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Category: Addiction News

  • Could "Magic Mushrooms" Help You Stop Smoking?

    Could "Magic Mushrooms" Help You Stop Smoking?

    A new study examined whether psilocybin could help long-time smokers put down their butts for good. 

    Once dismissed as a remnant of ’60s counterculture, and eventually banned as a Schedule I drug, psilocybin—the naturally-occurring psychedelic compound found in certain species of mushrooms, thus earning them the sobriquet “magic mushrooms”—has in recent years been ushered to the forefront of medical and psychological research for its reported efficacy in treating any number of health conditions, including depression and alcoholism.

    Now, a new study suggests that psilocybin may also help to curb smoking, as evidenced by the results of six years of research involving smokers who had tried and failed to quit smoking on multiple occasions.

    The study found that through controlled psilocybin use and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), more than half of the participants had successfully quit smoking after a six-month period—a higher rate of abstinence than with CBT alone, according to researchers.

    The study, conducted by researchers from Johns Hopkins University, involved 15 study participants—10 men and 5 women, all at an average age of 51, and who smoked, on average, slightly less than a full pack (19 cigarettes) daily for 31 years. All had attempted to stop smoking on previous occasions, but had failed.

    The study authors administered treatment to the participants and then followed up with them over a period of six years, between 2009 and 2015.

    The treatment consisted of carefully controlled and monitored psilocybin use in conjunction with CBT. After a period of more than two years, the researchers invited the participants to take part in a follow-up interview to determine if and how the treatment affected their smoking. Twelve of the original 15 participants took part in the interview.

    What researchers found was that the 12 participants had not only succeeded in complete smoking cessation after six months, but also experienced a host of additional emotional and psychological responses to the treatment.

    Participants said that through a combination of the treatment, counseling, a “strong rapport” with the study team, and a sense of momentum after taking part in the study all contributed to their achieving abstinence.

    They also reported “gaining vivid insights into self-identity and reasons for smoking” from the psilocybin treatment, and the sense of “interconnectedness, curiosity and awe” continued after the treatment had ended. Participants also said that they felt an array of “persistent” positive feelings, including “increased aesthetic appreciation, altruism, and pro-social behavior” as a result of their participation.

    The researchers concluded that the results of their study underscored the value in continuing research into what some have labeled “psychedelic therapy,” and recommended future research trials.

    Their findings also supported previous study findings by Johns Hopkins researchers, which suggested that lifetime smokers treated with psilocybin experienced twice the rate of abstinence than those who used the FDA-approved drug Chantix.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Jenna Jameson Celebrates Three Years of Sobriety

    Jenna Jameson Celebrates Three Years of Sobriety

    “Today is an important day for me in my recovery. 3 years. I can’t begin to explain what sobriety has brought to my life. But I will try.”

    Former adult film star Jenna Jameson took to Instagram this week to celebrate three years of living sober.  

    “Today is an important day for me in my recovery. 3 years. I can’t begin to explain what sobriety has brought to my life. But I will try,” Jameson wrote in an Instagram post. “Yes, I’m not the intensely self centered ‘the world owes me something’ woman anymore. I am now the ‘What can I do for the world’ woman.”

    Jameson hasn’t spoken extensively about her addiction, but there are reports that she was abusing alcohol and prescription pills. Her post was tagged #aa and #na, and she has suggested that she used 12-step fellowships to help her stay sober. Along the way, the 44-year-old said that she discovered new things about herself. 

    “Sobriety has taught me a lot about myself, my coping mechanisms that I ignored came bubbling to the surface quickly after getting sober,” she wrote. “That scared me. Everything I knew was wrong. Everything I believed in was hurting me, not helping. Meetings and leaning on my Sober friends… made things bearable the first year. I was surviving. Sober. It was shocking at first, but now it’s my new normal.”

    Now, she recognizes that her substance abuse was an attempt to fill a void. “I think back to the way I used to run… run as far and as fast as I could, and I pray to God I never feel that emptiness again,” she wrote.

    In April 2017, Jameson gave birth to a daughter and struggled afterward with her weight. Now, she has dropped from 187 pounds to 130, a journey she has celebrated on social media.

    “My weightloss has solidified my toughness and strength,” she wrote. “I know I am capable of beautiful things and these are the qualities I want to teach my daughter. No matter what life throws at you, you can overcome and flourish. 3 years. 3 whole years. I am grateful. Just for today.”

