Here’s what’s in store for you in today’s issue:
🍄 Preventing depression legally
🍄 Inhaling shrooms?
🍄 The cure for low sex drive
🍄 Why your employer should let you do drugs
🍄 And more.
You’ll want to stay till the end to learn how someone found enlightenment on a trippy hike.
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In this episode we have Dave Philips, a registered clinical counselor who has integrated psychedelic therapy into his practice. Dave talks about how he is training the next generation of psychedelic counselors and how he started in this extraordinary field.
Even non-psychedelic mushrooms could lower your risk of depression!
Researchers from the Penn State College of Medicine collected data from 24,000 Americans and discovered that those who ate mushrooms had a lower chance of being depressed.
Mushrooms are the highest dietary source of ergothioneine, an antioxidant that may prevent mental illnesses by reducing oxidative stress protecting against cell damage.
While the study didn’t factor in different types of mushrooms, white buttons are believed to ease anxiety and Lion’s Mane can promote neurogenesis which may prevent mental disorders.
Patients with treatment-resistant depression (TRD) often struggle with concentration, mood and motivation, which can make therapy challenging or unsuccessful. Can psilocybin’s immediate mood-boosting effect enhance engagement in therapy?
Monash University is seeking funding from the Australian government for a proposed 2b clinical trial that would reveal the answer.
The study would use proprietary biomarker technology developed by MYND Diagnostics Inc., a subsidiary of MYND Life Sciences (MYND), to monitor blood indicators of the subjects’ response, progress, and any relapsing to the psilocybin treatments. If successful, a multi-site phase 3 adaptive trial would follow within a year of completion to get psilocybin-assisted therapy approved by the Therapeutic Goods Association.
Cybin Inc. (CYBN) developed a new device that delivers psychedelic medicine through inhalation.
Inhaling psychedelics could be superior to oral administration, as it could result in optimized session timing, lower doses, and greater control for healthcare providers.
The company filed an international patent application for the method and the device, which has potential to gain coverage in 153 countries.
A Vancouver company called LOVE Pharma (LUV) wants to promote mental and sexual wellness with its growing product line.
The company recently launched two products (a CBD oral strip and a clitoral stimulation gel) and has exclusive rights to a total of seven novel therapeutic products. It’s currently developing a biosynthetic psilocybin strip using the IP from the CBD strip.
On Tuesday, the company was listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange under the symbol “G1Q0”.
In other sexual wellness news, Mind Cure Health (MCUR) recently launched a research program to treat female hypoactive sexual desire disorder (HSDD), a disorder involving low sex drive and emotional distress, with MDMA-assisted therapy.
An eye-opening psychedelic journey inspired this former Navy SEAL save the butterflies while helping veterans cope with trauma.
Mark Matzeldelaflor founded a nonprofit called Guardian Grange after a magic mushroom trip showed him the healing power of nature.
“I just reconnected to nature and my past, where I was like a kid in the woods. And I realized there’s so much healing in being outside in nature, getting your hands in the dirt and doing good work,” he said.
The organization provides a safety net for veterans where they can learn about conservation, sustainability and regenerative agriculture while transitioning back to civilian life. Its first major initiatives is to build a preserve for Western monarch butterflies, which have had a 99.9% population decline in California.
Psych’s third annual report on psychedelic medicine revealed some interesting findings.
According to a survey of 440 healthcare professionals working in various fields, two thirds said they were excited about psychedelics as medicines. Of those who’ve personally tried the drugs for therapeutic or spiritual purposes, 83% were in favour of psychedelic medicine.
Consumers also showed a positive view of psychedelics, with about two thirds supporting medical legalization and 38% noting that someone they know would benefit from psychedelic therapy. When asked which psychedelic they would want to try in therapy, psilocybin and salvia were the most popular choices.
The report also showed that psychedelic therapy could save employers US$64 billion in Europe and US$270 billion in America due to fewer sick days and increased productivity.
Blackhawk Growth Corp. (CSE:BLR) (CNSX:BLR.CN) (Frankfurt:0JJ) is accelerating its expansion into psychedelic and mental health treatments with a new addition to its team.
Yesterday, Blackhawk appointed Dr. Lahiru Russell, the founder and chief scientist of Digital Health Technologies, as the company’s medical advisor. Using her 10+ years of experience in clinical trials and psycho-oncology research, Dr. Russel is developing a mindfulness-based intervention platform that will help patients regulate their emotions and thoughts to reduce negative mental health conditions.
Blackhawk’s subsidiary, MindBio Therapeutics, will be able to utilize Dr. Russel’s IP in its microdosing research through a commercialization agreement with Digital Mind Technology, which was established last month.
