The UFC is trying to get involved in research into psychedelic drugs as a therapy for the health of fighters’ brains.
The promotion has been in contact with Johns Hopkins University about its psychedelic studies to see if the drugs could be useful for fighters dealing with brain problems, UFC President Dana White told MMA Junkie on Wednesday.
“We’re sinking into this,” 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 “directive” to further analyze psychedelic research and had been in contact with Johns Hopkins in recent weeks.
The UFC was a key funder for a professional study of athletes’ brains by the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, contributing another $ 1 million last week. Novitzky said the promotion could be a boon to a psychedelic study with the added possibility of recruiting current or former UFC fighters to be part of the research.
“Dana said, ‘Hey, find out what this is about,'” Novitzky said. “To see if it helps with some traumatic brain damage, addiction, mental health issues. We want to be on board and we want to be the first.”
Johns Hopkins is the nation’s leader in research into the therapeutic effects of psychedelics, such as psilocybin (mushrooms) and LSD. The Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Conscious Research obtained regulatory approval from the U.S. government in 2000 and produced more than 60 pieces of peer-reviewed research.
Currently, psilocybin and other psychedelics are classified by the US government as illegal drugs in List I, defined as drugs with a high potential for abuse or drugs that do not have medical uses.
However, opinions about psychedelics are changing. Oregon legalized psilocybin in a vote last year.
“Our research has shown therapeutic effects in people with a number of challenging conditions, including addiction (smoking, alcohol, other drugs of abuse), life-threatening suffering from a life-threatening illness, and treatment-resistant depression,” said Johns. Hopkins Center for Psychedelic & Consciousness Research website.
Former UFC flyweight competitor Ian McCall has worked with psilocybin and athletes and participated in a study with Johns Hopkins, he told Michael Rothstein, ESPN, last year. McCall said he was already in talks with the UFC.
“When you go into a cage, when you go into a ring and you fight and even football, you give and you receive [post-traumatic stress syndrome] and no one wants to talk about it, but that’s what happens, “McCall said.” Your trauma is stored in your tissue, so you actually give and receive PTSD while you’re there and that’s an important reason why I work in psychedelics, to try to fix those exact things. We need to take care of these athletes a little better, just as we need to do with veterinarians. “
Novitzky said he spoke with athletes who experienced psychedelics such as ayahuasca, and those who struggled with addiction or mental health said the drug was extremely helpful. The UFC executive said he was not sure about a time when the promotion could do something in the psychedelic field, but that the desire is there.
“We want to do it the right way,” Novitzky said. “We want to get all the government approval if we do anything. We want to figure out how to recruit fighters. Unfortunately, it’s not something that happens overnight. But Dana practically instructed me, ‘Hey, I want to look at this.’ Bring me some potential ways we can be involved. “
White said that, as with the UFC’s participation in the study of brain health, there is a desire to further analyze potential therapies for fighters with brain problems. UFC veteran Spencer Fisher spoke about his health problems, including brain injuries, in an interview with MMAFighting.com, which was published Tuesday.
“He’s not the first and he certainly won’t be the last,” White said of Fisher. “This is a contact sport. Anyone who has ever done this [when they were] the younger one – myself included – is dealing with brain problems. It’s part of the concert. “