🫠 This Week in Psychedelics

PRESENTED BY ALTHEA & FOUNDATIONS 🤝

Welcome to Tricycle Day. We’re the psychedelics newsletter that’s a little out of breath from all this typin’ and memin’. Who knew being a keyboard warrior was so aerobically demanding? 😮‍💨

Here’s what we got this week.

• MRI study connects breathwork to mystical experiences 🌬️

• Kentucky doubles back on ibogaine research 🧐

• Pentagon adds psilocin to military drug tests ❌

• Take a tour of the Shulgin Farm 🏡

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MICRODOSES

🔬 Research

Go love yourself: Across two psilocybin studies, self-compassion was the single factor that consistently predicted improvements across every mental health outcome measured.
Of mice and bacteria: Chronic psilocybin use increased sociability and led to changes in the gut microbiome of mice.
Feel it to heal it: Esketamine seems to have a targeted effect on anhedonia (the inability to feel pleasure).
The people’s choice: According to a national survey, young adults (age 19-25) have the highest use of psychedelics of any age demographic, and psilocybin is the most commonly used psychedelic.
Back that thang up: Johns Hopkins is recruiting volunteers for a psilocybin study for chronic low back pain with co-occurring depression.

🏛️ Policy

The path forward: The co-chairs of the Congressional PATH Caucus published an op-ed on why Congress should keep supporting the VA’s psychedelic research.
Side effects: The HALT Fentanyl Act, signed into law in July, could make psychedelic research easier.
This is how we do it: The Alabama Board of Medical Examiners released guidelines for the off-label use ketamine for treatment-resistant depression.
Pardon me: Colorado Governor Jared Polis’s pardons for psilocybin offenders may get broader.
Heard it here first: Oregon Psilocybin Services announced public hearing dates for its new proposed rules. The written comment period is already open.

📈 Business

The artist formerly known as MAPS PBC: Here’s the backstory on how billionaire investor Antonio Gracias took over Lykos Therapeutics… which is changing its name (again) to Resilient Pharmaceuticals.
Speaking of: MAPS has tapped a contract research organization for its Phase 2 trial of inhaled cannabis for PTSD in veterans.
Generalized good news: Incannex reported positive results from its Phase 2 trial of psilocybin-assisted therapy for generalized anxiety disorder.
Party’s over: An Israeli-organized psychedelic festival was preemptively shut down in Portugal.
Church and state: Bloomberg looks inside the ayahuasca church that received the DEA’s first religious exemption without a lawsuit.

🫠 Just for fun

Protect the cactus: A band of believers is trying to save Peyote before it vanishes from the US.
Room with a view: Interior Design profiled one of the first purpose-built spaces for psychedelic therapy.
Glow up: Chinese scientists created multicolored, glow-in-the-dark succulents.
A chairlift to God: Religious groups are pushing for psychedelics as a sacrament.
Meme of the week: When psychedelics help you become comfortable with death…

THE PEAK EXPERIENCE

Deeeeep breaths

Silly us, thinking we had to clear our whole weekend for a heroic dose.

Apparently, all you need is 20 minutes of hyperventilation and a decent Spotify playlist to experience "oceanic boundlessness." (That’s not a luxury cruise package, but rather the scientific term for the blissed-out, one-with-the-universe feeling people get from psychedelics.)

And we’ve got the science to prove it. British researchers just published the first neuroimaging study to map what happens in your brain during high-ventilation breathwork (HVB).

They recruited 42 experienced practitioners of techniques like Holotropic Breathwork, strapped them to MRI machines, and had them go to town while listening to music. Here's what the study found.

• 😵‍💫 High on their own supply: Participants reported bliss, unity, and emotional breakthroughs similar to psilocybin experiences.

• 🩸 Blood flow changes: Cerebral blood flow dropped 41.6% overall but increased in emotion-processing regions like the amygdala and hippocampus.

