Droghe: scienza negata, terapie proibite


Milano, 5 ottobre 2018, ore 14.00-16.30, Aula 201 in Via Festa del Perdono 7  Università degli Studi di Milano “La Statale”

Lingua del Seminario: Italiano e Inglese con servizio di traduzione simultanea


Il 5 ottobre 2018, a Milano, Science for Democracy e l’Associazione Luca Coscioni organizzano un incontro internazionale sull’uso medico e scientifico di alcune delle piante e loro derivati psicoattivi contenuti nelle Convenzioni delle Nazioni Unite sulle sostanze narcotiche e psicotrope. Il convegno è intitolato “Droghe: scienza negata, terapie proibite” e si svolgerà nell’Aula 201 presso l’Università Statale di Milano (sede di via Festa del Perdono, 7) dalle 14:00 alle 16:30.

Ricerche preliminari suggeriscono che le sostanze psichedeliche possono di nuovo rivoluzionare, tra le altre cose, anche la cura di disturbi mentali. Spesso i ricercatori devono fare attenzione alle loro conclusioni, o al mondo in cui  promuovono il proprio lavoro, in quanto le norme nazionali e internazionali restano particolarmente restrittive quando si tratta di determinate sostanze. In solo mezzo secolo, le sostanze psichedeliche hanno rappresentato i picchi più alti e toccato i livelli bassi più bassi della coscienza in molti paesi – da vere e proprie rivoluzioni terapeutiche a droghe altamente intossicanti. 

Nel marzo 2019, gli Stati membri delle Nazioni Unite convocheranno un segmento ministeriale a Vienna per affrontare il cosiddetto sistema internazionale di controllo delle droghe, i riferimenti ai farmaci essenziali sono scarsi mentre nessuno dei documenti preparatori tiene conto dei progressi scientifici che la ricerca medica ha prodotto negli ultimi anni sulle sostanze contenute nelle tabelle delle Convenzioni. C’è il grosso rischio che l’uso medico delle sostanze controllate continui a essere trascurato, a fronte di recenti sviluppi incoraggianti come quelli dell’Organizzazione Mondiale della Sanità che ha raccomandato una revisione critica della cannabis, per non parlare del lavoro di diversi ricercatori che hanno sviluppato modi innovativi di pianificare terapie con droghe proibite.

L’evento intende educare un pubblico italiano sugli ultimi sviluppi della ricerca internazionale e generare una crescente attenzione tanto scientifica e quanto pubblica sull’argomento, anche al fine di sollecitare, tra le altre cose, il governo italiano a promuovere, o non ostacolare, simili indagini in Italia.

Il dibattito sarà introdotto e moderato da Tania Re dell’Associazione Luca Coscioni e Marco Perduca di Science for Democracy.

Relatori

José Carlos Bouso, PhD., Direttore Scientifico a ICEERS, Barcellona;

Oltre la medicina basata sull’evidenza nel campo delle sostanze psicoattive” 

Franz X. Vollenweider, Prof. Dr. med., Co-direttore del centro per la ricerca psichiatrica, direttore Neuropsychopharmacology e Brain Imaging & Heffter Research Center – tbc

“Dentro e fuori sé stessi: nuove scoperte sulla neurobiologia degli stati psichedelici”

Vidmer Scaioli, neurologo presso Istituto Besta di Milano

Paolo Poli, chirurgo, specialista in anestesia e rianimazione e terapia del dolore, direttore della “Poli Pain Clinic”.

— ENGLISH VERSION —

Drugs: science denied, therapies prohibited


University of Milan Aula 201, Via Festa del Perdono 7

14,00 PM October, 5th, 2018

Seminar Language Enghlish, Italian translation available


On 5 October 2018, in Milan, Science for Democracy and the Associazione Luca Coscioni organize an international meeting on the scientific and medical use of some of the plants and their psychoactive derivatives contained in the UN Conventions on narcotic and psychotropic substances. The conference is entitled  Drugs: science denied, therapies prohibited and will take place in Conference Room 201 via Festa del Perdono 7 at the Statale University in from 2.00 to 4.30 pm.

