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

🍄 Struggling with negative self image

🍄 Pneumonia drug + shrooms repair the brain?

🍄 Build your brain without getting high

🍄 Is Elon going to take shrooms to the moon?

🍄 And more.

You’ll want to stay till the end to learn how someone became a cartoon on magic truffles!

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Be sure to check out last week’s Daily Mushroom podcast!
Psilocybin, is it the next cannabis wave?

In this episode we have Lenny Kerman, a strategic financial consultant who works with various psilocybin and cannabis companies. He talks about how he’s invested in the space and has some valuable information for those looking to invest as well.

Struggling with a negative self image?

A recent study suggests that repeated psychedelic drug use may be effective in reducing PTSD symptoms and internalized shame in people who endured maltreatment during childhood.

The researchers surveyed adults with severe physical, emotional, or sexual trauma and found that those who took psychedelics for therapeutic purposes (in non-clinical settings) were less likely to have a negative self-concept or disturbances in relationships.

Participants who used psychedelics with therapeutic intent 5 times showed the lowest levels of internalized shame and complex trauma.

Enhancing psilocybin…with a pneumonia drug?

A drug that loosens mucus in the lungs could also help treat concussions!?

Lobe Sciences (LOBE) discovered that psilocybin might work better when paired with N-Acetylcysteine (NAC), a drug used to treat Tylenol overdose and respiratory conditions like pneumonia, bronchitis, and asthma.

In rodent models of mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) and PTSD, the combination of psilocybin and NAC performed significantly better than psilocybin, NAC, or a placebo alone.

The company is working on finding a supplier of high purity cGMP psilocybin to continue research and expand on these findings.

Reducing fish seizures

This Vancouver company is making advancements across its drug pipeline.

Dravet Syndrome, a disorder that causes epilepsy from a young age, is the target of a new study by Bright Minds (DRUG). In preclinical studies on zebrafish, DRUG was effective in reducing seizure duration and frequency and is now on track to be tested in human trials early next year.

In rat models, DRUG showed efficacy in treating opioid use disorder and binge eating disorder with rats demonstrating a 50% reduction in binge eating episodes.

The company also has a mixed compound that is in preclinical development for cluster headaches, chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy, and other pain disorders.

Tripping in Times Square

This week, the first-ever psychedelic billboard campaign debuted in Times Square to spark a conversation about the healing power of plant medicines and disrupt profit-driven ads.

The #CelebratePlantMedicine campaign encourages viewers to share their personal experiences with plant medicines to destigmatize the use of psychedelics. It also aims to amplify the importance of set and setting, integration, and respecting Indigenous wisdom.

The campaign is run by DoubleBling Magazine, Musings Magazine, Rainbo Mushrooms, and Honeysuckle Magazine, which ran Time Square’s first cannabis billboard.

Go share your story with the hashtag to join the movement!

3 women + microdosing = )

Chelsea says that microdosing allows her to “stay fully present” and is the only tool that helps her focus her busy mind, but the biggest shift was in her anxiety. “For over fifteen years, I had severe anxiety, but through microdosing, I could sit with and deliberate my fears. I now rarely suffer with it, and if I do, it’s fleeting,” she shares.

One woman, Amber, was so depressed that everything felt dull and uninteresting, until she started microdosing. “When I microdosed for the first time I found myself noticing the beauty of the things around me again,” she says. She explains that microdosing is “akin to a child-like wonder” and makes her feel “more positive, open-minded and creative but still completely functional and sober”.

Bea finds that microdosing three times per week acts as a natural mood booster and study aid, brings her mental clarity, and helps her organize her life. She says she’s now able to be her true, stable self and is no longer the “people-pleasing, anxious version” of herself.

Is Elon going to take shrooms to the moon? 

Elon Musk has been known to have a major influence on the stock market, with his Tweets causing Bitcoin and Dogecoin to skyrocket almost instantaneously. His latest interview could take shroom stocks to the moon 😉

In an interview with Ronan Levy, co-founder of Field Trip Health (FTRP), Musk was asked what role he thinks psychedelics have in “addressing some of the more destructive tendencies of humanity.”

Elon replied, “I think, generally, people should be open to psychedelics. A lot of people making laws are kind of from a different era, so I think, as the new generation gets into political power, I think we will see greater receptivity to the benefits of psychedelics.”

Build a better brain without getting high

“We are not a one- or two-asset company. We’ve got a large pipeline coming out,” warns David E. Olson, founder of Delix Therapeutics.

The Boston-based startup just raised $70 million in series A financing to develop psychedelic-inspired compounds that are safe enough to take at home.

The company has already synthesized about 1,000 compounds across 8+ classes of psychedelics, with the goal of creating compounds that form synapses between brain cells without inducing hallucinations.

The researchers have found a couple of promising contenders, which are on track to be studied in Phase 1 clinical trials by the end of this year.

Are stoners getting bored with cannabis?

These two companies are joining forces to become a leader in commercialized psilocybin extracts.

Pure Extracts (PULL), a cannabis, hemp, and mushroom extraction company, signed a Joint Venture agreement with Psyence Group (PSYG) to form “Pure Psyence”.

