🫠 This Week in Psychedelics

Welcome to Tricycle Day. We’re the psychedelics newsletter that swings for the fences. On that note, we’ve got a favor to ask, Cyclists… will you forward this email to one friend who’d appreciate it? 🙏

Here’s what we got this week.

• Texas allocates $50M for ibogaine research 💰

• “Cyberdelics” promote cognitive flexibility 👾

• The US has a psychedelics czar now 🇺🇸

• Free movie night for the Cyclists 🎥

FROM OUR SPONSORS

This moment’s going in the history books. Colorado's natural medicine program is officially live.

When you’re ready to explore legal psilocybin, Althea will connect you with licensed facilitators across the state who align with your specific needs and intentions.

Just answer a few quick questions, and they'll find the best fit for you.

And to our professional Cyclists, Althea hasn’t forgotten about you. Licensed facilitators can also access free compliance and client management tools through the same portal.

Get matched with your perfect Colorado guide.

MICRODOSES

🔬 Research

Not just a pretty sight: The aesthetic quality of psychedelic experiences may actively contribute to therapeutic outcomes.
Food for thought: Psilocybin may treat anorexia nervosa by enhancing cognitive flexibility and reward processing.
Unbothered and unimpaired: A randomized controlled trial found that microdosing psilocybin didn’t affect depression scores, but it did reduce anxiety and improve quality of life.
Keep on sniffin’ on: A Phase 3 extension study of intranasal esketamine (Spravato) turned up no new safety concerns with long-term treatment.
Jewish journeys: People of Jewish background (whether they observe or not) are invited to join a study on their attitudes, practices, and needs regarding psychedelics.

🏛️ Policy

You win some: Connecticut’s psilocybin decriminalization bill has advanced to the Senate.
You lose some: A California Senate committee killed the bill that would have created a psilocybin pilot program for military vets and first responders.
Forgotten heroes: Even though veterans have been centered in psychedelic discourse, ironically they may be the ones left behind.
Charter challenge: An ayahuasca facilitator is arguing for his right to religious freedom in Nova Scotia Supreme Court.
EU-phoric: More than 20 European countries collaborated on a proposal that includes about €575,000 in funding for psychedelic research.

📈 Business

Added to the queue: There’s a new psychedelics journal coming to print.
5-HT2A didn’t even see it coming: Gilgamesh Pharmaceuticals released topline data from their Phase 2a depression trial. 94% of participants who received their drug went into remission.
Friends in high places: A former Aspen city council member is opening the city’s first psychedelic healing center.
Not in this house: In Colorado Springs, psychedelic healing centers will no longer be eligible for membership in the chamber of commerce.
Business as unusual: Is Big Pharma sanitizing the psychedelic revolution?

🫠 Just for fun

Shhhh: The plants are listening.
Oh, how the mighty have fallen: This kingpin made millions selling DMT over the dark web before the feds came knocking.
Game on: The Enhanced Games, Christian Angermayer’s pro-PED sporting event, has set a date and location.
Meme of the week: When the 5-MeO-DMT in your tissues decides to reactivate…

THE PEAK EXPERIENCE

Y'all ready for this?

Forget everything you know about Texans.

Sure, they've got oil, cowboy boots, and what’s gotta be the only gas station on Earth with a cult following. But apparently, they also have the biggest psychedelic research budget on the planet.

The Lone Star State just approved $50 million to fund clinical trials for ibogaine, making it the largest publicly-funded psychedelic research initiative in history.

Here's what Texas lawmakers signed off on.

• 💵 $50 million for FDA-approved ibogaine trials through a public-private partnership where Texas matches private investment dollar-for-dollar

• 🧠 Exploring multiple indications including opioid use disorder, co-occurring substance use disorders, and neurological/mental health conditions

• 🏛️ Texas keeps it share of profits from any successful drug development through IP rights and commercial interests

• 🏥 Guaranteed access for Texans through mandatory insurance coverage (private and public), plus dedicated funding for uninsured patients

The legislation—House Bill 3717 by Rep. Cody Harris and Senate Bill 2308 by Sen. Tan Parker—had bipartisan support thanks to advocacy by Bryan Hubbard and former Gov. Rick Perry, who brought in combat veterans to testify about their healing experiences with ibogaine in Mexico.

With 15 states already meeting to explore similar programs, Texas may have just kicked off a nationwide race to the bottom of the opioid crisis. The questions now are which biotech company will step up to partner with the state, and whether other governments will follow Texas's lead in keeping the economic benefits of drug development in public hands.

When they’re calling ibogaine "the Manhattan Project of our time," you know Texas is about to go nucular nuclear on addiction. 🫠

AFTERGLOW

Simulation theory

We've heard plenty about biotech companies trying to engineer the trip out of psychedelic medicines. (Yawn.) But how come no one’s talking about engineering the medicine out of the psychedelic trip? Oh, wait. Italian researchers just pulled off exactly that, using nothing but a virtual reality headset and some very clever algorithms.

The team took 50 participants and exposed them to two VR experiences: a peaceful Japanese garden, and the same garden processed through Google's DeepDream algo to create artificial hallucinations. After viewing the "cyberdelics" version, participants showed enhanced cognitive flexibility and deeper focus—some of the same benefits seen with actual psychedelics. For what it’s worth, both VR experiences also reduced heart rate and stress markers. Suppose a Zen garden’ll do that for ya.

The researchers suggest these "hallucinatory visual virtual experiences" work by disrupting rigid thought patterns and promoting neuroplasticity. (Sound familiar?) If VR can mimic psychedelics' benefits without the legal restrictions or safety concerns, that certainly opens up new therapeutic possibilities. To those who say psychedelic visions should come from your subconscious, not a computer… fair point. Guess we'll just have to wait for brain implants. Way less invasive than eating a mushroom.

Zorn in the USA

Now that’s a career pivot. Matt Zorn, the attorney who's spent years dragging federal agencies to court over drug policy, just joined the Trump administration as Deputy General Counsel at HHS. Sources are calling him the government's unofficial "psychedelics czar," which (sorry, everyone else) has to be the coolest job title in Washington.

For those keeping track at home, this is the same Matt Zorn who successfully sued the DEA over marijuana research obstruction, fought to keep tryptamines from being scheduled, and extracted HHS's cannabis rescheduling recommendation through a FOIA lawsuit. Now he's working under RFK Jr., presumably plotting psychedelic reforms from inside the belly of the bureaucratic beast.

The appointment (alongside recent remarks from the VA Secretary, FDA chief, and Surgeon General picks) signals that Trump's crew is serious about psychedelic medicine. With this new role, Zorn is positioned to influence policy across multiple agencies, from NIH research funding to FDA drug approvals. Whether he'll have more success working within the system than terrorizing it from the outside, though, only time will tell.

CYCLISTS’ PICKS

• 🍿 Movie night: DOSED: The Trip of a Lifetime, an award-winning documentary about a loving mother who’s granted legal access to psilocybin therapy, is streaming for free (or by donation) for a limited time.

• 🗓️ Office decor: The Love Serve Remember Foundation is taking discounted preorders for their 2026 Be Here Now wall calendars, featuring monthly teachings from Ram Dass.

• 🪩 Afterparty: Microdosing Collective is throwing an after hours event with music, food trucks, and brand activations on the Thursday night of Psychedelic Science 2025. Today’s the last day to grab early bird tickets.

• 🖼️ Museum tour: The Museum of Sex in NYC is running an exhibition on the psychedelic roots of modern sexuality, with contributions from the Shulgin family.

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.