The UFC wants to become involved in research into psychedelic drugs as a therapy for the brain health of fighters.
The promotion has reached out to Johns Hopkins University about its psychedelic studies to see if the drugs could be helpful for fighters dealing with brain problems, UFC President Dana White told MMA Junkie on Wednesday.
“We’ll dive into that,” White said.
UFC senior vice president of health and performance Jeff Novitzky told ESPN that interest came from a segment of HBO’s “Real Sports” last month. Novitzky said White had given him a “guideline” to look more into psychedelic research and has been in contact with Johns Hopkins in recent weeks.
The UFC was a major funder of a brain study on professional athletes conducted by the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, and contributed an additional $ 1 million last week. Novitzky said the promotion could be a benefactor of a psychedelic trial with the added option of recruiting current or former UFC fighters to be part of the investigation.
Dana said, ‘Hey, find out what this is about,’ ” said Novitzky. “To see if it helps with traumatic brain injury, addiction, mental health problems. We want to be on board and we want to be the first.”
Johns Hopkins is the national leader in research into the therapeutic effects of psychedelics such as psilocybin (mushrooms) and LSD. The Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic & Consciousness Research received regulatory approval from the U.S. government in 2000 and has conducted more than 60 peer-reviewed studies.
Currently, psilocybin and other psychedelics are classified by the United States government as illegal Schedule I drugs, defined as drugs with a high potential for abuse or drugs that have no medical use.
However, views on psychedelics are changing. Oregon legalized psilocybin in a vote last year.
“Our research has shown therapeutic effects in people suffering from a range of challenging conditions, including addiction (smoking, alcohol, other drug abuse), existential distress caused by life-threatening illnesses and treatment-resistant depression,” said the Johns Hopkins Center. for the Psychedelic & Consciousness Research website.
Former UFC flyweight contender Ian McCall has worked with psilocybin and athletes and participated in a study with Johns Hopkins, he told ESPN’s Michael Rothstein last year. McCall said he has already had talks with the UFC.
“If you go in a cage, if you go in a ring and fight and even football, you give and receive [post-traumatic stress syndrome] and nobody wants to talk about it, but that’s what’s happening, ”McCall said. Your trauma is stored in your tissue, so you actually give and receive PTSD while in there and that’s a big reason why I work in psychedelics, trying to fix those exact things. We need to take better care of these athletes, just as we need to do with vets. “
Novitzky said he has spoken to athletes who have experimented with psychedelics such as ayahuasca, and those struggling with addiction or mental health said the drug has been extremely helpful. The UFC director said he is not sure when the promotion could do anything psychedelic, but the desire is there.
“We want to do it the right way,” said Novitzky. “We want to get all the government approvals when we’re going to do something. We want to figure out how we’re going to recruit fighters. Unfortunately it doesn’t happen overnight. But Dana basically told me, ‘Hey, I want this to happen. Under investigation, bring me some possible avenues we could be involved in. ”
White said that, as with the UFC’s participation in the brain health research, there is a desire to look more closely at potential therapies for fighters with brain problems. UFC veteran Spencer Fisher opened up about his health concerns, including lesions in his brain, in an interview with MMAFighting.com published Tuesday.
“He’s not the first and he certainly won’t be the last,” White said of Fisher. “This is a contact sport. Everyone has done this at some point [when they were] younger – myself included – is dealing with brain problems. It’s part of the gig. “