🫠 This Week in Psychedelics

PRESENTED BY SCHOOL OF PSYCHEDELICS 🤝

Welcome to Tricycle Day. We’re the psychedelics newsletter that doesn’t turn on, tune in, or drop out. We’d rather turn off (our devices), tune out (the noise), and drop in (with our favorite people). After this newsletter, that is. 😉

Here’s what we got this week.

• Psilocybin targets chronic pain in the brain 😖 

• New York legislators hear psilocybin testimony 🗽

• Two public companies quit the mushroom biz 🍄

• Get a job elevating consciousness 🧑‍💻

FROM OUR SPONSORS

Integration isn’t optional. You know it; we know it.

Yet most explorers and practitioners are still winging it with whatever tools they have. Why?

They must not know you can learn a structured, replicable method designed specifically for this work.

Embodied Imagination® for Psychedelic Integration is a 7-step technique that helps clients process journeys somatically, not just cognitively, so ineffable insights stick.

You can see Dr. Katherine Lawson demonstrate the process in this free 20-minute training video.

Watch the demo and add this tool to your practice.

MICRODOSES

🔬 Research

Stroke of luck: DMT may protect the brain after stroke.
Equal opportunity: Psychedelics alter most of our neurons, not just the ones with 5-HT2A receptors.
Better safe than sorry: Psychedelic users employ a range of harm reduction practices. The majority fall under preparation strategies.
Micro-improvements: In a retrospective study, microdosing was associated with positive changes in sleep, contemplative practices, physical activity, and work-life balance.
Heal the healers: Psilocybin-assisted group therapy, combined with mindfulness training, helped frontline healthcare workers recover from depression and burnout.

🏛️ Policy

Catch up quick: Reason Foundation rounded up the most important psychedelics state policy updates of late.
That’s massive: Massachusetts lawmakers advanced a bill to establish a pilot program for the regulated therapeutic use of psychedelics.
Duty calls: Oregon Psilocybin Services is accepting applications to serve on its Rules Advisory Committee.
Temple tantrum: DC city officials are forcing the Temple of Golden Teacher to shut down for selling psilocybin mushrooms without authorization.
Too much too soon: The DEA announced that a Colorado man was sentenced to 4 years in prison for distributing ibogaine, a week after Colorado’s Natural Medicine Advisory Board recommended adding ibogaine to the state’s program.

📈 Business

Sam’s club: The FDA has cleared Arcadia Medicine’s investigational new drug application for a potentially safer form of MDMA. Sam Altman of OpenAI is an investor.
Cheers to that: Küleon Bioscience and Psilera received $2 million each from the NIH to develop psychedelic-inspired treatments for alcohol use disorder. DemeRx got $1.7 million.
Feeling optimistic: Medibank, Australia’s largest private health insurance provider, has selected Optimi to provide psilocybin capsules for its $10 million coverage initiative.
Everything must go: PharmaTher is selling its ketamine assets to an unnamed injectable pharmaceutical company.
Well that’s handy: Westword has listed out every licensed psilocybin healing center open for business in Colorado.

🫠 Just for fun

Lingering questions: Clinical research is great, but we still need basic science to understand psychedelics.
Grey matters: Alex and Allyson Grey have dedicated their lives to healing through visionary art.
Fear, loathing, and foul play? Colorado officials are reviewing Hunter S Thompson’s death, 20 years after it was ruled a suicide.
Meme of the week: Tackling my to-do list as a solo psychedelic practitioner…

THE PEAK EXPERIENCE

“It’s all in your head”

Isn’t weird how people say that to downplay what you’re experiencing?

As if your brain being a filter for reality isn’t one of the most fascinating, awe-inspiring aspects of being alive?

Anyway, turns out the “all in your head” crowd may be onto something, at least when it comes to certain types of chronic pain.

Researchers at Penn Medicine just discovered that psilocybin treats pain by bypassing the injury site entirely. In their new study, they found that a single dose reduced both chronic pain and depression in mice—not by numbing nerve endings, but by recalibrating the brain circuits that process pain and emotion together.

Here’s what they saw.

• 🧠 The magic happens upstairs: Psilocybin injected directly into the anterior cingulate cortex (the brain region in question) provided the same relief as a full-body dose. Spinal injections did nothing.

