🫠 This Week in Psychedelics

Welcome to Tricycle Day. We’re the psychedelics newsletter that will never apologize for being a little thicc. 😘

Here’s what we got this week.

You wouldn't marry someone without dating them first, would you?

Shoot, most of us won't even try a restaurant without reading the reviews.

So if you’re thinking about guided psilocybin work, maybe meet your facilitator before you trust them with your psyche…? (Just our two cents.)

Next Wednesday, you have the opportunity to do just that. Three licensed facilitators from Althea's network are going live to walk through the process, talk about readiness, and answer any questions you want to ask.

It’s free to join, and the chat’s already live.

Tumors hate this one weird trick: Psilocybin and ketamine could help treat cancer by interrupting stress-driven tumor growth.
Skip the trip: Researchers created five new non-hallucinogenic versions of psilocin. They think at least one can match the therapeutic benefits of mushrooms.
Never forget: Psychedelics may protect against Alzheimer’s disease by altering gene expression.
Eyes wide shut: 5-MeO-DMT induces a paradoxical state of waking deep sleep.
Field tested: In a real-world study in Switzerland, psychedelic therapy significantly reduced depression and anxiety. Both psilocybin and LSD were effective and safe.

One stroke away: A Utah bill that would create a psychedelic therapy clinical trial program for veterans is with the governor for signature. (See previous coverage.)
Pony up: Minnesota lawmakers are considering a psilocybin therapy pilot program. The biggest question is whether there’s room in the state’s budget.
Gone with the wind: Georgia lawmakers tabled legislation that would have tightened regulations on ketamine clinics and other psychedelic therapy centers in the future.
Trigger happy: West Virginia’s Senate passed a “trigger bill” that would accelerate the rollout of Compass Pathways’ synthetic psilocybin drug once FDA approved.
Boots on the ground: Over the past month, several veteran groups have attended congressional meetings to advocate for psychedelic access.

Higher calling: The nation’s first licensed cannabis consumption lounge has closed and is set to relaunch as a psilocybin-focused event space.
Too much screen time: A researcher and patient advocate is sounding the alarm on ketamine telehealth companies.
Heavy hitter: Helus Pharma posted results from a Phase 2 study of its deuterated DMT compound for generalized anxiety disorder.
Nasal gazing: Spravato is setting the stage for managing the risks of medical psychedelics.
Just a phase? Analysts think psychedelics might just be a stopgap before new, more traditional antidepressants come out.

Please hold for the aliens: This purpose of this retreat is to establish two-way communication between humans and DMT entities.
We’re all just monkeys: Chimpanzees are also really into crystals.
Fashion forward: Vanity Fair dropped an illustrated guide to microdosing.
Ghost written: The author of The Tell is being sued for allegedly stealing the stories of sexual abuse she says she recovered through MDMA-assisted therapy.
Meme of the week: My face when you tell me you took five grams but the lights and music were on…

We finally have a scientifically sound excuse to embrace our fatty side. (Sorta.)

Turns out one of the most important structures in your brain is myelin, a fatty sheath that wraps your nerve fibers and keeps signals running on schedule. It’s basically insulation for your brain’s electrical wiring.

Trauma strips myelin away. And a new study says psilocybin and MDMA might rebuild it.

Using a rat model of fear conditioning, researchers gave animals repeated low doses of either substance and tracked what happened inside their brains.

Here’s what they saw.

If psychedelics open a window for the brain to change, it seems myelin remodeling is what keeps it propped open for permanent recovery.

And while there’s an insatiable appetite out there for resolving trauma (we’ve all got some), demyelination isn't just a PTSD thing. It's a hallmark of neurodegenerative conditions like MS, which makes this finding potentially much bigger than one diagnosis.

Maybe the real trip was the myelin we repaired along the way. 🫠

AtaiBeckley is shopping its lead drug, and the ask is not small. The company has hired Jefferies and JPMorgan to explore a sale or partnership for BPL-003, an intranasal 5-MeO-DMT formulation for treatment-resistant depression. They want $2 billion or more. (That’s $1 billion per nostril, if our math checks out.) Not bad for a molecule atai acquired when it bought Beckley Psytech just last year.

The broader context makes the number (slightly) less crazy than it sounds. J&J's esketamine spray Spravato is a multibillion-dollar product growing fast. And AbbVie paid up to $1.2 billion last year for Gilgamesh's bretisilocin, another newfangled psychedelic compound. Big pharma has entered the chat, and you gotta imagine AtaiBeckley’s backers, Christian Angermayer and Peter Thiel, have been planning for this exact moment.

Asking for $2 billion before you even have Phase 3 data to show takes some cojones. We’ll see if they get any bites. But whether a deal closes by Q2 or not, the fact that investment banks are making calls on behalf of a psychedelic drug company is newsworthy already. Five years ago this field was fighting for legitimacy. Now it's fighting over term sheets.

Connecticut passed a law in 2022 creating a psychedelic therapy pilot program for veterans and first responders. It also never funded it. (Whoops.) The statute said the health department had to launch the program “within available appropriations.” Then a standalone funding bill failed last session. So the pilot has now been sitting on a shelf for three years, which is impressive even by government standards.

SB 191, the state’s newest psychedelic bill, is a reboot. It expands eligibility to any adult meeting clinical criteria, removes a sunset clause that would have killed the program upon federal approval of psilocybin or MDMA, and mandates everything run through a medical school within an FDA-approved research framework. The funny part (not haha funny, but we-laugh-so-we-don’t-cry funny) is it still says “within available appropriations.” So Connecticut has expanded a program it has yet to pay for.

Meanwhile, the state has tried three consecutive sessions to pass full psilocybin decriminalization. It keeps clearing the House and dying in the Senate. At this rate, federal approval might beat them all to the finish line. Here’s hoping they find some loose change in those Capitol seat cushions.

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.