Psilocybin-facilitated Smoking Cessation Treatment: A Pilot Study
One of the most promising lines of investigation for the therapeutic use of hallucinogens in the 1960s and 1970s was in the treatment of drug dependence. We propose to examine psilocybin administration combined with a structured smoking cessation treatment program in nicotine dependent individuals in order to provide preliminary data on the efficacy of this combined treatment in smoking cessation treatment. Prior work in our laboratory has shown that under carefully prepared and supportive conditions, psilocybin administration can facilitate highly salient experiences with enduring personal meaning and spiritual significance (Griffiths et al., 2006). It is plausible that embedding such highly meaningful experiences into a drug dependence cessation attempt may provide an enduring motivation for remaining abstinent.
Professor Probes Psychedelic Drugs for a Cure to Nicotine Addiction
Outcomes like Bessant’s raise new possibilities in the war against cigarettes. Even the best smoking-cessation methods have limited efficacy; the drug Chantix has a success rate of less than 35 percent after one year and can have unpleasant side effects.
Of the first five participants to complete the psilocybin study, four weren’t smoking at all a year later and one had cut back to a single cigarette every two weeks. In all, 12 out of 15 volunteers—or 80 percent—were entirely smoke-free after six months. “That really blows out of the water what traditional treatment shows,” Johnson says. Washingtonian
