🫠 This Week in Psychedelics

PRESENTED BY ALTHEA & FOUNDATIONS 🤝

Welcome to Tricycle Day. We’re the psychedelics newsletter that found a wrinkle in space-time. Spend five minutes reading our email start to finish, and you’ll wake up in another dimension where everything’s exactly the same… except glittery. ✨

Here’s what we got this week.

• Psychedelics help people with eating disorders 🍔

• Big changes at DEA & FDA bode well for psychedelics 🏛️

• 5-MeO-DMT companies face setbacks 🐸

• A trippy card game for psychonauts and friends 🃏

FROM OUR SPONSORS

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MICRODOSES

🔬 Research

Connect the dots: Psychedelics enhance associative learning in preclinical studies.
No rush but: In a Phase 1 human trial, 4-OH-DiPT elicited an experience similar to psilocybin but with a shorter (3 to 4 hour) duration of effect.
Theta waves: Ibogaine therapy resulted in the ‘slowing’ of cortical oscillations in the brain at rest after treatment.
Sacred geometry: As psychedelic research develops as a field, a new subdiscipline called ”neuroaesthetics” is emerging.
(Dis)integration: Emory University is recruiting participants for a study to understand the nature of post-psychedelic challenges.

🏛️ Policy

Mass appeal: A recent legislative hearing in Massachusetts featured testimony on 4 of the 12 psychedelics-related bills filed this year.
Nothing to lose, much to ‘gaine: Mississippi lawmakers will hold a hearing in August to decide whether an ibogaine bill should be introduced next session.
Oregon paper trail: Oregon Health Authority posted the recordings and summaries from the latest round of Oregon Psilocybin Services listening sessions.
Make America Trip Again: Is the Trump administration becoming the most pro-psychedelic presidency in American history?
Get involved: Healing Breakthrough is inviting psychedelic advocates to participate in their newest grassroots initiative.

📈 Business

Head in the clouds: Filament Health is partnering with University College London for two unusual trials using its botanical psilocybin drug candidate.
Always use protection: Enveric Biosciences secured a second US patent for its mescaline-derived compounds.
Money talks: Compass Pathways spent at least $60,000 on lobbying in Q2.
Separation of powers: Naropa is spinning off Memoru Center, its center for psychedelic facilitation training, clinical care, and research.
Education for all: The Ohio State University launched a psychedelic certificate program for non-clinicians.

🫠 Just for fun

Leading question: NatGeo asks, will psychedelics ever live up to their hype?
Freeloaders: The fungi living within our bodies are quietly influencing our brains.
Take the red pill: Thanks in part to psychedelic neuroscience, materialism is crumbling.
Meme of the week: When the mushrooms hit and you remember your true form…

THE PEAK EXPERIENCE

Palate cleanser

No one’s eating psilocybin mushrooms for the taste. Get real. It’s not an “acquired taste” unless you like the flavor of dirt.

So, it’s kinda ironic that these earthy crunchies are helping people fall back in love with food, don’t you think?

This week, results from a large international survey came out showing what really helps people struggling with anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating. Surprise, surprise. It's not what their doctors are prescribing.

Researchers at the University of Sydney asked 7,600 people with eating disorders from 83 countries to share their honest experiences with both prescription and non-prescription drugs. Here's what they found when respondents rated each substance.

• 🍄 Psychedelics topped the charts: Psilocybin, LSD, and cannabis were rated as the most effective for improving eating disorder symptoms.

• 💊 Antidepressants flopped: While SSRIs helped with general mental health, they were rated as relatively useless for eating disorder symptoms (except fluoxetine for bulimia and lisdexamfetamine for binge eating).

• 📅 Infrequent use: Most people only used psychedelics once or twice a year, yet they reported benefits that lasted for months.

• 🧠 1 in 3 had tried ‘em: About 32% of respondents reported lifetime psychedelic use, much higher than the general population's 8-17%.

The qualitative responses were even more striking. People described their psychedelic experiences as "defining moments" in recovery. One person even said it helped them realize they were being selfish by malnourishing their gut bacteria. (Poor guys.) Others reported improved body connection and the ability to actually taste and enjoy food again.

Of course, this was an observational study, not a controlled clinical trial. But it still highlights a gap between what patients find helpful and what the medical establishment is offering them.

Is anyone else feeling hungry? Brb, adding mushrooms to our pizza. 🫠

AFTERGLOW

Fed up with red tape

The two three-letter agencies with the most control over psychedelics are making moves. This week, the Senate confirmed Terry Cole as the new DEA chief, while FDA Commissioner Marty Makary opened applications for a new "priority voucher" program that could fast-track psychedelic drug approvals.

In his over two decades at the DEA, Cole has stayed mysteriously quiet about psychedelics. What we do know is that he's called cannabis rescheduling one of his first priorities, and his stance could set a precedent for psychedelics. Meanwhile, Makary's voucher program promises to review qualifying drugs in just 1-2 months instead of the usual 10-12 month slog. To get a voucher, companies just need to prove their drug addresses a "U.S. public health crisis" or "large unmet medical need," which, uh, have you seen our mental health stats lately?

Hot take. These agencies actually need to work together if we want to see real progress. It's insane that the DEA gets to decide which substances have "no accepted medical use," when the FDA is sitting right there with legitimate medical expertise. In any case, having agency heads who are open to change seems a helluva lot better than the alternative.

Give me five

Never a dull moment in the race to commercialize 5-MeO-DMT. This week brought setbacks for both biotech companies trying to turn the short-acting psychedelic into FDA-approved medicine. Guess if you’re gonna play with the “god molecule,” you better be prepared to move on god’s timeline too, huh?

First, GH Research announced that the FDA is still keeping their inhalable 5-MeO-DMT on clinical hold after more than a year. Apparently, they’re still dubious about the safety of GH’s inhalation device. Then, atai Life Sciences got disappointing news about inidascamine, a different drug in their pipeline that failed to meet its primary endpoint in schizophrenia patients. While that's not their 5-MeO-DMT program, it does put extra pressure on their psychedelic assets to deliver.

For what it’s worth, atai’s (err, atai Beckley’s) 5-MeO-DMT formulation recently showed impressive results in treatment-resistant depression. But with inidascamine face-planting, now atai needs its psychedelic pipeline to carry the company. The stakes couldn’t be higher, either. Whoever wins over the FDA first will have a serious head start in what could be a billion-dollar market.

CYCLISTS’ PICKS

• 😆 Activity: WARPED is a psychedelic question-and-answer card game for adults 18+, designed to get you off your screens and into your imagination.

• 🎥 Film screening: End of Life Psychedelic Care is hosting a free 90-minute workshop and screening of the documentary, The Last Journey.

• 🌎 Online event: Heart Mind Institute’s next summit is all about “the neuroscience of thriving.” Register for free to learn from dozens of experts how to rewire your brain for optimal health and performance.

• 🌿 Plant medicine: Now through August 4, all of KA! Empathogenics' kanna products are 20% off. Enter code SUMMERFEELS at checkout.

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.