Tag: psychedelics

Chemical tweaks to a toad hallucinogen turns it into a potential drug

It is becoming increasingly accepted that classic psychedelics like LSD, psilocybin, ayahuasca, and mescaline can act as antidepressants and anti-anxiety treatments in addition to causing hallucinations. They act by binding to a serotonin receptor. But there are 14 known types of serotonin receptors, and most of the research into these compounds has focused on only one of them—the one these molecules like, called 5-HT2A. (5-HT, short for 5-hydroxytryptamine, is the chemical name for serotonin.)

The Colorado River toad (Incilius alvarius), also known as the Sonoran Desert toad, secretes a psychedelic compound that likes to bind to a different serotonin receptor subtype called 5-HT1A. And that difference may be the key to developing an entirely distinct class of antidepressants.

Uncovering novel biology

Like other psychedelics, the one the toad produces decreases depression and anxiety and induces meaningful and spiritually significant experiences. It has been used clinically to treat vets with post-traumatic stress disorder and is being developed as a treatment for other neurological disorders and drug abuse. 5-HT1A is a validated therapeutic target, as approved drugs, including the antidepressant Viibryd and the anti-anxiety med Buspar, bind to it. But little is known about how psychedelics engage with this receptor and which effects it mediates, so Daniel Wacker’s lab decided to look into it.

The researchers started by making chemical modifications to the frog psychedelic and noting how each of the tweaked molecules bound to both 5-HT2A  and 5-HT1A. As a group, these psychedelics are known as “designer tryptamines”—that’s tryp with a “y”, mind you—because they are metabolites of the amino acid tryptophan.

The lab made 10 variants and found one that is more than 800-fold selective about sticking to 5-HT1A as compared to 5-HT2A. That makes it a great research tool for elucidating the structure-activity relationship of the 5-HT1A receptor, as well as the molecular mechanisms behind the pharmacology of the drugs on the market that bind to it. The lab used it to explore both of those avenues. However, the variant’s ultimate utility might be as a new therapeutic for psychiatric disorders, so they tested it in mice.

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Most Americans Who Have Tried Marijuana Or Psychedelics Had ‘Positive’ Experiences, Survey Finds

A majority of Americans have tried marijuana—and most say they had a positive experience—according to a new poll.

The survey from YouGov also found that one in five Americans have used psilocybin mushrooms, and an even greater majority of those respondents described the experience as positive. Most people who have tried other psychedelics like LSD and MDMA also said it was a good time.

As the federal government moves to reclassify cannabis and more states pursue psychedelics reform, the poll offers fresh insights into how people have personally used the substances and where they stand on changing drug laws.

YouGov asked respondents about four substances: marijuana, psilocybin, LSD and MDMA. By far the most commonly used was marijuana (57 percent), followed by psilocybin (20 percent), LSD (16 percent) and MDMA (11 percent).

For each substance, people who said they’ve used it reported a positive experience, most prominently for psilocybin (65). The rest were roughly equal: marijuana (57 percent), MDMA (56 percent) and LSD (55 percent).

About one and four people who’ve used the drugs described the experience as equally positive and negative. And 20 percent of people who’ve consumed marijuana, LSD or MDMA said it was a negative experience, but only eight percent said the same of psilocybin.

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Church of the Eagle and the Condor Can Now Drink Ayahuasca Legally in the US

The prophecy of the Eagle and the Condor has manifested. Following a years-long legal battle, the Church of the Eagle and the Condor has successfully settled with the US Department of Justice (DOJ), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to legally use ayahuasca as an integral part of its religious practices, according to a press release. 

The Church of the Eagle and the Condor is officially the first non-Christian church to obtain such legal protections. This also marks the first time in history that a church has received federal authorization to import and facilitate ayahuasca without going to trial. This historic settlement has promising implications for other Indigenous-rooted and syncretic faiths hoping to work with entheogens.

“This settlement reaffirms our right to practice our spirituality as we have always known,” says Belinda P. Eriacho, board member of the Church of the Eagle and the Condor, and member of the Diné / A:shwii lineages. “It is a recognition by the US government and an important milestone in honoring and validating Indigenous belief systems.”

