🫠 This Week in Psychedelics

Welcome to Tricycle Day. Drug laws are like belts after a big meal. Loosen ‘em up, and we’ll all feel much better. 😮‍💨

Here’s what we got this week.

• The state of psychedelic policy reform 🇺🇸

• Mushrooms are millions of years old 🦕

• MindMed nixes microdosing program 🗑️

• Trip with your romantic partner 💑

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MICRODOSES

🔬 Research

Don’t worry: Cybin’s two deuterated DMT molecules for Generalized Anxiety Disorder appear to be safe.
Know thyself: Lykos (formerly MAPS PBC) found that MDMA-assisted therapy helped people develop their abilities to identify, verbalize, and cope with emotions.
Imperial’s big bet: Imperial College London is investigating psilocybin as a treatment for gambling.
Rest in peace: Psilocybin gave terminal cancer patients in Canada relief from end-of-life anxiety.
Want to participate? Researchers are recruiting volunteers for studies on microdosing and menstruation, trauma and stress, and depression and alcohol.

🏛️ Policy

Who pulls the strings? An obscure advisory panel is blocking FDA-cleared psychedelic research in California.
Move to the mitten: Ypsilanti, Michigan has decriminalized entheogenic plants and fungi.
Here’s the sacramental tea: A federal judge has ruled in favor of a California-based ayahuasca church.
Ego trip: The governor of Colorado boasted about leading the nation on psychedelics during his State of the State address.

📈 Business

Long road ahead: AJNA BioSciences is working toward FDA approval of a botanical psilocybin microdosing product.
It’s not Hogwarts: Peek inside America’s first government-licensed magic mushroom school.
Runway extended: Clearmind Medicine is on track to raise another $2.4 million.
MDXX: PharmAla is sending its first novel MDMA derivative through the patent approval process.
Therapy is in: Numinus Wellness profited $2.1 million this quarter, up nearly 20% from Q4 2023.

🫠 Just for fun

Breath works: Psychedelic therapists-in-training are practicing holotropic breathwork for a taste of altered states.
Meet Moxy: The DEA tried (and failed) to ban this niche, underground psychedelic.
Meme of the week: When you bring your friend to their first plant medicine ceremony…

THE PEAK EXPERIENCE

Bills, bills, bills

Serious question: did every pro-psychedelic lawmaker pick the exact same new year’s resolution?

Because, man, it really seems like these politicians just said “F it” to their old, recycled fitness goals and made reforming state-level psychedelic policy their #1 priority of the year. (We won’t complain.)

Legislators have been legislatin’ at a dizzying pace. But don’t worry—we got you. Here’s every state where lawmakers have already made moves on psychedelic policy changes for 2024.

• 🐟 Alaska’s two bills would establish a psychedelic medicine task force to address the state’s mental health crisis.

• 🏜️ Arizona’s new bill would give its psilocybin council more leeway to use the $5 million in research grants approved last year.

• 🥑 California’s first bill would fund a workgroup on psychedelics, and a second (not yet introduced) would legalize psychedelic-assisted therapy.

• 🦞 Connecticut’s soon-to-be-reintroduced bill would decriminalize psilocybin.

• 🌽 Indiana’s bill would require the state to set aside money for a therapeutic psilocybin research fund.

• 🪨 New Hampshire’s new bill would legalize psilocybin, LSD, and mescaline and set up a state-regulated distribution system.

• 🍝 New Jersey’s reintroduced bill would decriminalize psilocybin and set up a legal framework for the manufacture and sale of psilocybin products.

• 🎨 Rhode Island’s bill would allow people to cultivate and possess up to an ounce of psilocybin.

• ☕ Washington State’s bill would legalize psilocybin therapy for veterans and first responders.

Whew! That’s 9 states that already have wheels in motion, and we’re not even counting citizen-led ballot initiatives.

Keep in mind we’re only halfway through January. So let’s all keep our fingers crossed that—unlike most new year’s resolutions—these commitments last longer than 2 weeks. 🫠

AFTERGLOW

Prehistoric shrooms

Ever wonder if dinosaurs tripped on mushrooms? (No? Hmm, just me then.) Well, based on new research, we can at least say it’s theoretically possible they did. After sequencing the genomes of more than 50 species from the Psilocybe genus, scientists have discovered that magic mushrooms sprung up on Earth about 65 million years ago.

Let’s put that in perspective. The earliest human species first appeared 2 million years ago, and Homo sapiens (that’s us) only arrived 300,000 years ago. Despite being closer relatives to us than plants, psilocybin mushrooms are still a lot older than we are. So it should come as no surprise these golden teachers have so much wisdom to share.

That’s not all the researchers found, either. It also turns out that Psilocybe mushrooms have evolved two independent ways of making psilocybin, one of which was previously unknown. While psychedelic biotechs are salivating at the implications for synthetic production, we’re still left with the burning questions… like where’s the extraterrestrial DNA hiding, and when will we find it?

Sub-perceptual dose, sub-perceptual results

Microdosers, prepare to shake your fists at the sky in disappointment. Because last week, one of the few biotechs to take a swing at developing a clinical microdosing regimen called the quits. MindMed, which had been researching sub-perceptual doses of LSD as a treatment for ADHD, is scrapping the program after a proof-of-concept trial didn’t hit the mark.

Just 3 months ago, MindMed execs were pumped to report their Phase 2a study had enrolled 53 participants. The volunteers would take either 20 μg of LSD or placebo, twice a week for 6 weeks, with a primary endpoint (or pre-specified goal) of reducing ADHD symptoms. But apparently the results were underwhelming. So MindMed is taking the L(SD) and redirecting their efforts to higher-dose R&D.

Just remember, clinical trials are imperfect. And the fact that one company is abandoning a project doesn’t mean microdosing has no value. Only you can decide your relationship to these substances and how to handle your monkey mind. We’re each an n-of-one.

CYCLISTS’ PICKS

UNTIL NEXT TIME

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

• 📣 Put your brand in front of 37k psychedelic enthusiasts by sponsoring Tricycle Day. Book an ad.

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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.