“We thought it was the end of psychedelic research, and the great dreams we had were for some future generation,” says Dr. Bill Richards, referring to the 1970s when the Nixon administration criminalized psychedelic compounds. At that point, he could not have imagined there would once again be the thriving interest in psychedelics for both therapeutic and non-clinical purposes that we see today. On this episode of Raise the Line with host Shiv Gaglani, we take a unique, multi-generational look at psychedelic research with two guests who happen to be related to each other. Dr. Bill Richards' extraordinary contributions to the field started sixty years ago and he was instrumental in helping Dr. Roland Griffiths reignite psychedelic research in 1999 at Johns Hopkins University after decades of dormancy. His son, Dr. Brian Richards, has made his own significant mark in the space, contributing to some of the original research administering psilocybin with cancer patients and healthy normal adults. He also teaches and mentors students at the California Institute for Integral Studies, the leading psychedelic medicine certificate program worldwide. They’re currently colleagues working with cancer patients at Sunstone Therapies, a company focused on defining the standards for optimal delivery of psychedelic-assisted therapy. You’ll hear about the range of patient experiences they’ve witnessed, the critical role of therapists who guide the sessions, what it’s like to work together and whether they think the US is ready to integrate psychedelics into medical care, among many other dimensions to this fascinating issue.

Mentioned in this episode:

https://www.sunstonetherapies.com/

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A Father-Son Team Helps Shape Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy - Dr. Bill Richards and Dr. Brian Richards, Sunstone Therapies