Roland Griffiths, an internationally revered researcher of psychedelic and mood-altering drugs, 谁的研究帮助开启了迷幻药研究的新时代，并导致了美国第一个迷幻药研究中心的建立, at Johns Hopkins, died on Monday, Oct. 16, at age 77.

Griffiths’ work generated immense scientific and philanthropic interest, including $17 million in gifts that led to the creation of the Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research in 2019, where he served as the founding director. He was diagnosed with colon cancer in November 2021.

Griffiths和他的同事发表的开创性研究发现，裸盖菇素——所谓的神奇蘑菇中的活性成分——产生的体验导致了大量和持续的个人意义, 可以帮助治疗抑郁症，并对患有药物滥用障碍(吸烟, 酗酒和滥用其他药物)以及由危及生命的疾病引起的生存痛苦.

今年6月，该中心的研究员大卫·亚登(David Yaden)成为该奖项的首位获得者 Roland R. Griffiths, Ph.D. “世俗灵性与福祉之迷幻研究”教授基金. The $24 million endowed professorship, the largest ever at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 目的促进致幻剂及其对人体健康影响的研究, behavior and worldview. Yaden is an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences.

“He was about 50 years old when he plunged into this area, and he had already established himself as a careful, methodical, meticulous investigator, the kind of researcher whose work was unimpeachable,” Potash says. “This is what the field needed, 因为怀疑论者不太可能相信任何不够严谨和客观的人的工作. The other key was that Roland was sure of himself, and unflappable. He knew that all that mattered was what the data told him.”

Prior to his work in psychedelic research, Griffiths已经是精神药理学领域的巨人，并因其对咖啡因的精神活性和依赖性潜在特性的开创性研究而得到认可. 这项工作加强了对咖啡因作为研究药物依赖模型的理解, 咖啡因戒断症被列入《bet8九州下载》(DSM-5)。, the authoritative guide to the diagnosis in psychiatry and psychology.

Griffiths在2008年撰写了一封由近100名科学家和医生签署的信，敦促FDA规范能量饮料的标签和咖啡因成分. A study published that year in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence argued as such, 注意到能量饮料中咖啡因中毒的报道越来越多, 咖啡因依赖和戒断的问题也可能会增加. 诸如此类的信件和倡导导致了FDA在将咖啡因与其他产品结合使用时更严格的规定, including the federal ban on prepackaged caffeinated alcoholic drinks.

“Roland’s research with caffeine was elegant, systematic and thorough,” says Eric Strain, 他是行为药理学研究小组的主任，也是2008年那项研究的合著者. “It was not only scientifically impressive, 但它也确实有助于揭示，有些人真的很难控制咖啡因的使用, under some circumstances, would go to incredible lengths to get caffeine. His caffeine work alone would be an impressive career for most scientists.”

A specialist in the behavioral and subjective effects of mood-altering drugs, including nicotine and sedatives, as well as alcohol self-administration, Griffiths在镇静剂研究方面的广泛工作包括长期使用和滥用的研究, and cognitive effects of the drugs. He also served as a consultant to the National Institutes of Health, 向开发新的精神药物的众多制药公司和作为药物依赖问题专家委员会成员向世界卫生组织表示感谢.

Griffiths’ landmark 2006 study, published in Psychopharmacology, 证明在医学上和精神上健康的参与者中，单次高剂量的裸盖菇素产生了具有重大个人意义和精神意义的体验, and resulted in sustained positive changes in attitudes and behavior. 这项研究被认为标志着迷幻药研究复兴的开始, 自20世纪70年代初以来，该研究基本上处于休眠状态——大约在同一时间，许多其他著名机构开始了自己的迷幻研究冒险, including New York University and University of California Los Angeles, due to renewed interest and backing from similar funding sources.

In 2020, he and his Johns Hopkins colleagues at the center published a JAMA Psychiatry paper 这是第一个严格的对照研究，表明裸盖菇素辅助的心理治疗可以有效地治疗临床抑郁症.

Griffiths was also well aware that the use of psychedelics involves risks, 他在观察和衡量益处的同时，努力地描述它们.

“2006年的第一项研究让他感到惊讶和启示，这对志愿者来说是多么有意义和深刻的经历,” says Mary Cosimano, 她是迷幻剂和意识研究中心的指导/辅助服务主任. “Over time, study after study, volunteer after volunteer, Roland and the rest of the team observed how powerful this treatment can be, not just spiritually, but therapeutically as well."

在约翰霍普金斯大学做了50多年的临床研究员，发表了400多篇期刊文章和书籍章节, Griffiths’ discipline extended to his exercise, his meditation practice and his diet, which he carefully controlled, with the exception of his love for chocolate.

Fred Barrett, director of the Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research, notes that when they would write papers together, 格里菲斯会仔细检查每一个字和数据点，以确保报告准确地传达了他们的科学发现.

“He really challenged me to be as precise in my language as possible, but as audacious as possible in my goals,” Barrett says. “Those two things juxtaposed allow for an awful lot of discovery.”

格里菲斯于1968年在洛杉矶的西方学院获得学士学位, and his doctorate in psychology at the University of Minnesota in 1972. Upon graduation, 他成为了约翰霍普金斯大学医学院行为生物学助理教授和约翰霍普金斯湾景医学中心精神病学部门的研究助理, then known as Baltimore City Hospitals. He was named research chief in 1975.

In the 1990s, Griffiths got deeply involved with the Siddha Yoga meditation community, and began a long-term dedicated practice. 他说，这是他第一次思考自己内心深处的经历, 他对通过冥想达到的意识状态的改变很感兴趣. 这种兴趣最终促使他在机会出现时研究裸盖菇素——它也能导致意识状态的改变.

In November 2021, after a routine colonoscopy, doctors diagnosed Griffiths with late stage colon cancer. But he remained himself to the end, 利用他25年的冥想实践和他的工作探索人类体验的深度来寻找美, joy and meditative contemplation in the throes of his surprise diagnosis, which he referred to as a “gift” that helped inspire the professorship.

“For me, 从潜在的情感痛苦中走出的心理匝道是培养对生命本身这一珍贵礼物的感激之情, of being conscious, awake to the mystery of this present moment,” Griffiths said in 2022 in a video about the professorship.

Griffiths is survived by his wife, Marla Weiner; three children from a previous marriage: Sylvie Grahan, Jennie Otis and Morgan Griffiths; and five grandchildren.

To learn more about the Roland R. Griffiths, Ph.D. 现世灵性与福祉致幻剂研究教授基金，请访问 website.