Psychedelics News July 2021

Can we take the high out of psychedelics?

David Olson, a chemical biologist at the University of California, wants to study whether the hallucinogenic components of psychedelic drugs can be removed with the drugs still retaining the ability to treat mental disorders. Olson’s research could help remove the potential for abuse for some drugs including ketamine and possibly present the solution for a section of the population for whom potentially addictive drugs may not be advisable due to pre-existing psychiatric conditions or a family history of psychotic illnesses.

#ketamine #DavidOlson #LSD #hallucinogens #DMT #psilocybin #GraceBrowne #wired #psychedelicresearch #psychedelics

The Surprising Health Benefits of Psilocybin Mushrooms

A study on psilocybin mushrooms, well-known for their powerful psychedelic effects, has highlighted its therapeutic applications to treat psychiatric and behavioral disorders such as depression, OCD, anxiety, PTSD, various addictions related to nicotine, alcohol, and drugs, cluster headaches, and life-threatening diseases such as cancer. Continued significant health benefits of psilocybin mushrooms could pave the way for a strong movement for the legalization of magic mushrooms.

#magicmushrooms #mushrooms #psilocybin #MarkHarper #PaulStamets #mentalhealth #psychedelicresearch #eatfitfuel

Leveraging the Power of Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy in PTSD

Research into psychedelic-assisted therapy in PTSD focuses on positive psychological transformation rather than stabilization of symptoms in order to mobilize neural mechanisms to promote healing and post-traumatic growth. It explores the psychedelics effects and the integration of medicine and psychotherapy to act as a surgical intervention where traumatic events can be re-experienced from a new perspective and then processed to catalyze psychological transformation.

#psychedelics #ptsd #MDMA #RachelYehuda #HaraEstroffMarano #psychedelicpsychotherapy #psychologytoday

The founder of the biggest psychedelics company says legalizing magic mushrooms risks creating a backlash that could undermine the industry

Christian Angermayer, the founder of atai Life Sciences, the largest psychedelics company by market value specializing in the treatment of mental disorders, has cautioned that while he favors legalization, making psychedelics compounds like magic mushrooms easily accessible could trigger backlash which potentially poses a threat to the psychedelics sector itself and stifle the progress of medical psychedelics companies. The atai founder added that potent compounds should be used under supervised settings with trained professionals and that these not be made into easily accessible over-the-counter drugs or recreational products.

#atai #psychedelics #magicmushrooms #ChristianAngermayer #PSYCHInvestorSummit #RickDoblin #maps #businesshala #PsychedelicStudies

Harvard to study psychedelics and the law as decriminalization gains steam

Researchers at Harvard Law School are kickstarting a groundbreaking three-year research initiative into psychedelics and the law as possible movements on monetization and decriminalizing psychedelic drugs gain steam due to the recent studies on the psychedelic effects supporting medical benefits. The Project on Psychedelics Law and Regulation, or POPLAR at Harvard Law School’s Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy aims to fill the gaps in systematic analysis on psychedelics legislation.

#Harvard #POPLAR #SaiseiFoundation #pyschedelicsresearch #AudreyConklin #foxnews

Move Over, Psilocybin And Ketamine: A New Compound Derived From A Naturally-Growing Hallucinogen May Revolutionize Psychiatry

A single dose of a new compound tabernanthalog (TBG), synthesized from the hallucinogen ibogaine by UC Davis chemical neuroscientist David E. Olson, could potentially transform psychiatry. Evidence suggests that TBG can repair stress-damaged neurons and brain circuitry in mice while reducing anxious and depressive behaviors and also curbing their addictions. The drug for humans is under development with clinical trials being anticipated soon.

#tabernanthalog #psychiatry #ibogaine #DavidOlson #anxiety #depression #YiZuo #molecularpsychiatry #forbes #RebeccaCoffey

Psychedelic Drugs Are Moving From The Fringes Of Medicine To The Mainstream

Psychedelics filling the drug development pipeline as therapeutics for the treatment of conditions such as depression, anxiety, and substance abuse are now moving from fringes to mainstream medical research. Recent researches on psychedelics such as psilocybin, MDMA, and esketamine have paved the way for clinically approved trials and protocols being set for psychedelic medications.

#MDMA # #psychedelicdrugs #psychiatry #Molly #ecstasy #ptsd #depression #substanceabuse #addiction #anxiety #psychedelicassistedtherapy #naturemedicine #pyschedelicsresearch #joshuacohen #forbes #Bogenschutz

One Psilocybin Dose May Help Regrow Neuronal Connections Lost In Depression

Evidence from new research in mice suggests that a single dose of psilocybin, an active compound in magic mushrooms, can trigger the proliferation of the neural connections called synapses in the frontal cortex in the brain, paving the way for a potential treatment for depression which is associated with a loss of neural connections.