• ✨ Out-of-body experiences: Decreased blood flow in brain areas responsible for body awareness correlated with deeper mystical experiences.

• 🫀 Healthy heart stress: Reduced heart rate variability indicated sympathetic nervous system activation (i.e., the fight-or-flight response) but produced no adverse effects.

Breathing is powerful. This much we gathered from centuries of breathwork traditions seen around the world. But now we know what’s going on upstairs when you huff and puff your way to expanded consciousness.

The more the brain's self-awareness centers got disrupted (specifically the posterior insula), the more profound the experience of unity became. Also, increased blood flow to emotional memory centers suggests breathwork might help process traumatic experiences.

Unlike psychedelics you ingest, where you “buy the ticket, take the ride,” breathing offers way more control. That might explain why it’s often used for preparation, integration, and even extension of medicine experiences.

Luckily, as far as we know, no one’s trying to make air illegal. Knock on wood. 🫠

AFTERGLOW

Better late than never

Remember Bryan Hubbard? The smooth-talking former Kentucky opioid czar who got exiled for pushing a $42 million ibogaine research proposal? Well, his legacy lives on. Last week, KY Senator Donald Douglas told lawmakers he plans to file legislation in 2026 to fund ibogaine studies, essentially reviving Hubbard’s plan. So Kentucky might get that ibogaine research after all.

The timing couldn’t be a coincidence. Hubbard, now running the nonprofit Americans for Ibogaine, didn't even attend the hearing because he was busy pitching the same idea to Mississippi legislators. See, after Kentucky's Attorney General Russell Coleman axed his original plan in 2023, Hubbard took his show on the road.

Since then, Texas has committed $50 million to ibogaine research with Hubbard's help, and Arizona is moving forward with similar efforts. Now Douglas is arguing Kentucky needs to catch up and suggesting several states form a consortium to pool resources. But Douglas admits he hasn't reached out to any universities about conducting trials (eh, minor details). Love the enthusiasm, but is this guy the kid in high school who freeloaded on the group project?

DoD’s double standard

Starting October 1st, the Pentagon will drug test troops for psilocin, the active metabolite of psilocybin. An August memo cited concerns about "impairment and subsequent deterioration of security, military fitness, readiness, good order and discipline." Ouch. We resent that characterization. Though they may have a point on the deterioration of order.

It’s quite, hmm, interesting that the powers-that-be reached this conclusion, considering the Department of Defense is *checks notes* actively studying the clinical benefits of psychedelic therapy for active-duty personnel with PTSD and other conditions. Yes, the same department that will court-martial soldiers for taking psilocybin is also paying researchers to give those soldiers psilocybin in controlled settings. Make it make sense.

Hypocrisy aside, this new rule really creates an impossible situation for service members. If you're struggling with the trauma of war, you could (potentially, possibly, if you’re lucky) access psilocybin through a DoD-funded clinical trial (yay). Or you can face disciplinary action for using it outside that narrow research context (boo). Uh, thank you for your service?

CYCLISTS’ PICKS

• 🚌 Field trip: The Shulgin Foundation is now offering guided tours of the legendary farm where Sasha and Ann synthesized hundreds of novel psychedelic compounds and reintroduced MDMA into therapeutic practice.

• ⛰️ Summit: Psychedelics for Climate Action (PSYCA) is hosting a one-night Climate, Consciousness & Mental Health Summit to kick off Climate Week NYC. Tickets and memberships are available for $10.

• 📕 Book: In The Great Nerve, Dr. Kevin Tracey breaks down the latest science on the vagus nerve and how properly stimulating it can reverse inflammation, balance the immune system, and treat chronic illness.

• 🦪 Celebration: The fourth annual Gathering of the Pearl in Ashville, NC has a stacked speaker lineup including MAPS founder Rick Doblin, psychiatrist Michael Mithoefer, and aforementioned ibogaine evangelist Bryan Hubbard.

UNTIL NEXT TIME

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

ONE CYCLIST’S REVIEW

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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.