MindBio will also utilize Google Cloud’s “Health Care Solutions” to recruit, enroll, and engage with patients in its internal clinical trials and to accelerate drug development.
atai Life Sciences (ATAI) and Chymia LLC launched a new company to offer individualized care for patients with treatment-resistant depression (TRD).
The company, PsyProtix, takes a precision psychiatry approach – an emerging method that treats illnesses based on each patient’s genetic, metabolic, environmental, and lifestyle variability.
The platform should allow patients to be diagnosed and treated faster and more effectively than when following protocols designed for the majority.
Mindset Pharma (MSET) is rapidly expanding its pipeline thanks to advancements made by its Co-operative Psychedelics Evaluation (COPE) program, which aims to develop preclinical benchmark data for psychedelic medicines.
Researchers established standard pharmacokinetic, brain penetration, and drug discrimination data and protocols for psilocybin, LSD, and 5-MeO-DMT. The company also developed procedures to determine concentrations of the drugs in plasma, brain, and cerebral spinal fluid.
These finding, which were gathered in collaboration with InterVivo Solutions, will help drug developers understand how compounds interact with the body. Mindset will commercialize the data by making it available to other InterVivo clients.
With a unanimous vote, Arata became the third city in California to decriminalize psychedelics!
The possession, cultivation and distributions of entheogens including psilocybin and ayahuasca will become the city’s lowest law enforcement priority, but commercial sale will remain illegal.
The measure represents “a pivotal point in history by reclaiming our sovereign right to explore our consciousness, and to choose the path of healing that we see best fit for ourselves,” according to an organizer of the activist group Decriminalize Nature Humboldt.
It’s been over two years since Denver decriminalized mushrooms, and a recent report shows that people are using psilocybin responsibly.
The Denver Psilocybin Mushroom Policy Review Panel, which is comprised of local officials, law enforcement, and scientific experts, unanimously agreed that there have been no significant public health or safety risks as a result of the reform.
The panel proposed that the city’s next steps should be to train first responders to respond to psychedelic crises, create public service announcements on psychedelic safety, and deprioritize the sharing, gifting, and communal use of psilocybin, among other recommendations.
The push for psilocybin research is gaining traction in Pennsylvania.
Twenty one lawmakers from both parties sponsored a bill called the Public Heath Benefits of Psilocybin Act, which would set up a research framework to optimize psilocybin’s public health benefits. Studies focused on veterans, retired first responders, and their families would be prioritized.
“A growing body of research provides a reason for hope that psilocybin, administered in a controlled setting, will be the most effective tool at our disposal to combat the suicide, opioid and overall mental health crisis burdening the Commonwealth,” the group wrote to colleagues.
Oct 8 – Numinus (NUMI) Upgrades Psychedelics Lab to Increase Research Service Capabilities Read more…
Oct 11 – Cannabis Global (CBGL) Selects Oakland, CA for New Mushroom-based Psychedelics Infusion Research Initiative Read more…
Oct 13 – Novamind (NM) Granted DEA Licenses for Psilocybin Research Read more…
Oct 13 – MindMed (MNMD) Joins Clinical Trials Transformation Initiative Read more…
Oct 13 – Psyence Group (PSYG) Announces Commencement Of Trading On OTCQB And DTC Eligibility Of Common Shares In The United States Under The Ticker “PSYGF” Read more…
Oct 14 – Delic Corp’s (DELC) Ketamine Wellness Centers Partners with Veterans Affairs Community Care Network to Provide Free Ketamine Treatments to Veterans Read more…
This Reddit user found enlightenment after taking a mega dose of Golden Teachers in the forest.
“I like to combine mushrooms and hiking. The forecast called for rain on this day. Generally not the best hiking weather, unless there’s shrooms involved.
Once they kicked in I went into this deep meditation. I started to think about current events in my life, but as if I was looking at them from a completely different set of eyes. I was so deep in meditation that I didn’t realize it had started raining. I slowly came to the realization that I was soaking wet. Normally that might have made me feel uncomfortable. I stood up and felt ready for anything this world could throw at me.
I looked around and the visualizations were quite extreme. All of the landscape around me was shifting and moving. It looked like the whole earth was breathing. The patterns in the bark of the trees were moving. I found this big rock under a tree and laid flat on my back. At this point it was raining pretty hard. I could feel every raindrop hitting my face. I could see the droplets falling through the sky as if it was slow motion. The raindrops dripping from the surrounding leaves and branches seemed to be frozen in time. My concept of time itself was totally lost. I felt like I had been laying under that tree for days.
It started to get dark and was still raining. I could hear thunder in the distance. The forest looked so enchanting and I felt like I was in the most magical place. I left the forest and watched the lightning in the distance until the trip wore off. I wasn’t even slightly bothered by the fact that I was totally drenched from head to toe.“