    Previously, Jameson worried that she couldn’t maintain weight loss while sober. 

    “I was worried I couldn’t lose the weight sober,” she wrote earlier this year. “I’m being real with you. When I was in my addiction it was easy to stay thin. Sobriety and being overweight was new to me. I kept telling myself if I could beat addiction and stay sober, I can easily lose the weight… and I did. The healthy way.” 

    Both weight loss and recovery have shown her how to tap into her inner strength, she said. 

    “And as of today I can say my mental game is STRONG,” she wrote on Instagram. “I feel I can do anything, I conquered abuse, addiction, PTSD and depression.” 

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Taraji P Henson Talks Breaking Mental Health Stigma, Therapy

    Taraji P Henson Talks Breaking Mental Health Stigma, Therapy

    “I go home to problems just like everybody else. I’m here to tell you, I have a therapist. I probably need to see her more often.”

    Actress Taraji P. Henson is continuing her campaign to create dialogue about mental health in the black community.

    In a recent appearance on GMA Day, Henson got personal with some strong words about mental health. “When I go to set and you see me as Cookie and they yell ‘Cut,’ I go home to problems just like everybody else. I’m here to tell you, I have a therapist. I probably need to see her more often,” she said on the morning show.

    In August, the Empire actress launched the Boris Lawrence Henson Foundation (BLHF) in honor of her late father. “My dad fought in the Vietnam War for our country, returned broken, and received little to no physical and emotional support,” Henson said at the time. “”I stand now in his absence, committed to offering support to African Americans who face trauma daily, simply because they are black.”

    Through her foundation, the actress is targeting the African American community specifically to eradicate the stigma around mental health issues, hoping to break the silence and encourage the community to be open about their struggles.

    “Why aren’t we embarrassed to talk about our thyroid problem but we’re embarrassed to talk about our mental [health]? As far as African Americans, we don’t include that in total health care and that’s a problem,” said Henson.

    The three main goals of the BLHF are to provide mental health support in urban schools, increase the number of African American mental health professionals, and reduce the prison recidivism rate.

    “We need psychologists in urban schools. These kids are coming to school every day trying to learn and they’re coming from really traumatic situations at home,” Henson said on GMA Day.

    By increasing the number of black mental health professionals in the US, and having a presence in schools, BLHF is hoping to build trust between the black community and mental health professionals.

    “You have to understand the culture,” said Henson. “If you go into a therapist session and you’re looking at the person and you feel like, ‘I can’t say this. What would they think about me if I say this?’ Then we’re not getting any work done.”

    Another barrier to mental health support in the black community is the perception of weakness. “We’re told to pray [mental illness] away. We’re told that it’s a weakness or we’re demonized because we express these feelings that have been bottled up for so long,” said Henson.

    By attacking the stigma with a multi-faceted approach, Henson is hoping to break the silence, and the cycle, of mental illness.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • An Open Letter to Addiction Treatment Providers

    An Open Letter to Addiction Treatment Providers

    There’s something wrong with addiction patients feeling the need to ask for medical advice from their communities because they don’t trust their providers.

    Maybe you’re a psychiatrist. Maybe you’re a dosing nurse at a methadone clinic. Maybe you’re an inpatient counselor. Maybe you work in an emergency department, or you’re an OBGYN; maybe you don’t specialize in addiction at all, but you regularly come into contact with people who are struggling with the condition. If you’re a medical professional, and all or some of your clients have a substance use disorder (SUD) diagnosis, this letter is for you.

    I am a person in remission from a substance use disorder. I’m here to tell you that addiction patients need you to understand our condition. That sounds basic, I know. It is basic. But here’s the thing: too many of you don’t understand. I’m not trying to attack you. I’m not saying you’re all misinformed. There are unquestionably many caring and well-informed providers doing excellent work in this arena. But it’s also true that enough of you are misinformed to be causing major problems for SUD patients. And that needs to change. Like yesterday.

    Right now my husband is white-knuckling his way through methadone withdrawal while his clinic works on getting him safely back on his therapeutic dose after one of you, a behavioral health doctor, rapidly dropped him 100 milligrams without consent, for no medical reason, while he was in the hospital for mental health reasons. And in 2014, my newborn daughter went through over a month of neonatal withdrawal from my prescribed methadone, which could have been prevented or lessened if my pre- and postnatal providers had made a few small changes to their protocols; sadly, this kind of medical treatment is still provided to mothers and infants across the country.

