Molly and Mushrooms as medicine?

Psychedelic assisted therapy is making its way to New Mexico, and Dr. Larry Leeman is at the forefront of the studies.

For the past 10 years, Leeman has directed the Milagro program at UNM, which is dedicated to help postpartum and pregnant women overcome substance abuse. Leeman eventually realized he didn’t just want to treat addiction; he wanted to help people solve its root causes.

“Addiction is a sort of subset to trauma,” Leeman said. “Addiction medicine was caring for the symptoms and in some ways, addiction is a symptom of trauma. The root of our work is resolving trauma and to eliminate the stigma of addiction on a one-to-one level.”

In 2019, Leeman applied for a sabbatical at the University of Wisconsin to begin studies of psychedelic therapies for trauma and addiction with the hopes of bringing his findings back to New Mexico.

“I wanted to bring things here because, honestly, when we talk about trauma and addiction, our rates in New Mexico are really high,” he said. “For all the other studies in the world, if you had an opioid use disorder you were excluded, and we wanted that to be the focus.”

Following his research, Leeman’s first proposal was to use MDMA (also known as ecstasy or molly and commonly used recreationally in the raving community) as a form of treatment for postpartum participants with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and a history of opioid disorder.

Currently, two people are in treatment and one person is going through the screening process. The trial will bring in 15 participants, each of whom will go through 12 weeks of intensive therapy and three medication sessions.

The project is funded through private donations, with $92,095 of the $121,000 goal having been reached.

“What the MDMA-assisted therapy does is take away their (patients) fear for a short period of time. During that time, they have the ability to process the trauma that has led to their PTSD and which have never been able to process,” Leeman said.

The treatments have to go through a rigorous trial and require approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the University of New Mexico Institutional Review Board, which Leeman said took about three years.

What do therapy sessions look like?

Co-therapists will have three sessions with a patient to learn about them and inform patients on what the study will include. One session takes roughly 6-7 hours to complete.

Patients will take a small injection of MDMA and talk about their experiences. Following the session, patients are required by the FDA to stay overnight for an observation. Unlike prescription drugs, the MDMA will not be available for daily use and can only be used in a therapeutic setting. Three integration sessions will happen between each MDMA dosage and the cycle will repeat three times.

“But none of this is like when you go to a drugstore and get a prescription ... to do this at home,” Leeman said. “It’s about doing it in a therapy model for a diagnosis.”

Future studies

As Leeman continues to dive further into psychedelic therapy studies, his next goal is to research the effects of psilocybin (commonly known as “magic mushrooms”) as a form of treatment for major depressive disorder. The study, named by UNM as uAspire Study, is in its third and final phase. If treatment is approved by the FDA, Leeman can begin clinical trials.

Following a six-week treatment period, patients will be monitored for a year to see the effects of the treatment.

Leeman is also the principal investigator for the Reconnect study, a study focused on the use of psychedelic-assisted therapy for treatment for postpartum depression. The treatment would use an injectable psychedelic similar to psilocybin.

Other topics of interest include end of life anxiety, neurochemical and psychological mechanisms of change, and chronic pain.

Leeman also hopes to begin group therapy sessions for psychedelic-assisted treatment. He believes that healing in relation to others is a great way for patients to understand their trauma. It also helps to make treatment more accessible by lowering the cost of treatment per patient.

In the future, Leeman hopes to remove barriers and stigma the community faces in order to help them get the treatment they need.

“There could be different models like centers that are established that could be associated with mental health clinics, private clinics, or psychedelic therapy centers. The key is giving patients a safe space.”