working on the same receptors as cocaine, psilocybin works to alter a user’s state of consciousness, typically in one therapy session.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0The idea is that this altered state can help facilitate shifts in perspective that help users change their behaviour.\u00a0<\/p>\n
‘These findings are a potentially important advancement in the treatment of cocaine use disorder, a condition for which there are no approved pharmacotherapies and limited psychosocial interventions,’ Dr Hendricks said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The representation of vulnerable populations in previous trials has been an ongoing concern \u2013 with data suggesting that cocaine use is the single strongest predictor of criminal conviction and re\u2013offending rates.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This is particularly true of low\u2013income black men, according to US datasets, who made up the majority of the current study. White people, meanwhile, are more likely to report lifetime addiction.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Experts commenting on the findings agree that the results ‘are a long time coming, arriving at a critical juncture of the overdose epidemics fourth wave, and a national mental health crisis.’\u00a0<\/p>\n
However, Professor Erin Bonar, a licensed clinical psychologist, said that any emerging treatments need to be effective for both substance use disorder and depression \u2013 a\u00a0common symptom of cocaine withdrawal \u2013 which the current study could not prove.<\/p>\n
She added that ‘careful balance’ is required when considering psilocybin as a potential treatment for cocaine addiction to avoid a rise in psychedelic use and associated adverse events among a vulnerable population seeking relief.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Cocaine is one of the most widely used illegal drugs in the UK \u2013 second only to cannabis.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Despite its growing reputation as a ‘middle class’ party drug, it is used across every demographic, income level and social group.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And it’s one of the leading causes of sudden cardiac death. Combining the drug with alcohol increases the risk by as much as 25 times, studies show.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A single dose of magic mushrooms could help cocaine addicts break the cycle, new research has suggested.\u00a0 Global cocaine use hit record highs in 2023, with more people turning to the illicit drug during the pandemic than ever.\u00a0 In the UK it is one of the most widely used illegal drugs \u2013 second only to<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9472,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bunyad_sub_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[520],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-hot"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9471"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9471\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}