🫠 This Week in Psychedelics

Welcome to Tricycle Day. We’re the psychedelics newsletter that thought you said psychedelics aren’t Pangaea. Easy mistake. You know, since everything’s connected. 🌎

Here’s what we got this week.

Psychedelics are internal work… right?

Sure, it feels like it should be you, the mushrooms, and your inner demons having it out.

But Synthesis's Immersion Retreats prove otherwise. Their group setting creates something you can't get alone.

See, the whole process, from preparation through ceremony and integration, supports insight through witnessing and being witnessed.

It’s relational. We meet ourselves through each other.

Their facilitators have guided over 1,100 participants since 2018. The next retreats are Feb 18-22 and Apr 26-30, and you’re invited.

Clear your head: A single 10mg dose of psilocybin may reduce migraine frequency by over 50%.
The helioscope effect: Psychedelics, including MDMA, help many people feel safe revisiting traumatic memories.
Food for thought: Psilocybin-assisted therapy may be effective for treating binge eating disorder.
Time flies when you’re not on mushrooms: Psilocybin makes time feel slower by altering attention and working memory.
A feel-good study: Therapsil has launched Canada’s first wellness-focused psilocybin therapy trial.

50 labs of democracy: States, not the FDA, are winning the drug war.
Options, options, options: Arizona lawmakers are actively exploring several regulatory frameworks for psychedelics.
The jig is up: Colorado regulators have started sending cease-and-desist letters to unauthorized psilocybin facilitators practicing under the personal use provision.
Not that conservative then: Ibogaine is being championed by the political right.
Excellence deferred: The federal bill to establish five new VA centers for clinical psychedelic research is still pending. A public forum is set for next week to highlight the issue.

New name, who dis: MindMed has rebranded to Definium Therapeutics.
Mama drama: Reunion Neuroscience is on track to kick off its Phase 3 postpartum depression trial this year.
Not a one-hit wonder: Gilgamesh Pharma, the company that sold bretisilocin to AbbVie, posted strong results from the Phase 2a trial of its next drug.
The struggle is real: Another psilocybin service center in Oregon is closing this month.
Slaying at advocacy: Eliza Dushku is VETS’ newest board member.

Psychedelic wonderland: Look inside Meow Wolf’s new LA space, opening late 2026.
Bear’s last dance: Bob Weir, founding member of the Grateful Dead, has died.
Pyramid scheme: The U.S. government finally updated the food pyramid… and learned how to make a website.
Meme of the week: When the anti-drug propaganda machine has to update its messaging…

The responsible thing to say about psychedelics is that they’re Not A Panacea™️ for all mental health conditions.

Yeah, well… Compass Pathways is politely ignoring that advice.

Last week, the FDA accepted their application to launch a Phase 2b/3 trial of COMP360 for PTSD. This could lead to their second psilocybin indication after treatment-resistant depression, which they expect to be approved by year end.

Cool thing is, the second approval could move a lot faster than the first.

Here's how the next steps should play out.

Compass knows better than to just collect approvals without a plan, though.

Hence their new strategic partnership with Radial, a national network of interventional psychiatry clinics co-founded by the guy who built PillPack (which Amazon bought and turned into Amazon Pharmacy).

The partnership is about figuring out the logistics of delivering psilocybin therapy at scale. Because unlike a prescription you pick up at CVS, this kind of treatment requires specialized settings, trained staff, and hours of therapeutic support.

(Radial joins seven other companies helping Compass throw spaghetti at the wall test different delivery models.)

So yeah, psilocybin still isn’t for everyone. But if no one can access it, ain’t no way it’s a panacea. 🫠

Put down the sunscreen, Cyclists. We just learned you can make psychedelic-like molecules the same way you get a tan: with ultraviolet light. Researchers at UC Davis combined tryptamine with a bunch of amino acids, zapped ‘em with UV, and created a whole library of new compounds that bind the brain's 5-HT2A receptors. (Which is exactly what classic psychedelics target.)

Now, these new molecules won’t make the trees talk or the carpet dance… probably. (They’ve only been tested in mice, so we can’t say for sure.) For instance, one compound activated the 5-HT2A receptor with 93% efficacy, but it didn't cause the classic head-twitch response that tells researchers a mouse is tripping. Btw, the team ran 100 of these compounds through computer simulations before picking the five most promising to test in vivo.

It’s still a mystery why these 5-HT2A agonists don’t cause hallucinations, but that’s part of what makes them so interesting. The team at Davis thinks so-called “psychoplastogens” (compounds that promote brain plasticity without the perceptual distortions) could be the next big thing in medicine. Like, even bigger than Banana Boat.

… in psychedelic politics, that is. New Jersey's legislature just passed a psilocybin bill, but not before gutting it of its original vision. Ultimately, the state chose a tightly controlled hospital pilot over an Oregon-style service center model, which would have decriminalized mushrooms as a nice lil’ bonus.

The bill creates a two-year pilot program with up to three hospitals (one each in North, Central, and South Jersey) that will study synthetic, FDA-regulated psilocybin for behavioral health conditions. It provides $6 million in funding and establishes an 11-member advisory board to oversee the research. The Senate passed it 35-4, the Assembly 48-23, and it now heads to Governor Murphy's desk.

Not to be dramatic, but this feels like a fork in the road for state psilocybin policy. Rather than following the blueprint from Oregon or Colorado, New Jersey is choosing a squarely medical approach. Depending on where you stand, it’s either pragmatic (FDA approval is expected late 2026, so why not start collecting real-world data?) or misguided (no natural medicine, no prep or integration sessions, no path to decrim). However you slice it, NJ has joined the “let hospitals figure it out” camp.

That’s all for today, Cyclists! Whenever you’re ready, here’s how we can help.

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DISCLAIMER: This newsletter is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice. The use, possession, and distribution of psychedelic drugs are illegal in most countries and may result in criminal prosecution.