🫠 This Week in Psychedelics

Welcome to Tricycle Day. We’re the psychedelics newsletter that knows a picture’s worth a thousand words. On that note, if you’re a meme enjoyer and you’re not following @tricycleday on Instagram, what are you even doing?

Here’s what we got this week.

• The most advanced brain-imaging study of psilocybin ever 🧠

• A butterfly garden for psychedelic therapy 🦋 

• Spravato is on track to hit $1B in annual sales 💸

• How psychedelic guides can support one another 🫂

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MICRODOSES

🔬 Research

Stoned ape theory: Psilocybin mushrooms may have indeed played a role in the evolution of human consciousness.
Wood wide web: Scientists are now debating the popular belief that forests and fungi communicate underground.
Pattern interrupt: Researchers discovered a new method to separate the effects of a psychedelic drug from the overall experience of taking it.
Plant medicine: This prominent hospital has a greenhouse to grow psychoactive plants.
Hot flash: Take part in a new study on microdosing psychedelics for symptoms of menopause and peri-menopause.

🏛️ Policy

Sweet tooth: Colorado released new draft rules for its natural medicine program, and psilocybin chocolates could be the most controversial part.
Civil disobedience: Colorado communities are putting up roadblocks to limit psychedelic businesses from opening and operating.
On the fast track: A California bill to streamline psychedelic research has been signed into law.
Due diligence: The FDA hasn’t dug into the accusations against Lykos about misconduct in its clinical trials.
Watching the watchdog: A psychologist explains why he no longer finds Psymposia’s critiques of the psychedelic ecosystem credible.

📈 Business

Please don’t call it ‘iboogle’: Google cofounder, Sergey Brin, has pledged $15 million to a startup launching clinical trials on ibogaine.
We’re so back: After a dry spell in psychedelic investments, these 5 companies raised funding in 2024.
Scaling up: HYTN, a manufacturer of psilocybin mushrooms, has acquired Prism Scientific Labs.
Unbothered, moisturized, etc.: MindMed’s LSD-based drug is progressing to Phase 3, despite industry setbacks.
Toxicology report: Some Diamond Shruumz products, which have so far led to 69 confirmed poisonings, do in fact contain psilocin.

🫠 Just for fun

Everybody’s doing it: The 5 big drug trends defining summer 2024.
Pairs well with mushrooms: Get lost in this art the next time you’re tripping.
Inshallah: Some Muslims are using psilocybin to get closer to God.
Meme of the week: People will do psychedelics once and base their whole personality off of one of these…

THE PEAK EXPERIENCE

This is someone’s brain on drugs

The fried egg maxis have been real quiet since this paper dropped.

Ever wonder what happens to your brain on mushrooms? As disappointing as it is to confirm that a delicious, home-cooked breakfast isn’t being prepared inside your skull, well… at least now we know.

A new study published in Nature gave seven volunteers a 25mg dose of psilocybin and repeatedly (~18 times!) scanned their brains before, during, and after the trip.

It might sound simple, but this is the most comprehensive brain-imaging study on psychedelics ever published. Here's what they found.

• 🧠 Brain go brrr: Psilocybin caused mass desynchronization across brain networks, especially in areas involved with self-reflection and sense of time/space. Functional connectivity (how different brain regions communicate) was disrupted, with a 3.5x greater change compared to Ritalin, the control drug.

• ✨ Objectifying the subjective: The intensity of brain changes correlated strongly with how mystical participants rated their experience. One guy felt "the light of God" shining on him, and researchers could pinpoint that exact moment in his brain scan.

• ⏳ Three-week reset: While most brain activity returned to normal after the trip, some changes in connectivity stuck around for weeks. This neural plasticity might explain psilocybin's anti-depressive effects.

• 🪨 Grounding works: When participants did a mental grounding exercise during their trip, it actually reduced the brain changes. This observation backs up certain techniques used in psychedelic therapy.

This research gives us our clearest picture yet of how psychedelics work their magic in the brain. And as with all great science, it opens more questions than it answers. What a time to be alive.

All this neuroscience is making us hungry. Anyone got some free-range brains err, eggs? 🫠

AFTERGLOW

We need to talk about the birds and the bees

Grab your sunnies and gardening gloves, Cyclists, and let’s head up. UCLA's about to take psychedelic research to new heights—literally. The university is planning a rooftop "living laboratory" for psychedelic-assisted therapy atop their Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior. Because nothing says "rigorous science" like dropping molly under the California sun.

Dr. Helena Hansen, the mastermind behind this paradise new concept, wants to create a space where patients can commune with nature while exploring their inner landscapes. Imagine yourself surrounded by native plants and soothing fountains, serenaded by birdsong. (Not a bad place to dissolve and re-integrate, right?) It’s kinda like Burning Man meets Zen garden party, but with more PhDs.

Hard to imagine being a psychedelic scientist and not relishing the opportunity to step out of the sterile clinic for once. After all, why stare at white walls when you could be chasing butterflies on MDMA? Then again, we’re just a newsletter, so what do we know. The important thing to remember is: what happens on the roof, stays on the roof. Unless it gets published in a peer-reviewed journal, of course.

The first billion-dollar psychedelic drug

Psychedelic medicine isn’t the future; it’s happening right now—not just underground, either. It’s easy to forget, but the first blockbuster psychedelic drug is already here. Spravato, Johnson & Johnson's ketamine-based depression spray, is doing serious numbers. Sales hit $271 million in Q2, up 61% from last year. That means the drug is on track to surpass $1 billion (with a ‘B’) in 2024. Apparently, Americans can’t get enough of that sweet, sweet FDA-approved dissociation.

But this isn't just about J&J's bottom line. Wall Street's taking notice, and they see dollar signs in the dilated pupils. Jefferies analyst Andrew Tsai says Spravato's success "supports the notion psychedelics can become commercially viable." Translation? The suits are starting to believe.

This could be huge for the whole psychedelic medicine field. With all the uncertainty around MDMA’s approval, some investors were getting cold feet about psychedelic biotech. But Spravato's stellar performance could warm those toesies right back up. Sure, Spravato's still heavily restricted (see its “black box warning” and REMS program). But if a lil’ nasal spray can rake in billions, imagine what a full-on psychedelic revolution could do.

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.