Dr. Celia Morgan is one of the UK’s leading figures in ketamine and psychedelic research, especially in the domain of addiction and mental health.

Based at the University of Exeter, she holds the Chair of Psychopharmacology and leads trials exploring how ketamine, paired with psychotherapy, can break cycles of relapse in substance misuse.

Morgan has led some of the largest clinical trials on ketamine-assisted therapy for alcohol use disorder and will be speaking at the upcoming PSYCH Symposium: London 2025, to be held at Conway Hall on December 4.

“I think that the most promising findings from our work with ketamine are of the sense of agency and autonomy in their recovery that the people we are working with experience,” she told Psychedelic Health in a written interview.

Still, she thinks several key challenges need to be tackled for these treatments to be able to reach more people. One of the biggest of such challenges is ensuring equitable access to these treatments.

“We see a relatively homogenous and privileged group in most studies, our work has tried to address this,” she said.

Building the infrastructure to safely deliver these treatments in public healthcare systems is another big challenge for the industry, she said.

Yet the healthcare sector can also take advantage of Ketamine’s regulated status to allow for a faster roll-out, when compared to other psychedelics like MDMA or psilocybin.

“Some of the recent recommendations by the Royal College fo Psychiatrists are steps on the way towards more widespread use,” she said.

What distinguishes Morgan in the psychedelics field is her dual commitment. She studies the risks and harms of recreational ketamine use while simultaneously designing controlled, clinical applications for it.

One of her flagship projects is Exeter’s KARE trial (Ketamine for Reduction of Alcohol Relapse), which blends ketamine infusions with psychotherapy for patients with alcohol use disorder. Early published data show dramatic improvements in abstinence rates during six-month follow-ups, far exceeding baseline relapse rates. Morgan has also worked on trials for gambling disorder and other behavioral addictions, expanding the frontier of what ketamine-assisted therapy might treat.

Morgan also plays a role in academia’s response to the psychedelic renaissance, she’s a co-lead on Exeter’s postgraduate certificate in psychedelic studies, a program designed to train clinicians, researchers, and therapists in the science and ethics of psychedelic medicine.

“I think its important to keep on with our efforts to study, regulate and roll out these treatments principally for the patients who might benefit from psychedelics as I have seen first hand in my work,” she said.

Picture is extracted from an interview with Dr. Morgan at PSYCH Symposium’s 2022 edition.

Professor David Nutt stands out as a leading figure in modern psychedelic science, tirelessly pushing the boundaries of how drugs such as psilocybin, MDMA, LSD, DMT, and ketamine, are understood, regulated, and used in therapy. 

Since 2008, he is the Edmond J. Safra Chair in Neuropsychopharmacology at Imperial College London and in 2010, he founded Drug Science, a charity that “works to provide an evidence base free from political or commercial influence, creating the foundation for sensible and effective drug laws.”

​He decided to found the organisation after his removal from his post as the government’s Chair of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs in 2009.

On December 4, Drug Science will co-host PSYCH Symposium: London 2025, where Prof. Nutt and other key figures in the psychedelics space will meet for a day of lectures, panel discussions and industry networking.

Landmark Research in Psychedelic Therapy

In recent decades, Nutt has been central to studies showing that psychedelics can do more than produce altered states. These compounds may help “reset” rigid brain-patterns linked with depression, addiction, PTSD, and other disorders. 

Under his direction, some of the first modern brain-imaging studies with psilocybin were conducted, showing how the compound disrupts rigid patterns of connectivity in the brain and enhances communication between regions normally kept apart. His team also ran early clinical trials in patients with treatment-resistant depression, where just two guided psilocybin sessions produced rapid and, in some cases, lasting reductions in depressive symptoms. 

In an interview with Psychedelic Health, Prof. Nutt said he’s currently dividing his time between his post at Imperial College London, his work with Drug Science, and his endeavours at Solvonis, a company developing new studies with ketamine and MDMA alternatives for addiction.

Earlier this year, Solvonis completed the purchase of Awakn Life Sciences, where Nutt served as Chief Research Officer.

Moving the Needle On Psychedelics Regulation

Nutt is outspoken about how law and regulation have stifled psychedelic research. He has repeatedly called for reform to the scheduling of substances like psilocybin and LSD, arguing that many legal controls are more political than scientific. His 2009 dismissal from the UK Government’s Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs came after controversy over his claims that some illegal drugs are less harmful than alcohol.

