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00:00:10,227 --> 00:00:12,450
So in 1943,

2
00:00:12,730 --> 00:00:15,152
Albert Hofmann, a Swiss chemist,

3
00:00:15,152 --> 00:00:19,074
was developing potential medications
for the treatment of migraine

4
00:00:19,074 --> 00:00:21,663
when he's accidentally exposed to one.

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00:00:22,043 --> 00:00:23,733
He felt a little odd and went home,

6
00:00:23,733 --> 00:00:26,924
but he had a pretty good idea
of what he'd been exposed to.

7
00:00:26,924 --> 00:00:28,183
So three days later,

8
00:00:28,183 --> 00:00:32,783
he went back to the lab
and took 250 micrograms of LSD.

9
00:00:32,783 --> 00:00:34,052
(Laughter)

10
00:00:34,052 --> 00:00:37,912
In those days, that was seen
as a minute amount to be taking.

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00:00:37,912 --> 00:00:40,882
Drugs and medications were administered

12
00:00:40,882 --> 00:00:43,633
in the milligram range,
not the microgram range,

13
00:00:43,633 --> 00:00:45,813
but we know now
that was a pretty solid dose.

14
00:00:45,813 --> 00:00:47,253
(Laughter)

15
00:00:48,463 --> 00:00:53,360
So as the effects came on, he realized
the lab was not the right place to be,

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00:00:53,540 --> 00:00:58,693
and so he hopped on his bicycle,
and he started riding home.

17
00:00:58,711 --> 00:01:03,551
And he describes the vivid imagery,
the beauty in nature.

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00:01:03,551 --> 00:01:06,081
And he went on
to self-experiment with LSD,

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00:01:06,081 --> 00:01:09,001
noting that it had these profound effects.

20
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But he didn't know
what the clinical utility of it was.

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00:01:13,124 --> 00:01:16,901
So LSD was sent out
to researchers around the world,

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and it led to thousands
of papers being published,

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demonstrating that
LSD-assisted psychotherapy

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was effective in treating
a range of psychological disorders.

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One of those researchers
was Timothy Leary,

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professor in psychology
at Harvard University.

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But unfortunately, Timothy's
methodologies got a little loose.

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At the end there, he was giving out LSD
to anyone that would pretty much take it.

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(Laughter)

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00:01:49,401 --> 00:01:51,753
So he was fired from Harvard, but -

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(Laughter)

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00:01:53,523 --> 00:01:57,363
this was a time of cultural revolution.

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Young Americans were taking LSD en masse, 
and Leary became their figurehead.

34
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He was seen on national television

35
00:02:04,623 --> 00:02:10,205
telling the youth
to "Turn on, tune in, drop out."

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This was not a good time
for a cultural revolution.

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The US was at war with Vietnam,

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and the authorities noticed
that those that were protesting the war

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were taking LSD.

40
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So LSD was seen as a threat
to the very American institution,

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and in 1968 it was banned,
and this is the start of the war on drugs.

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It was then banned
internationally in 1971,

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the same year President Nixon said
that drugs are public enemy number one.

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The drugs he was referring to?

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Psychedelics.

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Sadly, it also meant the end
of psychedelic science.

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00:02:50,060 --> 00:02:53,001
With prohibition came
a propaganda campaign

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with myths so powerful they've been
perpetuated into the present day.

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One myth is that LSD may be contaminated
with the poison strychnine.

50
00:03:04,751 --> 00:03:09,057
So powerful is this myth
that it's contained in the fourth edition

51
00:03:09,057 --> 00:03:13,093
of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual
of Mental Disorders,

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00:03:13,093 --> 00:03:16,463
published by the
American Psychiatric Association,

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00:03:16,463 --> 00:03:21,183
where it states that one of the dangers
of taking LSD is exposure to strychnine.

54
00:03:21,183 --> 00:03:23,864
Now, this is the diagnostic manual

55
00:03:23,864 --> 00:03:27,402
that psychologists and psychiatrists
around the world use.

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Fortunately, in its most recent edition,

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published in 2013,

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reference to this has been removed,

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because there's never been
any strychnine detected;

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there's no evidence to indicate
that strychnine would be contained in LSD.

