Health Official Touts Psilocybin's’ Therapeutic Benefits

A top U.S. health official on Wednesday touted the therapeutic potential of psychedelics like psilocybin and MDMA, and he also slammed ongoing federal restrictions that are inhibiting research into marijuana.

Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), was asked about psychedelics and cannabis by Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI) during a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing.

The senator said there’s been “potentially promising peer-reviewed clinical research” into the substances and referenced a letter NIH sent him in 2019 that recognized the medical value of certain psychedelics. He asked for a status update on how the agency is navigating the issue.

“There has been a resurgence of interest in psychedelic drugs, which for a while were sort of considered not an area that researchers legitimately ought to go after,” Collins replied. “And I think as we’ve learned more about how the brain works, we’ve begun to realize that these are potential tools for research purposes and might be clinically beneficial.”