Here’s what’s in store for you in today’s issue:

🍄 New psychedelic drugs?

🍄 Another stock to keep on your radar

🍄 A new way to make psilocybin

🍄 Reducing suicidal thoughts with psilocybin

🍄 And more.

You’ll want to stay till the end to learn how someone saw a million souls in the kingdom of heaven!

(Did a good friend forward this to you? If so be sure to subscribe here)

Be sure to check out this week’s Daily Mushroom podcast!

In this episode Paula, a holistic counselor, talks about her experiences with psilocybin.

Suicide is never the answer…

But psychedelics might be!

Conventional SSRI antidepressants are often ineffective in reducing suicidality and have even been known to increase suicidal thoughts. Psychedelics could be a revolutionary solution.

An NYU study found that psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy significantly reduced suicidal ideation in advanced cancer patients. Patients saw improvements in existential distress as early as 8 hours after the first dose, and the positive effects lasted over 6 months after the second dose.

Autistic Rats

Nova Mentis (NOVA) was studying the effect of psilocybin on rats with autism symptoms when they discovered an unexpected finding…

Not only did the psilocybin improve anxiety and cognitive function in the rats, but it also seemed to impact the proteins that regulate inflammation, indicating that the formulation may be able to treat obesity and diabetes related to obesity (“diabesity”).

Another highly promising indicator is that psilocybin activates the 5-HT2C serotonin receptors, which play a role in body weight and food intake. In fact, one of the current FDA-approved obesity treatments called lorcaserin is also a serotonin receptor agonist, but it can have lots of unwanted side effects that psilocybin would likely avoid!

4x more effective than psilocybin?

A recent study revealed that psilocybin can increase neuronal connections by 10%, but a different psychedelic may be even more effective.

A Vancouver company called Algernon Pharmaceuticals Inc. (AGN) discovered that its propriety compound based on DMT increased the growth of cortical neurons by 40% –  even at sub-hallucinogenic doses!

In the study, the cortical neurons of rats were treated with varying concentrations of DMT for just one hour and were examined 3 days later.

From now til the end of October, the company will experiment with increasing this duration to up to 72 hours.

New psychedelics?

If you think you’ve tried every psychedelic, think again 😉

An Oregon-based company called Blue Sun Mycology Group is preparing to file a patent for a process that combines foreign substances into fungi to create brand new drugs.

The company is just weeks away from harvesting the first batch of THC-infused psilocybin mushrooms and has started infusing LSD and DMT into mushrooms too!

Blue Sun Mycology recently filed 2 other patents for its process of creating new species of psychoactive fungi and plants through sexual hybridization, which it has already used to create over a dozen new species.

A sweet way to make psilocybin

This Copenhagen-based company is making psilocybin out of sugar!

Octarine Bio developed an innovative process of producing psilocybin from sugar using yeast fermentation. Not only is the process IP-protected, but its also low cost, sustainable, easily scalable, and has a stable supply chain.

This week, Octarine Bio partnered with a British clinical research organization, Clerkenwell Health, to advance human clinical trials and expand patient access to psychedelic therapy in Europe.

You’ll want to keep this stock on your radar

It was a big week for this Toronto company!

Last week, HC WainWright gave Field Trip Health (FTRP) a Buy rating, predicting that it will increase from $4.50 to $20 per share in just one year!

The firm noted that Field Trip’s propriety psilocybin analog, FT-104 could soon have some of the strongest intellectual property protection in the sector.

Since the analysis, the company has opened Europe’s first psychedelic therapy healthcare facility in Amsterdam, expanding its network of clinics to six facilities.

Then on Thursday, Field Trip announced that its preparing for Phase I clinical trials, which will commence early next year, to investigate FT-104 in treating post-partum depression and treatment resistant depression.

How to tell if a rat is tripping

Mindset Pharma (MSET) developed a new test that eliminates one of the biggest challenges of developing a new psychedelic drug.

It can be difficult to determine whether or not animals perceive a psychedelic experience when testing a new drug, but human trials are much more expensive. Mindset’s test offers a new solution.

