Tag: psychedelics

Congressional Lawmakers To Vote On GOP-Led Psychedelics Bill For Veterans This Week Despite VA Opposition

A congressional committee is set to vote this week on a GOP-led bill that would instruct the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to notify Congress if any psychedelics are added to its formulary of covered prescription drugs.

About a month after the House Veterans’ Affairs Health Subcommittee held an initial hearing on the legislation from Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-WI), members will mark up the bill on Tuesday.

The panel had also discussed a measure from the subcommittee chair Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-IA) during last month’s hearing, but that proposal isn’t on the Tuesday markup agenda—even though VA voiced support for it on the condition that certain amendments were made.

VA came out against the psychedelics bill that is getting a vote, arguing that it’s “unnecessary.”

The bill states that VA must report to Congress on the addition of any psychedelic medicines to its formulary within 180 days of their federal approval by Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The report would need to include “the determination of the Secretary whether to include such drug in the formulary of the Department,” as well as “the justification of the Secretary for such determination,” the bill text says.

Currently, there are no psychedelic drugs that are federally approved to prescribe as medicine. But that could soon change, as FDA recently agreed to review a new drug application for MDMA-assisted therapy on an expedited basis. The agency has also designated psilocybin, and more recently an LSD-like compound, as “breakthrough therapies.”

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DEA Agrees To Hold Hearing On Proposed Ban Of Two Psychedelics Amid Pushback From Researchers

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has scheduled an administrative hearing to get additional feedback from experts about its renewed push to ban two psychedelics after abandoning its original scheduling proposal in 2022.

More than a year after DEA announced its intent to classify 2,5-dimethoxy-4-iodoamphetamine (DOI) and 2,5-dimethoxy-4-chloroamphetamine (DOC) as Schedule I drugs under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), the agency has agreed to hold a hearing before issuing a final rule.

DEA Administrator Anne Milgram signed off on the hearing notice on Thursday. It says that the agency’s administrative law judge will convene the meeting on June 10, at the request of three interested parties, including Panacea Plant Sciences, which had filed a motion contesting the proposed scheduling action last year.

Panacea Plant Sciences founder and CEO David Heldreth told Marijuana Moment on Monday that the company is “prepared to fight the DEA attempt to schedule DOI & DOC.”

“Beyond the scheduling attempt, we believe the DEA administrative law judges and system are unconstitutional,” he said, arguing that there’s legal precedent based on prior Supreme Court rulings. “We expect to file federal challenges to the ALJ prior to the hearing.”

In its notice about the psychedelics ban last year, DEA said its arguments about the merits of the scheduling action remained the same as in its prior abandoned ban attempt. It is maintaining that DOI and DOC hold high abuse potential with no established medical value. But it also notably described a change in the process to request an administrative hearing, which left some with the impression that the agency was deliberately complicating the procedure in the face of likely challenges from the psychedelics research community.

But, ultimately, DEA accepted the multiple requests for a hearing.

“Upon review of the requests for hearings, I have authorized a hearing, and direct the Chief Administrative Law Judge to assign the matter to an Administrative Law Judge who will complete all prehearing procedures, conduct a due process hearing…and issue a recommended decision for the Agency’s review and action,” Milgram said.

A DEA spokesperson told Marijuana Moment on Monday that they expect the notice to be posted on the online docket on Tuesday.

DEA backed down off its original proposed ban of the psychedelics following challenges from Panacea and researchers from Emory University. It remains to be seen how the agency will navigate the scheduling issue following the hearing with experts.

DEA separately withdrew from a proposal to ban five different tryptamine psychedelics in 2022 amid sizable pushback from the research and advocacy communities.

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Why are so many young people taking hallucinogens?

From the microdosing boom to ketamine therapy, hallucinogens have experienced a boom in the last five years. During the COVID-19 lockdowns, research found that young people had been using psychedelics in place of drinking alcohol, with one in five experimenting with microdosing. It made sense that hallucinogens – which are often seen as ‘unsociable’ drugs – would have their moment in the sun at a time when pubs and clubs were closed and house parties resulted in £10,000 fines. But use of hallucinogens, which includes drugs such as LSD, magic mushrooms, 2C-B, DMT and ketamine, has only continued to increase since the pandemic, overtaking MDMA and ecstasy in the league table of most-used drugs. So what’s driving the trend?