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And yet still it was published
in this very distinguished book.

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There's the concern that if you take LSD,
you're going to lose your mind.

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In a literature review of all
the clinical studies that were conducted

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before the prohibition of LSD,

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they found that less that 0.01% of people
that participated in the trials

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00:04:03,223 --> 00:04:05,764
experienced any symptoms of psychosis,

67
00:04:05,764 --> 00:04:10,563
either during or after their 
psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy.

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And it's important here

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that I distinguish between the medical
application of psychedelic drugs,

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which I'm talking about,

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and the recreational use of those drugs,
which we've become so familiar with.

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Then, in 1990,

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00:04:26,465 --> 00:04:28,295
Dr Rick Strassman,


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00:04:28,295 --> 00:04:31,985
a psychiatrist who was trained
during the era of psychedelic therapy

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00:04:31,985 --> 00:04:34,366
and dreamed of being
a psychedelic therapist,

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00:04:34,366 --> 00:04:37,835
was able to re-engage
in psychedelic research.

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He was encouraged by his supervisor
to examine the drug dimethyl-tryptamine

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because the university 
wouldn't know what it was!

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00:04:46,255 --> 00:04:47,505
(Laughter)

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00:04:48,655 --> 00:04:54,236
Dimethyl-tryptamine is possibly the most
potent psychedelic known to humankind.

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It's used by shamans in South America
to enter the spirit world.

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He was encouraged to do
some small-scale blood studies,

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just looking at
the metabolism of the drug.

84
00:05:05,777 --> 00:05:10,457
But what he found far more profound
were the participants' experiences.

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00:05:10,457 --> 00:05:13,547
They reported being transported
to parallel dimensions

86
00:05:13,547 --> 00:05:16,927
where there were entities
communicating with them.

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00:05:17,487 --> 00:05:20,577
Eventually Strassman
wrapped up his research

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00:05:20,577 --> 00:05:22,227
because he felt it was unethical

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to be pushing people
off this psychological abyss

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without knowing where they were going.

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But it was too late.

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He had opened Pandora's Box.

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And we subsequently have seen 
an explosion of psychedelic research,

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what's now being referred to
as the "Psychedelic Renaissance."

95
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So what have we learnt?

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00:05:43,819 --> 00:05:45,968
We've learnt a lot about the brain.

97
00:05:45,968 --> 00:05:49,938
But what really excites me
as a clinically-trained psychologist

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00:05:49,938 --> 00:05:55,219
is mounting evidence
that psychedelic-assisted psychotherapies

99
00:05:55,219 --> 00:06:00,779
are effective in the treatment for people
who don't respond to current therapies

100
00:06:00,779 --> 00:06:03,499
for a range of mental health conditions.

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00:06:03,859 --> 00:06:06,078
So let's look at the evidence.

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We used to think that psychedelics
turned on parts of the mind.

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00:06:10,778 --> 00:06:13,177
We've now learnt
[that] what it actually does

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00:06:13,177 --> 00:06:17,053
is turn off a part of the brain
called the "default mode network."

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The default mode network
is a series of neural pathways

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that connect certain areas
of the brain together,

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while preventing other parts
of the brain cross-talking.

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It's active whenever
you're in a wakeful state.

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It becomes more active when
you engage in autobiographical narration,

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you know, that little voice in your head.

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And it becomes hyperactive
when people experience depression and OCD.

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So what happens with psychedelics
is it turns the default mode network off.

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So what does that look like?

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The picture you can see here
is the brain not on psychedelics

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and the brain on psychedelics.

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See all the intercommunication
and connectivity

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that's happening
between parts of the brain

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that would never normally communicate.

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And it's been hypothesized
that this is the reason

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that people experience creativity
and have spiritual experiences

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00:07:16,127 --> 00:07:18,257
when they take psychedelic drugs.

122
00:07:18,257 --> 00:07:20,828
But more importantly,
it's been hypothesized

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that this increased communication
and increased connectivity in the brain

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00:07:25,627 --> 00:07:31,536
could help treat people who are
treatment-resistant with depression.

