Tag: psychedelics

NJ looks to make magic mushrooms legal for recreational use and to treat mental health

It took at least five years of public debate, lobbying and bill amendments for New Jersey to make marijuana legal for recreational use in 2021. Now the state may do the same with psychedelic mushrooms — but much faster.

After it was pulled back for revisions late last year, a bill was reintroduced in the state Senate last week that sets up a legal framework for the manufacture and sale of products containing psilocybin — the chemical in magic mushrooms that produces a hallucinogenic effect.

The bill would decriminalize the use of psilocybin by anyone over 21 and expunge past and pending offenses involving the drug.

Although language in the bill, called the “Psilocybin Behavioral Health Access and Services Act,” is centered around mental health, its provisions would decriminalize recreational use. Anyone 21 or older could “possess, store, use, ingest, inhale, process, transport” 4 grams or less of psilocybin.

Unlike with marijuana, residents would be allowed to grow their own mushrooms for personal use in their homes under the bill.

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Psychedelics Company Raises $100 Million in Push To Legalize Selling MDMA for PTSD

A key player in the competitive pharmaceutical psychedelics industry has raised over $100 million to fund a final push to get government approval to legally sell MDMA in the U.S. to those struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder.  

The nonprofit Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, or MAPS, raised the money in a Series A funding round through a subsidiary previously known as the MAPS Public Benefit Corporation, or MAPS PBC. In a release on Friday announcing the news of the cash infusion, the organization also said it was renaming the public benefit company Lykos Therapeutics.

Lykos is part of a growing number of players in the industry racing to get money as they push to get legal psychedelic drugs to market. Last month, the organization submitted an application to the FDA that included data from a series of clinical trials related to the use of MDMA for PTSD. The federal agency is currently deciding whether to officially review the application, a process that would take months. 

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Fifth Michigan City Approves Local Psychedelics Decriminalization Resolution

Another Michigan city has approved a resolution to locally deprioritize enforcement of laws against psychedelic substances, while expressing support for a statewide bill to legalize certain etheogenic plants and fungi.

On Tuesday, the Ypsilanti City Council took testimony from supporters and passed the psychedelics measure in an unanimous 6-0 vote.

The whereas section states that psychedelics can “catalyze profound experiences of personal and spiritual growth, have been shown by scientific and clinical studies and traditional practices to be beneficial to the health and well-being of individuals and communities in addressing” conditions such as anxiety and post-traumatic stress.

It also points out that the Washtenaw County District Attorney’s office expressed support for a similar resolution that was adopted in Ann Arbor in 2020.

The latest measure specifically says that it is not intended to legalize the commercial sale of psychedelics, but it makes the arrest and investigation of people for psychedelics-related activities such as possession and cultivation “the lowest law enforcement priority for the City of Ypsilanti.”

It also declares that “city funds or resources shall not be used in any investigation, detention, arrest, or prosecution arising out of alleged violations of state and federal law regarding the use of Entheogenic Plants.”

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Military Veterans Who Received Psychedelic Ibogaine Treatment Saw ‘Dramatic’ And ‘Life-Changing’ Improvements In PTSD And Depression, Stanford Study Finds

Military combat veterans with traumatic brain injuries (TBI) saw “dramatic” and “life-changing” improvements in their symptoms and cognitive functioning immediately after receiving treatment with the psychedelic ibogaine, new research shows.

Stanford University researchers behind the study, which was published in the journal Nature Medicine last week, followed 30 veterans who were functionally disabled from symptoms of TBI such as post-traumatic stress, depression and anxiety and who had a history of repeated blast or combat exposures.

The team, which collaboration with the foundation VETS, Inc., assessed the veterans before and after they visited a clinic in Mexico to receive ibogaine treatment, and they identified profound changes in the participants’ mental health, with minimal side effects.

Prior to the treatment, the veterans each met the criteria for clinically significant levels of disability. Twenty-three had diagnosable PTSD, 14 had anxiety disorder, 15 had alcohol use disorder and 19 had been suicidal at some point in their lifetimes.

After receiving ibogaine, in addition to magnesium to protect against potential heart-related complications, there was an immediate “remarkable reduction” in symptoms, “with large effect sizes” that sustained over time.

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Psychedelic Drugs Are Rushing Towards Approval for Therapy. Here’s What’s Next

Psychedelics made their mark this year—not as counterculture party drugs, but as a new paradigm in mental health therapy.

