Minnesota Gets Its First Psychedelic Medicine Clinic

The first psychedelic-assisted therapy clinic has opened in Minnesota. Located in St. Paul, the Institute for Integrative Therapies (IIT) will provide ketamine-assisted therapy to people with anxiety, depression, PTSD, and other mental health issues. The clinic will open May 1 after completing a soft open from July 2020 to March 2021. 

Ketamine is a dissociative anesthetic that has been used in medical practice for pain relief and sedation for decades. It is also used off-label for to quickly and effectively relieve symptoms of depression—far faster than antidepressants currently on the market. In 2019, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the nasal spray esketamine (Spravato) a dissociative anesthetic similar to ketamine, for the treatment of depression. 

Ketamine is currently the only legal psychedelic substance in Minnesota, but as cities and states across the country are decriminalizing many psychedelics like psilocybin and mescaline, ketamine infusion centers like IIT are positioning themselves to provide more psychedelic therapies as they are legalized. 

“In the near future, the Institute for Integrative Therapies will be offering MDMA and eventually psilocybin-assisted therapy, as these substances are rescheduled by the DEA and become available for clinic use,” the company said in a news release. 

The FDA has called MDMA-assisted psychotherapy a breakthrough therapy based on clinical trials that have shown the medication significantly improves symptoms of PTSD. MDMA is currently in its last phase of clinical trial and could be approved by the FDA for the treatment of PTSD by the end of the year. 

The Institute for Integrative Therapies aims to become a Midwestern hub for this re-emerging field through the delivery of psychedelic therapies, research, public education, and interdisciplinary community-building.