• 🧯 Hyperactive neurons cooled off: Using fluorescent imaging, researchers watched psilocybin normalize the spontaneous firing of chronic pain neurons.

• 🎚️ Dimmer switch effect: Unlike drugs that flip receptors on or off, psilocybin modulated serotonin signals to “just the right level” (researcher’s words, not ours).

• ⏱️ Fast and lasting relief: Benefits kicked in within 24 hours and persisted for nearly two weeks from a single dose.

Chronic pain affects over 1.5 billion people worldwide and often gets tangled up with depression and anxiety in a vicious cycle. Current options either fall short or carry serious risks. Namely, addiction (*ahem, opioids*).

But of course, there’s more to consider. Psychedelics seem to work through multiple mechanisms for chronic pain. This study pinpoints one of ‘em.

Now, this research was in rodents, so we still need to determine optimal human dosing, long-term effects, and safety considerations. But for millions trapped in the pain-depression loop, it's a promising lead that doesn't come in an orange Rx bottle. Not yet at least.

So next time someone tells you psychedelics aren’t medicine, you can tell ‘em get their head checked. 🫠

AFTERGLOW

Start spreading the news spores

For us Cyclists, listening to people talk about mushrooms nonstop for hours is our idea of a good time. Probably not the case for most politicians. To their credit, though, that’s exactly what New York lawmakers just did. Last Tuesday's hearing marked the state's first-ever legislative hearing on psilocybin policy, with Assembly Health Committee Chair Amy Paulin leading the charge.

The standout testimony came from Joseph McKay, a retired FDNY firefighter who responded to 9/11. After years of brutal cluster headaches and failed treatments left him dependent on opioids, he tried psilocybin. “The excruciating pain that I endured for over a decade was gone,” he told legislators. He now takes low doses regularly and advocates through Clusterbusters.

NY could make history if things progress from here. Unlike any other state measure yet, Paulin's bill would let adults 18+ get a permit to use psilocybin after a health screening and educational course; no facilitator necessary. (Oregon, Colorado, and New Mexico all mandate supervised sessions with licensed professionals, which makes for a much stricter and pricier model.) The legislature doesn’t reconvene until Jan 2026, but don’t worry. We’ll keep yappin’ about mushrooms until then and long after.

Shroom boom shakeout

Remember last week when we told you about Silo Wellness pivoting from psychedelics to defense tech? Turns out they're not alone in abandoning Oregon's mushroom market. Kaya Holdings, owner of Portland's 11,000-square-foot Sacred Mushroom, just announced they’re jumping ship too… *checks notes* for crypto.

Both companies bet big on Oregon's legal psilocybin program and lost. Kaya CEO Craig Frank told Willamette Week the business is simply "not conducive" for public companies that need to make money for shareholders. So the Sacred Mushroom will remain open, but Kaya’s selling its stake to chase better returns. As for Silo, their plans for a 960-acre retreat died in 2022 when Jackson County restricted psilocybin facilities to commercial zones.

It seems Oregon's psilocybin industry isn't delivering the gold rush these companies promised investors. Insurance won’t cover sessions (most of the time), banking is difficult, and regulations are expensive. So what's next? Kaya's stacking bitcoin, and Silo wants to prevent veteran trauma altogether by investing in "ethical" weapons manufacturers. Nothing says peace like trading mushrooms for missiles, right?

🙊 Oops! Last week, we mistakenly attributed an Aldous Huxley quote to a participant in Mindstate’s trial. The story has since been updated. Thanks to Mourad W. from Newcastle upon Tyne, UK for pointing out the error. 🫠

CYCLISTS’ PICKS

• 🖇️ Job board: Looking for a new gig? Spirit Tech Collective has rounded up 360 jobs at 85 companies building the next wave of scalable tools for spiritual development.

• 🌏 Global summit: For their 4th Annual Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy Summit, Heart Mind has assembled 36 experts on microdosing and psychedelic retreats. The free online event starts on Tuesday.

• 🎥 Documentary: Texans for Greater Mental Health is hosting a film screening of Of Night and Light: The Story of Iboga and Ibogaine in Austin on Thursday the 30th.

• 📊 Data dump: Psychedelic Alpha just launched their Psychedelics Perceptions Tracker, complete with charts and figures visualizing the growing public support for psychedelics.

UNTIL NEXT TIME

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

ONE CYCLIST’S REVIEW

Forwarded this email? Subscribe here.

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.