UT Austin researcher recruiting patients for studies involving psychedelics

AUSTIN (KXAN) – In 2018, Justin LaPree was running out of options. 

“The [anti-dpressants] were not working, the anti-anxiety pills were not working. I got hooked on Oxycontin, which was prescribed for pain,” LaPree said.

He had post-traumatic stress and a traumatic brain injury from his time serving in the Marine Corps from 2001 to 2005.

“Everything that I was taking from [Veteran Affairs] was removing me further from myself,” he said. “In 2018 – I was a firefighter at the time in downtown Austin – I had an attempt on my life in the parking lot of that fire station that was unsuccessful.”

A month later, he read How to Change Your Mind by Michael Pollan – a book chronicling scientific research on psychedelic substances. By the end of 2018, Lapree tried it out.

“I'm here – I’m living the best life I've ever lived,” Lapree said. “These psychedelic compounds were the catalyst in saving my life.”

In recent years, many have turned to psychedelics for healing with scientific research supporting anecdotal accounts. 

Greg Fonzo, Ph.D., co-directs the first psychedelic research center in Texas called the Center for Psychedelic Research & Therapy. His team is currently recruiting for two studies looking at the effects of psilocybin – the psychoactive ingredient in magic mushrooms – on treatment-resistant depression and people with anorexia.  

Fonzo said when patients consume psilocybin, there are “a lot of changes in the way the brain is functioning,” he said. “Those changes in brain function are also profound shifts in people's state of consciousness. Sometimes, they report novel insights, changes in mood [and] changes in cognition. And then, for some reason, that experience [with] the conjunction of therapy around the drug itself and psychological support, people feel better,” he said.

For LaPree, he hopes the word gets out about psychedelics to people who have tried many treatments but are still struggling. He founded Hero Path to Light to help connect veterans, first responders and their families to psychedelic treatment. 

“What if? What if these medicines were able to reconnect us with ourselves? The world would change,” he said.