---
title: "The First Center for Psychedelics Research is Opening in the US"
description: "Johns Hopkins announced a new privately-funded research center to develop psychedelics-based medical treatments for conditions like depression and PTSD."
date: "2019-09-04"
modified: "2019-09-04"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski"
url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/us-first-center-psychedelic-research"
categories:
  - "Health & Medicine"
tags:
  - "medicine"
  - "psychedelics"
---

# The First Center for Psychedelics Research is Opening in the US

![Johns Hopkins announced a new privately-funded research center to develop psychedelics-based medical treatments for conditions like depression and PTSD.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/us-first-center-psychedelic-research.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Images via Pixabay/Victor Tangermann\</em\>*

Johns Hopkins Medicine announced on Wednesday that it's launching a new research center — the first in the U.S. — dedicated to uncovering the medical applications of psychedelic drugs.

The Center for Psychedelics and Consciousness Research is funded entirely by private donors, according to a [Johns Hopkins press release](<https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/newsroom/news-releases/johns-hopkins-launches-center-for-psychedelic-research>). Once it's up and running, its scientists will investigate how drugs like psilocybin affect the brain, specifically to find new treatments for PTSD, [addiction](<https://futurism.com/neoscope/psychedelics-alcohol-dependence>), and [depressive disorders](<https://futurism.com/neoscope/magic-mushrooms-replace-antidepressants>). Though it's operating without any government funding, the center's very existence is a sign that psychedelics-based medicine is moving from the fringes of the scientific community to the mainstream.

The announcement comes on the tail of Imperial College London's [April announcement](<https://futurism.com/neoscope/worlds-first-center-psychedelics-research>) that it would open the U.K.'s first psychedelics research organization.

Research in the field is still in early stages — [very few clinical trials](<https://futurism.com/neoscope/scientist-world-leaders-magic-mushrooms-mdma-medicines>) have been approved by the FDA — but with a dedicated research institute at Johns Hopkins, psilocybin researchers are more likely to see their ideas hit the mainstream.

"The center's establishment reflects a new era of research in therapeutics and the mind through studying this unique and remarkable class of pharmacological compounds," center director Roland Griffiths, a Johns Hopkins behavioral biologist, said in the press release. "In addition to studies on new therapeutics, we plan to investigate creativity and well-being in healthy volunteers that we hope will open up new ways to support human thriving."

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)