How to Propose a Randomized Clinical Trial

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There's no simple solutions of how difficult it is to control for a placebo, but it is an important one. One of the recommendations is to use a very low dose of the psychedelic drug. We're also funding researchers to develop other psychedelic drugs that don't produce hallucinatory experiences. So we are interested on a whole gamut of research that could help advance our understanding of the potential of psychedelic drugs for therapeutics.

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Nora D. Volkow, MD, is Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) at the National Institutes of Health. NIDA is the world’s largest funder of scientific research on the health aspects of drug use and addiction. Dr. Volkow's work has been instrumental in demonstrating that drug addiction is a brain disorder. As a research psychiatrist, Dr. Volkow pioneered the use of brain imaging to investigate how substance use affects brain functions. In particular, her studies have documented how changes in the dopamine system affect the functions of brain regions involved with reward and self-control in addiction. She has also made important contributions to the neurobiology of obesity, ADHD, and aging.

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[06:09] Cadaver homework.

[09:07] The Trotsky connection.

[17:07] How Nora’s father viewed the role of science.

[20:59] Julian Villarreal.

[27:38] A perspective of perseverance.

[33:48] Instilling perseverance in younger scientists.

[35:08] Dancing with Demerol.

[40:05] The current state of addiction in the US.

[44:28] The War on Drugs.

[49:42] Increasing societal confidence in therapeutic psychedelics.

[55:38] Advice for researchers seeking more federal funding.