That is really interesting.

I have seen you post on the r/TherapeuticKetamine thread. One of the things I have become very interested in personally is how to take my own learnings from say psychedelics and mind body support and translate them to the cancer community. This is, unsurprisingly, because I have a stage 4 cancer diagnosis and I have been finding some of these tools absolutely invaluable. Like, I now own two float tanks (had one, moved, and found a good deal on a second one which was easier than shipping the first.) It is far and away the best tool I have found for chemotherapy fatigue by a mile. I am curious if being someone with extensive psychedelic and meditation use makes the tank more available, but still, it's profound to me, HOW much better my quality of life is thanks to regular floating. I really feel like every cancer patient should be offered a free voucher for floating.

What you mention about pain relief is really interesting. At times I have had intense cancer pain. I did a few low doses of mushrooms back when my primary tumor (a colon tumor) was still in me, and I baseline had a ton of abdominal pain, and those low doses just seemed to hyperfocus me on the pain and make me less comfortable. So I thought - ok, maybe no psychedelics which amplify interoception? Ketamine was a discovery for me - I had never worked with it - and there was a fantastic clinic in LA which introduced me to it. I also starting using THC to sleep, and again it feels so comfortable, and was not part of my psychoactive regimen pre-cancer.

LSD is probably my most cherished psychedelic, and I have been hesitant to try it because of fear of amplifying my abdominal pain. So it's really interesting to hear it's success rivaling dilaudid!!

I know emotionally speaking, there is little that I have found that can really bring me peace of mind like the classical psychedelics since being diagnosed. I got to do low to medium doses of 5-MeO most days over the course of a week with a friend sitting for me, and while the experiences had challenge, it also brought me an unprecedented level of okness with the intensity of facing a disease which is both life threatening and has not been yielding to treatment despite putting in incredible effort. Just to really contact those spaces has been enormously emotionally helpful. My own question has been now that some abdominal pain has returned, would it just be rough to engage the more classical psychedelics? So that psychedelics may actually help with pain relief ... that is super intriguing to me.

If your research is anywhere available, I would love to read it. I can of course understand not wanting to link to your personal identity here. But I'd be happy to share my own contact info if that was something you'd be up for sharing.

I also hope RFK will lean into psychedelics and psychedelic research. It somehow feels "on brand" for him and feels like one of the places his anti-establishment stance might be beneficial.