BALTIMORE _ Johns Hopkins Medicine is launching a new psychedelic research center aimed at studying the health and wellness uses of a class of illegal drugs that produce profound changes in consciousness in users.
The center, announced Wednesday, is believed to be the first such center in the United States and the largest in the world.
The Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research at Johns Hopkins Medicine is being funded with $17 million given by a group of private donors. Without federal funding, the center needs private support to pay for such research.
The Hopkins center's research will focus on applications of the drugs for treating opioid addiction, Alzheimer's disease, post-traumatic stress disorder, eating disorders and depression.
"The center's establishment reflects a new era of research in therapeutics and the mind through studying this unique and remarkable class of pharmacological compounds," said Roland Griffiths, the center's director and a professor of behavioral biology in Hopkins' School of Medicine's departments of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and neuroscience, in a statement. "In addition to studies on new therapeutics, we plan to investigate creativity and well-being in healthy volunteers that we hope will open up new ways to support human thriving."
Researchers at Hopkins have been studying psychedelic drugs since 2000, when it was the first to receive federal approval to conduct such research in healthy volunteers. It has since studied primarily psilocybin, the chemical found in so-called magic mushrooms, which its researchers found can significantly reduce anxiety, depression and other emotional distress in cancer patients and can help patients quit smoking. They also have looked at salvia, a hallucinogenic drug once popular with celebrities, and MDMA, also known as ecstasy or molly.
"Johns Hopkins is deeply committed to exploring innovative treatments for our patients," said Dr. Paul B. Rothman, CEO of Johns Hopkins Medicine and dean of the medical school's faculty, in a statement. "Our scientists have shown that psychedelics have real potential as medicine, and this new center will help us explore that potential."
Psilocybin and MDMA are illegal drugs in the United States classified by the federal government along with heroin and cocaine. Laws relating to salvia vary by state, but it's illegal in most states.
But researchers at Hopkins and elsewhere have said such drugs could help in areas of pain, addiction and brain disorders.
Matthew Johnson, an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences in the medical school, will be the center's assistant director.