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Because with all this interconnectivity
happening in the brain,

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perhaps they can overcome
their entrenched beliefs

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00:07:39,057 --> 00:07:42,838
and see the world from
a completely different perspective.

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And this has been tested recently

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00:07:45,504 --> 00:07:48,820
by a research group
at Imperial College London.

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They gave people psilocybin, which is
the active ingredient in magic mushrooms,

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to twelve people

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00:07:56,574 --> 00:08:00,220
who were treatment-resistant
in the context of psychotherapy.

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The results?

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When given the psilocybin,

135
00:08:03,649 --> 00:08:07,169
there was a significant reduction
in depression symptoms.

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And this was maintained for many people
at a three-month follow-up.

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What's more interesting is

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00:08:13,339 --> 00:08:16,042
[that] because they were doing 
brain scans at the time,

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the people that had the most significant
reductions in depressive symptoms

140
00:08:20,732 --> 00:08:25,100
were those whose default mode network
was turned off the most.

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00:08:25,480 --> 00:08:30,370
Addiction is another area
where we see poor outcomes.

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00:08:30,680 --> 00:08:33,698
A group at Johns Hopkins University

143
00:08:33,698 --> 00:08:37,848
conducted a trial of 
psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy

144
00:08:37,848 --> 00:08:40,381
for the treatment of tobacco addiction.

145
00:08:40,791 --> 00:08:43,031
The results were astonishing -

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00:08:43,201 --> 00:08:48,231
they found that 80% had quit smoking
at a six-month follow-up -

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00:08:48,231 --> 00:08:51,361
when you consider
the leading pharmaceutical today

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00:08:51,361 --> 00:08:56,632
for the treatment of tobacco cessation
is only effective for 25% of people.

149
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This group is now
recruiting more participants

150
00:09:00,382 --> 00:09:04,973
and conducting clinical trials to gather
further evidence for this treatment.

151
00:09:04,973 --> 00:09:08,574
Meanwhile, at New York University,
they're recruiting 140 people

152
00:09:08,574 --> 00:09:14,833
to conduct a clinical trial to evaluate
whether psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy

153
00:09:14,833 --> 00:09:17,973
is effective for people
with alcohol dependence.

154
00:09:18,313 --> 00:09:23,132
We've also found that psychedelics
can help people die with dignity.

155
00:09:23,472 --> 00:09:26,203
Numerous studies have been published now.

156
00:09:26,203 --> 00:09:30,204
Clinical trials, showing that when
psychedelic-assisted therapy

157
00:09:30,204 --> 00:09:36,643
is provided to people
who are experiencing end-stage cancer,

158
00:09:37,053 --> 00:09:42,395
they see a significant reduction
in anxiety symptoms,

159
00:09:42,545 --> 00:09:47,314
an increase in the quality of their life,

160
00:09:47,314 --> 00:09:51,644
and their relationships
with their significant others improve.

161
00:09:52,284 --> 00:09:55,684
Another disorder
that's extremely debilitating

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00:09:55,684 --> 00:09:58,354
is post-traumatic stress disorder.

163
00:09:58,874 --> 00:10:03,136
The current treatments we have
are only effective for 30% of people.

164
00:10:04,026 --> 00:10:06,365
Those that don't respond to treatment

165
00:10:06,365 --> 00:10:12,453
are at risk of addiction,
of relationship breakdown, and suicide.

166
00:10:13,033 --> 00:10:17,455
In the first clinical trial
of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy

167
00:10:17,455 --> 00:10:21,846
for people who are treatment-resistant
with post-traumatic stress disorder,

168
00:10:21,846 --> 00:10:25,735
[they] found that there was 
a significant improvement.

169
00:10:25,855 --> 00:10:27,114
In fact,

170
00:10:27,684 --> 00:10:33,054
83% of participants no longer met
the diagnostic criteria for PTSD

171
00:10:33,054 --> 00:10:35,825
after receiving
MDMA-assisted psychotherapy.

172
00:10:35,825 --> 00:10:39,545
And this was sustained
for three-and-a-half years follow-up.

