Psilocybin is thought to increase neural plasticity, allowing the brain to more easily change deeply entrenched habits. Photo / Kirill Vasilev
A clinical trial into the use of psychedelic mushrooms to treat methamphetamine addiction is under way - with an East Coast marae leading the kaupapa.
Rangiwaho Marae, in East Coast’s Tairāwhiti Gisborne, is starting a clinical trial that involves psilocybin, the active ingredient in psychedelic mushrooms, to treat whānau affected by methamphetamine.
Commonly known as meth or P, methamphetamine is a Class A substance – the possession of which can lead to up to six months in jail.
The East Coast has the highest per-capita methamphetamine consumption, according to the latest wastewater testing results.
Psilocybin is also a Class A substance.
Though a counterintuitive concept on the surface, the use of psychedelics to treat mental health disorders is not new. Indigenous peoples have used them for thousands of years.
Western medical interest in psychedelics can be dated back to the 1950s before moral panic saw the drugs made illegal in the early 1970s.
Psilocybin is thought to increase neural plasticity, allowing the brain to more easily change deeply entrenched habits.
In recent years, there’s been a significant resurgence in psychedelic medical research. But Rangiwaho Marae is taking an approach grounded in Māori tikanga.
The project, Tū Wairua, is the first of its kind in many ways. It will be the first psychedelic clinical trial completed on a marae that applies a psychedelic therapeutic intervention informed by a te ao Māori framework.
This allows the methamphetamine problem to be addressed on a local level while reclaiming the knowledge and maintaining their roles as kaitiaki, or guardians, of psilocybe weraroa.
Rangiwaho Marae trustee Jody Toroa said it’s about developing a te ao Māori foundation for the future of addiction recovery projects.
“It’s not only reclaiming our mātauranga, our knowledge, but it’s a path forward to walk together, a foundation for developing the whole, in collaboration with academic research,” she said.
Most aspects of the project, from preparation and dosing to integration, reflect the mātauranga and tikanga of Rangiwaho Marae.
It’s a wrap-around project, in collaboration with pharmaceuticals company Rua Bioscience and support from rongoā Māori practitioners, Environmental Science and Research (ESR), Auckland and Waikato universities, Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research, Mātai Medical Research Institute, an iwi health provider, the New Zealand Drug Foundation and other community stakeholders.
Medical practitioner Patrick McHugh and Rua Bioscience founder Manu Caddie have been involved from the beginning.
“I’d noticed meth was becoming a bigger and bigger problem here in Tairāwhiti and there weren’t really any effective treatment options for being able to engage whānau who have problems with methamphetamine,” said McHugh.
“So we use Rua Bioscience to get the licence to cultivate, the first licence in New Zealand.
”We used manāki whenua to help identify the indigenous varieties of the fungi within the rohe of Rangiwaho and elsewhere around the country.”
Hence, Tū Wairua was born.
The trial will work in three phases.
Project co-ordinator Will Tait-Jamieson said there would be a preparatory phase, dosing and integration phase.
“There are strict participation criteria as part of the preparatory phase in order to ensure our participants are medically fit to participate safely,” he said.
“Then there’s the dosing session and then integration.”
Throughout the dosing session, trained kaitiaki (guides) provide talking therapy while medical clinicians monitor the whole process.
“Integration helps the participant interpret the experience in order to convert it into a positive force in their life,” Jamieson said.
Rangiwaho mātauranga and tikanga are woven through all aspects of preparation, dosing, and integration to create a psychedelic-assisted therapy intervention that resonates with whānau.
Tū Wairua is cultivating indigenous psilocybin mushrooms on-site at Whare Atua.
However, the medicine for the current trial is a powdered, natural extract of Psilocybe cubensis.
This species is neither endemic nor indigenous to New Zealand. It’s grown, processed and shipped by a Canadian supplier, and its psilocybin quantity and consistency are tested and verified by an independent laboratory.
The trials were running throughout November and December.
Zach Cotogni, 35, was a self-described “poly-addict” until he discovered psilocybin.
“Whether it was meth, alcohol … pharmaceuticals … if I liked a specific drug, I would use it until I couldn’t get my hands on it any more or the funds had run out,” he said.
“The longest love affair with drugs that I had was with meth.”
He said he couldn’t function in a social setting unless he was drunk or high. Then he discovered mushrooms in Canada.
“That’s how I came across them. I kind of substituted my drinking for mushrooms,” he said.
“Little did I know that they were going to completely alter my life forever.”
Cotogni said psilocybin allowed him to observe his previous behaviour from an objective point of view. He described one trip as “being shown a movie reel”.
“It’s like every single memory of how I behaved and acted towards everyone when I was drunk or high, forgotten memories were replayed and shown to me.”
Cotogni said it forced him to sit down and confront who he’d become.
“I was an arsehole,” he said.
Sober for eight years, Cotogni and his wife now have a son and a home. Although he no longer uses mushrooms, he credits much of his life to them.
“If it weren’t for that, I’d either be dead or in jail,” he said.
His sister Michaela also used psilocybin and said it helped her recover from clinical depression.
The pair have since written a book, Blue Honey, which features a selection of personal experiences of New Zealanders from all over Aotearoa who have healed themselves using psilocybin.
Auckland University’s Dr Suresh Muthukumaraswamy is a neuropsychopharmacologist who has been working with the Tū Wairua team. He said although psilocybin shows promise in addiction recovery, it is not a silver bullet.
“Although the substances themselves are fairly safe, there are a few risks involved, especially when taken in a non-clinical setting,” he said.
Hallucinogen persisting perception disorder is when a person experiences lasting visual hallucinations or perceptual distortions after using drugs. While it is a risk, Muthukumaraswamy said it’s very rare in a clinical setting.
He also cautions that it’s not clear if psilocybin’s success in treating methamphetamine addiction is down to the psychedelic itself, or the psychotherapeutic support that surrounds it.
Katie Oliver is a Christchurch-based multimedia journalist and breaking news reporter.
Much of the South Island is set to plunge below 0C tonight and tomorrow.