🫠 This Week in Psychedelics

Welcome to Tricycle Day. We’re the psychedelics newsletter that would rather be safe than sorry. So before we shipped this email, we tested it across multiple devices, browsers, and states of consciousness. You’re welcome.

Here’s what we got this week.

The psychedelic field is booming. Which is great, except...

It makes you wonder, are we moving too fast? Are we losing the sacred for the sake of scale?

On Feb 28, Synthesis is gathering Rick Doblin, Rosalind Watts, and other pioneers who've been at this work for decades to talk about it. The good, the bad, and the ugly jury’s still out.

There’s also a guided session to figure out where you fit into all of this, whether you’re already in practice or considering training.

Yes, they’ll have recordings if you can't make it. But you gotta sign up.

Peace at last: A review of five clinical trials found that psilocybin matched or beat opioids and benzos in treating end-of-life anxiety.
Shortcut to samadhi: Low-dose 5-MeO-DMT and non-dual meditation produce similar experiences and neural effects.
What were we saying? Ketamine withdrawal impairs memory in rats.
Divided we stand: Americans are still split on psychedelics. While most poll respondents said their views had remained stable, 21% reported becoming more positive over time.
You put a spell on me: Help researchers better understand the roles of magic and sorcery in psychedelic ceremonies by completing this short survey.

It’s official: New Jersey is the fourth state in the U.S. with a legal psilocybin program. (See previous coverage.)
Red alert: Kentucky senators filed an emergency bill to authorize and fund ibogaine research.
Someone’s gotta grow it: Iowa lawmakers introduced a new bill focused on the production and distribution of psilocybin.
Legislative buffet: Washington state has several psilocybin bills in play this session. REACH WA is trying to get one more (which covers personal use, too) in the mix.
Messy, messy: Former senator turned psychedelics advocate Kyrsten Sinema is caught up in a scandal involving an extra-marital affair and alleged underground use.
Big if true: The director of NIH’s National Institute on Drug Abuse called psychedelics “a potential paradigm shift” in how substance use disorders are treated.

The plug: Meet the man supplying psychedelics to researchers running clinical trials around the world.
Field notes: Oregon and Colorado are quietly proving what works in real-world psychedelic therapy and shaping the future of care.
Healthcare’s hottest: One of the five takeaways from JPM 2026 (“the Super Bowl of biotech”) was the mainstream commercialization of psychedelics.
Focus! PharmaTher, the company that developed a transdermal patch to deliver ketamine and other psychedelics, is expanding into GLP-1 obesity drugs.

Same wavelength: Surfing and psychedelics have at least one thing in common.
Encrypted intelligence: The creator of Signal wants to do for AI what he already did for texting.
Decks of old: Take a trip through history with antique tarot cards.
Dark side of the vine: In the Amazon, ayahuasca ceremonies are not all love and light.
Meme of the week: Psychedelic facilitators trying to practice with ethics and integrity…

Your grade school DARE teacher taught you one kind of vigilance. Just say no to drugs. Stay away from unmarked white vans. Beware of the boogeyman “gateway drug.”

This is a different kind.

Researchers just completed the first-ever analysis of global pharmacovigilance data for classic psychedelics and MDMA. Basically, that means they looked systematically at what happens when people trip and roll.

The study reviewed adverse event reports from the WHO's VigiBase database spanning 180+ countries. It included 1,573 reports for MDMA, 394 for LSD, and far fewer for psilocybin (56), DMT (18), and mescaline (15).

Here's what they found.

So, psychedelics are physiologically quite safe, even if they can be psychologically challenging.

In fact, they may be even safer than these data show, since reports are tangled up with “polysubstance use.” (People often use alcohol, cannabis, and other drugs with psychedelics. When an AE report is filed after someone mixes 2+ substances, the database flags everything involved.)

Not to play favorites, but shoutout to mushrooms. Despite being the most commonly used psychedelic, psilocybin had among the fewest adverse event reports. Lesson in there.

That said, we still recommend exercising vigilance. For example, when someone says psychedelics “fry your brain,” it's your sworn duty as a Cyclist to direct them to Tricycle Day, stat. 🫠

New Hampshire's state motto is “Live Free or Die.” But based on their latest psychedelic policy reform attempts, they may be hedging on that first part. Last week, NH lawmakers heard testimony on two bipartisan bills, either of which would create a regulated medical psilocybin program, strictly for patients with treatment-resistant depression, PTSD, and substance use disorders.

Both bills funnel through the state Department of Health and Human Services, but they’re split on the details. HB 1809 requires providers to grow their own natural psilocybin and sets up an advisory board before launch. HB 1796 gets more granular with licensing boards, testing labs, and mandatory rescue meds on-site. Either way, it's a far cry from the psilocybin decriminalization bill the Senate killed last June.

Can’t help but notice another state hopping on the trend toward narrow medical models over Oregon-esque legalization. New Mexico passed similar legislation last year, and two days ago, New Jersey’s governor signed a three-hospital pilot program into law. If New Hampshire can get one of these bad boys over the finish line, we’ll take the W. Might have to change that motto to "Live With Extensive Regulatory Oversight” though.

The war on drugs is alive and well. Where they’ll point their weapons next, though, is anyone’s guess. This week brought two scheduling updates that perfectly capture the ridiculousness. 1) The DEA is rushing to ban an obscure ketamine analog, while 2) two senators are scrambling to keep cannabis locked in Schedule I.

The DEA is using “emergency scheduling” powers to add 2-fluorodeschloroketamine (2-FDCK) to Schedule I based on *checks notes* 12 law enforcement encounters since 2018. Yes, a dozen incidents apparently constitutes an “imminent hazard to public safety” requiring immediate action with no legal recourse for three years. Meanwhile, Senators Ted Budd (NC) and James Lankford (OK) filed an amendment to block Trump's executive order moving cannabis to Schedule III, despite overwhelming public support for reform.

So to recap… research chemical used by approximately nobody? Bring out the ban hammer. Most popular Schedule I controlled substance in America with documented medical benefits? Must stay forbidden at all costs. The logic is impeccable if you refuse to think about it.

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.