Autism, dogs and LSD; Review paper says certainty of evidence for psychedelic-assisted therapy is “low to very low;” and millions could be eligible for psilocybin-assisted therapy
Plus: Ibogaine developments, and should psychedelic therapists trip?
Happy Friday and welcome back to The Microdose, an independent journalism newsletter brought to you by the U.C. Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics.
Autism, dogs and LSD
Dogs are beloved by humans for their friendly, sociable nature — but just as humans vary widely in their social behaviors, so do dogs. A new paper published in Advanced Science studied dogs with mutations on the SHANK3 gene, which is linked to autism in humans and autism-like behaviors in other animals, such as mice and monkeys. In the study, researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing analyzed electroencephalography (EEG) scans from pairs of dogs and humans while they interacted. In interactions between humans and dogs without SHANK3 mutations, brain activity in frontal and parietal regions — key to social cognition — were more synchronized in the dog and human brain over time. (In humans, increased synchronization is correlated with shared attention.) But in pairs of humans and dogs with SHANK3 mutations, there was less synchronization.
The researchers then gave dogs with SHANK3 mutations a dose of LSD or a saline placebo, and repeated their EEG recordings as the dogs interacted with humans the next day. Dogs who had received LSD had higher interbrain coupling scores, suggesting that the drug “may potentially ameliorate social deficits in autism spectrum disorder,” the authors write. The mechanisms at play are not clear, but the researchers point to previous research with mice that suggests LSD enhances the amount of time mice spend interacting with each other. Additional studies could further elucidate the neural mechanisms of social interaction, they write
Review of psychedelic-assisted therapy concludes certainty of evidence for palliative care is “low to very low”
Among researchers, the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews is highly regarded as a source of research summaries. Last week, Cochrane published its first review of psychedelic-assisted therapy, which included data from six clinical trials that evaluated psychedelic-assisted therapy, or PAT, with psilocybin, LSD, and MDMA to treat anxiety, depression, and existential distress in patients with a serious illness, such as cancer. The researchers wrote that while PAT was well-tolerated by participants, its effectiveness is not yet clear. Using Cochrane’s standard rating system for systematic review evidence, they concluded that “the certainty of evidence is low to very low, which means that we cannot be sure about these results,” citing a “high risk of bias and imprecision (small sample size).” There are only a small number of clinical trials in this area, so Cochrane’s assessment could change as more data is collected.
The researchers largely had expertise in palliative care and pharmacology; one received consulting fees from multiple companies using psychedelic therapies, and another consulted for Roche Pharma.
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Millions could be eligible for psilocybin-assisted therapy
A new analysis published in Genomic Press’s journal Psychedelics this week suggests that if psilocybin-assisted therapy were approved for use in the United States, as many as six million people with depression may be eligible to receive it. Researchers at Emory University, the University of Wisconsin at Madison, and the University of California, Berkeley arrived at this estimate by considering the number of people in the U.S. medical system with major depressive disorder or treatment-resistant depression, minus the patients being treated for depression who have a condition, such as alcohol or drug dependence or psychotic disorder, that would likely disqualify them from participating in future psilocybin-assisted therapy programs.
Demand for such therapies is hard to predict, the authors write, but one major factor will be whether and how insurers cover psilocybin-assisted therapy. In particular, they note that decisions for reimbursement made by Medicaid, the nation’s largest payer, could set the tone for other payers.
Ibogaine developments
This week, psychedelics company Clearmind Medicine announced it submitted a patent application for a “combination therapy of ibogaine and N-Acylethanolamines.” Patent applications are not published until 18 months after submission, so the full details of the application are not yet available, but N-Acylethanolamines are a type of fatty acid that can help reduce inflammation.
Psychedelics company atai Life Sciences also submitted an international patent application for a so-called “combination ibogaine therapy,” combining ibogaine with other substances, in 2022. But after psychedelic patent watchdog organization Porta Sophia submitted documents to the World Intellectual Property Organization, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office rejected all claims of atai’s application.
In other ibogaine development news, journalist Rachel Nuwer reports in Reason that ibogaine advocates Bryan Hubbard and Juliana Mulligan are talking with state representatives in Ohio, Washington, Nevada, Missouri, New Mexico, and Arizona, and are looking “to form a coalition to develop a generic ibogaine using their pooled opioid settlement funds.” Hubbard led an initiative in Kentucky to use $42 million of the state’s opioid settlement funds on ibogaine research, but the proposal died when Hubbard was replaced as the executive director of the state’s Opioid Abatement Advisory Commission.
Should psychedelic therapists trip?
This is a question that scientists, advocates and practitioners have been arguing over for decades. According to researchers affiliated with Vancouver Island University in Nanaimo, Canada: Yes, psychedelic therapists should have experience with psychedelics. They make their case in a new Psychedelic Medicine piece. Three of the authors lead the university’s year-long psychedelic-assisted therapy certificate program, and they believe that first-hand experience with the therapy they provide to clients is crucial for helping both parties navigate the trip. Additionally, they argue that psychedelic-assisted therapy has the potential to improve providers’ mental health, as many may be struggling with their own issues.
They note an interesting counterargument to the idea that personal experience with tripping may help providers be better at their jobs: research suggests that pairing therapists and patients with similar lived experiences or identities do not necessarily produce better outcomes for their patients. In addiction treatment studies, patients of providers who have experienced addiction do not show improved treatment outcomes, and there’s also no indication that matching therapists and patients based on race, gender, ethnicity, or sexual orientation results in better treatment.
Overall, they say, there should be more options available to providers who want to have a psychedelic experience. Currently, this option is not available in Canada, and over the last few years, Canadian providers have been petitioning Health Canada for exemptions so that they can legally take psychedelics as part of their training. “We have returned to a place of moral distress, where therapists seeking personal experience with PaT feel obliged to break the law to become more effective therapists,” the paper’s authors write.
In November 2022, 27 Oregon cities and counties voted to opt out of the state’s psilocybin services program. In some municipalities, those opt-outs were temporary, and now, Oregon Public Broadcasting reports, at least sixteen cities and unincorporated areas will weigh in again this November to decide whether to extend those bans on psilocybin service centers.
Join me, Jane C. Hu, and fellow journalists covering the psychedelics beat Deena Prichep, Arielle Duhaime-Ross, Lizzy Acker and Shayla Love next Wednesday at 1pm PT for an hour-long panel discussion on covering psychedelics in Oregon. The event is co-sponsored by the UC Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics and the Graduate School of Journalism, and you can register here.
Canadian officials continue to crack down on stores selling psilocybin mushrooms; officials in Chatham, Ontario raided and seized $14,000 from Fun Guyz, reports CTV News. The store is one of over a dozen in the province, several of which have been raided and closed in recent years.
The Washington Post profiles psilocybin facilitator Ben Kramer, telling the story of how he came to his profession and what his day-to-day looks like through a beautiful illustrated comic.
Playwright Charlotte Jones’s “Redlands” revisits the infamous 1967 trial in which Rolling Stones members Mick Jagger and Keith Richards were charged with possession of LSD. She explains the inspiration for her new play to The Guardian.
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