🫠 This Week in Psychedelics

Welcome to Tricycle Day. We’re the psychedelics newsletter with a crazy fast metabolism. News and research go in. Memes come out. 💩

Here’s what we got this week.

Thinking about becoming a licensed psilocybin facilitator? You probably have questions.

Like, what’s involved? Can I do it while working full time? How’s the job market? Do I get free mushrooms for life?

Acadia Professional Learning is hosting a free Q&A on Feb 11 where you can ask it all, meet their faculty, and decide if facilitation is your path.

Their 150-hour didactic course + 40-hour practicum are approved for licensure in both Oregon and Colorado, and the 2026 cohort starts March 5.

Go on. Follow your curiosity. That’s what the medicine teaches us, right?

Rite of passage: For the first time, the FDA approved a clinical trial of a ritual-based group facilitation model for psychedelic therapy.
Big picture thinking: The boundary-expanding nature of psychedelic experiences leads people toward a more holistic worldview.
Bookend your trip: In psilocybin-assisted therapy, longer preparation and integration sessions are linked to larger antidepressant effects.
Metabolism matters: Eating disorders may alter psilocybin’s effects on social behavior and inflammation.
The 20% club: About one in five psychedelic users attribute a major life change to their use.

Don’t mess with… The Texas Medical Board has proposed sweeping (and onerous) new regulations for ketamine clinics, which could set a precedent for the rest of the U.S.
Run it back: New Jersey lawmakers have introduced a bill that would set up an Oregon-like psilocybin services program, separate from the $6 million research bill that passed in January.
Win some, lose some: New Hampshire lawmakers advanced a medical psilocybin bill and killed a more lax therapeutic access bill. (See previous coverage.)
All aboard the ‘gaine train: West Virginia and Mississippi are each a step closer to joining a growing multi-state consortium seeking FDA approval for ibogaine.
Tick tock, Bobby: Psychedelic advocates’ patience is wearing thin with RFK Jr.

Updated manual: Johns Hopkins released new clinical guidance on psychedelic medicine.
Bar and living room included: Northwell Health, the largest health care provider in New York, opened a new psychedelic research and treatment center in Queens.
Fatal outcome: A patient under the care of the ibogaine clinic Ambio recently died.
Allegedly: Definium Therapeutics (formerly MindMed) was just sued for stealing trade secrets.
Wishful thinking? By 2027, psilocybin and LSD may both be FDA approved.

Sneak in through the Zide Door: NPR’s Planet Money podcast takes you inside the world’s largest mushroom church.
Show and tell: Should psychedelics researchers disclose their personal use?
Mind over matter: When microdosing fails to beat placebo, that might say more about the power of the placebo effect than anything.
Meme of the week: Stop giving me your toughest battles…

Don’t know who needs to hear this, but…

You don’t have to dissolve your ego to dissolve your fatty liver, mkay?

Italian researchers just wrapped a preclinical study showing that chronic, low-dose psilocybin (microdosing, essentially) improved metabolic health in animal models of obesity, type 2 diabetes, and fatty liver disease.

The study gave mice with diet-induced metabolic dysfunction a steady regimen of psilocybin (0.05 mg/kg, 5 days per week) for 12 weeks.

Here's what happened.

The breakthrough here is that psilocybin seems to work as a peripheral metabolic modulator at low doses. It targets the liver through a serotonergic pathway (oh hey 5-HT2B, nice to see ya again) that—importantly—has nothing to do with tripping balls.

This challenges the whole “psychedelic experience → therapeutic benefit” paradigm that's dominated the field, particularly in discussions around mental health. (For the record, we’re not saying that psychological shifts can’t lead to healthier choices and weight loss. That part’s true, too.)

Obviously we don’t know for sure yet, but these findings could translate to human applications for obesity and other metabolic diseases, which unfortunately affect millions of Americans.

If psilocybin can pull off this kind of metabolic reset without requiring anyone to surrender to the medicine for six hours… hmm, Ozempic better watch out. 🫠

Our boys have done it again. Reps. Jack Bergman (R-MI) and Lou Correa (D-CA) just filed their second psychedelic bill in a year. At this point, these two might be single-handedly keeping federal psychedelic reform alive. Their latest legislation, the Expanding Veterans' Access to Emerging Treatments Act, directs the VA to run clinical trials and set up compassionate psychedelic access for vets, now not later.

The bill covers psilocybin, MDMA, 5-MeO-DMT, ibogaine, ketamine, and MEAI (a newcomer being investigated for alcohol use disorder) to treat PTSD, TBI, depression, addiction, and chronic pain. It also includes mandatory congressional reporting for accountability and gives the VA Secretary discretion to either sunset or extend the program after two years. So not exactly a blank check.

Long-time Cyclists may be wondering how this bill fits with last year's Innovative Therapies Centers of Excellence Act. (Good memory.) Well, the new bill builds the on-ramp (clinical trials and early access), while the ITCEA builds the highway (permanent treatment hubs to scale delivery). According to Melissa Lavasani, they might be folded into a single bill. Either way, let’s stop making vets fly to Mexico, yeah?

MAPS and Columbia University are launching a new study to document what underground practitioners have known for ages—that MDMA works wonders for couples therapy. Now this isn’t a clinical trial, per se. No one’s rolling on Columbia’s dime (sadly). Rather, they're surveying therapists who facilitate MDMA sessions with couples to inform training methods, safety protocols, and clinical guidelines.

Keep in mind, fighting with your partner isn’t a disease (even if it feels like it). Couples therapy isn’t a treatment for a diagnosable disorder, which means it falls outside the FDA's playbook. If MDMA-assisted couples therapy did move into clinical trials, how would you even measure success? Staying together can't be the goal, since a “conscious uncoupling” is sometimes the healthiest outcome. There's no clear-cut endpoint like remission when you just wanna help two people communicate better.

Guess this is part of the fun of shifting toward studying psychedelics for wellness, not just treating medical conditions. It's also hilariously obvious to anyone who's rolled with their partner. The empathy and emotional honesty that MDMA elicit are relationship gold. In the spirit of the medicine, we’ll go out on a limb and speak from our heart. We like this.

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.