In an unprecedented clinical trial, researchers for Vancouver, Canada’s Algernon Pharmaceuticals are examining DMT’s potential ability to rewire the brains of stroke victims.
Participants will be given intravenous microdoses of the compound to test its efficacy as a medical aid.
“Since we’re dealing with stroke patients, we will be using the sub-hallucinogenic dose, which in pre-clinical studies has still shown to improve neuroplasticity,” Algernon CEO Christopher Moreau told Metro.co.uk. “It will help the brain heal even though patients aren’t having the psychedelic experience, and we really don’t want that if your patient has just had a stroke.”
Consultants for this trial include DMT: The Spirit Molecule author Rick Strassman and Professor David Nutt of Imperial College London’s Centre for Psychedelic Research.
Laying the groundwork for the study is a clinical trial of the use of DMT in the treatment of anxiety and depression, as well as a 2020 study in which rats were found to recover from brain injury more thoroughly after receiving doses of DMT.
If DMT is approved for medical use, it could be administered in sub-threshold doses to stroke patients as soon as they enter the ambulance.
Success in this area could pave the way for research into possible remedies for many other impairments to brain function, including multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease.
Damon Orion is a writer, journalist, musician, artist and teacher living in the mountains of Santa Cruz, California. More of his work can be found at DamonOrion.com.
Canada’s _Algernon_ Pharmaceuticals? Anyone who read the story “Flowers for Algernon” knows what happens to the rat…