一种新的戒烟方式?迷幻疗法为戒烟提供了希望

一种新的戒烟方式?迷幻疗法为戒烟提供了希望

For many Americans, hallucinogens still evoke the psychedelic '60s, bringing to mind the sex-and-drugs lifestyle of the hippie counterculture.

对许多美国人来说，迷幻剂仍然让人想起迷幻的60年代，让人想起嬉皮反主流文化中性与毒品的生活方式。

But that stereotype lags behind reality, by several decades. Today, psychedelic experimentation is more likely to refer to dozens of clinical trials taking place at universities and research facilities. The psychedelics under study range from psilocybin, the active ingredient in psychedelic mushrooms, to MDMA (also known as Ecstasy or Molly), to LSD, among others.

但这种刻板印象落后于现实几十年。今天，迷幻试验更可能指的是在大学和研究机构进行的数十项临床试验。正在研究的致幻剂包括致幻剂蘑菇中的活性成分裸盖菇素、MDMA(也称为摇头丸或茉莉)、LSD等。

Researchers are studying them for their therapeutic potential in treating hard-to-treat conditions such as PTSD, addiction, depression and anxiety.

研究人员正在研究它们在治疗PTSD、成瘾、抑郁和焦虑等难以治疗的病症方面的治疗潜力。

The promise of freedom from cigarettes was what compelled Carine Chen-McLaughlin, 65. to enroll in an experimental study of psilocybin therapy for smokers. She was desperate to break free from her decades-long physical addiction to nicotine. Quitting smoking had felt impossible for so long.

65岁的凯琳·陈·麦克劳克林正是因为看到了远离香烟的希望，才参加了一项针对吸烟者的裸盖菇素治疗实验研究。她不顾一切地想要摆脱几十年来对尼古丁的生理依赖。这么长时间以来，戒烟一直觉得不可能。

"It's basically saying good-bye to a very old friend, and worrying about: Am I going to be OK without this good friend?'" the Baltimore resident says.

“这基本上是在和一个老朋友说再见，然后担心:没有这个好朋友，我能过得好吗?”’”巴尔的摩居民说。

Like many of the 49 million tobacco users in the U.S., Chen-McLaughlin wanted to quit and had tried various methods: nicotine gum, the nicotine patch and even stopping cold turkey. But nothing worked for more than a couple days.

和美国4900万烟草使用者中的许多人一样当时，陈-麦克劳克林想要戒烟，于是尝试了各种方法:尼古丁口香糖、尼古丁贴片，甚至是突然戒烟。但是，没有什么办法能持续几天以上。

The clinical trial she joined took place in her hometown of Baltimore, at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. While she was a bit anxious about the experiment, Chen-McLaughlin says she was nevertheless hopeful about trying something totally different.

她参加的临床试验是在她的家乡巴尔的摩的约翰霍普金斯医学院进行的。虽然她对这个实验有点担心，但陈麦克劳克林说，她仍然希望尝试一些完全不同的东西。

"I think I was more excited that...maybe, maybe this is it!" she says with a laugh.

“我想我更兴奋的是……也许，也许就是它!”她笑着说。

Therapeutic research on psilocybin, LSD and other psychedelic drugs isn't new. Beginning in the 1950s, researchers investigated them as potential treatments for alcohol addiction, cancer-related anxiety, depression and other common psychological ills.

裸盖菇素、LSD和其他致幻剂的治疗研究并不新鲜。从20世纪50年代开始，研究人员把它们作为治疗酒精成瘾、癌症相关的焦虑、抑郁和其他常见心理疾病的潜在手段进行调查。

But then came the "psychedelic '60s," a time when American counterculture embraced these then-legal drugs. The resulting widespread use — and abuse — of psychedelics ultimately triggered a backlash that led the federal government to criminalize these substances. By the early 1970s, many ongoing studies into the potential medical benefits of psychedelics had halted.

但随后到了“迷幻60年代”，美国反主流文化接受了这些当时合法的毒品。迷幻药的广泛使用和滥用最终引发了强烈反弹，导致联邦政府将这些物质不合法化。到20世纪70年代初，许多正在进行的关于迷幻药潜在医学益处的研究已经停止。

"Unfortunately, all of that legitimate research was really sacrificed because of the association between psychedelics and the counterculture," says Matthew Johnson, an associate professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and the lead investigator in the psilocybin study for smoking cessation.

“不幸的是，由于致幻剂和反主流文化之间的联系，所有这些合法的研究都被牺牲了，”约翰霍普金斯医学院的精神病学副教授、裸盖菇素戒烟研究的首席研究员马修约翰逊说。

Today, however, a new wave of psychedelic research has taken hold, with dozens of clinical studies happening at U.S. academic institutions. In fact, some of the experimental therapies involving psilocbyin have recently received "breakthrough therapy" designations from the FDA, which can help speed their progress towards eventual market approval.

然而，今天，一股新的迷幻药研究浪潮已经在美国学术机构展开，数十项临床研究正在进行中。事实上，一些涉及迷幻剂的实验疗法最近已经被FDA授予了“突破性疗法”的称号，这有助于加速它们最终获得市场批准的进程。

Although the studies are legal, the federal government does not provide any financial support for psychedelic research, so the researchers must rely on private organizations for funding. The Johns Hopkins study, for instance, is supported by the non-profit Heffter Research Institute in New Mexico.

尽管这些研究是合法的，但联邦政府并不为迷幻药研究提供任何财政支持，因此研究人员必须依靠私人组织提供资金。例如，约翰霍普金斯大学的这项研究是由新墨西哥州的非营利组织海弗特研究所资助的。

"We're ever hopeful and we're continuing to put in [funding] applications," Johnson says. "But so far, the National Institutes of Health has not funded any therapeutic research with psilocybin."

约翰逊表示:“我们一直充满希望，我们正在继续投入(资金)申请。”“但到目前为止，美国国立卫生研究院还没有为裸盖菇素的治疗研究提供资金。”