Roland Griffiths spent the later stage of his career exploring the ways that psychedelic drugs, specifically psilocybin, could help patients with depression, addiction issues and even terminal cancer.
Roland Griffiths' research showed how psychedelics can alleviate depression in people with terminal diseases.
On top of this small assortment of rocks is a relatively new addition: a gold-plated medallion about the size of a quarter. On one side, the words"Meditation" and, underneath,"The true method of knowledge is experiment," from the poet William Blake. On the other side, there's an engraved image of mushrooms and a kind of blessing:"May you remain aware of awareness."A scientist named Roland Griffiths gave that medallion to me.
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.
Fantastic. I addressed the cancer as other, and in general I don't think it's wise to reify anything in mind as anything other than an object of mind. But in this case, I addressed the cancer itself and said,"OK, what's going on here?"