🫠 This Week in Psychedelics

Welcome to Tricycle Day. We’re the oat milk of psychedelics newsletters. You might be a little confused about how we make it, but you don’t pry because gosh does it go down smooth. 🥛

Here’s what we got this week.

• Rick Perry pitches ibogaine to millions 🎙️

• Is music counterproductive in psychedelic therapy? 🤫

• Minnesota’s path to decriminalization 🍄

• Become a psychedelic-informed practitioner 💡

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MICRODOSES

🔬 Research

Better spirits: Psilocybin therapy resulted in lasting, positive personality changes in people with alcohol use disorder.
K for kids: Researchers at UW-Madison are exploring ketamine for teens with PTSD.
Dialed in: A meta-analysis of clinical trials has identified the optimal dose of psilocybin for treating MDD.
Worse than flashbacks: People who suffer from hallucination persisting perception disorder (HPPD) can have impaired memory and executive function, too.
Hang in there: Even the most harrowing psychedelic experience can lead to benefits in the long term.

🏛️ Policy

Empire state of mind: A New York bill to legalize psilocybin mushrooms for adults with a permit will be reintroduced this year.
California dreamin’: A new ballot initiative would protect Californians’ rights to use entheogens when recommended by a physician.
Cost of doing business: Colorado can now issue licenses to psychedelic facilitators, and fees are significantly lower than Oregon’s.
Battle on the home front: Meanwhile in Colarado Springs, veterans are fighting with local conservatives for access to psychedelic therapy.
Work in progress: Next week, a public hearing is set to finalize Colorado’s rules around microdosing and at-home sessions.

📈 Business

Mainstream medicine: The January issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry is all about psychedelics.
The other APA: The American Psychological Association named psychedelics an emerging trend for 2025 and plans to roll out a free toolkit and webinar series this year.
Clear for takeoff: Clearmind received IRB approval for its Phase 1/2a study of MEAI for alcohol use disorder.
Money for more MDMA: PharmAla closed its $1.5M private placement.
Based Zuck: Meta is overhauling its censorship content policies and prioritizing free expression on Facebook and Instagram.

🫠 Just for fun

Diplo doing Diplo things: The DJ and producer admitted to tripping on LSD for his New Year’s Eve set, live on CNN.
Tasty treats: Food & Wine lists mushrooms (functional and psychedelic) among its culinary trends to watch in 2025.
Art imitates life: The newest Adult Swim cartoon is about a Big Pharma conspiracy to suppress knowledge of a miraculous fungal medicine.
Meme of the week: When the mushrooms won’t let you look away…

THE PEAK EXPERIENCE

Johnny iboga seed

Last week on Joe Rogan's podcast, something crazy happened.

No, not another riveting debate about whether we live in a simulation or the protein content of elk meat.

Rick Perry, Texas's longest-serving governor and Trump's Energy Secretary, spent over two hours evangelizing about his favorite psychedelic. Alongside wingman policy expert Bryan Hubbard, Perry laid out an ambitious vision for making ibogaine therapy available to Americans, starting with his home state of Texas.

We know what you’re thinking…. 2 hours? Ain’t nobody got time for that. (Even if it is the #1 most popular podcast in the world.) Well, we listened, so you don’t have to. And here's what caught our attention from the convo.

• 🧠 The science: A recent Stanford study found ibogaine regenerates brain tissue in veterans with PTSD and reverses brain aging by up to 5 years.

• 💊 The potential: Beyond resetting opioid dependency in 48 hours, it's also showing promise for MS, Parkinson's, and chronic pain.

• 💰 The plan: Texas would commit $50M to fund clinical trials, but drug developers must match the investment and share future profits with the state.

• 🔍 The oversight: Unlike previous government-funded drug development (like Suboxone), taxpayers would maintain stake in any patents.

• 👔 The timing: Trump's likely health appointees (RFK Jr., Dr. Oz) are already plant medicine friendly.

Even if policy talk puts you to sleep, Perry's 180 is still fascinating. By his own account, he went from "don't even talk to me about these drugs" to "the Johnny Appleseed of ibogaine." Now he's staking his reputation on getting this medicine approved.

And it's not just Texas. Ohio, Washington, Arizona, New Mexico, and Missouri are all exploring similar initiatives. As Hubbard told Rogan's millions of listeners, "Any system that maintains ibogaine's criminality is criminal itself."

Looks like ol’ Johnny found himself a new kind of seed to plant. 🫠

AFTERGLOW

Silence is (a) golden (teacher)

Hate to say Terence McKenna told ya so, but Canadian researchers just stumbled onto something the legendary psychonaut preached for years. Turning off the music during a psychedelic journey can actually help. In a new paper detailing two cancer patients' psilocybin experiences, the team found that periods of silence created space for deeper therapeutic work.

The discovery wasn't exactly planned. While preparing the sessions under Canada's compassionate access program, the therapists suggested trying a 30-minute silent period for mindfulness exercises. One patient found it "strange" at first but quickly appreciated the quiet. The other was grateful for the break after music triggered some challenging memories. But both patients ended up asking for more silence as their sessions continued.

This might not sound revolutionary, but it kind of is. Modern clinical psychedelic therapy almost always includes non-stop music, seen as essential for "guiding" the experience. The researchers say it's time to rethink this assumption. We already wear blindfolds to bring our attention inward. So why not turn down the volume, too, to hear what's really going on?

The land of 10,000 trips

Minnesota might be the next state to embrace psychedelic medicine. A state task force just released recommendations that would decriminalize psilocybin mushrooms and create a regulated therapy program, following in the footsteps of Oregon and Colorado. They're also pushing for more funding to study substances like MDMA and LSD.

Don’t hold your breath for shroom dispensaries though. While the 24-person panel considered broader reforms, they ultimately landed on a medical-first approach focused on psilocybin. Even sharing and growing mushrooms didn't make the cut, though these provisions could be revisited "should the state wish to consider them in the future."

With the state House split 67-67 between parties, passing these recommendations won't be easy. But Rep. Andy Smith, who created the task force, says there's bipartisan interest. So for now, the most important trips in Minnesota might be the ones lawmakers take across the aisle.

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.