173
00:10:40,965 --> 00:10:43,655
This study has now been replicated

174
00:10:43,715 --> 00:10:49,205
in Israel, Colorado, Canada, Switzerland,

175
00:10:49,205 --> 00:10:51,346
and the sponsor of the trial,

176
00:10:51,346 --> 00:10:54,597
the Multidisciplinary Association
for Psychedelic Studies,

177
00:10:54,597 --> 00:10:56,696
has been able to pull that data,

178
00:10:56,696 --> 00:11:00,086
they have approached
the US Food and Drug Administration

179
00:11:00,086 --> 00:11:04,286
and now have approval
to conduct Phase 3 clinical trials.

180
00:11:04,542 --> 00:11:06,552
Why is this significant?

181
00:11:06,992 --> 00:11:12,339
Phase 3 clinical trials are the final
stage before a drug becomes a medicine.

182
00:11:12,339 --> 00:11:17,376
And so in the next few years,
we will see MDMA as a medicine

183
00:11:17,376 --> 00:11:20,507
for the treatment of PTSD, in the US.

184
00:11:21,697 --> 00:11:26,647
So, I've mentioned a number
of countries: Israel, Canada, UK.

185
00:11:26,647 --> 00:11:30,197
There's other countries engaged
in the psychedelic renaissance as well:

186
00:11:30,197 --> 00:11:32,438
Brazil, the Czech Republic,
even New Zealand,

187
00:11:32,438 --> 00:11:34,767
but there's one country 
I've not mentioned.

188
00:11:35,117 --> 00:11:36,457
What is it?

189
00:11:37,817 --> 00:11:41,802
Why is there no psychedelic
research in Australia?

190
00:11:41,802 --> 00:11:43,082
(Laughter)

191
00:11:45,646 --> 00:11:48,927
Well, I can tell you
it's not through a lack of effort.

192
00:11:49,767 --> 00:11:56,508
In 2011, given that I believe that
these compounds, these psychedelic drugs,

193
00:11:56,508 --> 00:12:02,268
could assist in the suffering
of hundreds of thousands of Australians,

194
00:12:02,268 --> 00:12:07,080
I helped form Psychedelic Research
in Science and Medicine,

195
00:12:07,080 --> 00:12:11,441
Australia's first and only not-for-profit
incorporated organization

196
00:12:11,441 --> 00:12:12,750
that has a mission

197
00:12:12,750 --> 00:12:17,979
to initiate, fund and facilitate
psychedelic research in Australia.

198
00:12:17,979 --> 00:12:21,249
We've developed a strong
collaboration with MAPS,

199
00:12:21,249 --> 00:12:27,891
and so our first attempt
was to conduct, basically, the same trial

200
00:12:27,891 --> 00:12:32,579
that they've been doing in the US,
in Israel, in Colorado, in Switzerland;

201
00:12:32,579 --> 00:12:35,640
except we wanted to focus on war veterans.

202
00:12:36,020 --> 00:12:38,730
The reason being was strategic.

203
00:12:39,180 --> 00:12:42,679
What kills more Australian soldiers 
than anything else?

204
00:12:45,639 --> 00:12:47,842
You beat me to the punch!

205
00:12:48,582 --> 00:12:51,542
It's not bombs; it's not bullets;

206
00:12:51,542 --> 00:12:53,141
it's suicide.

207
00:12:53,271 --> 00:12:55,161
This is an epidemic.

208
00:12:55,391 --> 00:12:58,171
We thought this would gain public support,

209
00:12:58,171 --> 00:13:04,080
and we submitted the research protocol
to an independent ethics committee.

210
00:13:04,080 --> 00:13:06,031
They had no problem with the methodology;

211
00:13:06,031 --> 00:13:09,343
they didn't have a problem
with administering MDMA to war veterans

212
00:13:09,343 --> 00:13:13,454
with post-traumatic stress disorder
that had not responded to treatment,

213
00:13:13,454 --> 00:13:15,034
but they were concerned

214
00:13:15,034 --> 00:13:18,404
that it wasn't being conducted
in an academic environment.

215
00:13:18,404 --> 00:13:20,443
So we sought out a professor

216
00:13:20,443 --> 00:13:23,493
who would come on board
as the Chief Investigator.

