🫠 This Week in Psychedelics

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Here’s what we got this week.

• Colorado’s rules for facilitators 🪪 

• This company’s all in on microdosing 🧪 

• Surprise! Is novelty the medicine? 🫢 

• The most potent mushroom nootropic 🧠 

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MICRODOSES

🔬 Research

O Canada: The first Canadian clinical trial of psilocybin is complete and published.
Non-partisan issue: Americans across the political spectrum support psilocybin use in a licensed setting.
My octopus teacher: The scientist famous for bathing octopi in MDMA is considering new ways to dose sea creatures with psychedelics.
Slide right in: New research confirms classical psychedelics pass through cell membranes more easily than serotonin.
Willing to travel? Beckley Psytech is seeking volunteers with treatment-resistant depression for a trial of 5-MeO-DMT.

🏛️ Policy

Health and Fungi Services: An Arizona bill to legalize psilocybin therapy got unanimous committee approval.
Who’s next? Illinois is the latest state to consider creating a state-regulated psilocybin program.
Not to be left behind: An Alaska Senate committee advanced a bill to create a psychedelic-assisted therapy task force.
Gov’t funding: Legislation to support psilocybin research moved forward in New Mexico and Indiana.

📈 Business

New record incoming: After hosting the largest psychedelic gathering in history last year, MAPS announced the dates for Psychedelic Science 2025.
Business trip: CEOs are taking psychedelics to become better leaders.
Singularity? Read an investor’s take on what AI and psychedelics have in common.
Easy does it: There’ve only been two confirmed psychedelic drug prescriptions since Australia authorized them last July.

🫠 Just for fun

Master of his domain: The billionaire behind GoDaddy details his four-day trip.
After the ice pack: CNN profiles the professional athletes who’ve rehabbed injuries with psychedelics.
Hey, I know him: reMind interviewed Tricycle Day’s founder on making psychedelic news approachable.
Meme of the week: When you hear someone in public talk about psychedelics…

THE PEAK EXPERIENCE

License and registration, please

Ever wonder if your medicine man/woman really knows their stuff?

Let’s be real. In the underground, it’s always been kind of a black box. Maybe your guide went through years of apprenticeship… or maybe they’re just winging it.

As Colorado puts together the country’s second state-regulated psychedelics program, its policymakers would like to inspire a little more confidence.

So on Friday, Colorado’s Natural Medicine Advisory Board drafted its proposed requirements for psychedelic facilitators. The rules describe 4 types of licenses.

• 🧑‍💼 Licensed Facilitators can provide natural medicine services to clients without certain physical or behavioral health conditions. (They can’t practice medicine or offer psychotherapy.)

• 🧑‍⚕️ Licensed Clinical Facilitators can provide natural medicines for therapeutic purposes. (But they can’t diagnose or treat anything outside the scope of their medical practice.)

• 🧑‍🏫 Licensed Distinguished Educators can work in healing centers affiliated with a natural medicine education program where they serve on the faculty. (As long as they also have a current facilitator license.)

• 🧑‍🎓 Licensed Trainees can practice for two years under the supervision of a licensed facilitator. (So that they can complete their practical training.)

It makes sense. If you want to help people suffering from severe PTSD, depression, or end-of-life distress, then you’ll need more credentials than if you’re just trip sitting a dude in awe of the carpet. But between dozens of hours of coursework and practicum, the regular facilitator requirements are nothing to sneeze at either.

The rules do mention a shortcut for especially qualified applicants, though, which is a nice nod to indigenous and traditional healers who got the shaft in Oregon.

The advisory board is accepting feedback on the rules through the end of the year. In the meantime, we’ll be admiring the wood grain for hours on end. That’s gotta count for some kind of CE credit, right? 🫠

AFTERGLOW

Microdosing gone clinical

Go big or go home. For most biotechs developing psychedelic drugs, that’s the prevailing M.O. Companies like Compass, Lykos, and MindMed have all put their weight behind large doses of psychedelics, often accompanied by psychotherapy. But when they zig, MindBio Therapeutics zags. It just became the first company in the world to complete a Phase 2a clinical trial of a take-home microdose.

Specifically, MindBio is testing a proprietary titratable form of LSD. Results are still to come for this latest trial in Major Depressive Disorder. But they’ve already finished a Phase 1 study, where participants reported improvements in energy, happiness, creativity, social connection, and sleep. Meanwhile, they’re also knee deep in a Phase 2b trial for cancer patients with existential distress.

If you ask us, it’s kinda surprising more companies aren’t hopping on the microdosing train. Think about it—it’s more accessible (no need for hours-long therapy sessions) and potentially more profitable (hello, repeat prescriptions). Maybe less is more, and MindBio is the one going big after all.

A surprising theory

For all the excitement about psychedelics, we still don’t know for sure how or why they work. (Is it neurochemical, mystical, subjective, or all three?) This week, a couple researchers published a new theory that puts prediction errors at the center of it all. They’re calling this phenomenon “synthetic surprise.”

It goes something like this: When someone’s depressed, they’re often caught in a negative spiral where they expect everything to go wrong in their lives. Then, they subconsciously look for evidence that confirms everything is indeed F’ed, which reinforces their depression. The theory suggests that getting more of these pessimistic predictions “wrong” (i.e., being surprised) is what can dig someone out of their rut.

If that’s true, psychedelics’ therapeutic value might all come down to their ability to surprise us. So the next time you’re tripping and you can’t find the floor, just know those unexpected moments might be what heals ya.

CYCLISTS’ PICKS

UNTIL NEXT TIME

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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.