This Saturday, the psychedelics advocacy group, Psychedelics Society of the Ozarks, will host a conference on the medicinal usage of psychedelics.
The conference will focus on their usage in treating symptoms of trauma amongst first responders and in therapy. The speakers will include a diverse group of professionals, such as law enforcement officers, neurologists, therapists, and researchers. The president of the advocacy group, Josh Wahba, discussed the potentially beneficial uses in therapy.
"When it comes to the science, a lot right now is being discovered with the FDA loosening up guidelines around clinical studies", Wahba said. "But the way we metabolize these psychoactive compounds, the efficacy. And then from a neurological standpoint, how our brain and receptors respond to these psychedelics, we're discovering that there's a lot of healing that can be done, whether it's PTSD or substance abouse disorder, anxiety, depression."
Wahba also elaborated on the advocacy group's intended promotion of the increasing usage of psychedelics in therapy.
"That's one of the main goals of our 501c nonprofit. The Psychedelic Society of the Ozarks is continuing efforts to destigmatize psychedelic substances...The stigma is loosening up. We are seeing it being more accepted, especially on the coasts. And I feel we're seeing that more in the mainstream too, with President Trump signing an FDA executive order to put more funding and research into psychedelics for therapeutic purposes. So, it's a really exciting time right now, because it's changing the stigma from the 60s and 70s, where we're actually able to see how these plant medicines and psychedelics can benefit people when it comes to healing across the board."
While Wahba is excited about the recent surge in research, he also cautioned about the potential side effects of psychedelic substances.
"With anything,", Wahba continued, "If you're already on like SSRIs or SNRIs or specific antidepressants, it's encouraged to have a wash-out period, a tapering off period, because some medications can affect us differently with compounds or psychedelics or non-psychedelics. But in this case, we're talking about psychedelics, which is a psychoactive compound. So, contradicting medications, yes, that can have an effect on someone. That's why the intake process is very important. Doing it with a trusted licensed practitioner..,.this is why the intake process and the screening is a very important piece before anyone decides to go down this path."
The event, which will be hosted at Springfield's University Plaza Saturday, October 3, will also feature a buffet and a stand-up comedy special from award-winning Shane Mauss.