In June, Australia became the first country to greenlight MDMA, popularly known as molly or ecstasy, and psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms, to treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression.

MDMA also inched closer to approval in the US for PTSD, thanks to positive results from a large multi-site, double-blind, randomized trial—the gold standard for testing drug safety and efficacy.

Meanwhile, psilocybin gained steam as a treatment for severe depression. A randomized, placebo-controlled trial in 104 adults found that a single dose of magic mushrooms dampened the symptoms of depression when combined with psychological support. The effects lasted at least six weeks with minimal side effects. Clinical trials are in the works to explore whether psilocybin and its derivatives can help patients cope with chronic lower back pain, tackle depression in bipolar disorder, and ease mental struggles in end-of-life care.

This year also saw magic mushrooms for therapy move ahead. Registered clinics in Oregon have already begun psilocybin treatments in patients with mental health disorders ranging from obsessive-compulsive disorders to PTSD—even though the drug isn’t federally approved and remains illegal.

In 2022, Oregon became the first state to legalize psilocybin therapy with strict regulations: The mushrooms are carefully controlled for potency and quality and need to be taken under supervision. The guidelines offer a blueprint for other states—such as Colorado, which also decriminalized psilocybin for potential therapeutic use.

Yet one glaring problem remains. Despite promising clinical results, no one knows exactly how psychedelic drugs work in the brain. Examining their actions on brain cells isn’t just an academic curiosity. It could give rise to variants that maintain antidepressant properties without the high. And because hallucinogens substantially alter our perception of the world, they could be powerful tools for investigating the neurobiology behind consciousness.

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Massachusetts Lawmakers Will Be Forced To Consider Psychedelics Legalization Measure That Activists Petitioned For, State Official Says

Massachusetts officials have certified that activists submitted enough valid signatures to force legislative consideration of a psychedelics legalization initiative before the measure potentially heads to the state’s 2024 ballot.

Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin’s (D) office certified that the campaign Massachusetts for Mental Health Options (MMHO) collected 96,277 valid signatures for the reform measure—about 20,000 more than required to put the issue before legislators.

Accordingly, the proposal has now been officially transmitted to the legislature.

“This brings psilocybin and other breakthrough psychedelic therapies one big step closer to being available to adults dealing with depression, anxiety and other mental health challenges,” Jennifer Manley, committee spokesperson, said in a press release on Wednesday.

“We look forward to working with legislative leaders on the possibility and promise of natural psychedelic medicine as we continue our work to provide therapeutic access to these groundbreaking treatments,” she said. “We thank the secretary and his staff for their service reviewing the nearly 100,000 signatures submitted in support, as well as the volunteers and advocates who spent many hours talking to voters around the state.”

The announcement came after a longer-than-usual review process, which was due to an especially high volume of ballot proposals that were being circulated for the 2024 election cycle.

The MMHO measure would create a regulatory framework for lawful and supervised access to psychedelics at licensed facilities. It would also legalize the possession and gifting of psychedelics such as psilocybin and ayahuasca, but it would not otherwise provide for commercial retail sales of the substances.

“We are on the precipice of a sea change in the way we can help people who may believe they have run out of options,” Winthrop police lieutenant Sarko Gergerian, one of the campaign’s backers, said. “Don’t lose hope. These options could be available soon for you and your loved ones here in Massachusetts.”

The campaign first filed two different psychedelics reform initiatives in August, and after the state attorney general determined that they both met the constitutional requirement for ballot placement the following months, activists decided to pursue the version that included a home cultivation option.

Now that the secretary of state has verified the signature count, the legislature will now have the choice to enact the reform, propose a substitute or decline to act. If lawmakers decide not to legalize psychedelics by May 1, activists would then have until July 3 to submit at least 12,429 additional valid signatures to put the proposal before voters on the November 2024 ballot.

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DEA Calls For Even More THC, Psilocybin And DMT To Be Produced For Research In 2024

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is now calling for the production of even more THC, psilocybin and DMT for research purposes than it initially proposed for 2024—raising its quotas for those drugs while maintaining already high production goals for marijuana and other psychedelics.

In a notice set to be published in the Federal Register on Wednesday, DEA said it received comments from registered manufacturers requesting increases to previously proposed 2024 quotas for the Schedule I substances in order to “meet medical and scientific needs,” and it agreed to do so in the new final order.

Accordingly, the agency nearly doubled the quotas for delta-9 THC and all other tetrahydrocannabinol, increasing them to 1,523,040 grams and 1,166,130 grams, respectively.

