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Psychedelics are super illegal.
Even with all the recent media buzz and MDMA, known as molly or ecstasy,
and psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms.
Are schedule one drugs, which by definition,
means they are highly addictive and have no medical value.
Now, if you could all kindly look under your seats,
what you'll find is just a pinch, okay no.
>> [LAUGH] >> Not today,
today I talk about a mental health problem that is just so
big, it's hard to wrap our heads around 8 million
people in the US have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
15 million suffer from alcoholism,
300 million people globally face depression.
300 million people is all
the people in Canada times 8.
Eight Canada's in every single person is sick and hurting.
Can't sleep at night, can't hold a job have lost their autonomy,
their ability to connect with people, they're contemplating suicide.
They have tried again and again to heal and
have failed and it's not their fault.
What we have available for treatment today is just not getting the job done.
Therapy alone has definitely helped some but
dropout rates are high and most people maintain their diagnosis.
Antidepressants come with a whole host of trade offs.
Here, take these pills, they'll manage your symptoms might make you feel
weird in other ways and take them from now until forever, give or take.
>> [LAUGH] >> So, back to psychedelics,
one of the most promising mental health treatments in the last 30
years is psychedelic assisted psychotherapy.
Using psychedelic substances alongside therapy to treat
some of our most debilitating conditions, depression,
anxiety, PTSD, addiction among others.
But how could that be?
It is fair that some of you might be picking your jaws up off the floor.
Others might know the potential of these substances from personal experience and
others here I know are experts who you yourselves could give your own compelling
talks on the safety and efficacy research of psychedelic assisted psychotherapy.
With that in mind, here's what I'll share as one of the 300
million who has suffered from depression.
MDMA and psilocybin are safe.
An important note here is that psychedelic assisted psychotherapy
is delivered in a controlled supervised safe setting.
With preparatory sessions before reflection sessions after and
during the drug assisted experience,
picture eyeshades, headphones and classical music.
You're tucked in under a blanket with a therapist on your right and
a therapist on your left.
That sounds pretty great without any psychedelics.
>> [LAUGH] >> And again,
we do see some progress with therapy alone.
But when you add psychedelics, the impact goes to a whole nother level.
You start seeing data for first responders with
severe PTSD who have failed prior treatment and
after receiving MDMA assisted psychotherapy,
over 50% no longer have PTST.
12 moths later that number continue to rise without additional
intervention to two thirds of patients no longer having PTST.
There are similarly remarkable data for suicide in administered in
conjunction with psychotherapy, substantially reducing depression and
anxiety in patients with with terminal cancer.
Again with persisting sustained effects.
Now the commonality across the conditions being explored is
that they are diseases of rigidity.
Where destructive thoughts of others of ourselves have overtime, calcified.
The negative feedback loop digging us deeper and
deeper into the grooves of our own psyche.
We're stuck.
MDMA is thought to help PTSD in a couple ways.
First, it's an empathigen.
It fosters empathy and connection.
This pro social quality is thought to enhance the rapport between therapists and
patient rapidly accelerating the healing process.
Second, in the brain on MDMA,
we see a quieting of our fear center and an uptick in our memory and
critical thinking what's one theory is that this fear extinction and
memory re-consolidation allows us to face memories of traumatic events
without the fear impulse that typically comes up and shuts things down.
Instead, we can process these memories with emotions other than fear.
Maybe this trauma isn't my fault.
The tone of those memories start to take on a different
color when it isn't so brutal or so haunting.
The depression, anxiety and
addiction we are stuck in negative luminations I am worthless.
Nothing matters.
Alcohol controls my life.
And what psilocybin and other classic psychedelics seem
to do is help us break out of that narrative,
to shake things up and to see the world in a new way.
The patient anecdotes are truly astounding.
Themes of transformation and awakening,
themes of deep connection and unity to everything, to nature,
to total strangers, realizing we are all in this together.
Now, think of another experience described as transformational.
Life changing, where we get to learn so much about ourselves,
connect deeply with others and see the world in a new way.
Places like Stanford, change lives and change the world.
And that is exactly the kind of firepower we need behind this movement.
Researchers have worked tirelessly for decades for
this first opening, to get these drugs off schedule one and
legally provide psychedelic assisted psychotherapy.
The first FDA approval could come as soon as 2022.
That is not a lot of time to build out a world that supports this treatment.
University, psychedelic research centers and medical programs inclusive
of psychedelic assisted psychotherapy you need to happen right now.
This treatment has enormous potential, but its impact will be limited.
If we don't figure out a few things.
First, therapist training.
Anyone who has tried to find a therapist lately knows it can be daunting.
I thought recruiting was just for summer internships.
I did not know that to find a therapist,
I would also need to reach into the depths of my Rolodex, ask for referrals,
all in hopes of finding the right culture fit just to be turned way repeatedly.
There simply aren't enough.
Universities have the infrastructure to scale this much needed skill set.
The campus, the educators and most importantly the vibrant
commitment to world class cutting edge treatment.
Second, diversity championing is a good thing that universities
care deeply about creating inclusive environments,
because they have huge sway in terms of shaping our future leaders.
Who gets educated?
Who gets a shot?
Who gets the platform?
Universities can bring together communities of researchers,
students, patients who mirror the makeup of all those
impacted by the conditions this treatment can heal.
A critical step towards equitable treatment access.
And lastly, reducing stigma.
The Imperial College of London and Johns Hopkins University have
already established psychedelic research centers.
What if Stanford also had a psychedelic research center,
Harvard, UCSF think about what that would do to shape public outlook,
to open people up to the possibility of another treatment option.
We have made good progress,
moving past the stigma of talking about mental health problems.
Now it's time to start overcoming the stigma of talking about
mental health solutions.
You or someone you know and love,
struggles with mental health which means you
have a role to play as a donor, an innovator,
an advocate, there is room for everyone.
We are in this together.
So let's get a lot of healing to a lot of people.
Thank you.
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