🫠 This Week in Psychedelics

Welcome to Tricycle Day. Research shows reading our newsletter and supporting our sponsors leads to durable improvements in health, happiness, and good looks. Source: trust me, bro. 🫠

Quick favor, Cyclists. Help us get to know ya, so we can serve you better. 🤝

All done? Okay, here’s what we got this week.

• Fight for your Right to Try (before you die) 💀

• Confirmed: psilocybin improves creativity 💡

• Narcan goes OTC to curb opioid crisis ⚕️

• Dutch gov’t is officially eyeing MDMA 💊

• Can psychedelic therapy costs be capped? 💸

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1. Congress is pressing the DEA to respect the Right to Try

One of the most uncontroversial use cases for psychedelics is relief from end-of-life anxiety and depression. Seriously, imagine knowing how much these medicines can help and thinking, “nope, people facing their own imminent mortality should suffer until their last breath.”

And yet, that’s the stance the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has taken. ☠️

So this week, two US lawmakers filed the “Right to Try Clarification Act.” The bill would force the DEA to allow patients with terminal illness to use psychedelics and cannabis.

Earl Blumenaur (D-OR) and Nancy Mace (R-SC) are calling their proposal a clarification act because, under current law, the DEA really shouldn’t be standing in the way. In 2018, Trump signed Right to Try policy into law allowing doctors to offer unapproved medicines if:

• The patient has terminal illness ✅

• The drug has completed a Phase 1 clinical trial ✅

• State law allows it ✅

Psychedelics like MDMA and psilocybin have been deemed “breakthrough therapies” based on their clinical research, and 41 states have already passed Right to Try laws. Yet the DEA is still denying terminally ill patients the freedom to trip. No wonder advocates are protesting and suing.

Look, we’re not anarchists here. We’re rooting for government cooperation. But right now, the DEA isn’t playing nice. If these guys don’t clean up their act after this bill, lawmakers are going to have to get creative.

2. Neuroscientists verified that psilocybin boosts creativity

Taking mushrooms has opened my mind to new ideas and ways of thinking. I don’t need the scientific method to tell me that.

But sometimes the rigor of research can bring clarity and nuance to something we take for granted.

Case in point: in a recent double-blind, placebo-controlled study, researchers compared brain scans and behavioral tests to see how psilocybin influenced people’s creative cognition. They found that a moderate dose of psilocybin had specific, measurable effects on creativity.

• Spontaneous creative insights increased 🤩📈

• Deliberate, task-specific creativity decreased 😐📉

• New ideas kept flowing for at least a week after the dose 🤔💡

In other words, if I were to munch a gram or two of shrooms right now, hypothetically speaking, it probably wouldn’t help me bang out this newsletter any faster. But it just might inspire the next big idea for Tricycle Day.

Guess that’s why mushrooms are often called teachers. You might not be able to bend them to your will, but they’ll show you what you’re meant to see. 👁️

3. The FDA approved over-the-counter Narcan

This week, the FDA took an admirable step toward harm reduction when they approved Narcan for over-the-counter sale without a prescription.

Narcan, aka naloxone, literally saves lives by reversing overdoses from opioids like heroin and fentanyl. And we’re not talking about just a few. The overdose crisis claims more than 100,000 lives a year in the US.

Ok but those aren’t psychedelics. What gives, Tricycle Day?

Here’s the thing. It’s becoming more and more common to find fentanyl — which btw is 50x stronger than heroin and deadlier, too — mixed into any and every street drug you can imagine. That includes our friends molly (MDMA) and ketamine. Is nothing sacred? 🥲

So yeah, having a safety net is a good thing. Using test strips beforehand is even better.

Now, there are still questions hanging in the air after the FDA’s approval.

• How much will OTC Narcan cost?

• Will insurance still cover it?

• When will other brands and injectable forms be available?

But there’s one thing we know for sure.

