🫠 This Week in Psychedelics

Welcome to Tricycle Day. We’re the psychedelics newsletter that can tell by the way you use your walk, you’re a mushroom man. No time to talk. 🕺

Here’s what we got this week.

You can learn a ton about psychedelics from your phone. We wouldn’t send all these emails if we didn’t believe that.

But this movement is way bigger than your inbox.

The people moving the space forward exist IRL. If you want to meet ‘em (or you’re one of 'em), the Aspen Psychedelic Symposium is the place to be June 6th and 7th.

There’ll be panels about where the research is headed, how to build ethical healing centers, what’s next for Colorado's natural medicine program, and more.

And you can tell the speakers you saw them in Tricycle Day first.

That’s major: In a randomized controlled trial of psilocybin for major depression, antidepressant effects were seen by day 2 and lasted for 3+ months.
No cap: These researchers argue psychedelic-assisted therapy shouldn’t be off limits for kids and adolescents.
Down the hatch: Pure psilocybin changes the gut microbiota in rats, even more so than whole mushroom extract.
New protocol: Microdosing iboga may support neurological recovery from traumatic brain injury.
Billed anyway: 57% of people who sought therapy after a difficult psychedelic experience found their therapist unhelpful.

Small world: Former Usona CMO Mike Davis is now acting director of the FDA’s drug division, following the firing of Tracy Beth Høeg.
Fruiting body: The Illinois Senate passed a bill to establish a Psilocybin Advisory Board, as a step toward a launching a full regulated framework.
At the buzzer: Days before the deadline, New York lawmakers have amended their psilocybin legalization bill to model aspects of New Mexico’s approved program.
Appropriate: Ohio, which is set to receive $2 billion in opioid settlement funds, may join other states in investing in ibogaine research.
Calling dibs: Gabon announced a draft decree to regulate all iboga-related activities in response to growing U.S. interest.

Slow your roll: A Colorado mental health professional warns the state not to let federal fast-tracking swallow its natural medicine program.
Phased and confused: Definium Therapeutics dosed the first patient in its second Phase 3 LSD trial for depression.
911, what’s your dose? MAPS is training Colorado first responders to handle psychedelic crises statewide.
The mother load: The Deva Collective is seeking funding for a ketamine study for postpartum depression.
Trump bump: The executive order is bringing new money into psychedelics. One company raised $5 million on the news.

Press pass: A nonprofit is providing fully funded psychedelic therapy for journalists carrying trauma from their work.
Queue the healing: There’s a science to sequencing the perfect psychedelic playlist.
Sit with it: Intensive meditation produces similar brain changes to psychedelics.
Why not both? Scientists are undecided if ibogaine’s chemistry or the trip itself is driving its benefits for veterans with PTSD.
Meme of the week: How the DEA decided psychedelics have no medical use…

Psychedelic trials used to have one hard-and-fast rule.

If you're suicidal, you're out.

From a liability standpoint, we get it. At the same time, if you believe (like we do) that these medicines can prevent unnecessary deaths… that's a pretty f’ed up policy.

Fortunately, that all may be changing. Two recent papers finally investigated whether psychedelic therapy could help stop people from taking their own lives.

One looked at ketamine; the other at psilocybin. Here's what they found.

We know comparing across trials is a scientific no-no. Still, that durability contrast is pretty hard to ignore. Maybe ketamine is the move when the need is urgent, and psilocybin makes sense when the person is a bit more stable.

Either way, our collective takeaway is that suicidal patients can be (and deserve to be) studied safely. In fact, continuing to shut them out might be the riskier choice.

In the meantime, we maintain that memes are a form of harm reduction. 🫠

When Colorado voters passed the Natural Medicine Health Act in 2022, the whole point was that psilocybin was just the beginning. On May 12, the legislature made good on that promise. HB 26-1325 establishes the country's first state-level regulatory framework for ibogaine research. And the approach looks totally different from what Colorado built for mushrooms.

Instead of routing ibogaine through the DOR and DORA (which oversee psilocybin), the bill places the program under the Behavioral Health Administration. It authorizes up to five pilot research sites, creates a dedicated cash fund, and requires applicants to establish benefit-sharing plans with Indigenous communities in Central Africa. Arizona and Texas have funded ibogaine trials, but neither built this kind of scaffolding around them.

The BHA placement says a lot about how Colorado sees ibogaine (less wellness service, more clinical treatment). Governor Polis hasn't signed the bill yet, but he's term-limited and inarguably psychedelic-friendly, so we’re not worried. The biggest asterisk (except maybe funding) is in the legislation itself. Unlike psilocybin, where Colorado just went for it, this bill says no one gets dosed until the FDA grants authorization through the IND process. Soooo, who’s gonna file?

UC Berkeley's Center for the Science of Psychedelics just dropped its second annual survey of American voters, and the headline numbers look great for the movement. In two years, the share of voters who support making psychedelics available as prescription medicine grew from 29% to 41%. Support for therapeutic legalization rose from 36% to 46%. And 63% of voters now back making psychedelics easier to research. So far, so good.

You knew there was a “but” coming… Well, support for decriminalizing personal use didn't budge. Technically, it fell from 29% to 28%. Considering every other policy category surged, this survey says a lot about popular opinion. Voters want psychedelics available for people they see as suffering (i.e., veterans, the terminally ill, the treatment-resistant). As for healthy adults who “just want to trip,” a quarter of voters still think that should be illegal.

So yes, Americans are increasingly comfortable with psychedelics as medicine. But they're not there yet on recreational intentional use. Apropos of nothing, the survey also found that no source of info about psychedelics is overwhelmingly trusted. Sounds like we need to get this newsletter into a lot more inboxes, Cyclists. Our cognitive liberty depends on it.

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

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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.