For many years the Beckley Foundation has been working at opening up psychedelic research in the UK. Finally we have been successful in initiating the first psychedelic imaging study using psilocybin and the latest brain imaging technology. The project is being run by Dr Robin Carhart-Harris and Professor David Nutt, Head of Neuropsychopharmacology at Imperial College London, and Chair of the Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs. This landmark project involves investigating the effects of psilocybin on brain activity and blood flow, using fMRI. In the First study we have obtained some remarkable results which are currently being written up and we have now started the second phase of the project where we are investigating how psilocybin may effect depression and the recall of repressed memories.
We are also investigating, at Johns Hopkins University, the use of psilocybin-facilitated psychotherapy as a treatment for resistant addiction to nicotine. The initial results have been very successful.