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Second California Senate Committee Approves Bill To Legalize Psychedelic Service Centers

A second California Senate committee has approved a bill to legalize psychedelic service centers where adults 21 and older could access psilocybin, MDMA, mescaline and DMT in a supervised environment with trained facilitators.

About a week after an initial panel cleared the legislation, the Senate Public Safety Committee passed the measure from Sen. Scott Wiener (D) in a 3-2 vote on Tuesday. It next heads to the Appropriations Committee.

The “Regulated Therapeutic Access to Psychedelics Act” has been drafted in a way that’s meant to be responsive to concerns voiced by Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) last year when he vetoed a broader proposal that included provisions to legalize low-level possession of substances such as psilocybin.

Instead, the new bill that’s now being unveiled would provide regulated access to psychedelics in a facilitated setting, without removing criminal penalties for possession outside of that context. It does not lay out any specific qualifying medical conditions that a person must have in order to access the services.

The measure had already undergone a series of mostly technical amendments before reaching committee. Wiener also agreed to revise the legislation at last week’s hearing to make it so psychedelics facilitators would need to have an existing professional health license, such as those for psychiatrists, social workers, drug and alcohol counselors and nurse practitioners.

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Colorado Senate Passes Bill That Could Ban Social Media Users Who Post Positively About Drugs—Including Legal Psychedelics

Colorado’s Senate has approved a sweeping social media bill that, among other provisions, could force platforms to ban users for talking positively online about certain controlled substances, such as state-legal psychedelics, certain hemp products and even some over-the-counter cough syrups.

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

Initially that provision would have applied to all controlled substances under state law—including state-legal marijuana—but an amendment last month from the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Chris Hansen (D), includes language saying that “a social media platform may allow a user to promote, sell, or advertise medical marijuana or retail marijuana to users who are at least twenty-one years of age” so long as the content complies with state cannabis laws.

The amended legislation would still apply to numerous other legal and illegal substances.

On Wednesday, the Senate voted 30–1 to pass the revised measure on third reading, with four members excused.

Earlier this week, the Senate Appropriations Committee also adopted two amendments to the bill, including one adding staff funding for the state attorney general’s office and another that could make the act subject to voter approval in November.

Critics say even with the marijuana-related amendment, the bill could create major problems for users trying to post benign—and legal—content around substances like cough medicine.

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Researchers Ask Federal Court To Block DEA From Banning Two Psychedelics Under ‘Unconstitutional’ Administrative Process

Researchers are asking a federal court to block the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) from proceeding in its attempt to ban two psychedelics, arguing that the agency’s administrative approach to the proposed scheduling is unconstitutional.

Panacea Plant Sciences (PPS) filed a complaint and request for injunctive relief against DEA in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington last week.

The legal challenge focuses on the agency’s recent scheduling of an administrative hearing to receive expert input on its controversial plans 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 filing doesn’t speak to the merits of the scheduling proposal—an issue that psychedelics researchers have previously addressed in public comment. Rather, PPS is contesting the administrative hearing process that’s preceding final rulemaking, arguing that DEA’s reliance on administrative law judges (ALJs) to settle such arbitration is unconstitutional based on U.S. Supreme Court precedent.

PPS said that because the Supreme Court has held that ALJs are considered “inferior officers,” current statutory removal protections unconstitutionally insulate them from executive control under Article II of the Constitution. That means DEA should not be permitted to subject researchers to an administrative hearing concerning the psychedelic scheduling proposal, the filing says.

“The hearing and scheduling poses a significant threat to the company,” it says. “PPS conducts research and development on medical technologies which include the use of DOI or DOC for development and as products themselves. Currently, DOI and DOC are not controlled.”

“Under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) and its implementing regulations, PPS will be required to turn over to law enforcement or destroy our stock of DOI and DOC which means the rule-making acts as an effective taking of property,” the document says.

“As a result, when PPS received the hearing notice from DEA, it was faced with a stark choice: either default and lose automatically or defend itself against the DEA’s attempts to schedule DOI and DOC and its use of an ALJ-overseen adjudication,” it continues. “PPS is thus compelled to participate in the DEA’s adjudicatory proceedings.”

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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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