By training rats to discriminate psilocybin from saline, Mindset developed a test that allows rats to communicate whether or not they perceive a new drug to be similar to psilocybin, which will help the company select its lead compounds for human clinical trials.

Yesterday, Maxim Group increased MSET’s price target from US$1 to $1.50, noting that the test increased the value of the company’s next-gen pipeline.

Mindset also announced that its psilocybin-inspired compound, MSP-1014, will target treatment resistant depression and end of life cancer angst.

Legal

A faster application process

Take notes Health Canada…

The Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) wants to simplify the registration process for researchers to access Schedule I drugs like psilocybin to be on par with Schedule II substances, as stated in a letter to congressional leaders.

The new registration process would skip some of the “lengthy and cumbersome” steps to encourage research into Schedule I substances. Applicants would only need to provide a general research proposal, information on storage and security of the substance, and qualifications to conduct the research.

Fighting for the right to try psilocybin

Back in March, a Seattle doctor sued the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) for rejecting an application to use psilocybin in end-of-life treatment for cancer patients.

Now, Washington Officials are supporting the case, since Washington is one of 41 states that’ve passed a “right-to-try” law, which gives terminally ill patients access to investigational medicine in Phase I of the FDA approval process.

“It is entirely consistent with the purpose and language of the state and federal right-to-try laws to include any controlled substances that have completed Phase 1 trials, including Schedule I controlled substances,” said Washington Deputy Solicitor General Peter B. Gonick.  

Industry Quick Hits

Sept 6 – Oregon Psilocybin Panel Teams Up With Harvard To Research Psychedelic History And Impacts Of Reform Read more…

Sept 7 – Mydecine Innovations Group (MYCO) Announces MYCO-001 Seamless Phase 2/3 Smoking Cessation Clinical Trial Read more…

Sept 7 – Little Green Pharma (LGP) secures Western Australian psilocybin license Read more…

Sept 8 – CaaMTech Raises $22 Million for Psychedelic Drug Discovery and Development Read more…

Sept 9 – Novamind Uplists to OTCQB Venture Market Read more…

Video of the Week

Atheist sees God on 5g

This Reddit user was transported to heaven after taking their first heroic dose.

“I found myself in a sort of forest clearing. Weird little goblin creatures / elves with pale green skin – some with eyes on stalks – were playing peekaboo with me, as they were hiding amongst the trees, vines and bushes. Very playful. They were all welcoming me and giving me the thumbs-up. It felt like they knew me, and I knew them from somewhere too. The euphoria kept building.

I’m not sure whether these creatures led me there – I think they did – but at some point I realised I was in the kingdom of heaven, or maybe in the place souls are born. Words utterly defy description of this place… but all at once I realised that I was a soul… that everyone was a soul. I saw millions of other souls and angels there, all reaching out their arms to welcome me. The euphoria kept building… and I couldn’t stop laughing… mostly at my utter astonishment that I now had absolute proof, as far as I was concerned, that God and heaven were 100% real. I have never been remotely religious.

I opened my eyes, and with what was left of my human faculties I managed to open up the jar where I keep all my dried shrooms. I started eating more of them. This was probably quite irresponsible, but I was excited by the experience so far and I wanted to prolong it. I don’t know how many I ate exactly, but some of them were pretty big. Safe to say I was well over 5g by now.

I closed my eyes again and right away I was back in heaven. I saw religious iconography and remember thinking it was unbelievable how the actual kingdom of heaven has this same iconography as depicted in religious paintings, in churches etc. Our earthly depictions of heaven make a pretty decent job of it.

I was being swept along in heaven, hanging out with all the other souls and angels. It was like everything was in HD, but also in more dimensions than our typical three. The immensity of the power and love of the place was very hard to take in. At some point I saw the face of God looking directly at me. I felt unbelievably insignificant and humbled, but also knew that I was more loved and more understood than I could ever have imagined. I realised that as souls, all of us are children, and we are loved as unconditionally as any parent loves their child.”

Playlist of the Week