🫠 This Week in Psychedelics

PRESENTED BY ALTHEA & FOUNDATIONS 🤝

Welcome to Tricycle Day. Legend has it this psychedelics newsletter brings generations of good fortune to all who open, read, and click on it. Could be a myth, but why take your chances? 🫠

Here’s what we got this week.

• Psilocybin helps low-income people with depression 🤲

• Scholars challenge the Eleusinian mysteries theory 🏺

• Federal judge sides with psychedelic church 👩‍⚖️

• Take the psychedelic personality quiz 💭

FROM OUR SPONSORS

Psychedelics have been pigeon holed.

By that, we mean therapy and ceremony aren’t the only legitimate ways to work them.

Jay and Cory Fiset have a nailed an approach that helps "healthy normals" access more aliveness, depth, and soul through precision personal evolution. They train others to put their own unique spin on it, too.

If you missed their live masterclass in July, you’re in luck. The encore replay is now available.

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MICRODOSES

🔬 Research

Know thyself: Your personality may determine whether you have a positive or negative experience with psychedelics.
Beyond PTSD: A small feasibility study found that MDMA-assisted therapy was a safe and effective treatment of major depression.
Who’s counting? A meta-analysis of 16 psilocybin-assisted therapy studies found no association between patient outcomes and the number of therapy hours they received.
It’s all under control: Psilocybin’s antidepressant effects may be overestimated, based on a comparison of control group outcomes across trials.
Growing pains: An interview-based study identified ten key types of psychedelic integration challenges.

🏛️ Policy

Task masters: Minnesota has proven that state-launched psychedelic “task forces” can indeed influence policy.
Dollars and sense: The Senate Appropriations Committee submitted a report criticizing barriers to research of psychedelic and other Schedule I drugs.
Grease the wheels: New public records disclose the psychedelic organizations that lobbied Congress last quarter.
Rolling recommendations: Australia’s first clinical practice guidelines for MDMA-assisted therapy have been released.
Gift of the gab: How did former Texas governor, Rick Perry, become one of the nation’s most passionate ibogaine advocates?

📈 Business

Less gray by the day: The market for psychedelic consumer packaged goods is booming.
Deep cuts: PharmaTher received FDA approval for KETARx, a ketamine product for surgical pain management.
Green light: Cybin and Tryptamine Therapeutics each received clearance to begin new clinical trials.
Rules for thee, not for me: A “founding father” of Oregon’s psilocybin program was fined for breaking the laws he helped write.
Keep up with the Jones Lab: EYWA Biotech is licensing a psilocybin biosynthesis technology developed at Miami University.

🫠 Just for fun

The most magical kingdom: Flavor researchers (yes, that’s a thing) found that mushrooms offer more tastes than we even know.
Gotta catch protect ‘em all: Architectural Digest rounds up the ten trippiest plants from around the world.
Take it easy: Here’s the science-backed case for doing nothing.
Meme of the week: Aw man. Our Instagram is in timeout again. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

THE PEAK EXPERIENCE

The people’s medicine

They say money can't buy happiness.

But it can pay for psychedelic therapy, which might be the next best thing if you’re chronically depressed.

Trouble is, a legal facilitated psilocybin experience is still cost prohibitive to many who’d benefit. Shoot, roughly half of US adults struggle to afford healthcare in general.

The cruel irony, of course, is no one’s priced out of being depressed. In fact, lower socioeconomic status is unsurprisingly associated with higher rates of depression. (Being broke is a downer.)

That's why researchers at the National University of Natural Medicine decided to flip the script. Their new study gave psilocybin-assisted group therapy to 19 low-income, Medicaid-eligible participants. Here's what happened when they brought the medicine to the masses.

• 😅 Relief across the board: Most participants saw significant improvements in depression, anxiety, sleep, and cognitive function.

• 👌 Better quality of life: After 3 months, the average self-rating jumped from 5.9 to 7.4 (on a scale of 10).

• 🫂 Community healing: Despite initial hesitation about group sessions, participants reported increased trust, safety, and belonging.

• 👍 High satisfaction: Strong completion rates and participant feedback demonstrated the approach's feasibility.

The study was funded by the Sheri Eckert Foundation and conducted through Oregon's legal psilocybin program. Participants received structured preparation, two dosing sessions, and integration support over three months—all at no cost.

And it worked. This research shows that psychedelic medicine can be delivered affordably and effectively to the populations who need it most.

This is exactly the kind of evidence policymakers need to justify using state funding for these purposes. When you can show that group-based care not only works but costs a fraction of individual sessions, suddenly covering psychedelic therapy doesn't seem so financially impossible.

We’ll say it. If depression doesn't discriminate by income, neither should the treatment. 🫠

AFTERGLOW

Revisionist mystery

What do Joe Rogan, a freshly minted neoshaman, and half the speakers at psychedelic conferences have in common? They all love telling people that the ancient Greeks’ rites of passage were psychedelic ceremonies. According to this popular theory, the secret sauce behind the legendary Eleusinian Mysteries was ergot-laced barley that sent initiates on revelatory, near-death-like psychedelic journeys. But is it even true?

Researchers from Queen's University think not. So they just dropped a thorough takedown of the whole theory in the journal Psychedelic Medicine. Drs. Sharday Mosurinjohn (whom we interviewed in April) and Richard Ascough systematically dismantle what they call "the psychedelic mysteries hypothesis," pointing out there's zero archaeological evidence for psychedelics at Eleusis. They say proponents are presenting speculation as fact, and the entire narrative is built on shaky foundations and circular reasoning.

So why does the myth persist? The authors argue it's about legitimacy. People want to believe there’s a ‘respectable’ Western pedigree for psychedelics with our European ancestors. Never mind that there are plenty of Indigenous lineages around the world that have preserved psychedelic wisdom for millennia. If we need history’s stamp of approval to justify research and policy reform today (we don’t), surely that’s enough.

Holy mushrooms, Cyclists

A Utah psychedelic church just scored a big win against local authorities in federal court. Let’s back up to explain this one. The legal drama started last November when Provo police raided the spiritual center of Singularism and seized their sacramental psilocybin tea. (Classic move.) Adding insult to injury, Founder Lee Jensen was charged with drug possession.

In December, Jensen fought back. He sued Provo City and Utah County, claiming they violated his rights under Utah's new-and-improved Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Cool, now that you’re caught up, here’s the gospel good news. Last week, U.S. District Judge Jill Parrish sided with Jensen, granting a preliminary injunction that stopped his criminal case and denying the government's motion to dismiss the lawsuit.

Parrish ruled the prosecution was brought in "bad faith" (pun intended?) to harass the group's religious practices. She also noted—astutely, we might add—that Utah already allows medical psilocybin use at certain hospitals. That’s an unfair double-standard that favors secular over religious use, in her professional opinion. If your psychiatrist can dish out mushrooms, then why not your pastor?

CYCLISTS’ PICKS

• 🍫 Treat: Mycoday’s bean-to-bar functional mushroom chocolate just won first place in the GreenState Consumers' Choice Awards. Take 10% off with code TRICYCLE10.

• 👁️ In-person event: Awakening 2025 is the fourth annual three-day gathering hosted by the Psychedelic Institute of Los Angeles. Early bird tickets are now available for the October event.

• 🧑‍💻 Online summit: The NourishED Research Summit is a free/by-donation online conference focused on eating disorder research and care. Several speakers (including a few Psychonaut POV guests) will give talks on psychedelics.

• 📔 Book: Modern Psychedelics is a new, judgment-free “handbook for mindful exploration” of, well, the mind, with the help of our favorite misunderstood plants and molecules.

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.