#psilocybin #alexkwan #psychedelics #magicmushrooms #iflscience #psychiatry #neuroscience #yale #pyschedelicsresearch

Psilera Raises $2.5 Million with Oversubscribed Series Seed from Leading Institutional Investors to Accelerate Clinical Pipeline Focused on DMT

Psilera has secured $2,500,000 to accelerate clinical pipeline on N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT). This funding is aimed at submitting an investigational new drug (IND) for transdermal delivery of DMT and strengthen a robust scientific and clinical team for a robust drug pipeline.

#DMT #psychedelicresearch #chriswitowski #psilera #iterinvestments #Psilocybinalpha #drugresearch

Numinus Wellness To Acquire Neurology Centre of Toronto, Plans to Create Centre for Psychedelic Neurology

Numinus Wellness Inc., a mental health care company will acquire the Neurology Centre of Toronto (NCT) with 13 doctors, 8 allied health staff, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants and plans to expand NCT into a comprehensive clinical neurology treatment center which will specialize in the psychedelic application in the field of neurology. Numinus will pay up to $500,000 in order to complete the transaction by the end of August 2021.

#Numinus #neurologycentreoftoronto #nct #evanlewis #neurology #psychedelic #psychedelicresearch

Over a third of US voters say magic mushrooms and other psychedelics have a medical use, new poll shows

Over a third of US voters (35%) in a new Hill-HarrisX poll said that psychedelics such as magic mushrooms have a medical use which has been attributed to recent researches that suggest that certain psychedelics including magic mushrooms, MDMA, and LSD, could treat depression and PTSD. However, 65%, a majority of American voters have said that such substances do not have medicinal uses. The study also highlighted the huge divide in views across party lines, and younger and older voters.

#magicmushrooms #psilocybin #MDMA #LSD #psychedelics #depression #ptsd #psychedelicresearch #psychedelicpoll #RobinCarhartHarris #johnhaltiwanger #businessinsider

Stress and Serotonin

George writes, as a layperson, about Carhart-Harris and Nutt (2017), “Serotonin and brain function: a tale of two receptors.” He summarizes that psychedelics agonists for 5HT2a receptors, and that SSRIs are agonists for 5HT1a receptors. The former being in the ‘newer’ brain areas, the latter in the limbic area, dealing with emotions and impulses. SSRs deal with stress by downregulation, psychedelics by making you fitter/more prone to action.

#cerebralab #serotonin #psychedelics #PTSD #SSRIs #RobinCarhartHarris #DavidNutt

On Cerebralab On Nutt/Carhart-Harris On Serotonin

Scott Alexander continues the thread from George and looks further into productive coding. He states that violations of our expected model of the world could be partly responsible for negative experiences. So if you actively try and solve these problems (as psychedelics could possibly let you do) you may feel better. The final part of the article deals with how early psychedelics got so weird. Two possible reasons could be that they didn’t know what to expect (no previous experience out there), or two that they took massive amounts and did too much introspection (thus building on a model of reality that is actually detached from reality itself).

#ACX #ScottAlexander #SSRIs #psychedelics #RobinCarhartHarris #DavidNutt

COMPASS Pathways joins forces with King’s College London and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust to accelerate psychedelic research and develop new models of mental health care in the UK

COMPASS Pathways, a mental health care company is partnering with South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (SLaM) and the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King’s College London to accelerate psychedelic research and develop innovative new models for mental health care in the UK. This will include a multi-year partnership for research into COMP360 psilocybin therapy and other such therapies for depression, PTSD, and anorexia as well as training therapists in psychedelic therapy, generating evidence, prototyping digital solutions, and building advanced facilities for research and creating the “mental health care clinic of the future”.

#psilocybin #depression #ptsd #anxiety #compasspathways #kingscollegelondon #psychedelicresearch #allanyoung #NHS #Compass

The Fight for Medical Use of Magic Mushrooms Is Moving to the Courts

As more and more studies support the medical use of magic mushrooms, the proponents of psilocybin legalization have upped the ante with TheraPsil leading the legal challenge. TheraPsil had famously helped a cancer patient obtain the first exemption under Canada’s drug laws to access magic mushrooms for psychotherapy last August. However, the main challenge arises with the lack of transparency regarding the application procedure and proving a medical requirement for psilocybin, as do the criteria and expertise used by Health Canada to take the said decision. Advocates argue that denying access to valuable psilocybin therapy violates patients’ charter rights.

