A new European alliance that aims to sharpen the therapeutic potential of psychedelics comes with a virtual event on June 23. The Psychedelic Access and Research European Alliance (PAREA) is a group founded in 2022 and consists of 15 organizations with common goals in the fields of mental health and psychedelics.
The company announced its founding in May via a new Twitter page and has since helped prominent member organizations such as Pain Alliance Europe announce the launch.
Need for psychedelic treatment
The group advocates the urgent need for psychedelics and argues that mental health has become a serious societal crisis because we have insufficient treatment options. The mission goals of this massive new organization include promoting research to help generate clinical evidence for the efficacy of psychedelic therapy. Furthermore, PAREA aims to increase collaboration between scientists and policymakers and ensure legal and affordable access to safe and effective treatments as they become available.
Groups participating in the PAREA alliance include neuropsychopharmacologists and cancer associations, European Union patient advocacy groups specializing in mental health and neurology, various scientific associations, psychedelic foundations and other industry partners.
The list of member groups includes the Association of European Cancer Leagues, the Osmond Foundation, the European Brain Council, the Global Alliance of Mental Illness Advocacy Networks – Europe, and several others.
Virtual event
The official launch of the organization will take place on June 23 at 14.00 p.m. Prominent speakers who will be attending the event include Dr. Thomas R. Insel – former director of the US National Institute of Mental Health, Professor Gitte Moos Knudsen – President of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology and Dr. Sara Cerdas – member of the European Parliament.
While there are many people who can function thanks to antidepressants, the group says those products have a range of unpleasant and unwanted side effects. PAREA also mentions that according to the World Health Organization (WHO), only 2 percent of general spending worldwide is spent on mental health.
Against this background, psychedelic-assisted therapies (PAT) show promise of being a powerful new form of treatment for mental, neurological and addiction disorders, as suggested by the rapidly growing, rigorous and compelling body of research.
More attention for psychedelics as medicine
PAREA has seen essential breakthroughs that pave the way for the formation of the organization. For example, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) awarded the Breakthrough Therapy award for three studies examining the potential of MDMA in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and psilocybin for helping depression between 2017-2019.
Another important milestone is Imperial College London in the United Kingdom (UK) which pioneered the establishment of a center dedicated to research into psychedelic substances. Shortly thereafter, top American universities such as the University of California, John Hopkins, and New York University followed suit with similar facilities.
Source: mugglehead.com (EN)