    Every damn day SUD patients crowdsource medical information from social media communities and online forums, often due to mistrust in the medical community when it comes to addiction care.

    Sara E. Gefvert, a certified recovery specialist who runs the Methadone Information Patient and Support Advocacy (MIPSA) Facebook group, says that she created MIPSA because she saw members of other communities receiving unreliable responses to medical questions. “Many MAT sites and groups I saw were not monitored frequently for correct and accurate content or were only adding to the misinformation and stigma that persons in recovery face, especially being on medication-assisted treatment.”

    In just one day, questions asked in five separate addiction treatment-focused Facebook groups included: 

    What kind of pain relief options are available during labor while I’m on buprenorphine?
    Should I raise my methadone dose if I have psychological but not physical cravings?
    Is it normal to lose my sex drive while on methadone?
    Am I still in recovery if I drink alcohol occasionally?
    Can cold-turkey opioid withdrawal kill you?
    Is it safe to detox while pregnant?
    Can you combine buprenorphine and methadone?
    Should my methadone be making me nod out?

    And others along those lines.

    These are all medical questions with real world consequences—some dire. The answers to these questions should be coming from trusted providers with medical expertise. Sure, people crowdsource medical information from the internet all the time, but it’s usually about pretty mild concerns, or trying to squirrel out whether they should go to a doctor. On the other hand, these addiction specific questions are often accompanied by complaints that the patient couldn’t get a straight answer from her treatment provider, or that the information she received was the opposite of what she read in a research study or an online article. There’s nothing wrong with people seeking community input on issues they’re facing, especially when the answers are reviewed by knowledgeable and professionally trained administrators like in the MIPSA group.

    There is, however, something wrong with addiction patients feeling the need to ask for medical advice from their communities because they don’t trust their providers.

    This seems to be an especially prevalent issue for medication-assisted treatment (MAT) patients. I was on methadone for about a year in 2013 and 2014, and on buprenorphine from 2014 to June of 2018 (with a short break of about five months in 2016). Before starting methadone, I was actively addicted to heroin for close to five years. In all of that time, I heard a lot of different things from a lot of different doctors, nurses, counselors and detox staff in virtually every region of the country. For example:

    Buprenorphine is only good as a detox aid.
    Buprenorphine works best as a long-term treatment.

    Methadone is more addictive than heroin.
    Methadone creates a dependency but effectively treats addiction.

    Breastfeeding while on methadone is unsafe.
    Breastfeeding while on methadone can help ease neonatal withdrawal.

    I can’t count myself sober if I take medication
    I’m at an increased risk of relapsing and overdosing if I detox.

    Addiction is a disease.
    Addiction is a spiritual malady.

    How was I supposed to tease out the truth from all that?

    With all the confusing and contradictory information that patients receive about addiction, it would be easy for someone to assume that the medical science is still out. In reality, there’s quite a lot of straightforward, peer-reviewed data about substance use disorders. Frankly, there is no excuse for a medical provider to ignore these facts. For example, decades of research have shown that methadone (a long-acting opioid agonist) and buprenorphine (a partial opioid agonist), help deter opioid misuse, decrease the risk of fatal overdose, and may help to correct neurochemical changes that took place during active addiction.

    To quickly address some of the other misinformation I’ve encountered:

    • Both methadone and buprenorphine treatment are appropriate, and in fact designed, for long-term use. Patients who choose to taper from these medicines can do so safely, but there is no generalized medical reason why someone with an opioid use disorder should be forced off either medication.
    • Breastfeeding while on methadone or buprenorphine is considered safe as long as the mother is not using other substances.
    • If a patient is using these medicines as prescribed and is not using other substances in a compulsive manner, they are in remission from their substance use disorder. In other words, they’re sober (though defining oneself with the term “sober” is a personal choice).
    • Addiction is medically defined as a disease. Which means that the onus is on our medical providers to stay informed about the science of this disease.

    Ultimately, you can’t be held responsible for everything your patient does. But you do have a responsibility as a treatment provider to give your patients accurate and informed medical advice.

    According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA), about 20 million adults in the United States have a substance use disorder. So we’re not talking about some rare condition that only a handful of specialists can be reasonably expected to understand. This is a common, treatable disorder with a robust body of solid research behind it. You need to read that research. You need to stay informed. If you don’t have an answer to a patient’s question, you need to refer them to an accessible colleague who will. You took an oath to do no harm. Staying informed about addiction medicine is part of keeping that oath.