It would be simple to suggest that the increase in hallucinogen use is a byproduct of young people staying at home. Research last year suggested that Gen Z was cutting back on clubbing in the face of the cost of living crisis, and one newspaper recently dubbed today’s youngsters “generation stay at home”. However, the majority of people who Dazed spoke to for this article say they use hallucinogens at raves, which suggests that it’s not that young people have stopped partying altogether, but instead that they’re partying differently.

For Becky, a 24-year-old student support worker living in Manchester, the switch from MDMA to 2C-B, a synthetic psychedelic drug which offers a mix of hallucinogenic and stimulant-like effects, was a no-brainer. “MDMA can make it hard to be around busy places, and actually makes me feel less sociable than 2C-B,” she tells Dazed. “But 2C-B makes music, lights and people more palatable and warmer.” She now uses 2C-B at every rave she goes to, which is about ten times a year. “I don’t do MDMA often at all now. I don’t enjoy it anymore, it just makes me anxious and stressed,” she adds.

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Connecticut Lawmakers Approve Psilocybin Decriminalization Bill In Joint Committee Vote

Connecticut lawmakers have approved a bill to decriminalize psilocybin in a bicameral committee.

About two weeks after the legislature’s Joint Judiciary Committee first discussed the psychedelics proposal, members approved it on Tuesday.

The legislation would make possession of up to one-half an ounce of psilocybin punishable by a $150 fine, without the threat of jail time.

A second or subsequent violation would carry a fine of at least $200 but not more than $500. A person who pleads guilty or no contest on two separate occasions would be referred to a drug education program.

Police would be required to seize and destroy any amount of the psychedelic they find under the measure, HB 5297. Possession of more than a half-ounce of psilocybin would be considered a Class A misdemeanor.

Judiciary Committee Co-chair Rep. Steven Stafstrom (D) said the bill is partly about “recognizing that there has been quite a bit of study around this drug [and] recognizing the potential health benefits that veterans and others suffering from PTSD use it for and pushing in that direction.”

“Let’s be clear: This is not a legalization bill,” he said. “Possession of psilocybin under this bill would still be illegal. A police officer could still confiscate it could still destroy it and could issue an infraction ticket to someone in possession of small amounts of psilocybin.”

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Utah Governor Lets Psychedelics Pilot Program Bill Become Law Without His Signature, Citing ‘Overwhelming Support’

The Republican governor of Utah has allowed a bill to become law without his signature that authorizes a pilot program for hospitals to administer psilocybin and MDMA as an alternative treatment option.

Gov. Spencer Cox (R) said in a letter to legislative leaders last week that he was letting the psychedelics legislation become enacted despite his reservations due to the “overwhelming support” it received, with both chambers unanimously approving the measure.

“I am generally supportive of scientific efforts to discover the benefits of new substances that can relieve suffering,” Cox said. “However, we have a task force that was set up specifically to advise the Legislature on the best ways to study Psilocybin and I’m disappointed that their input was ignored.”

The governor didn’t specify which specific task force recommendations he wanted to see incorporated, but the panel did advise against authorizing the regulated use of psychedelics before they’re approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Lawmakers have cited the panel’s findings to support advancing the pilot program legislation from Senate Majority Whip Kirk Cullimore (R) and House Speaker Pro Tempore James Dunnigan (R).

The newly enacted measure provides for that regulated access at two types of health care systems in the state. Psychedelics can be administered by a privately owned, non-profit health care system with at least 15 licensed hospitals or within medical programs operated by institutions of higher education.

“A healthcare system may develop a behavioral health treatment program that includes a treatment” with psilocybin and MDMA that it “determines is supported by a broad collection of scientific and medical research,” the bill says.

By July 1, 2026, any hospital that establishes a psychedelics therapy pilot program will need to submit a report to the legislature that details which drugs are being utilized, healthcare outcomes of patients and any reported side effects.

The legislation Cox allowed to become enacted will take effect on May 1, 2024 and sunset after three years.

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The wild psychedelic origins of indigenous mystical rites — as revealed by archaeology

We’ll never know when and where humans first discovered the mind-altering power of psychedelics. But it seems fair to state three things about our relationship with visionary drugs: it’s incalculably old, globally pervasive, and rich with meaning. Our ancestors likely began their long journey with naturally occurring psychotropic substances tens or even hundreds of thousands of years ago.

The nascent field of archaeochemistry has convincingly demonstrated Neanderthal use of psychoactive plants like yarrow and chamomile going back 50,000 years. Anthropologist Scott M. Fitzpatrick envisions the early hunter-gatherers of our own species encountering, consuming and experimenting “with a wide array of plants” and fungi — just like their Neanderthal cousins.

