While big pharma may have a stranglehold on the market for antidepressants, Dr. Robin Carhart-Harris believes mushrooms could break that within the coming five to ten years. Carhart-Harris is one of the UK’s leading researchers on psilocybin mushrooms, and according to a recent study, magic mushrooms provide something to people that antidepressants cannot: an emotional release, which stands in the polar opposite of antidepressants that “blunt” the emotions of patients.
The study is just the first of many studies planned under the banner of the new Centre for Psychedelic Research at London’s Imperial College. Soon enough, the college will also host treatment rooms that make it the UK’s first psychedelic therapy research clinic and a “prototype and inspiration” for licensed psychedelic medicine clinics of the future.
Although much more research has yet to be done, mushrooms have been found to pose little to no risk of overdose or addiction, which could speed their route to becoming an approved drug. If and when psychedelic therapy gets approved, it’s bound to have major consequences for big pharma.
