The Future of Psychedelics with Dr. Matthew Johnson
Dr. Matthew Johnson
In this interview, Don MacPherson is joined by Dr. Matthew Johnson, an expert in psychoactive drug effects, addiction, and risk behavior. They discuss clinical research on psychedelics including psilocybin, ayahuasca, DMT, MDMA, LSD, and more. They dive into potential therapeutic applications for psychedelics including treating depression, PTSD, and addiction. They also explore the potential for psychedelics to improve individual happiness, creativity, empathy, and selflessness.
Season Three of the podcast is dedicated to exploring the future and how life is sure to change over the next decade. This episode provides insight into how research on clinical uses of psychedelics will disrupt the way we live and work.
Matthew W. Johnson, Ph.D., Professor at Johns Hopkins, is an expert in psychoactive drug effects, addiction, and risk behavior. He has worked with psychedelics since 2004. Dr. Johnson published psychedelic safety guidelines in 2008, which helped to resurrect psychedelic research. He developed and published the first psychedelic treatment of tobacco addiction in 2014. With colleagues, he conducted and published the largest study of psilocybin in cancer distress in 2016. His 2018 psilocybin review recommended psilocybin be moved to Schedule IV upon medical approval. He is Principal Investigator on upcoming psilocybin studies treating opioid addiction and PTSD, and LSD research treating chronic pain.
Topics Discussed: Matthew Johnson’s academic background and past research, popular psychedelics for clinical research, peyote, ayahuasca, DMT, MDMA, LSD, methamphetamine, psilocybin, salvinorin A, ketamine, common misconceptions around psychedelics, therapeutic process of taking psychedelics, Tim Leary, non-addictive substances, treating addiction with classic psychedelics, drug abuse vs. drug addiction, potential uses of psychedelic drug treatments, using psychedelics for smoking cessation, bad trips, using psychedelics for treating trauma, PTSD treatment, exposure therapy, psychedelics and cancer, psychedelics for helping the prison population, Rick Doblin (The Concord Prison Experiment Follow-Up), psychedelics and Alzheimers, well-people using psychedelics, psychedelics for leaders and increased EQ, the future of psychedelics.
Learn more about John’s Hopkins Center for Psychedelic Research here: https://hopkinspsychedelic.org/
Learn more about the studies John’s Hopkin’s Center for Psychedelic Research is currently conducting (including the trial concerning Alzheimer’s) here: https://hopkinspsychedelic.org/index/#research