What is frightening to some is that some psychedelic trips can leave you hallucinating for hours, which for a lot of people is a non-starter.
As an alternative, some have turned to microdosing, which is the taking of a sub-hallucinogenic dose of a psychedelic, and they have benefited from the positive aspects of the substance without the trip.
This has led scientists to wonder if one can completely separate the trip from the medicine.
Some psychonauts believe that the hallucination is part of the medicine. This thought is echoed by Christof Koch, Ph.D. and chief scientist of the Allen’s Institutes MindScope Program.
He claims:
“I strongly suspect that you cannot separate the two. Hallucinating is an essential part of the way these drugs work.”
Despite this claim, several companies are working to decouple the “trip” from the healing properties of these medicines.
Who is trying to commercialize this?
- Delix Therapeutics, founded by David Olson, is synthesizing psychedelic-like molecules that lack the hallucinatory powers but retain the benefits of rewiring the human mind.
- Onsero has licensed a novel compound jointly-patented by Yale, UNC-Chapel Hill and UCSF which triggers long-lasting and immediate antidepressant effects after just one dose. The compound is described as having the same antidepressant activity as ketamine and psilocybin but without the trip.
- EmpathBio, a subsidiary of Berlin-based atai Life Sciences, started clinical trials in September 2022 with their MDMA-derivative, EMP-01, which avoids interactions with certain receptors linked to drug-induced increases in heart rate and blood pressure.
This article was first published in Nina’s Notes on 28 December and is republished on Psychedelic Health with permission.
