Ayahuasca church & owner to pay $15 million in wrongful death suit; State bills updates in VT, MD, IL, & NY; and the risks and benefits of integration groups
Plus: Psychiatrists plan for the “psychedelic future,” and do psychedelics reduce the fear of death?
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.
Ayahuasca church and owner to pay $15 million in wrongful death suit
Last week, a Florida jury found that ayahuasca church Soul Quest and its owner, Christopher Young, were at fault for the death of client Brandon Begley, who died in 2018 during a weekend retreat where he took ayahuasca and kambo, a secretion from the South American giant monkey frog. In 2020, his parents filed a wrongful death suit against the organization. Soul Quest is one of hundreds of U.S.-based psychedelic churches that offer psychedelics as a sacrament to its members, some of which require members to pay to join and participate in ceremonies. (Begley paid around $500 for the retreat at which he died.) Because these substances remain federally illegal, most churches operate underground, where safety protocols and standard operating practices can vary widely. Just a handful of churches, including the Native American Church, have received exemptions from the Controlled Substances Act to use Schedule I substances for religious reasons.
Over the course of the week-long trial, the jury reviewed 911 and autopsy records associated with Begley’s death, and heard from forensic experts and psychedelic researchers, including UCLA professor Charles Grob, who studies ayahuasca. The jury returned a $15 million verdict, and determined that Soul Quest was 40% liable and Young 60%.
The State of Psychedelics: Maryland and Vermont pass working group bills, Illinois CURE Act advances, New York introduces psilocybin program bill
As states’ legislative sessions come to a close, a number of psychedelics bills have advanced. In Maryland, Governor Moore signed HB 548 and SB 1009, which establish a 17-person task force to study “natural psychedelic substances,” including psilocybin, DMT, and mescaline (excluding peyote). Vermont’s senate recently passed a similar bill, S.114, establishing a working group to submit a report on psychedelic treatment to the legislature by November 2024. It’s awaiting signature by the governor.
In Illinois, Senate Bill 3695, which sponsors are calling the Illinois Compassionate Use and Research of Entheogens (CARE) Act, has been assigned to a senate committee for review and has undergone amendments. Initially, the bill established a psilocybin services program similar to Oregon’s; the amendments now require that clients first receive a referral from a healthcare professional before beginning a course of psilocybin-assisted therapy. It also removes criminal penalties for adult possession of psilocybin, psilocin, DMT, mescaline, and ibogaine.
On Tuesday, New York assembly member Amy Paulin (D) introduced Assembly Bill 10375, which would amend public health law to create a psilocybin program in which people could obtain licenses to cultivate and sell psilocybin mushrooms. To buy mushrooms, people would need to obtain a permit by completing a health screening and a drug education course.
The risks and benefits of integration groups
In a paper published in The International Review of Psychiatry, researchers from New York University, Johns Hopkins, and the University of Oxford write that it’s not uncommon to feel loneliness or isolation after a psychedelic experience, and that as a result, many are turning to community integration groups where people talk through their experiences together. But, the authors write, “while integration groups can potentially offer significant benefit to participants, they may also run the risk of exacerbating or compounding any negative effects experienced, or even introducing novel harms.”
Participants in these integration groups vary widely; many are underground and/or consist of relatively inexperienced peers (as opposed to trained facilitators). Such people may not know how best to support one another in exploring post-trip emotions. Group dynamics can allow scientific misinformation about coping strategies to propagate, and group dynamics may also amplify “cultish dynamics,” the authors note. They propose more research to study integration groups. The researchers also make recommendations for such groups, which includes a call to be more transparent around their values, structure, and cost, as well as having a protocol for involving mental health professionals, if needed.
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The risks and benefits of integration groups
In a paper published in The International Review of Psychiatry, researchers from New York University, Johns Hopkins, and the University of Oxford write that it’s not uncommon to feel loneliness or isolation after a psychedelic experience, and that as a result, many are turning to community integration groups where people talk through their experiences together. But, the authors write, “while integration groups can potentially offer significant benefit to participants, they may also run the risk of exacerbating or compounding any negative effects experienced, or even introducing novel harms.”
Participants in these integration groups vary widely; many are underground and/or consist of relatively inexperienced peers (as opposed to trained facilitators). Such people may not know how best to support one another in exploring post-trip emotions. Group dynamics can allow scientific misinformation about coping strategies to propagate, and group dynamics may also amplify “cultish dynamics,” the authors note. They propose more research to study integration groups. The researchers also make recommendations for such groups, which includes a call to be more transparent around their values, structure, and cost, as well as having a protocol for involving mental health professionals, if needed.
Psychiatrists plan for the “psychedelic future”
Psychiatrists need to start preparing now for the influx of psychedelic medicine, write UK researchers David Nutt, Ilana Crome, and Allan Young in a paper published in The British Journal of Psychiatry. Training a workforce will take years, and developing regulatory oversight, including a database to collect information about adverse events, will also require significant preparation, so the paper’s authors argue that the profession needs to begin planning before these drugs are approved for medical use.
Do psychedelics reduce the fear of death?
In studies of people with terminal illness, psychedelics appear to ease depression and anxiety symptoms, with some participants sharing anecdotes about their newfound peace and acceptance of the prospect of death. In a paper published in Neuroethics, philosopher Chris Letheby examines the question of whether psychedelics actually decrease fear of death, and if so, what mechanisms might drive that change.
Letheby investigates two major theories: one, which he calls the “metaphysical belief theory,” posits that psychedelics reduce fear of death because trips can elicit mystical experiences that shift people’s beliefs about consciousness, spirituality, and the universe. The other, which he calls the “self-unbinding” theory, hypothesizes that psychedelics “alleviate symptoms of various pathologies by disintegrating rigid and pathological mental representations of the self” — that psychedelics change people’s beliefs about themselves and the world, which allows them to let go of ways of thinking that don’t serve them. These theories, while intriguing, require “cleverly designed, philosophically informed, and carefully interpreted” empirical research to understand, Letheby concludes.
In response to a Business Insider article published last week about the organization and its founder, Rick Doblin, MAPS issued a statement saying it stands by its work, and says the piece tells a “sensationalized” version of its story.
The U.S. Veterans Health Administration is moving quickly to allow veterans to access MDMA-assisted therapy through their government health care plan, The Intercept reports.
Vox explores how psychedelics could help treat chronic pain.
The podcast Death, Sex & Money interviews Jim Harris, who became paralyzed after an accident, and says psilocybin mushrooms helped him to walk again.
You’re all caught up! Have a great weekend. We’re off on Monday for Memorial day, but we’ll be back in your inbox next Friday.
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