Martin A Lee is the co-founder and director of Project CBD (projectcbd.org), an educational service focusing on cannabis science and therapeutics. Named by High Times as one of the 100 most influential people in cannabis, Leeis the author of several books, including Smoke Signals: A Social History of Marijuana – Medical, Recreational and Scientificand Acid Dreams: The Complete Social History of LSD — The CIA, the Sixties and Beyond.
Talk Title: Psychedelic Medicine and the Endocannabinoid System
Psychedelics & the Endocannabinoid System
With psilocybin fast-tracked to treat refractory depression, psychedelic drugs have reemerged as a promising area of medicine. The antidepressant effects of psychedelics are contingent on enhanced neurogenesis, the creation of new neurons, in brain regions that are densely populated by cannabinoid receptors. Plant cannabinoids (THC, CBD) and psychedelic compounds promote neuroplasticity, the brain’s ability to adapt to stress and injury, a process regulated by the endocannabinoid system. This presentation will explore how the endocannabinoid system mediates key aspects of the psychedelic experience, which can trigger positive, long term personality change.
