🫠 This Week in Psychedelics

Welcome to Tricycle Day. We’re the psychedelics newsletter that isn’t worried about a surveillance state. If the gov’t intercepted our emails, maybe they’d learn a thing or two. 😎

Here’s what we got this week.

• NIH bets millions on psychedelics for addiction 💰

• The feds want your input on psychedelic policy 📢

• Mushroom dispensary beats the city of Vancouver 🍄

• Dos and don’ts of trip sitting 🧘

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MICRODOSES

🔬 Research

It’s all in the mix: S-MDMA and R-MDMA, the mirror-image molecules that make up the usual (racemic) mixture, have different effects. Researchers prefer the combo.
Assist this: Drug Science and University College London are investigating which therapeutic modalities work best with MDMA.
They’re catching on: Adult psychedelic use is at historic highs, according to a federally funded study.
K-whole: Ketamine can help opioid addicts initiate treatment and minimize withdrawal symptoms.
Mycelial networking: ATMA and Optimi Health are teaming up for a clinical trial of psilocybin therapy in individual and group settings.

🏛️ Policy

Womp womp: Drugs are officially recriminalized in Oregon. (Psilocybin service providers are unaffected.)
How to change your mind: Days after announcing it would study Americans’ use of kratom and psychedelics, the FDA withdrew the notice without explanation.
Double blind spot: Public health researchers and officials don’t understand psychedelics, and psychedelic researchers don’t understand public health.
Pound for pound: British taxpayers lost £460,000 in a collapsed pro-psilocybin campaign group.

📈 Business

Unfazed: Rick Doblin will keep fighting to get MDMA accepted by the medical establishment.
In the pipeline: Several biotechs have psychedelic drugs in mid to late-stage testing. Here’s what the FDA will review next.
Acid test: BetterLife Pharma patented its method for treating mood disorders using a non-hallucinogenic derivative of LSD.
Altar-ed states: A mental health worker claims to have opened “Colorado’s first psychedelic church.”
Sound the air horn: Diplo has opened a retreat center with a psilocybin bar.

🫠 Just for fun

Time for career pivot? Here are 10 psychedelic jobs to consider.
Arti-fungal Intelligence: Scientists grew mycelium inside a robot to act as its brain.
Til death do you part: MDMA might save your marriage.
What to watch: The 20 best trippy movies and shows on Netflix right now.
Meme of the week: This could be us but you playin’…

THE PEAK EXPERIENCE

Addicted to personal growth

I sincerely hope the cop who taught our middle school D.A.R.E. class isn’t subscribed to Tricycle Day. Because poor Officer Stanley’s head might explode if he read this.

With that disclaimer out of the way, here comes the truth bomb… Not all drugs are the same.

Case in point: let’s look at abuse potential. Classic psychedelics are generally non-habit forming. They don’t cause physical dependence or withdrawal symptoms.

But it goes deeper than that. Psychedelics are actually anti-addictive. In other words, they can help people break free from unhealthy relationships with other substances and behaviors. Get this.

• 🍺 High and dry: In a recent study of single-dose psilocybin for severe alcohol use disorder, participants ended up having 3.4 fewer drinks per day on average and 37.5% fewer days of heavy drinking overall.

• 🧪 More than mushrooms: Another new paper looked at LSD and ayahuasca, too. In one of the trials, 83% of participants were still booze-free 9 months after psychedelic-assisted therapy.

Apparently, the evidence has become too juicy for the feds to ignore. This week, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA, a division of the NIH) dropped a cool $2.4 million to study psychedelics for meth addiction.

‘Bout time. Meth-related deaths have surged 500% since 2015. And as of now, there are precisely zero pharmacological treatments for stimulant use disorders.

Predictably, NIDA is praying researchers will come up with an effective treatment that “minimizes psychedelic effects.”

Yeah, um, good luck with that. Our hunch is the trip is more than an inconvenient side effect. Then again, maybe we’re just addicted to our beliefs. 🫠

AFTERGLOW

Tell ‘em how you really feel

Mark your calendars, Cyclists. The feds are giving us not one, but two opportunities to speak our minds about psychedelics this fall. First up, the FDA is hosting a hybrid public meeting on September 6th to discuss potential new treatments for PTSD, including psychedelics. This announcement comes hot on the heels of their rejection of Lykos Therapeutics' MDMA therapy application. Guess they had to throw us some kinda bone.

Meanwhile, the DEA has scheduled a historic 10-day public hearing in November on the fate of two lesser-known psychedelics, DOI and DOC. These compounds are valuable research tools for understanding serotonin receptors, but the DEA wants to slap them with Schedule I status. Scientists are understandably not thrilled about this prospect.

Both meetings offer a rare chance for researchers, advocates, and even everyday people with lived experience to weigh in. The FDA's giving 30 lucky participants three minutes each to make their case (no pressure), while the DEA's marathon session could be a game-changer for drug policy. Who knows? Maybe if we speak slowly enough and really enunciate our words, they’ll actually listen this time.

Mushrooms 1 - Vancouver 0

Remember the early days of cannabis legalization? Well, it looks like history may be repeating itself with mushrooms. This week, a psychedelics dispensary in Vancouver won a court battle against the city. The verdict? Not guilty of violating business bylaws. (These mushrooms really are magic, huh?)

The city claimed Dana Larsen's Coca Leaf Cafe was illegally slinging psilocybin under the guise of a retail and food establishment. But here's the kicker: they never actually bought or tested any products. (Whoops.) The judge ruled that a "possibility or probability does not meet the standard of proof." In other words, suspicion isn't evidence, no matter how suss that cafe menu looks.

Now, city councillors are muttering about regulation to avoid another wild west situation. But Larsen's not sweating it. Even though he scraped by on a technicality, he's confident his shop will "outlast the current city council." Meanwhile, advocates are pushing for a medical mushroom licensing system. Larsen may be a bit—shall we say—early with his dispensary, but this man knows what he’s up against. And clearly, he won’t go down without a fight.

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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.