While the UK is slowly moving towards removing barriers for research with psychedelic substances, the country still lags behind others in Europe and the English-speaking world. Prof. Nutt says he finds the rescheduling of psilocybin and MDMA therapy in Australia one of the most significant developments in the regulatory landscape of recent years.

Germany’s landmark step to introduce compassionate access to psilocybin for patients with treatment-resistant depression, a first in the European Union, also stands out for him, as well as the recent decision from the Czech Republic’s lower house to allow the medical use of psilocybin.

Nutt told us he continues to strive for the regulation and equitable access of psychedelics because he believes they’re are “the most exciting new treatments for mental health disorders and addictions in half a century.”

Psychedelic Health is the official media partner for PSYCH Symposium: London 2025.

Psyched Wellness CEO Jeff Stevens speaks to Psychedelic Health about how the company has launched the first legal Amanita muscaria extract available for sale in the United States.

The Amanita muscaria mushroom – also known as the fly agaric – is famous the world over for its striking looks. Often present in folklore and fairy tales, the iconic red and white mushroom has been consumed for centuries in traditional settings.

Amanita muscaria is mainly known for the psychoactive compounds ibotenic acid and muscimol. Deaths from Amanita muscaria are extremely rare, but it can make people very ill if not prepared properly. There is currently very little research into the mushroom, meaning the current scientific understanding of Amanita mascaria’s therapeutic benefits is limited. 

Psyched Wellness is now working with the mushroom to investigate its properties on the likes of sleep, anxiety and inflammation. 

The company is one of the first to commercialise a legal Amanita muscaria extract – ‘Calm’. Primarily composed of muscimol, Psyched says the product aims to promote feelings of relaxation and calmness, without producing any psychedelic effects.

Psyched Wellness’ CEO Jeff Stevens told Psychedelic Health that the company identified Amanita muscaria as its mushroom of choice as muscimol has never been scheduled as a drug. This enables the company to work with the compound as a food supplement by obtaining a Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS) approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

“We have done two years of scientific studies in our preclinical trials, which included toxicology, safety studies, and a whole host of other studies, to compile all of that data to submit it to get a GRAS approval,” said Stevens.

“We compiled a dossier that was peer-reviewed and approved. So, the path we chose rather than going to clinical trials to develop a drug, was to find a way to bring some of these really exciting and special compounds to market.

“The mushroom itself is legal. But to convert that into a product for human use, and human consumption is illegal unless you do the work that we’ve done. We spent time getting the scientific data, to present that data and get approvals.

“We’re so excited about Calm coming to market. It’s our flagship product. It’s a tincture in a 30 mil bottle, and we recommend one to two milliliters per dosage that fall within our GRAS approval range. There’s room to go higher if you just so if you so desire, but it it’s designed to be microdose, so we use it to promote relaxation and restfulness.”

Human clinical trials have not yet been carried out on Calm, but Stevens says preclinical data suggests that muscimol could potentially help with the likes of pain, anxiety and sleep. 

“We recognise that globally, there’s a sleep issue whether you’re aged 15, 95 or in between. We wanted to do something that we felt could help the most amount of people,” said Stevens. 

“When you look at people struggling with the stresses of the world – coming out of Covid-19 and inflation and all of the things that are happening now – having something that can help you relax that you can take 30 minutes before you go to bed is beneficial.”

The wellness opportunities of psychedelics

Highlighting the changing attitudes of mainstream media towards psychedelics, Stevens says that as the psychedelic industry matures, there needs to be a recognition of the health and wellness opportunities as well as the medical opportunities that these compounds can provide. 

“People – such as Prince Harry – are talking about how they’ve used psychedelics and how it’s benefited them from an anecdotal standpoint, and that’s being backed up now scientifically with results that are coming through from clinical studies,” said Stevens.

“Psyched Wellness is in a unique situation because we’re not working with a scheduled drug. We’re a food supplement.

“I really think that as we progress as an industry, we should start talking about the fact that these are actually health and wellness opportunities.”

Calm is Psyched Wellness’ flagship product and the company’s research and development team is now working to bring other methods of delivery to market. The tincture is currently sold in 40 different states through the company’s online channels, but Stevens says it intends to open brick-and-mortar stores in the future.

Psyched Wellness is also carrying out studies with the National Research Council of Canada on the anti-inflammatory qualities of AME-1 – the company’s proprietary extract of Amanita muscaria from which Calm is derived.