🫠 This Week in Psychedelics

Welcome to Tricycle Day. We’re the psychedelics newsletter that knows there’s more to health than not being sick. For example, to keep a healthy [information] diet, consume 2 of our emails per week. Doctor’s orders. 🩺

Here’s what we got this week.

• Psilocybin beats anti-depressants… again 🍄

• The congressmen trying to regulate psychedelic therapy 🇺🇸

• Integration in the metaverse 👾

• Working through trauma with medicine 💔

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MICRODOSES

🔬 Research

Man’s best friend: LSD may help with social impairment for people with autism, based on new research in dogs.
Exclusion criteria: People with schizoprenia may be candidates for psychedelic therapy after all.
Never forget: By combining psilocybin with midazolam (a benzo), researchers found that memory may play a therapeutic role in the psychedelic experience.
Self regulated: Underground practitioners pre-screen clients, prioritize integration, and employ a range of therapeutic modalities. And many have licenses.
This is why we can’t have nice things: 1 in 12 psychedelic users surveyed said they or someone they know have been touched inappropriately by a facilitator.

🏛️ Policy

Show me the money: Colorado has delayed its final decision on fees for natural medicine healing centers, cultivators, and manufacturers.
Master plan: Bryan Hubbard wants 6 states to pool their opioid settlement funds to develop ibogaine as a generic.
Uno reverse card: Now that Oregon has rolled back Measure 110, Portland advocates are pushing for a ballot initiative would decriminalize entheogenic plants and fungi locally.
For research purposes, okay? The DEA is calling for increased production of ibogaine, psilocybin, and psilocin in its latest quota proposal.
About time, innit: The UK’s first psychedelics trade association just launched.

📈 Business

Training camp: Here’s what it takes to become a psilocybin facilitator in Colorado.
Medical microdosing: Two Toronto-based startups are bringing psilocybin through Health Canada’s approval process at sub-perceptual doses.
Domain renewal: The billionaire GoDaddy founder just cut the ribbon on a new psychedelic research center at Mount Sinai in NYC.
Ibogaine… so hot right now: Clearmind Medicine applied for another patent—this time for ibogaine combo therapy.
Survey says: 94% of mental health professionals are open to adding psychedelics to their practice if legalized.

🫠 Just for fun

Win-win: Get a free VIP trip to see Post Malone by supporting access to psychedelic therapy.
No wonder they’re everywhere: Fungi spores float through Earth’s atmosphere thousands of meters above sea level.
Museum dose: This nonprofit wants to create a museum honoring Maria Sabina and Mazatec culture.
Meme of the week: When you’re stuck in traffic but you microdose…

THE PEAK EXPERIENCE

Are we really settling for ‘not depressed’?

Look, we have no beef with SSRIs. Certainly nothing against people who take them. You won’t catch Tricycle Day pill-shaming anyone.

But it’s getting real hard to ignore the evidence that psychedelics are better treatments for depression, in lots of ways.

Let’s add to the pile, shall we?

Imperial College London just dropped the first long-term comparison of psilocybin vs escitalopram (aka Lexapro) for the treatment of depression. This isn’t some throwaway study, either. It was a head-to-head, randomized controlled trial, where everyone received 20 hours of psychological support, whether they got a single dose of psilocybin or a six-week course of escitalopram.

Now, the results. Six months after treatment, the psilocybin and SSRI groups showed about the same improvement in symptoms of depression. So they both “worked.”

But here's where things gets interesting. Looking at measures of well-being, beyond the standard clinical measures of depression, psilocybin blew escitalopram out of the water.

• 👫 Work and social functioning: Psilocybin patients saw a 142% larger improvement than the escitalopram group in their ability to work, maintain home life, and participate in social activities.

• 🫂 Sense of connection: The psilocybin group also reported a 101% greater increase in feeling connected to themselves, others, and the world.

• 🫀 Meaning in life: Psilocybin patients experienced a 229% larger boost in their sense of purpose and significance.

These aren't just numbers—they're glimpses into lives transformed. Think about it. What good does muting your feelings do if you can’t function?

Healing definitely takes work. 63% of the study participants sought extra help to get those positive results. But still, this research shows we have options that don't just numb the pain, but actually help people thrive.

Maybe it’s time mental health care goes beyond symptom checklists. We never said we wouldn’t shame the system, okay? 🫠

AFTERGLOW

Congress is all ears

The suits on Capitol Hill are finally asking the right questions… some of ‘em at least. One group, the Congressional Psychedelics Advancing Therapies (PATH) Caucus, is determined to figure out how the heck we're going to regulate psychedelic therapy. And for once, they actually want to hear from people who know what they're talking about.

Reps. Jack Bergman (R-MI) and Lou Correa (D-CA) are seeking input from the public on five key areas: service delivery, participant protections, community engagement, equitable access, and data standards. They even acknowledge the thousands of years of indigenous experience with plant medicines. (Somebody pinch us.) At the end of the day, they just want to understand how people are using these substances before they put (even more) misguided policies in place.

With the FDA already calling several psychedelics "breakthrough therapies," the clock is ticking to get this right. So if you have experience with psychedelic therapy—or strong opinions on the “bio-psycho-social-spiritual behavioral health ecosystem” (whatever that means)—now's your chance to bend some congressional ears. After all, politicians are supposed to be our public servants, right? Right?

The metaverse is making a comeback

Oculus collecting dust in the closet? Don’t list it on Craigslist yet. Unlike all those other psychedelic companies, who are convinced their proprietary compound is that much better than nature, Enosis Therapeutics has no desire to replace your mushroom journey. They just want to make the aftermath smoother, less expensive, and more… spatial?

Instead of making new molecules, they’ve developed a VR tool that lets patients revisit insights from their psychedelic sessions in a virtual landscape. Yep, you just strap on your headset, channel your inner Gen Z Minecrafter, and get to work building out a 3D map of your consciousness. Sounds impossible, but apparently people can really do it. In a small trial, Enosis found a 90% match between VR-captured insights and the actual psilocybin experience.

Enosis CEO Prash Puspanathan sees this as a way to tackle one of psychedelic therapy's biggest and most imposing hurdles: integration. Instead of shelling out $2,000 for 10 face-to-face sessions, patients might soon be able to do similar work at home for $50. The goal isn't to replicate therapy entirely, but to make it more accessible and scalable. We just never thought mental health care would look so pixelated.

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.