🫠 This Week in Psychedelics

Welcome to Tricycle Day. We’re the psychedelics newsletter that places equal value on artificial intelligence and natural stupidity. 🙃

Here’s what we got this week.

• AI meets psilocybin therapy 🤖

• Will Newsom sign the decrim bill? 🏛️

• Canada’s new psilocybin supplier 🇨🇦

• Find your local psychedelic club 🧭

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RESEARCH

Psychedelic AI-ssisted therapy

When you read the letters “AI,” where does your imagination go? Singularity and the extinction of the human race, or some kind of techno-utopia where robots do your taxes and laundry?

Well, here’s one reason to be optimistic. AI may be able to predict how well you’ll respond to psilocybin therapy.

Seriously. COMPASS Pathways just tested it out with participants in their Phase 2 study on treatment-resistant depression, and it worked. It’s as easy as 1-2-3.

• 1️⃣ Give the patient psilocybin.

• 2️⃣ Record their integration session 24 hours later.

• 3️⃣ Run the audio through a proprietary machine learning algorithm based on a large language model, and correctly forecast the patient’s depression scores up to 12 weeks later. (Uhhh, right. Easy. 🥴)

Basically, the AI listens for tell-tale cues in the patient’s word choice during that first session, including signals of emotional sentiment and intensity. Then, like magic a data scientist, it’s able to predict the severity of the patient’s depression 3 weeks later with 85% accuracy and 3 months later with 88% accuracy.

Some will say it ain’t natural. “They’re taking the soul out of the medicine.” We’ll just say, wow, technology is wild.

MICRODOSES

🦠 Lockdown glow up: People who used psychedelics throughout the COVID-19 pandemic scored higher for psychological wellbeing and post-traumatic growth than those who didn’t.

🛹 Teenage angst: Most clinicians, parents, and adolescents would be open to MDMA-assisted therapy for teens, according to a new study.

🧬 Personal geno-mics: MindBio Therapeutics has made a genetic discovery that could predict the likelihood of a patient’s success or adverse reactions to microdosing.

🍸 Clean and sober: Clearmind Medicine and Johns Hopkins will conduct the first-in-human clinical trial of a euphoric MEAI-based drug for alcohol use disorder (AUD). Meanwhile, Awakn Life Sciences has submitted a Phase 3 trial application for its ketamine treatment for Severe AUD.

🧠 This is your brain on drugs: F.I.V.E. is recruiting healthy volunteers for the first-ever EEG brain imaging study to explore 5-MeO-DMT’s effects on the human brain.

POLICY

California decrim bill heads to the Governor

Holy guacamole, Senator Wiener. It’s really happening. 🥑

The California state Assembly just passed Senate Bill 58 in a 42-to-11 vote. That brings Cali one step closer to becoming the third US state to decriminalize certain psychedelics for adults 21+.

(If you’re new here, we covered the bill and its latest amendments in last week’s edition.)

Now all that’s left is for Governor Gavin Newsom to sign the bill into law. The thing is, that final step is a big ol’ mystery box.

Gov. Newsom hasn’t said whether he plans to sign or veto the bill. So the best we can do is speculate based on his track record.

• ✅ He has prioritized harm reduction in the past

• ✅ He’s been a fervent supporter of cannabis legalization

• ❌ Last August, he vetoed a bill that would have set up overdose prevention programs (aka safe injection sites)

• ❌ Critics think he’s playing it safe on drug policy, so he doesn’t nerf his shot at a 2028 presidential run

So will he or won’t he? Maybe even the Governor doesn’t know. Fortunately, he has until October 14 to ink his final decision. Assuming he signs the bill, SB-58 will become state law on January 1, 2024, and decriminalization will take effect on January 1, 2025.

MICRODOSES

✍️ Sign on the dotted line: The Massachusetts attorney general has certified a pair of psychedelic legalization ballot initiatives, now cleared to collect signatures.

🙏 C’mon, do something: Michigan lawmakers are calling on US Congress to invest in research on psychedelics, after losing 882 veterans to suicide from 2016 to 2020.

🏛️ Government affairs: The American Psychedelic Practitioners Association (APPA) has tapped Tom Daschle’s lobbying firm to educate stakeholders in DC about psychedelic-assisted therapy.

👥 Get it together: The Psychedelic Access Research and European Alliance (PAREA) is calling on the EMA to assemble an advisory group to guide the EU’s regulators and health care providers on psychedelic therapies.

BUSINESS

Canada’s Special Access Program has a new supplier

Let’s say you’re Canadian. Play along, eh?

You think you could benefit from psychedelic medicine. For all intents and purposes, you have 3 choices:

• 🔬 The front door: Enroll in a clinical trial

• 😈 The back door: Go underground

• 🧐 The side door: Get authorized through the Special Access Program (SAP)

Hmm, getting lumped into the placebo group sounds like a bummer, so a trial’s out. You like your doctor (and don’t like breaking the law), so underground’s a no-go. Secret third option it is.

The SAP is a program that allows health care providers to request permission from Health Canada to prescribe unapproved (read: illegal) drugs to their patients in need.

Requests aren’t always granted, and even when they are, the drug must be provided by an approved supplier. So far, the list of companies licensed to deal psilocybin via the SAP is very short. But as of this week, the newest addition is Optimi Health.

We’re no economists, but hear us out… more suppliers → greater supply → increased capacity to meet demand?

Time to start whipping through that waitlist, Health Canada. Chop, chop. 👏👏

MICRODOSES

🗞️ It’s about (high) time: Lucy Scientific has acquired High Times, the 46-year-old cannabis media brand, in an all-stock transaction.

✔️ Deut-y calls: Cybin has been granted its patent over deuterated tryptamines, with exclusivity until 2041.

💌 Approve plz: PharmaTher has submitted an abbreviated new drug application for KETARX, its generic ketamine drug, to the FDA for expedited review.

🌎 Global studies: Tiny Blue Dot Foundation is taking applications for up to $900,000 in funding for research into psychedelics, breathwork, mindfulness, yoga, and brain stimulation.

🌞 Sunday Funday: This weekend, Ann Arbor will host Entheofest, a free-speech event focused on decriminalizing psychedelic plants and fungi across Michigan.

LMNT — Don’t get caught tripping in nature without a bottle of water. Hydration is key! Whether you’re on a psychedelic journey or integrating your experience at hot yoga, LMNT (pronounced “element”) delivers all the electrolytes you need in a science-backed ratio. FYI, the correct way to drink LMNT is to mix a packet of Citrus Salt into an ice-cold Topo Chico. (You can thank us later.) Get a free sample pack with your first order, so you can try all the flavors.

The Dharma of Alan Watts & Ram Dass — Ram Dass and Alan Watts are each celebrated for popularizing Eastern mysticism in the West. And—surprise, surprise—they were both heavily inspired by psychedelics. Now, the Love Serve Remember Foundation is offering a 4-week course on their seminal teachings, and the first class is free and open to anyone. Sign up to see what these two cultural icons were all about.

Psychedelic Society Locator — Here’s one destination you can’t plug into Google Maps: your local psychedelic society. But these clubs and communities are gathering all around the world, nonetheless. Want to meet other psychedelic-curious friends in your area? Check out Global Psychedelic Society’s directory to see where the harm reduction, education, and integration are going down in your town.

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.