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Could KETAMINE be secret weapon in war on cancer? Scientists find illegal party drug can destroy tumours

Ketamine could offer hope in the fight against cancer, scientists believe.

Promising laboratory tests showed the horse tranquiliser-cum-party drug could kill tumour cells.

Experts think it might block a receptor which encourages tumours to grow. 

Although not proven to work on humans, the Imperial College London team hope similar results could be seen in further lab studies and among patients.

In-depth studies involving thousands of cancer patients would be needed before ketamine is ever rolled out as a treatment, however, meaning any development is still years away at best.

Ketamine is only licensed in the UK as an anaesthetic but can also be prescribed off-license as a pain killer.

These versions are medical-grade and proven to be safe.  

However, they can still trigger hallucinations, just like the version sold on the streets for as little as £3 a pop. 

Anyone caught in possession of the class B drug faces a five-year prison term and an unlimited fine.

As it stands, surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy are the most commonly used cancer treatments.

But researchers around the world are searching for other treatments in a bid to boost care and survival rates, with up to half of people expected to get the disease in their lifetime.

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Most Military Service Members, Veterans And Their Families Support Allowing VA Doctors To Recommend Marijuana And Psychedelics

Active duty military personnel, veterans and their family members support allowing U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) doctors to recommend medical marijuana and psychedelics to patients if they believe it would provide a benefit, according to results of a survey from Ohio State University (OSU).

Researchers polled service members, veterans, their family members and non-military respondents over a few weeks in late August and early September, the report says. All told, 1,168 individuals participated, including 315 active and veteran military members, 426 members of military families and 427 non-military individuals. The goal was to assess the differing likelihoods across the categories of respondents to support various statements about medical marijuana and psychedelics as available treatment options.

“Given the prevalence of health issues within the veteran community and the need for a wide range of treatment options, some researchers have started to explore whether and how veteran populations should have access to alternative treatment options such as marijuana and psychedelics,” authors wrote in the preprint paper, which was published this month by OSU law school’s Drug Enforcement and Policy Center and has not been peer-reviewed. “Studies of veteran views on these issues, however, have not closely explored how veteran perspectives on certain drug issues compare directly to those in their immediate and broader community.”

The survey participants, drawn from the volunteer American Population Panel, were asked whether they agreed or disagreed with four statements about marijuana and psychedelics:

  1. Marijuana/psychedelics can be an effective treatment for various medical conditions.
  2. A doctor should be legally allowed to recommend marijuana/psychedelics if the doctor believes the patient could benefit from medical marijuana/psychedelics, even without FDA approval.
  3. A doctor should be legally allowed to recommend marijuana/psychedelics, but only after it has received an approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
  4. Because of the unique hardships and health conditions experienced by veterans, U.S. Veterans Administration doctors should be legally allowed to recommend marijuana/psychedelics to veterans if the doctor believes the patient could benefit from marijuana/psychedelics.

Strong majorities of all three surveyed groups agreed the substances can be effective treatments, with even more sizable proportions saying that Veterans Administration (VA) doctors should be able to legally recommend the substances to patients if they believe they would provide some benefit.

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Biden Signs Defense Bill Requiring Psychedelics Studies Involving Active Duty Military Service Members

President Joe Biden has officially signed a large-scale defense bill that contains provisions to fund clinical trials into the therapeutic potential of psychedelics for active duty military service members.

The president signed the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) into law on Friday, about a week after Congress approved the final deal and sent it to his desk.

Advocates were encouraged to see that bicameral negotiators agreed to maintain the psychedelics research provisions championed by Rep. Morgan Luttrell (R-TX) that were attached to the House version over the summer.

However, House negotiators receded on a separate section to create a medical cannabis pilot program for veterans. A Senate-passed provision to protect people from being denied security clearances due to past marijuana use was also left out of the final bill.

Now the psychedelics reform has been enacted, requiring the Department of Defense (DOD) to establish a process by which service members with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or traumatic brain injury could participate in clinical trials involving psilocybin, MDMA, ibogaine and 5-MeO-DMT.

The list of covered psychedelics was also expanded to broadly include “qualified plant-based alternative therapies.”

DOD will need to facilitate that process within 180 days of enactment. It can partner with eligible federal or state government agencies, as well as academic institutions to carry out the clinical trials, with $10 million in funding.

Under the legislation as enacted, the defense secretary will need to provide lawmakers with a report within one year of the enactment, and every subsequent year for three years, with information about trial findings and participation.

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