🫠 This Week in Psychedelics

Welcome to Tricycle Day. We’re the psychedelics newsletter that (strangely) doesn’t have any billionaire friends. But hey, if you wanna throw millions of dollars our way, we’ll consider it. Have your people contact our people. 🤝

Here’s what we got this week.

• Research says: the trip matters ✨

• A billionaire is offering $100M to buy Lykos 🐺

• New York’s unconventional psilocybin bills 🍄

• Cybersecurity for psychedelic pros 🔐

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MICRODOSES

🔬 Research

Present for patients: In a randomized controlled trial, psilocybin and mindfulness training helped healthcare providers overcome COVID-related depression and burnout.
Beyond the Haka: A clinical trial in New Zealand is combining psilocybin with indigenous Māori practices as an intervention for meth addiction.
Medicine for all: More inclusive recruitment and more transparent reporting would improve the generalizability of psychedelic research.
Slippery slope: Is “modifying” informed consent a reasonable solution for the psychedelic research’s functional unblinding problem?
Case report: This man resolved his chronic neuropathic pain by microdosing MDMA.

🏛️ Policy

Out in the Wash: The city council of Tacoma, WA is considering a resolution that would decriminalize psychedelics.
Strange bedfellows: Biden’s head of the Veterans Health Administration wants to work with RFK Jr. on advancing psychedelic medicine for vets.
Right to research: Students for Sensible Drug Policy has filed its post-trial briefing, challenging the DEA’s proposal to schedule DOI and DOC.
Tax dollars at work: Ketamine infusions to treat depression are now covered by Medicaid in Wisconsin.
Across the pond: A European Citizens’ Initiative is gathering a million signatures to push the EU to reschedule psychedelics.

📈 Business

Shot in the dark: Mindbloom, the largest direct-to-consumer (DTC) ketamine company, launched injectables.
Runway extended: Compass Pathways raised $150 million.
Top dogs: atai Life Sciences appointed a whole new C-suite.
Identity shift: Psylo rebranded to Xylo Bio to reflect its focus on non-hallucinogenic neuroplastogens.
Higher ed: Columbia University School of Social Work (CSSW) is developing the world’s first within-degree psychedelic-assisted therapy training program.

🫠 Just for fun

His… Why are so many men drinking ayahuasca?
And hers: Why are so many Gen-Z women getting addicted to ketamine?
Sacred supply: The Native American Church is concerned peyote is being overharvested.
Meme(s) of the week: A macrodose of microdose memes…

THE PEAK EXPERIENCE

More than molecules

There’s a classic conundrum in psychedelic therapy…

Does the cat actually love me, or has he just figured out where the food comes from?

Whoops sorry, that was for my diary, not this newsletter. But pinky promise this research question is just as deep and puzzling. Here goes.

When psilocybin therapy works for depression, can we chalk it up to brain chemistry? Or does the subjective experience—you know, what you actually feel and think during the journey—play a role?

A new study digging into Compass Pathways' largest-ever psilocybin trial offers some fresh perspective. Here's what researchers found when they crunched the numbers.

• ⚖️ Dose matters: Higher doses (25mg) generally produced stronger psychedelic effects than lower doses (1mg and 10mg). No surprises there.

• 🃏 But it's not that simple: Even at the same dose, people's experiences varied wildly. Some folks barely felt 25mg, while others went deep on just 10mg.

• 🌊 Experience predicts outcomes: Independent of dosage, the intensity of certain subjective effects—especially that classic feeling of merging with the universe (aka “Oceanic Boundlessness”)—predicted how much people's depression improved.

So there you have it. They uncoupled the drug from its subjective effects, and the receipts show the trip does matter for treating depression.

Then again, we can't completely rule out that some unmeasured aspect of brain chemistry explains both the subjective experience and the improvements. (D’oh, case unclosed?)

For what it’s worth, another recent study found that strong psychedelic experiences also predicted positive personality changes in healthy volunteers. So, let's just say the evidence is starting to stack up.

At the end of the day, people will believe what they want to believe. Just ask my cat. 🫠

AFTERGLOW

The MAPS/Lykos plot thickens

Quick question: Is it still a “hostile takeover” if you’re trying to open hearts? Asking for a friend billionaire. Antonio Gracias, early Tesla investor and psychedelic philanthropist, just offered $100M to take control of Lykos Therapeutics, the company working to get MDMA therapy approved for PTSD. And he's got MAPS founder Rick Doblin in his corner. (Don’t call it a comeback.)

Gracias would get three board seats (and give two to MAPS), plus bring in pharma company Paragon as a partner. Meanwhile, Helena Special Investments, Lykos's current majority owner, wants to cut all ties with the nonprofit that spent decades getting this medicine to the finish line. And there are whispers they’re moving away from MAPS's drug-plus-therapy approach toward a more traditional pharma model.

Either way, someone’s gotta put up the cash. After the FDA rejected Lykos's application last year, the company laid off most of its staff. Now they need to run another expensive Phase 3 trial for a second shot at approval. Did we mention that since Gracias’s bid, several Lykos board members have already stepped down? With 13 million Americans suffering from PTSD, you’d hate to see corporate drama get in the way of healing. Someone organize a ceremony board meeting, stat.

The road less regulated

Don’t overthink it, lawmakers. While other states are building complex regulatory systems for psychedelic therapy, New York might just let doctors be doctors. A new bill from Senator Nathalia Fernandez would protect licensed healthcare providers who want to offer psilocybin therapy to their clients.

The approach is radically simple compared to Oregon and Colorado. Instead of requiring special licenses and treatment centers, it would let existing medical professionals provide psilocybin therapy wherever makes sense—and that includes clients' homes. If you’re wondering why no one thought of this before… well, they did. A similar bill died in committee last year. (Womp womp.)

Meanwhile, NY advocates are pushing for a separate bill that would create a permit system for adult use. Again, they’re proposing something refreshingly simple: adults could buy mushrooms directly from licensed cultivators after completing screening and education. No facilitation or supervision necessary. Gotta hand it to New York for veering off the beaten path. Throw enough bills at the wall, and one's bound to stick, right?

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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.