217
00:13:23,843 --> 00:13:26,884
He was based at a Victorian university,

218
00:13:26,884 --> 00:13:30,264
and last year we submitted the protocol

219
00:13:30,264 --> 00:13:33,613
to that Victorian university's 
ethics committee.

220
00:13:33,613 --> 00:13:36,254
Before it reached the ethics committee,

221
00:13:36,254 --> 00:13:41,305
the Deputy Pro-Vice-Chancellor
stepped in and vetoed it.

222
00:13:41,655 --> 00:13:46,915
She said, "We're not conducting
this sort of research at our university."

223
00:13:47,605 --> 00:13:51,325
And we believe this is the result
of academic conservatism.

224
00:13:51,825 --> 00:13:53,765
So what do I mean by that?

225
00:13:53,765 --> 00:13:58,015
Well, when you think of people
who use illicit drugs,

226
00:13:58,015 --> 00:14:00,625
most people don't experience harm.

227
00:14:00,625 --> 00:14:02,705
Yet all the research we conduct

228
00:14:02,705 --> 00:14:06,714
is focused on this small group
who do experience harm.

229
00:14:07,414 --> 00:14:11,665
It's been described by Mugford
as the pathological paradigm of drug use.

230
00:14:11,665 --> 00:14:12,885
(Laughter)

231
00:14:12,895 --> 00:14:15,524
Drugs are not illegal
because they're harmful;

232
00:14:15,524 --> 00:14:18,846
they're perceived as harmful
because they're illegal,

233
00:14:18,846 --> 00:14:23,396
and only research
that perceptuates that perception

234
00:14:23,396 --> 00:14:25,606
is funded by the government.

235
00:14:25,606 --> 00:14:29,826
And this is a major barrier to conducting
psychedelic science in Australia,

236
00:14:29,826 --> 00:14:31,396
because we want to demonstrate

237
00:14:31,396 --> 00:14:35,476
the therapeutic benefit
of these illicit substances.

238
00:14:36,556 --> 00:14:39,537
Further, there's vested interests

239
00:14:39,977 --> 00:14:45,556
in people who are delivering and
investigating the conventional treatments.

240
00:14:45,556 --> 00:14:47,327
They say they work.

241
00:14:48,777 --> 00:14:54,316
Meanwhile, institutions are getting
significant government funding

242
00:14:54,316 --> 00:15:00,897
to perpetuate the idea that illicit drugs,
including psychedelics, are harmful.

243
00:15:03,707 --> 00:15:05,617
This has not led us to give up.

244
00:15:05,617 --> 00:15:09,047
In the past six months,
we've published the first two papers

245
00:15:09,047 --> 00:15:13,766
on psychedelic science
in the Australian scientific literature.

246
00:15:13,877 --> 00:15:19,437
We hope that this will increase
the awareness of academics,

247
00:15:19,437 --> 00:15:22,478
increase the awareness
of healthcare providers

248
00:15:22,478 --> 00:15:25,047
so that we can have another go

249
00:15:25,047 --> 00:15:30,208
and get MDMA-assisted psychotherapy
and other psychedelic research

250
00:15:30,208 --> 00:15:32,088
underway in Australia.

251
00:15:32,088 --> 00:15:34,039
Because if we don't act now,

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00:15:34,039 --> 00:15:38,239
and if we don't start a psychedelic
science program in Australia,

253
00:15:38,239 --> 00:15:42,277
hundreds of thousands
of Australians will continue to suffer.

254
00:15:42,567 --> 00:15:46,409
War veterans will continue
to commit suicide,

255
00:15:46,419 --> 00:15:49,679
or MDMA becomes a medicine in the US,

256
00:15:49,679 --> 00:15:52,757
so they fly to the US to get treatment.

257
00:15:53,097 --> 00:15:54,697
How long will it take

258
00:15:54,697 --> 00:15:59,749
before Australia joins
the international psychedelic renaissance?

259
00:15:59,749 --> 00:16:00,918
Thank you.

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00:16:00,918 --> 00:16:02,308
(Applause)