A generation ago, Terence McKenna famously introduced the Stoned Ape Theory, proposing an evolutionary advantage for a diet of psilocybin-containing mushrooms across the African savannas — not merely hundreds of thousands, but millions of years in our hominin past, prompting the development of proto-language, creativity, and religious insight well before the Neanderthals. Only now are scholars, like paleoanthropologist Lee Berger in South Africa, seriously investigating the bold claim.

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Colorado Bill Would Force Social Media Platforms To Ban Users Who ‘Promote’ Marijuana, Psychedelics And Hemp Products

A center-right think tank is raising alarm about a Colorado bill that it says would make it illegal to talk positively about marijuana online. The prohibition would also apply to many hemp products as well as some federally legal pharmaceuticals.

Among other provisions, SB24-158—a broad proposal around internet age verification and content policies—would require social media platforms to immediately remove any user “who promotes, sells, or advertises an illicit substance.”

The bill’s definition of illicit substance includes not only illegal drugs but also many that are legal and regulated in Colorado. It pertains to any controlled substance under state law, including schedules I through V under state law.  That means the bill would affect state-legal marijuana, certain psychedelics—which voters legalized through a 2022 ballot measure—and even some over-the-counter cough syrups that contain small amounts of codeine.

Beyond scheduled drugs, the bill specifies that its restrictions also apply to certain hemp products with more than 1.25 milligrams THC or a CBD-to-THC ratio of less than 20 to 1 and most other hemp-containing products intended for human consumption.

If enacted onto law, companies would also need to publish “a statement that the use of the social media platform for the promotion, sale, or advertisement of any illicit substance…is prohibited.”

The R Street Institute says the restriction would impact not only cannabis companies but also any individual who posts positively about marijuana.

“Basically, the Colorado Legislature is trying to force social media companies to ban the promotion of marijuana,” the group’s social media director, Shoshanna Weissman, wrote in a new article. “And because what constitutes ‘promotion’ remains undefined, the bill would likely force platforms to remove all pro-marijuana free speech in a state where recreational use is legal.”

Not only is the ambiguity of “promotion” an issue, but the bill’s broad definition of illicit substances could also cause confusion, R Street says.

The think tank points out that the bill’s definition of illicit substances “would make it unlawful for businesses to promote them for sale or even for regular people to talk about their benefits online.”

“This clearly violates the First Amendment, as the bill is unconstitutionally narrow in scope,” Weissman wrote. “Basically, if speaking highly of or advertising these substances were truly dangerous, the state would have banned advertising in all its forms (e.g., print, television, digital).”

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Viking Drug Use: From Riotous Parties to Berserker Fury

The Vikings stand as legendary figures, their exploits on the seas and battlefields shrouded in myth and mystery. Yet beyond their tales of conquest and exploration lies a lesser-known aspect of Viking culture: their relationship with mind-altering substances.

From the halls of Valhalla to the depths of the dark Nordic forests, some believe the Vikings indulged in a variety of intoxicants, from potent mead brewed from honey to hallucinogenic mushrooms harvested from the wild and maybe even cannabis. It’s even said the Viking’s most fearsome warriors, the Berserkers, were fueled by narcotics.

As is so often the case with Viking history, separating fact from fiction isn’t easy when it comes to Norse drug use.

A Match Made In Valhalla?

The Vikings have a pretty wild reputation, and they were indeed no strangers to revelry and celebrations. Feasts, gatherings, and festivals served as integral parts of their social fabric. Much like many social gatherings today, imbibing certain drugs was a central part of how Vikings socialized.

Their primary drug of choice was, unsurprisingly, alcohol. Not just a means of relaxation and merriment after a hard day’s raiding, it was a symbol of social status and hospitality (a key aspect of Viking culture). Mead, often referred to as the “drink of the gods,” held particular reverence among the Norse with reference being made to it throughout various mythological tales, sagas, and rituals.

But it is likely they didn’t stop there. Over the years there has been much speculation over what other drugs the Vikings may have consumed, especially the potential use of hallucinogenic substances among the Norse.

References in sagas and folklore hint at the consumption of psychoactive mushrooms, such as  Amanita muscaria, known for their mind-altering properties. While evidence for widespread use remains elusive, the possibility of occasional experimentation cannot be discounted.

