This psychedelic could curb gambling addiction

Welcome to Tricycle Day, the newsletter that makes following the news in psychedelics easy peasy lemon (tek) squeezy. 🍋

Speaking of fruit, we’re back from the weekend with some JUICY stories. 💦

• Arizona jumps on the psychedelics bandwagon with bipartisan support

• Can psychedelics treat gambling addiction?

AZ prepares to go ham on psilocybin research

In case you haven’t noticed, we live in an increasingly divided nation. There are really only a handful of things US politicians agree on.

• Protecting human and civil rights

• Supporting our veterans and military

• Putting pineapple on pizza (don’t @ me)

So when a bill gets bipartisan support, it’s nothing to sneeze at. And that’s exactly what just happened.

Lawmakers in Arizona have put their beef aside and reached across the aisle to put together an ambitious psychedelics policy proposal for 2023.

They’re not the first state to do so. Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Missouri, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, and Virginia are all tackling psychedelics legislation, too.

But they are doing something pretty radical and different.

Unlike other states, Arizona’s House Bill 2486 wouldn’t legalize psilocybin. Instead, the proposal is focused on research. 🔬

They want to provide $30 million in grants for scientists to study the impact of psilocybin on 13 conditions, including PTSD, depression, anxiety, addiction, and *checks notes* long COVID.

Ain’t no such thing as a free lunch though. These Arizonans have some conditions before they give out the big bucks. Under the bill, grants must be used for:

• Clinical trials that actually have a shot at being approved by the FDA

• Whole mushroom psilocybin (that means NO patentable analogs or synthetics)

• Veterans, first responders, frontline health care workers, underserved communities as research subjects

FYI, it’s very unusual for a state to fund clinical trials. Typically, these studies are sponsored by pharmaceutical companies, research institutions, or the federal government, since states have no direct involvement in the FDA approval process.

We don't know what's gotten into you, Arizona. But we love to see it.

Can ketamine stop destructive gambling?

Fact: gambling destroys lives.

And I’m not talking about aping into crypto at the top (s/o to our new Solana degen subscribers 🙃).

Okay okay, the truth is gambling addiction is no laughing matter. Around 2 million Americans meet the criteria for gambling addiction, and another 4-6 million are at risk.

Today, there isn’t much recourse for them. But that may change soon.

Researchers in the UK are preparing to investigate the effects of ketamine on Gambling Disorder (GD). The study is funded by Awakn Life Sciences, a biotech company developing therapeutics to treat addiction.

As far as they’re concerned, gambling is just the beginning. Awakn’s pipeline also includes treatments for Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD), Compulsive Sexual Behavior Disorder (CSBD), Bing Eating Disorder (BED), and Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD).

*puts down controller and mushroom jerky nervously* 😬

Scientists have been learning more about memory mechanisms and the role they play in people’s responses to rewards like food and money.

Ketamine happens to block a receptor involved in learning and memory, so the researchers want to see if it could have an effect.

You know, one time we rode our tricycles to the casino. Here’s what we remember about money...

That's all for today! If you're picking up what we're putting down, share this newsletter with all your friends. New subscribers make us trip! 😵‍💫

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.