The agreement leverages Psyence Group’s licensed cultivation facility and standardized psilocybin mushroom supply to create high-purity, naturally-derived mushroom extracts. Yesterday, Psyence Group completed its first official validated harvest, bringing it one step closer to receiving a British Standards Institute (BSI) certification.

The combined expertise will make standardized psilocybin more accessible to Canadian research institutions and will allow Pure Psyence to conduct human clinical trials using the extracts.

Legal

Healing the Armed Forces

The US government is funding psychedelic research to get military members the relief they deserve!

A new measure, filed by Rep. Dan Crenshaw of Texas, would allow the Secretary of Defense to award research grants to study psychedelic therapy as a PTSD treatment for active military members.

The measure would allow any State or Federal agency, academic institution, or nonprofit to study the therapeutic effects of psilocybin, ibogaine, MDMA, or 5-MeO-DMT. If passed, funds could be used for Phase 2 clinical studies involving members of the Armed Forces or to train practitioners to offer the treatment.

Another city decriminalizes psychedelics

Well, kind of…

In a 5-2 vote, Grand Rapids, Michigan approved a psychedelics decriminalization resolution, yet activists feel the measure falls short.

The resolution calls for law enforcement deprioritization for use and possession of psilocybin, peyote, ayahuasca, and ibogaine, but it doesn’t address the cultivation, purchase, transportation or distribution of the entheogens, unlike the measure passed in Ann Arbor.

On the bright side, the measure notes that the Mayor and City Commission will support efforts to decriminalize the entheogenic plants and fungi on a local, state, and federal level.

Psychedelic research coming to Florida

“The science regarding psilocybin is real, cannot be ignored, and soon will be a universally-accepted form of treatment in the U.S.,” said Rep. Michael Grieco (D) of Florida.

That’s why he and Senate Minority Leader Lauren Book (D) filed bills that would require the state to study the medical potential of psilocybin and MDMA.

The bills were modeled on the measure enacted in Texas earlier this year to study psychedelic therapy for veterans with PTSD, but with an even broader scope. If enacted, the Department of Health would be directed to research other conditions like depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, chronic pain and migraines.

Industry Quick Hits

Sept 27 – Clearmind Medicine (CMND) To Fund Second R&D Partnership With Hebrew University’s Technology Transfer Company Read more…

Sept 27 – Nikean Foundation announces $5 million gift to create a Psychedelic Psychotherapy Research Centre at Toronto’s University Health Network (UHN) Read more…

Sept 27 – Delic (DELC) Closes C$7.0 Million Private Placement With U.S. Institutional Investor to Fuel Growth of Largest National Presence Read more…

Sept 28 – NeonMind (NEON) Advances Strategy For Specialty Clinic Launch Read more…

Sept 28 – PharmaTher (PHRM) Announces Closing of CAD$10 Million Private Placement with Institutional Investors Read more…

Sept 29 – MYND Life Sciences Inc. (MYND) Announces RSU Grant Read more…

Sept 29 – Blackhawk Growth’s (BLR) Mindbio Therapeutics Signs Collaboration Agreement With Digital Mind Technology Technology Read more… 

Sept 30 – MINDCURE Announces Commencement of Trading on the OTCQX Best Market Under Symbol ‘MCURF’ Read more…

Sept 30 – Novamind (NM) Opens 6th Integrative Psychiatry Clinic, Adds 3rd Clinical Research Site Read more… 

Video of the Week

Becoming an extremely pleasing ball of flesh

This Reddit user had a memorable first trip on magic truffles.

“We cycled to an extremely secluded hill with trees covering it from all sides and where no one ever goes. It’s our secret chill spot mostly used for smoking weed. We sat down in pure awe of the spot and nature. Generating sentences and word combinations was EXTREMELY HARD, because every time we wanted to get a thought out, when we started explaining it, our brains had already moved on to the next thought. It was a rapid fire of thoughts and ideas and we laid down looking at the sky and the trees in silence just thinking about the universe and different topics.

Everything had patterns and colors were extremely bright and vibrant. Everything was breathing and flowing and when I looked at my phone, I couldn’t decipher words as all the letters on my keyboard and screen kept moving and switching places. I didn’t see words, but rather letter combinations. Looking at the camera, my face was constantly moving, shrinking and getting bigger. My eyes looked big and cartoony. It looked like I was living in a cartoon as everything looked like a drawing and too symmetrical to be real. At one point I pressed my head against my knee and felt like my body was merging into a ball of flesh, but it felt extremely pleasing. Everything was positive, loving and peaceful. I was at peace with myself and the universe. Orange juice tasted amazing. Me and my friend didn’t have much interaction as we were both fully engulfed in the trip. He told me afterwards that he had many similar effects to me.

At the end of the peak, I noticed my friend shedding tears and put my hand on his shoulder and asked him if everything was ok. He said he wasn’t sad, but they were rather tears of joy and acceptance. Seems like he was having an even more intense experience than me, but he said his trip was extremely good just like mine and no signs of a bad trip or negative thoughts.”

Playlist of the Week

mushroom balloon