By: Carolina Villagra // Contributing Writer
After Christina Cabrera-Elizondo took the Psychedelic Renaissance honors course where students discuss and learn about the effects of different hallucinogens on mental health patients, a group of students, along with Professor Joseph Lichter, formed the FIU Psychedelic Club.
The Psychedelic Club is a brand new club that started this year in the beginning of the fall semester. The formation of the club came from the interest in psychedelic research and the benefits hallucinogens can potentially bring to mental health treatments.
“I think this club will bring a new perspective to the field of medical research,” Cabrera-Elizondo said. “I hope that it opens people’s eyes to evolving research and to keep an open mind because sometimes traditional medicines don’t work for everyone.”
Cabrera-Elizondo is a psychology major who is interested in the neurological side-effects of psychedelics.
The FIU Psychedelic Club focuses on medical research of psychedelics and psychotherapy.
In a typical club meeting, each member gets to discuss a mind-altering drug of their choosing, its origins and effects, and different psychotherapy research trials that can help treat mental illness.
Delanie Perez is a founding member of the club who is studying biology and natural and applied sciences. Her interest stems from the scientific and cultural impact that comes from studying psychedelics.
“Our perspective has shifted from a time in which psychedelics were linked with the 70s and the hippies, to the outlook that they hold great potential in the medical field to treat issues that have not had many effective solutions in the past few decades,” Perez explains.
Perez has learned about many mental health benefits that researchers have found in their experiments during club meetings.
“Clinical application of psychedelics lay mostly in the mental health sector of medicine such as post traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression, and substance use disorders like alcoholism and tobacco use but also in treatment of chronically ill patients, end of life care and even the current opioid epidemic,” said Perez.
Scientists have been conducting research on psychedelics because of the groundbreaking evidence that changes what we know about these illegal substances.
“Like many substances, psychedelics like LSD have been criminalized, stigmatized and classified as a schedule 1 drug, which states they hold no medical value and are highly addictive,” Perez states. “Scientific research shows otherwise. It’s safe to say that government policy has not kept up with clinical trials that research labs are conducting.”
Cabrera-Elizondo has found that psychoactive substances can create a strong impact on the brain.
“Some of these psychedelics, they act as agonists in your brain which means that they create a specific effect,” Cabrera-Elizondo explains. “LSD as a molecule is shaped similarly to serotonin. LSD will bind to the serotonin receptors and produce an effect.”
Lichter, a chemistry professor and director of FIU’s pre-health advising office, is excited students want to get involved in a club that discusses compounds that have been stigmatized for so long and brings a challenge to this field of study.
“Once these students took my course and got to interact with some researchers, I think they recognized they could be the next generation of researchers if they desired.” Lichter added, “So they made the club as their way of getting involved. I am proud of them for considering that.”
Many psychedelic studies are changing the way scientists and doctors approach mental health treatment. Hallucinogens are paving a path to newly developed medications that have better and lasting effects on patients.
No matter what major you are studying, the club is open to all students. To join, simply visit their page on Panther Connect, sign in and click join. They advertise on their Instagram page @fiupsychedelics and Panther Connect.
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