Preliminary research suggests psychedelics may yet revolutionize, among other things, also mental health care. Oftentimes researchers must be careful in all their conclusions and promotions as national and international norms remain particularly restrictive when it comes to certain substances. In only half a century, psychedelics have embodied the highest highs and the lowest lows of consciousness in many countries – from a revolution in therapy to a reputation for drug-addled lunacy.

In March 2019, the Member States of the United Nations will convene a high level segment in Vienna to address the international system of drug control, references to essential medicines is scant while none of the preparatory documents take into account the scientific progress that research has produced during the last few years on scheduled substances. There is a big risk that the medical use of controlled substances will continue to be overlooked, and this despite the fact that the World Health Organization has recommended a critical review of cannabis and that several researchers have presented innovative ways to develop therapies with prohibited drugs.
The event is intended to educate an Italian audience on the latest developments on research and to generate increasing scientific and public attention on the subject, to urge, among other things, the Italian government to promote, or not impede, similar investigations in Italy.

The debate will be introduced and moderated by Tania Re, Luca Coscioni Association and Marco Perduca, Science for Democracy

Speakers:

José Carlos Bouso, PhD., Scientific Director at ICEERS – Barcelona;

“Beyond Evidence-Based Medicine in the field of psychoactive substances
This talk will have four parts. In the first part, I will do an overview of the different barriers that nowadays exists to research, both legal and administrative. In the second part of my talk,  I will discuss how the biomedical model, focussed in the evidence-based medicine, has strong limitations at the time of fronting real life diseases. The so called “ hierarchy of evidences” where reanalysis and randomized clinical trials are at the top of the pyramid, and experto opinions and medical criteria at the bottom is not based on scientific evidence. I will introduce the concepts of Multi-Based Evidence and Real World Evidence. In the third part of my talk I will present some examples of drugs that are being used and regulated without passing the different clinical trial phases that are need for marketing whatever medicine. The examples are cannabis, cannabidiol (CBD), ibogaine and psilocybin. I will present also some of the researches developed at ICEERS with psychoactive plants. The talk will finish with a reflection regarding how to do research with psychoactive plants taking into account the indigenous traditional knowledge.

Franz X. Vollenweider, Prof. Dr. med., Co-director of the Center for Psychiatric Research, Director Neuropsychopharmacology and Brain Imaging & Heffter Research Center – tbc;

“Within and without Self: New Insights into the Neurobiology of Psychedelic States”

Recent years have seen a burgeoning scientific interest in the phenomenology and underlying neurobiology of altered states of consciousness (ASC) induced by psychedelic drugs such as psilocybin and LSD, also driven by growing evidence of their beneficial effects on physical and mental well-being. At the core of the psychedelic experience is the dissolution of the phenomenological self or ego concomitant with a feeling of oneness or unity with all that exists, and a sense that one’s everyday identity has dissolved into a timeless ultimate reality. This peculiar state of selflessness arises sequentially and unfolds to along with profound changes in perception and mood to culminate in a blissful state of content-free pure consciousness, also referred to as peak or mystical-type experience according to the literature on the philosophy of spirituality. In this presentation I will discuss recent research strategies with psychedelics and advances to identify molecular, cellular, and system-based correlates of psychedelic-induced alterations of the sense of self, emotion processing, imagery and social interactions. In this presentation I will discuss recent research strategies with psychedelics and advances to identify molecular, cellular, and system-based correlates of psychedelic-induced alterations of the sense of self, emotion processing, imagery, and social interactions. Furthermore, I will discuss some recent advances in the clinical applications of psychedelics drugs in psychiatric disorders such as depression.

Vidmer Scaioli, neurologist at “Istituto Besta”, Milan.

Paolo Poli, MD, specialist in anesthesia and reanimation and pain therapy, director of the “Poli Pain Clinic”.