This psychedelics researcher approached his death with calm and
curiosity
...
...
A few weeks later, Roland Griffiths died on October 16, at the age of
77.
...
...
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Rachel Martin: You started working a lot with psilocybin. Can you
describe what that is in layman terms?

Roland Griffiths: It is a classic psychedelic drug. It comes from psilocybin-containing mushrooms and has been used for hundreds to
thousands of years with indigenous cultures for ceremonial healings or sacramental religious experiences. It comes on fairly quickly and it
doesn't last as long as LSD or mescaline, so it is easier to work
with.

Martin: Do you use the expression "trips"?

Griffiths: No, I avoid that because it just has all of the baggage
from the 1960s.

Martin: You were running these trials explicitly on cancer patients to
see how the psilocybin would affect them.

Griffiths: That was our first therapeutic trial that we ran at Johns
Hopkins with psychedelics. I remember feeling very cautious about what
an experience of this sort would do to someone who's facing the most significant existential threat that they can.

As it turns out, the effects were nothing short of astonishing. This
cohort of people, who met criteria for clinical depression or anxiety,
after a single dose of psilocybin under our supported conditions, the
anxiety and depression dropped markedly - immediately - and markedly
and enduringly. That was the most important feature: We followed
people up for six months and they remained with very low symptom
profiles.

https://www.npr.org/2023/11/05/1210327976/psychedelic-drugs-psilocybin-roland-griffiths-depression-cancer-meditation

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