Buprenorphine and MDMA: Therapeutic Potential and Approval Challenges

In this episode, Joe interviews Howard Kornfeld, MD: renowned pain medicine expert, addiction specialist, early pioneer in psychedelic medicine, and currently the director of recovery medicine at Recovery Without Walls.

As a leader in the utilization of buprenorphine, he talks about how it came about as a treatment for addiction and chronic pain, its similarities to MDMA, and how its fast-tracked FDA approval could give us clues on how to get MDMA approved. He also dives into the history of ketamine, its unique effects compared to other substances, its potential for abuse, and what can happen with overuse. And he talks a lot about the connection he sees between psychedelics and the prevention of nuclear war, inspired by Sasha Shulgin’s opinion that nothing changes minds faster than psychedelics. He points out that when there is darkness, there is light: Albert Hofmann’s famed bicycle trip on acid happened 3 months after the nuclear chain reaction was invented. Can the growing use of psychedelics inspire the kind of change we need to save the world?

He also discusses:

• The need for new study designs as we come to terms with the fact that double-blind studies don’t really work with psychedelics
• Criticisms of the FDA’s denial of MDMA: Was the process unfair?
• His predictions that advocates will begin pushing to decriminalize MDMA at the state level
• The books, Tripping on Utopia and Drugged
• How he played a part in prisons ending the practice of killing prisoners with cyanide gas

and more! 

For links, head to the show notes page.