South Florida playing pivotal role in transformation of psychedelics as mainstream medicine
MIAMI -- Say the word psychedelics and it brings to mind images of a 60's mind-bending "trip."
But there's a new face to this old class of drugs with a sometimes controversial past.
Doctors are finding psychedelics relieve the "purple haze" of mental health problems that crush so many people. And South Florida is playing a pivotal role in the transformation of psychedelics in the direction of mainstream medicine.
"I felt wrong," says 49-year-old Michael Schur.
Schur says he battled depression and thoughts of suicide from the time he was a child.
Despite trying half a dozen drugs over the years, he said nothing worked until he found the Ketamine Clinic of South Florida located in Pompano Beach.
"There's the pre ketamine me and the post ketamine me. The new me wants to live and be with my family," he said.
Ketamine has been around for decades as an anesthetic, but extensive research has found that when administered in a controlled, medically supervised clinical setting, it was found to help people who don't get relief from traditional mental health drugs.
"Obviously, it doesn't work for 100 percent of our patients, but for those it does, it's transformative."
"It's like having an awake dream into your subconscious and you are able to work out the cause of your depression," said Sonia Cotto.
Cotto is one of the founders of the clinic and a board-certified nurse anesthesiologist.
But the psychedelic makeover that's happening goes beyond ketamine.
At the center for psychedelic and cannabis research in Lauderhill, they have just completed phase two of a government-sanctioned trial for the use of psilocybin
to treat depression.
Psilocybin is a psychedelic derived from magic mushrooms.
While stimulating serotonin receptors in your brain affects mood and perception, psychiatrist and lead investigator Dr. Rishi Kakar said it allows that part of the brain that tells you 'who you are' to reboot.
"So, what this does is allow other parts of your brain to talk to each other, so your sense of depression and anxiety, links to who you are goes away," he said.
Fort Lauderdale attorney Dustin Robinson was so impressed with the research, that his firm Iter Investments is pouring millions of dollars into research and development of psychedelics for a range of mental health issues.
Including the work going on at Psilera on Florida's west coast to develop a patch.
Michael Schur said he's living proof psychedelics can work. His mother was so moved by his transformation that now she's getting ketamine infusions.
"The transformation is huge."
"He loves himself and I love him," she said.