    Sincerely,

    Elizabeth Brico

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Alcohol Responsible For 5% Of Deaths Worldwide

    Alcohol Responsible For 5% Of Deaths Worldwide

    A new WHO report found that alcohol-related deaths continue to be a major issue, particularly among men.

    More than 5% of worldwide deaths can be attributed to alcohol, according to a new report. 

    The data was part of a report from the World Health Organization (WHO) that is released every four years, according to the Guardian.

    The report found that of the approximately 3 million alcohol-related deaths per year, about 2.3 million in 2016 were men. It also noted that nearly 29% of deaths caused by alcohol were the result of injuries, including driving incidents and suicides. 

    A standout finding of the report was the toll that alcohol takes on younger generations. For example, the report found that 13.5% of deaths in those in their 20s were linked to alcohol somehow, while alcohol was held responsible for 7.2% of premature deaths in all. 

    Despite the fact that worldwide alcohol-related deaths have decreased from 5.9% to 5.3% since 2012, Dr. Vladimir Poznyak, a WHO alcohol-control expert who was involved in the report, tells the Guardian that the results are not something to take lightly.

    “Unfortunately, the implementation of the most effective policy options is lagging behind the magnitude of the problems,” he said. “Governments need to do more to meet the global targets and to reduce the burden of alcohol on societies; this is clear, and this action is either absent or not sufficient in most of the countries of the world.” 

    Additionally, Poznyak added that the numbers in the report were likely an underestimate.

    “Alcohol use starts in many countries well before [age] 15, so that is why we can say that our estimates are quite conservative, because we don’t count at all the impact of alcohol consumption on kids below 15,” he told the Guardian.

    On a more positive note, the report also detailed the fact that in some regions, such as Europe and the Americas, the number of drinkers is decreasing.

    In Europe, consumption per person has decreased from 10.9 liters of pure alcohol in 2012 to 9.6 in 2016. Even so, Europe remains the region where the most alcohol is consumed overall.

    Rajiv Jalan, professor of hepatology at University College London, tells the Guardian that one of the main concerns in the UK is the age of consumption. The report found that 44% of 15 to 19-year-olds in the region are considered “active drinkers.”

    Jalan added that it is very concerning that alcohol accounts for 10% of deaths in Europe. 

    “The biggest problem that we have is that, certainly in Europe and if you focus more on the UK, there isn’t really a strategy which is all-encompassing in order to address this death rate. All the different elements that are known to work have not yet been implemented.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Drugs That Look Like Children’s Candy Discovered By Georgia Police

    Drugs That Look Like Children’s Candy Discovered By Georgia Police

    The cartoon-shaped pills were molded in the likeness of Homer Simpson, the Minions and Hello Kitty.

    Popular cartoon characters in the form of brightly colored candy are actually hidden receptacles for drugs, says the Hapeville Police Department in Georgia.

    The cartoon-shaped pills were molded in the likeness of iconic cartoon characters like Homer Simpson, Hello Kitty, and the Minions.

    The Hapeville Police Department Cpl. Jason Dyer wrote a Facebook post updating the community on the “major bust,” as reported by The State.

    The bust—conducted by the Hapeville Criminal Investigation Division—included cash, firearms (including a stolen gun), suspected marijuana, pills, cannabis lollipops, and suspected powder cocaine.

    Both the cartoon-shaped, unspecified “pills” and the lollipops were designed to look like children’s candy, prompting the Hapeville police to ask community leaders such as teachers and parents to be on the lookout for suspicious goodies.

    The Facebook post by the Hapeville Police Department prompted a few commenters who felt the police department was wasting its time on what one called, “stripper money,” apparently referring to the piles of dollar bills in the photo. Other citizens were grateful to the police department for its hard work.

    This bust comes a month before Halloween, a time when parents might feel a little paranoid about the candy kids are getting a hold of. Old stories of tampering with Halloween candy might come to mind, but in general, candy tampering has not been a real danger for American children.

    In 2017, a major drug bust in Atlanta included meth lollipops shaped like flowers. While concerns were that drug dealers were targeting children, drug policy expert Bill Piper of the Drug Policy Alliance disagreed.

    “It’s easy for people to fall for this marketing to children because there’s this misconception that drug dealers are standing on the street corner handing out free drugs,” Piper told The Washington Post. “Adults don’t want nasty-tasting stuff either. We especially find in the flavored meth, a lot of that turned out to be flavoring for adults.”

