Research library / Clinical trial

Long-term follow-up of psilocybin-facilitated smoking cessation

Johnson MW, Garcia-Romeu A, Griffiths RR. The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse 2017;43(1):55-60

This paper reports what happened over the long run to 15 smokers who had taken part in a small pilot study combining psilocybin with cognitive behavioural therapy to help them quit. All 15 were checked at 12 months, and 10 were confirmed by biological tests as still not smoking. Twelve came back for a later check an average of two and a half years after their quit date, and 9 of the original 15 were still abstinent. Most rated their psilocybin sessions among the most meaningful experiences of their lives. These quit rates are higher than usually reported for standard treatments, but the study had no comparison group, everyone knew they were getting psilocybin, and the sample was very small, so it cannot establish that psilocybin caused the result.