Sorry we went full parent mode for a minute there. Just looking out for you. 🫶

4. The Netherlands established a national MDMA commission

Dutch government officials think MDMA could be the cure for what ails them. And by “them,” we mean the estimated 200,000 people in the Netherlands who suffer from PTSD, treatment-resistant depression, and other severe mental health conditions.

So they’re taking action. This week, they established the Dutch State Commission on MDMA to look at the potential risks and benefits of MDMA to individuals, society, and public health.

Apparently, the whole thing was the Dutch Minister of Health Ernst Kuiper’s idea. After receiving a report on the current landscape of psychedelic-assisted therapy, the man said let’s do this. 🫡

So he spun up the independent advisory board and charged them with presenting findings to the Dutch Cabinet by January 2024.

Meanwhile in the Netherlands, psilocybin-containing truffles are still legal and unregulated, which means they’re easily obtainable 👍 but their medical potential has been totally dismissed. 👎

5. A Massachusetts lawmaker filed a bill to cap the price of MDMA therapy

Step aside, McMillan. Rent isn’t the only thing that’s “too damn high.”

At least that’s what Massachusetts Rep. Nicholas Boldyga (R) thinks. He just filed a bill in his home state that would cap the price of MDMA-assisted therapy at $5k max if and when the FDA approves it for PTSD.

It’s pretty clear that Boldyga’s proposal is a preemptive attempt to control the effective monopoly that MAPS will have on MDMA therapy once they get exclusive authorization from the FDA.

Hey, five grand is definitely nothing to sneeze at, but it’s a far cry from the eye-popping $15,000+ that MAPS is planning to charge. 😳

Advocates are concerned that lower-income people in need — including the very veterans centered in MAPS’ research — will be priced out, and MDMA therapy will be a privilege reserved for the ultra rich.

But in MAPS’ defense, it costs them a lot, too. The 5-figure price tag would cover:

• 42 hours of therapy

• 3 overnight stays

• 2 therapists

• Not to mention recouping the millions of dollars spent on clinical trials to date

Also, MAPS director Rick Doblin says all proceeds will be funneled right back into further research, doctor training, and policy reform. They are a non-profit after all.

• A Psychedelics Pioneer Takes the Ultimate Trip [NY Times]

• Can Psychedelics Save a Failing Relationship? [Vice]

• New male midlife crisis is drastic dieting, psychedelics [NY Post]

• The EU is Inching Closer to a Psychedelic Renaissance [Lucid News]

• My Dad Was Timothy Leary, 60s Drug Icon [Vice]

• What Industry Professionals Can Expect At A Cannabis & Psychedelic Convention [Rolling Stone]

Alice Chocolates — We got any chocolate lovers in the house? These nootropic treats are our favorite addition to the daily routine. Brainstorm will give you a clean energy boost, and Nightcap will send you blissfully into dreamland. Naturally, they’re vegan, organic, and ethically sourced.

While these chocolates won’t make you trip, the folks at Alice are big believers in psilocybin. They donate a portion of profits to The Hope Project and are founding members of the Microdosing Collective, two non-profits advocating for access to psychedelic support and research.

Science of Psychedelics & Spiritual Medicine — Missed SXSW? Can’t make PS2023? Good news. You’ve got another chance to hear from leading voices in the psychedelic field like Rick Doblin, Aubrey Marcus, and Hamilton Morris, as they cover everything from scientific breakthroughs to strategies for personal transformation.

Attend in person if you’re in the Phoenix area, or join the virtual conference. Either way, take $100 off your ticket price with code 100-OFF.

Have a Good Trip — Stars… they’re just like us! This wacky documentary from 2020 revolves around celebrities sharing their wildest trip reports via reenactments and animations. If you’re short on time, at least promise us you’ll watch this 40-second clip from A$AP Rocky’s colorful interview. 🌈

Great. Now that you’re sold, catch the doc before the sequel comes out.

That’s all for today. Before you head off, don’t forget to share, rate, and review Tricycle Day below. Catch ya next time, Cyclists! ✌️

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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.