Most people have known someone whose life got pulled apart by cocaine. Many of them tried to quit more than once. Yet there is nothing a doctor can prescribe to help them stay off it.
That gap is why a team at UTHealth Houston just received a $3.4 million grant from the federal government for a five-year study of psilocybin.
The study will test the compound, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms, in adults who live with both cocaine addiction and depression.
Why cocaine addiction still has no approved medication
Cocaine use disorder affects about 1.4 million Americans, per the 2022 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. No medication has ever been approved to treat it. Clinics are left with talk therapy and incentive programs, and little else.
Also read: 8 warning signs of sleep apnea most people chalk up to just being tired
Depression often rides along. The UTHealth team puts the lifetime overlap at around 40 percent, well above what is seen in the general population. Treating one illness, then the other, has rarely worked for long.
How the trial will work
The phase 2 trial will enroll roughly 50 adults who have both diagnoses. Each will get up to two supervised doses of psilocybin at a UTHealth clinic over 12 weeks, paired with a form of talk therapy called acceptance and commitment therapy.
The therapy teaches people to act in line with their own values even when painful thoughts and feelings show up. Preparation sessions come before the drug, and integration sessions follow. Brain scans will track changes along the way.
What psilocybin brings to the problem
Psilocybin has drawn attention in depression research for years because of what it seems to do inside the brain. The idea is that a single supervised session can loosen the rigid patterns of thought and feeling that keep people locked into addiction, depression, or both at once.
Also read: Your relationships may leave a measurable mark on a specific brain network
Co-principal investigator Thomas D. Meyer, PhD, a professor of psychiatry at McGovern Medical School, framed the reasoning in the press release.
"A lot of people with cocaine use disorder also have depression. There is evidence psilocybin works for depression. Instead of treating each condition separately, why don't we target people with comorbid cocaine use disorder and depression?"
The study is funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Enrollment runs through the Center for Neurobehavioral Research on Addiction in Houston, which can be reached at 713-486-2800.
Also read: Short on steps? Picking up the pace for 30 minutes may lower death risk
Also read: What sitting for hours every day quietly does to your spine and posture
This article is made and published by Aksel Kryhlmand, who may have used AI in the preparation.