PEARL FIRST SITE IN THE US FOR

EXPANDED ACCESS USE OF MDMA

The Pearl Psychedelic Institute is the first of ten sites in the United States to be able to offer a promising treatment for people suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).  The Pearl, currently based in Waynesville, N.C., will be permitted to treat up to 5 patients using MDMA-assisted therapy which employs the drug MDMA as a part of therapeutic treatment for PTSD.  

PTSD is a life-threatening condition for which conventional treatments are only effective about 50% of the time. There are 9 million adults in the United States that suffer from PTSD every year and it is estimated that 22 veterans die by suicide every day.  Since MDMA-assisted therapy appears to be safe for pre-screened healthy volunteers and the results indicate it may be more effective than current approved treatments for PTSD, the FDA is allowing a select number of sites in the United States to offer this treatment through their “Expanded Access” or “Compassionate Use” program.

MDMA-assisted therapy has been in formal FDA-approved studies since 2008 and is currently in Phase 3 which is the last phase of research before a new drug treatment can be considered for approval.  In 2017, the FDA named MDMA-assisted therapy a “Breakthrough Therapy” and more recently approved that 50 people could access this treatment through their “Expanded Access” program.

To be considered for the Expanded Access Program, please click the link below and complete the EAMP1 Inquiry Form.

Dr T's CORNER:

PEARLS OF WISDOM FROM OUR EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

"Do You Really Need to Have 'Psychedelic' In Your Name?"

When we were first trying to decide on the name of our non-profit, we debated, but only for a very short while, the wisdom of including the word, "psychedelic" in the title.  Wasn't it going to be enough of a challenge that we were trying to introduce MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD to a population that was overwhelmingly Southern, rural and conservative?  Yes, indeed.  But we decided to do it anyway and although it will undoubtedly frighten or disgust some folks it will also excite others and, it is hoped, inspire curiosity in the majority.

One of the main missions of the Pearl Psychedelic Institute is to provide objective information about psychedelics and psychedelic-assisted therapy to counter the decades of misinformation peddled by a plethora of pundits to maintain the ill-conceived, failed War on Drugs.  The word itself was coined by a British psychiatrist, Humphrey Osmond, in 1957 and it derives from two Greek words that essentially mean "mind-manifesting."  It means that psychedelics generally have the power to lower psychic defenses and this allows previously unconscious material to surface into awareness which, one can understand, would be advantageous for psychotherapy. 

When some people hear the word "psychedelic" they remember the most horrific stories associated with their use but it is of paramount importance to realize that the vast majority of these tragedies took place as a result of poorly informed, unsupervised misuse and not as a result of their use in clinical work.  Therefore, despite the stigma attached to "psychedelic" the Pearl Psychedelic Institute felt it was critical that we include the word in our name as our way of encouraging people to look beyond the past and to join us in a re-examination of these compounds as medicines for healing and growth when there is proper supervised preparation, support and integration.  

For more Pearls of Wisdom from Dr. T, read his blogs below!

PEARL PSYCHEDELIC MOVIE SERIES

The Pearl recently hosted an on-line showing of the movie "Psychdelia" as well as two in-person Psychedelic Movie Series at Asheville Brewing and The Wedge Brewing in Asheville, NC.  Each in-person showing included a Q&A with Dr. Raymond Turpin, The Pearl's Founder and Executive Director. Over 300 people participated in the viewings and almost $4700 was raised in donations!

Additional Psychedelic Movie Series are being planned for the fall in Waynesville and Sylva.  Follow us on social media (see below) for updates!

NETFLIX TRAILER: HOW TO CHANGE YOUR MIND

PEARL IN THE MEDIA

PSYCHEDELICS IN THE NEWS

ANN SHULGIN, PIONEER OF PSYCHEDELICS IN THERAPY, DIES AT 91

Photo courtesy of https://www.erowid.org/culture/characters/shulgin_ann/shulgin_ann.shtml

The world of psychedelic-assisted therapy lost another leader on July 9, 2022 with the passing of Ann Shulgin at 91 years of age.  She was the wife of renowned psychedelic chemist Alexander "Sasha" Shulgin who passed away in 2014 but she held a position of enormous influence as a feminine voice for the wise use of psychedelics as tools in psychotherapy. 

She was a native of New Zealand, an artist throughout her life, co-authored the important books PiHKAL and TiHKAL with Sasha, and was deeply influenced by Jungian concepts that informed her work with psychedelics.  In particular, she recognized that the "Shadow," which are those elements of ourselves that we wish to disown or keep hidden, are important to confront and integrate if we wish to be whole.  She helped her husband classify and rate a number of his psychedelic chemical creations and she worked extensively as a lay-therapist with MDMA and 2C-B when they were legal substances and contributed to the knowledge about how best to safely work with psychedelics in a therapeutic context. 

Ann Shulgin will be missed and her contributions as a powerful feminine influence in the field of psychedelic-assisted therapy will be more appreciated as time goes on and the true measure of her greatness will resonate with future generations of researchers and students of this important work.

The Pearl Psychedelic Institute is a registered 501c3.

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