Psychedelics have entered the mainstream, informing a multimillion dollar industry – but the majority of healthcare providers working directly with patients are unaware of the growing field of psychedelic therapy. The newly formed Psychedelic Medicine Association (PMA) remedies this with a collaborative platform created for medical professionals, organizations, and drug developers to educate and guide each other over emerging science, ethics and cultural issues in this rapidly developing field.
PMA President Dr. Lynn Marie Morski says her mission is not to preach to the choir. According to her, the organization “is primarily aimed at those on the front lines of primary care. Those are the providers who need to learn about the psychedelic medicines that are currently or soon-to-be available so that patients can be made aware of their full range of options.”
When the PMA officially kicked off on September 29th with an hour-long webinar, Dr. Morski gave a sneak peek at the sorts of issues which will occupy the Association going forward.
At the conference, Numinus medical director Dr. Devon Christie spoke to her own background as a primary care physician, suggesting crucial opportunities of exposing primary care providers to psychedelic medicine, such as including it in their “rotations” during their final year in med school. Sean McAllister, executive officer of the Denver Psilocybin Mushroom Review Policy Board, spoke to extra-clinical settings such as the Decriminalize movement, and discussed the legal implications of off-label uses of psychedelics for “psychospiritual” purposes. Morski intends for these seemingly disparate agendas to co-exist within her organization while the PMA itself remains neutral.
“We believe that the first step is to create a framework for the conversation between key industry stakeholders, including many who will have opposing stances from each other. Therefore we will not be taking official positions on psychedelic use, we will solely be educating on the science behind their therapeutic uses,” Morski explains.