47. Psychedelics for Palliative Care with Dr Margaret Ross

Death is something that every human on earth will experience. Yet, the living knows very little about it. A lack of knowledge can often produce feelings of fear and anxiety of "what comes next?", we call this existential distress.

Show Notes

Dr Margaret Ross is a Senior Clinical Psychologist and Psychotherapist from Melbourne, Australia and the Chief Principal Investigator for Australia’s first psilocybin assisted psychotherapy study. 

 

Throughout her career, her main focus has been youth mental health and more recently cancer and palliative care. Following working as a research psychologist and clinical trial coordinator for The University of Melbourne and Orygen Youth Health, Margaret decided to move into researching alternatives for her oncology patients who were terrified of dying and experiencing existential distress in the face of their diagnosis.

 

After seeing the compelling results of US-based research into the use of psilocybin assisted therapy for patients with existential distress in the face of terminal cancer, she decided to set on a fight so that similar treatments would soon become an option within Australia.

 

Have a listen to this week’s episode in which professor Nutt and Dr Ross talk about the land of Golden Wattle - a DMT-rich plant - fighting for its Drug policies being based on Science.

Recent Australian TGA Independent Expert Panel on MDMA and psilocybin consultation 

 

Psilocybin

Randomized controlled trial (RCT)

Open label dose

Trial of Psilocybin versus Escitalopram for Depression

Drug Scheduling in the UK

Standard for the Uniform Scheduling of Medicines and Poisons (Australia)

National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) 

Entheogens

Golden Wattle

DMT

Dr Ben Sessa 

Ketamine

Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA)

Pitjantjatjara

LSD

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What is The Drug Science Podcast?

Professor David Nutt has spent a career making the argument for a rational, evidence-based approach to drug policy and drug use. The scientific evidence still challenges perceived wisdom on drugs and for that reason can appear to be contentious. In this podcast, the Professor explores the actual harms and potential benefits of various drugs, challenging myths surrounding classification and legislation, and exploring the societal impact of poorly informed drug policy. Using evidence in public policy should not be controversial. A podcast for anyone interested in understanding the scientific truth about drugs, free from political or moral concern.