🫠 This Week in Psychedelics

Welcome to Tricycle Day. We’re the psychedelics newsletter with a clear type. If you’ve got a sense of humor and an attention span longer than five minutes, aw shucks. Our heart is yours. 😍

Here’s what we got this week.

Bad trips are hard. But you know what’s harder?

Going back to your “normal” life after an eye/heart/soul-opening psychedelic experience and carrying on as if nothing ever happened.

0/10 would not recommend.

So next Monday Oct 26, have we got a treat for you. Our head of community, Martyna, is dropping in with Otto Maier, one of our all-time favorite integration specialists, to offer some grounding practices and tips for when a journey leaves you confused or unsettled.

It’s free to attend. Plus you’ll get a first look at Althea’s new small-group integration program, led by Otto.

Inflammatory remarks: Low doses of psychedelics may be more efficacious at reducing inflammation than high doses.
Off the hook: Psilocybin calms aggressive behavior… in fish, at least.
Best supporting actor: Norbaeocystin, one of the secondary tryptamines in psilocybin mushrooms, may have anti-anxiety effects of its own.
Over and over: Repeated psilocybin administration is tolerable and potentially efficacious in reducing OCD symptoms.
Your two cents: Participate in a study examining how people evaluate information about psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy.

Land of entanglement: New Mexico’s Medical Psilocybin Act is getting pushback from advocates for its cumbersome rules.
Hill yeah: The co-chairs of the Congressional PATH Caucus argue it’s time to deliver safe and effective psychedelic medicine.
Bifurcate this: Psychedelics could remain Schedule I drugs even if the FDA approves them as medicines.
Wiggle room: Stakeholders want the FDA to remain flexible as they regulate psychedelic drugs.

Back for more: Lilly, the pharma giant that acquired AtaiBeckley, wants to study and improve ibogaine, too.
Saddle up: AbbVie, which also bought a psychedelic compound, thinks we’re at the next frontier of psychedelic science.
The holiday spirit: Compass Pathways launched a treatment-resistant depression awareness day with three mental health organizations.
So hot right now: Drug companies are rushing to market new and not-so-new forms of ketamine.
Brick by brick: The CEO of Optimi argues the U.S. needs to get infrastructure in place before psychedelic medicine arrives.

Hitting the high notes: This weekend, an Austin choir performed a concert inspired by psilocybin therapy.
Think different: Psychedelics, done right, might be Silicon Valley’s forgotten formula for genius.
Hands off: Gabon is fighting to protect iboga from U.S. drug companies. (See previous coverage.)
Meme of the week: Me and the boys at the plant medicine ceremony…

Researchers love reducing people to numbers.

So before we go any further, let us just say… you are so much more than that to us, [first-name-subscriber-#68,243].

Great. As we were saying, XandY, a research firm founded by two Yale scientists, recently sorted Americans into five personas vis-à-vis psychedelics.

Based on a 2023 survey of 1,527 adults, the Psychedelic Five (or Psy-5) groups people by how familiar they are with psychedelics and how they feel about ‘em.

Yep, the last group is the largest. We’ve got our work cut out for us.

Now the point here wasn’t to give you another personality test to post on Facebook next to your Disney princess doppelgänger. (XandY does have a nine-question quiz, though.)

The report actually explains how to talk to each of these audiences, so they can get with the program.

It also found some consensus. Scientific study (69%) and medical therapy (58%) polled best, while letting drug companies patent their own versions (29%) polled worst. And across the board, docs and scientists are the most trusted messengers, while politicians land dead last.

At least we can agree on something. 🫠

Lately, Oregon’s psilocybin service centers have been getting a lot of crank calls. Well, kinda. A WashU Medicine-led team went undercover as secret shoppers and dialed the state’s 22 open centers (15 answered) to see how staff would handle prospective clients with a history of alcohol use disorder or a family history of psychosis. Then they published their findings.

The upshot is, the centers passed the test with flying colors. Every one of them asked about psychiatric history and addressed suicidal ideation, and not one would let anyone take a lil’ goodie bag of psilocybin home. No one told callers to ditch their antidepressants, either. For the price-curious, sessions cost a median of $1,900. While no center accepted insurance, all 15 offered a sliding scale.

The results will come as bad news to anyone who hoped Oregon might turn into one big mushroom dispensary. That’s not how this works. Voters approved the program in 2020 to give adults 21+ supervised access to psilocybin. And judging by these calls, the people doing the supervising take their job seriously. We never doubted ‘em.

For almost a decade, the Iowaska Church of Healing has been persuading the feds to accept their ceremonies. And doggone it, they’re almost there. Two weeks ago, Iowa’s Board of Pharmacy agreed to register the small entheogenic church. This week, we learned why. Back in June, the DEA signed a secret agreement recognizing the church’s right to consume ayahuasca under federal law.

The terms of said agreement, unfortunately, are sealed. What we know is that the DEA now has to “expeditiously” issue the exemption, which would let the church import ayahuasca concentrate and brew it in bulk. Iowa’s sign-off includes a year of probation and reporting of any participant needing off-site medical care. And just think. All it took was an IRS denial and two lawsuits to get here.

The separation of church and state on these matters has been a little *ahem* fuzzy for our liking. But lately, the DEA has been willing to play ball. Arizona’s Church of the Eagle and the Condor settled for an exemption in 2024, and last year Washington’s Church of Gaia became the first to get one via petition. Either the agency is warming up to entheogens, or it’s tired of getting sued.

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

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.