A team of researchers from University College London (UCL) have begun a clinical trial exploring the potential of DMT to treat alcohol use disorder. The study aims to enhance treatment options for individuals seeking to reduce or eliminate their alcohol consumption, and “to better understand how DMT affects the brain and behaviour in people who drink alcohol regularly”.
Researchers will use MRI scans to monitor the brain activity of participants who will be given the psychedelic drug N-Dimethyltryptamine (DMT) intravenously or a non-psychedelic placebo.
These scans will be compared to others taken while participants are watching clips from films which feature alcohol, such as Withnail and I and The Trip. This specially developed procedure is designed to reactivate participants’ alcohol-related reward memories and then assess whether DMT can interfere with these memories to reduce drinking. The exact details of the procedure are not being disclosed as this could bias the results.
“Excessive drinking is partly driven by alcohol hijacking the brain’s built-in motivation and reward system,” said Prof Ravi Das, who is co-leading the trial at UCL. “We are seeking to counteract that with our treatment.”
Volunteers are then tracked for up to nine months to assess whether, and how, the drug works. One theory is that it may make the brain more susceptible to being rewired at the cellular level – but the experience may also play a role.
The study is being conducted in response to the urgent need for more effective treatments for alcohol addiction. In 2022, approximately 10,000 deaths in the UK were attributed to alcohol, and there were around 280,000 alcohol-related hospital admissions in 2019/20, 65% of whom were male.
In 2021 57% of UK adults drank at levels deemed risky by the NHS, while 79% consumed alcohol at least once. For those seeking help, options are limited, and relapse after abstinence is common.
“The current treatments really don’t work for a large proportion of people. For alcohol addiction, 50% of people relapse within three months and around 60-70% within three years,” said Das.
DMT is an indole alkaloid found in humans, animals, and plants also known as the Spirit Molecule. It has a poorly understood role in the human body but is thought to influence the nervous system. It has been used therapeutically and spiritually by South American Indigenous peoples and increasingly by Westerners in the form of Ayahuasca.
DMT’s intense, short-lived psychedelic effects include vivid hallucinations. Due to its assumed neurological functions, it is being investigated for potential applications in treating Alzheimer’s disease, and the symptoms of patients who have suffered a stroke. Researchers also think DMT can be used to treat addiction and addiction by targeting reward-related brain areas through neuroplasticity.
Professor Das emphasised that DMT’s potential benefits extend beyond neurological processes, suggesting that the psychedelic experience itself could reinforce patients’ motivation to reduce drinking. “This idea of ‘neuroplasticity’ as being the mechanism for better mental health is thrown around a lot in the media because it is sciencey-sounding, but it is often poorly defined. There’s probably a huge role that’s played by people having this totally novel, salient experience on psychedelics. They’ve already come into this study motivated to reduce their drinking and this novel experience may be like a way-marker in their journey that cements their commitment to drinking less.”
The UCL research team is recruiting additional participants for their study, with the goal of conducting further clinical trials. They believe the results could help them to release a DMT product onto the market.
However, they warn against obtaining DMT and treating addiction symptoms at home, “I would strongly caution against attempting to self-medicate with psychedelics at home, with DMT – and all the psychedelics research coming out – it’s milligram doses we’re talking about, and effects outside of a clinical setting may be wildly different,” Prof Das urged.
