A recent study published by Johns Hopkins University researchers comparing psilocybin against nicotine patches found that participants who were given a single dose of the psychedelic were six times more likely to abstain from smoking than those who were given the patch, according to an NPR report.
The study, a randomized trial of 82 smokers, was published this week in the JAMA Network. The researchers noted that after a six-month follow-up, about 40% of the participants who were given a psilocybin treatment had quit smoking, while only about 10% of those who were given the patch had stopped.
The researchers also noted that the abstinence rates among those who were given the psychedelic “were higher than typical treatments, suggesting promise for tobacco smoking cessation.”
The study’s lead author and a psychiatry professor at Johns Hopkins, Matthew Johnson, told NPR he was “surprised by the sheer magnitude of the effect.”
The participants who received psilocybin were given a high dose, according to the report. Additionally, there was no placebo with the test, so everyone who was given psilocybin was aware they were receiving the drug, which the researchers noted could have skewed the results.
