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Dr. Kolp's Ketamine Research

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In 1994, the Multi-Disciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) sponsored a nationwide U.S. lecture tour by Evgeny Krupitsky, M.D. During this time, Dr. Eli Kolp asked Dr. Krupitsky to present his research findings during Grand Rounds at the James A. Haley Veterans Hospital in Tampa, Florida, where Dr. Kolp was on staff. Both physicians decided to conduct a collaborative research effort and drafted the protocol entitled The Ketamine Assisted Therapy of Alcoholism.

The protocol was presented to the Safety Committee of the James A. Haley Veterans Hospital and was approved on March 26, 1996. It was then reviewed by the Research and Development Committee of the Dept. of Veterans Affairs and was approved on May 6, 1996. The research protocol was further submitted to the Research Committee of the Dept. of Psychiatry at the University of South Florida College of Medicine and was approved on May 31, 1996. It was then sent to the Institutional Review Board of the University of South Florida Health Science Center, where it was approved on July 3, 1996. Finally, the protocol was forwarded to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which issued to Dr. Kolp an Investigational New Drug (IND #52,053) permit on November 29, 1996.

Due to organizational restructuring, however, the original protocol was delayed for three years. Administrative leadership of the Veterans Hospital Psychiatry Services changed three times, which ultimately delayed the beginning of the study. In addition, the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment Program (ADATP) was re-organized during the same period. As a result, the inpatient substance abuse ward was closed, and the ADATP began providing only outpatient treatment, which required the protocol to be restructured.

While waiting for the changes at the Veterans Hospital to take place, Dr. Kolp began using Ketamine-enhanced psychotherapy for clinical applications in his private practice. Dr. Kolp initially used this innovative treatment as a part of individual psychotherapy. However, he found that it is more effective in a group setting and he continued administering it in his weeklong workshops. In 1998, TBS/CNN featured one of his workshops on the American Frontiers program entitled Psychedelic Revisions (click to watch video clip).

Eventually, the protocol was scheduled to begin in June of 1999. However, in March of 1999, Dr. Kolp experienced a devastating accident that left him totally disabled for the next two and a half years. After extensive rehabilitative therapy, while still partially disabled, Dr. Kolp has returned to part-time practice. Dr. Kolp currently limits his private practice exclusively to Ketamine-enhanced psychotherapy. He plans to return to scientific research by 2006.