#psilocybin #psychotherapy #magicmushroom #therapsil #pattyhajdu #paullewin #TheraPsil

The women psychonauts taking on macho magic mushroom culture, and winning

With the psychedelic revolution entering into public consciousness in the post-corona world, a counter-cultural movement by women and minorities such as black, indigenous, and other people of color as well as white, and non-binary psychonauts have taken a center stage. Cultural pundits are calling it a “defining moment” for mental health and how we perceive it. Monnica Williams, a clinical psychologist at the University of Ottawa, has attributed this radical movement to serious under-representation of women and minorities in the psilocybin-assisted therapy researches.

psilocybin #magicmushroom #depression #mentalhealth #psychedelicresearch #monnicawilliams

The author Michael Pollan on his mescaline trip and why we should all take a psychedelic holiday

With flights still grounded and those sandy beaches even further away, author Michael Pollan is advocating for psychedelic trips instead of the usual holiday trips if you are dreading another holiday-free summer in the gloomy pandemic ravaged world. He argues that the world needs a “more enlightened approach.”

mescaline #psychedelictrips #michaelpollan #corona

Israeli lab grows ‘magic’ mushrooms to treat depression

Scientists from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Agriculture Department are growing highly concentrated, pure, and potent organic magic mushrooms to treat depression. This is led by the Israeli pharmaceutical R&D company, PsyRx, which is the first one to make use of the biological bioreactor technology to create psilocybin and other biological psychoactive compounds at a quality that meets the GMP standards. This research comes in the wake of studies indicating psilocybin’s medical use in treating depression, addiction, anxiety, obesity, cluster headaches, anorexia, Alzheimer’s disease, PTSD, and other personality disorders.

psilocybin #depression #anxiety #addiction #anorexia #obesity #Alzheimer #PTSD #asherholzer #itayhecht #kobibuxdorf #psyrx

Heroic Hearts Project announces new study with Imperial College London into the physiological and psychological effects of psilocybin on veterans.

A world-first observational study on psilocybin’s psychological and physiological effects on veterans with traumatic brain injury could expand on how conditions such as depression, anxiety, and PTSD are treated in veterans. This study could offer more in the “largely anecdotal” and scarce evidence behind psilocybin’s effects on traumatic brain injury as current research primarily focusses on the positive psychological effects, as compared to the physiological.

#psilocybin #depression #anxiety #ptsd #HeroicHeartsProject #psychology

Wesana Health Announces Definitive Agreement to Acquire PsyTech Inc.

Wesana Health, which is focussed on improving neurological health and performance, is acquiring Psychedelitech Inc., also known as PsyTech Inc., for about $21 million CAD in Wesana Health stock, the life sciences company has announced. With this acquisition, Wesana’s current business will include three major components like the SaaS platform ‘Tovana Solutions’, Tovana Clinics and PsyTech Connect.

#psychiatry #wesanahealth #psytech #psychedelicresearch #neurology

MINDCURE Announces Filing of U.S. Provisional Patent Applications for Company’s First Fully Synthetic Routes to Create an Ibogaine Psychedelic Compound

MindCure, a leading advanced proprietary technology and psychedelics research company, is filing provisional patents with USPTO for new processes for synthesizing ibogaine. The two chemical synthesis routes, which successfully produced ibogaine, are currently being evaluated.

#ibogaine #patents #mindcure #psychedelicresearch

Mindset Pharma Announces Additional Preclinical Results Suggesting Superior Efficacy and Improved Safety in Head-to-Head Comparison to Psilocybin for its First Lead Clinical Candidate, MSP-1014

New results from pre-clinal results by Mindset Pharma could potentially provide hope for a safer and more scalable compound – MSP-1014 – in the field of psychedelic medicine. This highlights the potential for a broad range of neuropsychiatric disorders as it progresses towards human clinal trials. MSP-1014, a differentiated next generation psilocybin drug candidate, has demonstrated higher 5-HT2A receptor efficacy and safety, as compared to pre-clinical comparisons to psilocybin.

#msp1014 #psilocybin #mindsetpharma #psychedelicresearch #neurology

California Bill To Legalize Psychedelics Possession Advances Again, With New Amendments That Add Limits

Proponents for the legalization of psychedelics like psilocybin and LSD have a reason to rejoice as California Bill receives approval. However, the new amendments have put a dampener as it adds certain limitations on personal possession amount for each substance.

#psilocybin #magicmushrooms #DMT #ibogaine #LSD #mdma #psychedelicresearch #california #kylejaeger