Dr. Larry Leeman: MDMA Therapy for Perinatal Opioid Use Disorder

“We’re so fortunate to be in this time, in this country, pursuing psychedelic research.” This is rich one, listener. Dr. Lawrence Leeman received his degree from University of California, San Francisco in 1988 and completed residency training in Family Medicine at UNM. He practiced rural Family Medicine at the Zuni/Ramah Indian Health Service Hospital for six years. He subsequently earned a fellowship in Obstetrics. He is board certified in Family and Addiction Medicine. He directs the Family Medicine Maternal and Child Health service and fellowship and co-medical director of the UNM Hospital Mother-Baby Unit. Dr. Leeman practices family medicine with a special interest in the care of pregnant women and newborns. He is Medical Director of the Milagro Program that provides prenatal care and maternity care services to women with substance abuse problems. Dr. Leeman is a Professor in the Departments of Family & Community Medicine, and Obstetrics and Gynecology. He is currently the Medical Editor for the nationwide Advanced Life Support in Obstetrics (ALSO) program. Current areas of research include rural maternity care, perinatal opioid use disorder, neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome, and the use of psychedelic assisted therapies for trauma and addiction. He is the site PI for three NIH grants in the involving opioid use disorder in pregnancy and neonatal effects. Dr. Leeman amplifies the honor and indigenous reciprocity that psychedelic research and utilization demands. We hold the ironic truth of psychedelics as “ancient novel therapeutics.”