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š« This Week in Psychedelics
[5-min read] Lawmakers across the US file psychedelic policy reform bills.
Welcome to Tricycle Day. Drug laws are like belts after a big meal. Loosen āem up, and weāll all feel much better. š®āšØ
š Itās our birthday! The very first Tricycle Day newsletter went out on January 19, 2023. Can you believe itās almost been a year? To celebrate our anniversary, weāre dropping a collectorās item for the true stansāa special Tricycle Day tee. š
Want a free shirt? Next week, weāll draw a random winner whoās referred at least one active subscriber to Tricycle Day. (Every referral is an extra entry!) Find your unique referral link at the bottom of this email and get sharinā.
Hereās what we got this week.
The state of psychedelic policy reform šŗšø
Mushrooms are millions of years old š¦
MindMed nixes microdosing program šļø
Trip with your romantic partner š
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MICRODOSES
š¬ Research
Donāt worry: Cybinās two deuterated DMT molecules for Generalized Anxiety Disorder appear to be safe.
Know thyself: Lykos (formerly MAPS PBC) found that MDMA-assisted therapy helped people develop their abilities to identify, verbalize, and cope with emotions.
Imperialās big bet: Imperial College London is investigating psilocybin as a treatment for gambling.
Rest in peace: Psilocybin gave terminal cancer patients in Canada relief from end-of-life anxiety.
Want to participate? Researchers are recruiting volunteers for studies on microdosing and menstruation, trauma and stress, and depression and alcohol.
šļø Policy
Who pulls the strings? An obscure advisory panel is blocking FDA-cleared psychedelic research in California.
Move to the mitten: Ypsilanti, Michigan has decriminalized entheogenic plants and fungi.
Hereās the sacramental tea: A federal judge has ruled in favor of a California-based ayahuasca church.
Ego trip: The governor of Colorado boasted about leading the nation on psychedelics during his State of the State address.
š Business
Long road ahead: AJNA BioSciences is working toward FDA approval of a botanical psilocybin microdosing product.
Itās not Hogwarts: Peek inside Americaās first government-licensed magic mushroom school.
Runway extended: Clearmind Medicine is on track to raise another $2.4 million.
MDXX: PharmAla is sending its first novel MDMA derivative through the patent approval process.
Therapy is in: Numinus Wellness profited $2.1 million this quarter, up nearly 20% from Q4 2023.
š« Just for fun
Breath works: Psychedelic therapists-in-training are practicing holotropic breathwork for a taste of altered states.
Meet Moxy: The DEA tried (and failed) to ban this niche, underground psychedelic.
Meme of the week: When you bring your friend to their first plant medicine ceremonyā¦
THE PEAK EXPERIENCE
![I'm just a bill](https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/89b14b49-a896-4ed4-80c1-246ad1d77a0a/2k5TWM.gif?t=1705430999)
Bills, bills, bills
Serious question: did every pro-psychedelic lawmaker pick the exact same new yearās resolution?
Because, man, it really seems like these politicians just said āF itā to their old, recycled fitness goals and made reforming state-level psychedelic policy their #1 priority of the year. (We wonāt complain.)
Legislators have been legislatinā at a dizzying pace. But donāt worryāwe got you. Hereās every state where lawmakers have already made moves on psychedelic policy changes for 2024.
š Alaskaās two bills would establish a psychedelic medicine task force to address the stateās mental health crisis.
šļø Arizonaās new bill would give its psilocybin council more leeway to use the $5 million in research grants approved last year.
š„ Californiaās first bill would fund a workgroup on psychedelics, and a second (not yet introduced) would legalize psychedelic-assisted therapy.
š¦ Connecticutās soon-to-be-reintroduced bill would decriminalize psilocybin.
š½ Indianaās bill would require the state to set aside money for a therapeutic psilocybin research fund.
šŖØ New Hampshireās new bill would legalize psilocybin, LSD, and mescaline and set up a state-regulated distribution system.
š New Jerseyās reintroduced bill would decriminalize psilocybin and set up a legal framework for the manufacture and sale of psilocybin products.
šØ Rhode Islandās bill would allow people to cultivate and possess up to an ounce of psilocybin.
ā Washington Stateās bill would legalize psilocybin therapy for veterans and first responders.
Whew! Thatās 9 states that already have wheels in motion, and weāre not even counting citizen-led ballot initiatives.
Keep in mind weāre only halfway through January. So letās all keep our fingers crossed thatāunlike most new yearās resolutionsāthese commitments last longer than 2 weeks. š«
AFTERGLOW
![Hey, pass me some more of that fungus](https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/ccc877cb-5d6c-4283-af7e-d26c27f4d0d7/dinofungus.png?t=1705431076)
Prehistoric shrooms
Ever wonder if dinosaurs tripped on mushrooms? (No? Hmm, just me then.) Well, based on new research, we can at least say itās theoretically possible they did. After sequencing the genomes of more than 50 species from the Psilocybe genus, scientists have discovered that magic mushrooms sprung up on Earth about 65 million years ago.
Letās put that in perspective. The earliest human species first appeared 2 million years ago, and Homo sapiens (thatās us) only arrived 300,000 years ago. Despite being closer relatives to us than plants, psilocybin mushrooms are still a lot older than we are. So it should come as no surprise these golden teachers have so much wisdom to share.
Thatās not all the researchers found, either. It also turns out that Psilocybe mushrooms have evolved two independent ways of making psilocybin, one of which was previously unknown. While psychedelic biotechs are salivating at the implications for synthetic production, weāre still left with the burning questionsā¦ like whereās the extraterrestrial DNA hiding, and when will we find it?
Sub-perceptual dose, sub-perceptual results
Microdosers, prepare to shake your fists at the sky in disappointment. Because last week, one of the few biotechs to take a swing at developing a clinical microdosing regimen called the quits. MindMed, which had been researching sub-perceptual doses of LSD as a treatment for ADHD, is scrapping the program after a proof-of-concept trial didnāt hit the mark.
Just 3 months ago, MindMed execs were pumped to report their Phase 2a study had enrolled 53 participants. The volunteers would take either 20 Ī¼g of LSD or placebo, twice a week for 6 weeks, with a primary endpoint (or pre-specified goal) of reducing ADHD symptoms. But apparently the results were underwhelming. So MindMed is taking the L(SD) and redirecting their efforts to higher-dose R&D.
Just remember, clinical trials are imperfect. And the fact that one company is abandoning a project doesnāt mean microdosing has no value. Only you can decide your relationship to these substances and how to handle your monkey mind. Weāre each an n-of-one.
CYCLISTSā PICKS
UNTIL NEXT TIME
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ONE CYCLISTāS REVIEW
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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.
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