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rate considered some sort
of success?

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>> An executive order from
President Donald Trump

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calls for fast tracking
research and access to

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psychedelic medicines for
treatment of mental health

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disorders, with $50 million
in funding going to state

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governments for the
research into the

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treatments, the FDA
pinpointed three companies,

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including Madison based
Usona Institute, for its

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new drug Application for
psilocybin in major

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depressive disorder. Usona
says the designation is

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reserved for therapies
addressing critical

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national health priorities
and unmet medical needs.

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The work of UW-Madison
researchers will be part of

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Usona application. The
center for Psychedelic

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Research has been looking
at the promise of

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psilocybin and other
psychedelics with human

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research subjects at its
dosing lab on campus, we

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met with Professor Paul
Hutson there to learn more.

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>> Psilocybin kind of works
by itself. We're here

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primarily to protect the
subject, reassure them if

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they get anxious.
>> So we are sitting in a

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room where patients or
research subjects are

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administered psilocybin.
What happens.

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>> When somebody is coming
in for a psychedelic dosing

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session with psilocybin,
for example? They come

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after about 3 or 4 hours of
preparatory counseling and

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intention setting with the
therapists that are going

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to be sitting with them.
They'll come in, they'll

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lie down on the sofa. After
taking the capsule of

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psilocybin, and then the
two therapists, which would

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be sitting in the chairs
that we're in facing the

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person on the sofa, would
watch and attend them,

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reassure them if that was
something that needed to

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happen with a hand on the
shoulder, perhaps. And then

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after about six hours, they
would be evaluated to make

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sure that they were safe to
go home. They'd go home in

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the care of someone that
they trusted that could

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make sure that they got
home safely. And then we

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bring them back the next
day, typically, and have a

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1 or 2 hour debriefing and
ideally bringing them back

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2 or 3 more times. We think
that that debriefing

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session, that ability to
work with those people with

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whom they've got a
therapeutic alliance is

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critically important to
really maximize the effects

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of the psychedelic
treatments. And one of the

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reasons why we don't expect
that recreational use of

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psychedelics is going to be
anywhere near as

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therapeutically effective
as the more controlled,

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somewhat more complex work
with the therapists.

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>> What do they experience?
>> That's hard to describe,

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and it's going to be
different for every

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individual. And frankly,
it's probably different for

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every medication that we're
using. There's a lot of

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hallucinogen effects like
seeing sounds and abnormal

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visions of patterns in the
carpet, patterns in the

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wall. But they also
describe a noetic, all

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knowing sense of knowledge
that they've experienced

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something very profound. On
the other hand, they

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typically describe it as
being ineffable, very

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difficult to explain.
Sometimes they feel like

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they've come into the
presence of a deity of God.

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Others feel a very, very
alone, like they're in a

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canoe in the middle of the
ocean on a very dark night

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and feel very isolated. But
then on the other hand,

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they that same person might
then be visited by friends

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and deceased relatives. At
least that's what some

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would describe. And so it's
really hard to pin down a

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particular experience for
any individual.

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>> What is the promise of
treatment with psychedelics

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for things like depression
or PTSD?

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>> It's amazing, quite
honestly, what the effects

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of one dose of psilocybin
seem to have. We see some

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really remarkable results
in individuals with

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depression, sometimes
treatment resistant

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depression, and that can
occur within 24 hours. And

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it seems to be durable in
many individuals. Not all.

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Not everybody responds like
that. Just like any

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medication. We also see in
our own work with

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methamphetamine, but also
other institutions looking

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at alcohol, tobacco,
cocaine, some really

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remarkable rapid responses
in terms of decreased uses

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of these drugs of abuse. I
think that one of the

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things that really
surprised me when I first

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got into this was that the
psilocybin and LSD

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treatments are not
addictive, that I was part

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of the this is your brain
on drugs generation. And so

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that was a surprise. But
it's really important to to

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make 'it clear that we do
screen the individuals that

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we bring into our studies.
And I think it's going to

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be important to screen the
individuals that come to us

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after drug approval.
>> What was your reaction

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when you learned of this
executive order? That kind

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of gives the FDA fast track.
>> So the executive order

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does several things, but
the thing that I think is

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going to have the greatest
impact on our work and the

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psychedelic industry as a
whole, is that it is going

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to accelerate the rate at
which the FDA can evaluate

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drugs like this. And in
particular, three companies

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got these national program
vouchers. That is going to

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accelerate even more. The
speed at which the FDA is

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reviewing their
applications for approval.

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The concern that I have,
quite honestly, is that the

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FDA will approve this
sooner than we were

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expecting, and we don't
really have the capacity in

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terms of rooms, but
especially the therapists

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that are going to attend
these individuals to

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accommodate the demand
that's going to occur when

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that happens.
>> And this would be

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happening presumably at
research centers across the

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country.
>> Once the drug is

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approved by the FDA, it
does not have to be at a

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research center. I think
that they are right now the

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ones that are best
positioned to accommodate

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that. But frankly, it's
going to be both an

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academic and a private for
for profit enterprise as

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well. People will need to
go to some of these clinics

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that will charge them out
of pocket for the

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experience. The the
personnel demands to have

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the two therapists sitting
in the room for eight hours

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is going to be one of the
most critical things that

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we have to deal with. How
are we going to, in a

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system where mental health
professionals are hard

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going to expand that
capacity to meet the demand

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from the psychedelic
industry?

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>> And Steil, this is
really exciting news. I

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imagine for someone like
yourself.

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>> It is really exciting.
Yes, we have participated

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in the development of
psilocybin from about 12

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years ago, and some of our
work is actually going into

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the the new drug
application that Usona

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Institute is going to be
working on. So we're really

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excited that we can be part
of that. But helping other

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companies, but also looking
at the mechanism of why

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this happens. We've got
several studies that were

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just asking the
foundational question, why