    In addition, drugs that look like candy are easier to move throughout communities.

    That being said, the Channel Islands has a Halloween candy safety tip page on its website that is worth a visit for parents. One tip states that parents should tell their children not to open or consume any non-commercially packaged candies or foods on Halloween night.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Professors Accused Of Selling Drugs, Sexual Misconduct On College Campus

    Professors Accused Of Selling Drugs, Sexual Misconduct On College Campus

    Female students allege that the professors tried to get them to “sexually service professors at other colleges.”

    Several professors at John Jay College of Criminal Justice are under criminal investigation for sexual assault and drug dealing.

    Four of the accused professors are on administrative leave, while more are named in the accusers’ complaints. They are being investigated by the New York State inspector general and Manhattan district attorney.

    The complaints allege that the professors used and sold drugs on the New York City campus. As the New York Times reported, “Drug use and sex were said to be common in the offices of some professors and in an area known as ‘the Swamp’ in one of the school’s buildings.”

    Anthropology professor Ric Curtis, 64, was the ringleader of the alleged misconduct. The accusers and eyewitnesses claim Curtis frequently used and sold drugs in his office at John Jay. They recalled seeing drug paraphernalia in his office, including a pipe, a grinder and needles.

    Curtis, former chair of the sociology, anthropology, and law and police science departments, has been at the school for 30 years.

    One accuser, 24-year-old recent graduate Naomi Haber, told the New York Post that Curtis convinced her to go off her medications, including antidepressants, for bipolar disorder—and “introduced weed into my life, instead.”

    Haber also claimed that Curtis held on to his “devotees” by hooking them with drugs. “Ric supplied weed to his devotees, several times a day, which made it even harder for [‘swamp’ devotees] to leave once they had become dependent on the drugs and by extension, him.”

    The women also accused the men of sexual assault, and attempting to have them “sexually service professors at other colleges,” as well as rape, according to the Post.

    John Jay was apparently aware of the allegations since at least May, the Times reports, and found significant quantities of drugs and drug paraphernalia in an internal investigation.

    However, the school did not alert police until September—and when it did, John Jay did not disclose the “circumstances under which [the evidence was] recovered.”

    Another accuser, 39-year-old Claudia Cojocaru, a former student who is now an adjunct professor at John Jay, criticized the school’s handling of the allegations.

    “They were incredibly rude and victim-degrading. They made us perform like circus animals, distorted the facts, and distorted what we talked about,” she said. “They tried to brush the whole thing under the rug, so to speak. They re-traumatized us by making us relive all sorts of traumatic experiences.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Heather Locklear Addresses Addiction On Instagram

    Heather Locklear Addresses Addiction On Instagram

    “Addiction is ferocious and will try to take you down. Recovery is the best revenge.”

    Heather Locklear, the TV star best known for role on Melrose Place has had a difficult year. She’s been making headlines for her struggles with addiction and mental health, including several trips to treatment. Locklear is also currently facing a hearing on September 27 on charges of battery on a police officer and an EMT who were called to her home.

    Recently, the actress took to Instagram to address addiction and recovery. Locklear had taken a step back from social media for several months before coming back in August, and several postings have touched on her recent troubles, with hopes for a better tomorrow.

    On September 19, she posted, “Addiction is ferocious and will try to take you down. Recovery is the best revenge. Be kind to everyone you meet, your light just might change their path.”

    She ended her post saying, “Rest in peace beautiful Josh. You touched my [heart emoji].” (It’s currently unclear who Josh is, but reports claim he was a friend of Locklear’s who lost his own battle with addiction.)

    In another, she left a message that read,  “Love yourself…enough to take the actions required for your happiness…enough to cut yourself loose from the drama-filled past…enough to set a high standard for relationships…enough to feed your mind and body in a healthy manner…enough to forgive yourself…enough to move on.”

    In another post, Locklear shared a photo of the Maria Shriver book, I’ve Been Thinking…Reflections, Prayers, and Meditations for a Meaningful Life.

    In June, Locklear was arrested on two counts of battery on emergency personnel who were called to her home, with Sgt. Eric Buschow of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department telling CNN she was “extremely intoxicated and very uncooperative” at the time of her arrest.

    After her arrest, Locklear reportedly checked into rehab for the second time this year. 

