Man vs. Nature: The Commercialization of Psilocybin Medicine

Description:

Psilocybin has emerged as a promising therapy for a number of mental health conditions. Though it is produced naturally by various mushroom species, nearly all clinical studies use synthetic psilocybin. Do the alkaloids only present in fungal bodies augment psychoactive and therapeutic value? This panel will detail the current state of research in psilocybin, the differences between natural and synthetic psilocybin, discuss the potential harms of limiting research to synthetic mushrooms, and explain why researchers have been fighting to study natural drug products.