But before we begin speculating as to what the Vikings may have used, let’s focus on what we know they definitely used. In Viking society, alcohol consumption was a deeply ingrained cultural practice that permeated every aspect of life. Think British pub culture, but even more fundamental and much more spiritual.

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Were Plato and Dante munching on magic mushrooms? Probably

Dr Bill Richards looks at me with kind eyes through the computer screen, his face framed by an overgrown plant, bookshelves and an abstract painting. It hangs behind him in shades of blue, yellow and red, the colours fluid and swirling yet handsomely encased in shapes that have no clear name. If that sounds akin to a psychedelic experience, you’re in luck: because Bill and I are sitting down to discuss just that.

Not one experience in particular, but hundreds of them. Hundreds which Bill has studied in his career as a leader in the field of psychedelic research. He was one of the first to explore psychedelics’ potential for treating addiction as well as end of life anxiety among terminal cancer patients. His passion for this subject began in Germany in 1963 and was nurtured under the tutelage of psychologist Abraham Maslow and the psychiatrist Hanscarl Leuner. He returned to the US to carry out psychotherapy research with psychedelics from 1967 to 1977; then, at the height of the War on Drugs, he had to shut things down.

He had by then already made waves in the field, notably with his seminal articl – Implications of LSD and Experimental Mysticism – co-authored overnight in 1966 with Walter Pahnke and mailed off at sunrise. 

Today, Bill has an academic appointment in the psychiatry department of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, where he led a study in 2016 on how psilocybin could be used among cancer patients to alleviate depression. It was described as “the most rigorous controlled trial of psilocybin to date”. He appeared in Michael Pollan’s 2022 documentary, How To Change Your Mind, and his much-lauded book, Sacred Knowledge: Psychedelics and Religious Experiences, is out in Spanish this May.

Bill is a rare breed in the field of psychedelics in that he straddles both scientific and spiritual sides of the discipline. What’s more, he believes the dichotomy that separates the two is false. “It’s not either-or,” he quips. For Bill, it would be remiss to discuss psychedelics in purely scientific terms, just as it would be reductive to explore only their spiritual dimension.

Alongside his psychology credentials, Bill holds a Master of Divinity from Yale (at which point he wished to become a minister) and a PhD from The Catholic University of America. “I grew up with a father who taught chemistry, physics and geology, and a rather pious mother — so science and religion have always been in my blood,” he says. Today still, he plays the organ in his local Episcopal Church. This dual influence has profoundly impacted Bill — whose ideas, out of all those I have heard, I find to be the most inspirational. The mystical experience induced by psilocybin or ayahuasca is, according to him, not caused by the drugs at all. Rather, these substances unlock what is already in our mind. Religious mystics, Bill argues, can access such states of consciousness without the help of psychoactive compounds.

These “transcendental states of consciousness” defy our categories of thinking about “time and space”. “Sometimes,” Bill adds, “it seems more the realm of philosophy than of science.” Some might perceive such a statement as invalidating the scientific relevance of psychedelics; but that is not Bill’s intention. “These drugs,” he says, have likely been around since the dawn of civilisation. They “emerge in cultures” and then “get suppressed”. We have lost touch with historic knowledge, with wisdom that used to be passed down among our ancestors. “Plato and Dante were writing out of mystical states of consciousness,” Bill claims. “But whether they were natural mystics or were munching on magic mushrooms, I have no idea.”

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Single LSD dose provides lasting anxiety relief: Research

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted breakthrough therapy status to an LSD formula to treat generalized anxiety disorder after an initial study has shown that a single dose of the drug could provide lasting relief.

The LSD therapy developed by Mind Medicine Inc. (MindMed) must still go through the standard FDA approval process and will soon enter Phase 3 clinical trials.

The study that prompted FDA advancement found the drug was “generally well-tolerated with most adverse events rated as mild to moderate, transient and occurring on dosing day, and being consistent with expected acute effects of the study drug,” according to a release on the findings.

The most common adverse effects on the initial “dosing day” — or when patients were first given the drug — included hallucinations, euphoric mood, abnormal thinking, headache, dizziness and nausea, among others.

The company plans to meet for an update with the FDA in the coming months and begin an expanded clinical program in the second half of the year.

MindMed, a pharmaceutical company focused on developing psychedelic drugs into medicines, has spent years researching possible medicinal uses for LSD, an illicit drug that has never been approved for medicinal use. The specific LSD formula from the study is dubbed MM120.

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