Dr. Albert Arias leads the addiction and psychiatry division at Carilion Clinic. He has secured a federal grant to test whether psilocybin, the psychoactive compound in so-called magic mushrooms, can help people stop using cocaine, according to Cardinal News.
The initial award totals $623,000. It comes from the National Institute on Drug Abuse at the National Institutes of Health.
The funding could eventually grow to $3.5 million, Cardinal News reported, but only if early results show participants reduced their cocaine use after treatment. Researchers can’t count on that second round of money yet…