    She has reportedly gone to rehab seven times, first checking into a facility in Arizona for anxiety and depression in 2008.

    She was later arrested the same year for suspicion of driving under the influence of prescription meds (the charges were later dismissed.) Locklear also reportedly did a one-month rehab stay in March 2017.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Kathleen Turner Talks Alcoholism, Recovery

    Kathleen Turner Talks Alcoholism, Recovery

    “I thought I could control the pain of my illness better with alcohol than I could with pain medication.”

    Kathleen Turner first became a star with the erotic thriller Body Heat, and throughout the ’80s the hits kept coming with Romancing the Stone, Who Framed Roger Rabbit (she voiced Jessica Rabbit), The War of the Roses and more.

    Now she has released her new book, Kathleen Turner on Acting, and she’s more outspoken than ever about her career and recovering from alcoholism.

    As ABC News reports, Turner turned to alcohol when she developed rheumatoid arthritis.

    “Oh, I abused alcohol,” she said. “Because it’s a great painkiller, let me tell you.”

    Turner had previously written about her struggles with alcohol in a previous memoir, Send Yourself Roses. She wrote that when she suffered from arthritis, having sex was difficult because of the extreme pain she was in, which put a “multilayered” strain on her marriage.

    “With my loss of confidence went a loss of sexuality,” she wrote. “When my pain from the illness was at its worst, I discovered that vodka killed it quite wonderfully. I didn’t want to take painkillers because I didn’t like the way they mucked up my mind, so I used alcohol instead. Stupidly, I didn’t consider that alcohol mucks up your mind, too.”

    As Turner recently told Vulture, “I thought I could control the pain of my illness better with alcohol than I could with pain medication. I didn’t want to take OxyContin and Percocet. I thought that would be an immediate path to addiction; I never thought alcohol would. Then I did, of course, abuse it [alcohol]. It never got in the way of the work but, oh, on my time off, just to kill the fucking pain, drinking was great.”

    Turner recalled hitting bottom at a rehearsal for a New York run of The Graduate. She drank heavily that day and passed out in a bathroom. The next day she apologized, telling the cast, “I’m having a drinking problem. I have these pills that will make me desperately ill if I drink. I’m going to give them to the stage manager and he’s going to give me one a day. I will not be a problem again.”

    Once the production ended, Turner went to rehab, and went to AA meetings for six months afterwards. Yet Turner also confessed that a drink of wine “at the end of a show or something” is still an “occasional pleasure.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • How Octopuses Feel On MDMA

    How Octopuses Feel On MDMA

    A new study revealed some interesting findings about the anti-social, eight-legged invertebrates.  

    While octopuses and humans are separated by more than 500 millions years of evolution, we may share one fascinating similarity—how we respond to MDMA.

    According to new research, published in the journal Current Biology last Thursday (Sept. 20), octopuses exposed to MDMA “tended to spend more time” with other octopuses.

    The results of the study are especially fascinating because these eight-legged animals are naturally asocial, except when mating. Those that were not exposed to MDMA avoided other octopuses.

    As NPR reported, “The researchers knew from previous tests that an octopus would normally stay far, far away from a second octopus that was confined to a small cage inside the first one’s tank. But an octopus on MDMA would get up-close and personal with the new neighbor.”

    Gül Dölen, assistant professor of neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, conducted the experiment after finding a striking similarity in how serotonin binds to brain cells in octopuses and humans while analyzing the genetic code of the California two-spot octopus.

    MDMA was administered to the octopuses by placing the invertebrates in a beaker of seawater with the drug, that was absorbed through the gills.

    They started them off at a high dose, to see how they would react. “They really didn’t like it. They looked like they were freaked out,” said Dölen. “They were just taking these postures of super hypervigilance. They would sit in the corner of the tank and stare at everything.”

    The animals reacted much differently when given a lower dose.

    “After MDMA, they were essentially hugging. [They were] really just much more relaxed in posture, and using a lot more of their body to interact with the other octopus,” said Dölen.

    Dölen and her colleagues acknowledge that the animals’ lovey-dovey behavior has yet to be affirmed. Another neuroscientist who was not involved in the study asked, “Is it really affection? How would we know? It’s totally fascinating and super-suggestive, but I am not 100% convinced that this is doing the same thing in octopus and in human.”

    He added, “It just shows us how much we don’t know and how much there is out there to understand.”

    View the original article at thefix.com