California ballot initiative proposes $5 billion in bonds for psychedelics research and care; study suggests psilocybin for anorexia patients likely safe; Minneapolis and Santa Barbara decrim
Plus: Canadian shroom store raids continue, and pets and psychedelics
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.
The State of Psychedelics: California ballot initiative proposes $5 billion in bonds for psychedelics research and care
Last week, a group submitted paperwork to California’s Attorney General for the TREAT (Treatments Research Education Access & Therapies) California Act, a ballot initiative that would amend the state constitution to establish a new state institute overseeing psychedelics research, infrastructure, and delivery. The initiative proposes that the agency have a budget of $500 million a year for 10 years, totaling $5 billion in funding to be provided through state bond sales. The types of research the TREAT Act proposes are wide-reaching and include studies on the efficacy of microdosing and psychedelic-assisted therapy as well as clinical trials investigating the use of psychedelic-assisted therapy to treat anxiety and depression, addiction, pain, suicidality, and PTSD in a variety of populations including the LGBTQIA+ community, abuse survivors, and first responders. The initiative is led by a team with expertise in healthcare and research, several of whom worked on a successful 2004 California ballot initiative that resulted in $3 billion in state bonds to fund stem cell research.
Study suggests psilocybin for anorexia patients likely safe
On Monday, University of California at San Diego researchers published a study in the journal Nature Medicine in which ten women diagnosed with anorexia received psilocybin-assisted therapy. The results were from a phase I clinical trial (phase I studies are designed to assess the safety, tolerability, and feasibility of treatments, not their efficacy). The researchers report that the women showed no significant changes in heart activity measured via electrocardiogram, vital signs, or suicidality. The study was funded by psychedelics company Compass Pathways, and two of the study’s authors declared that they have consulted for the company. Additional studies — ones that randomize which condition participants are assigned to and control for confounding factors — are needed to assess whether psilocybin-assisted therapy might be a sufficiently safe and effective treatment for anorexia.
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Minneapolis, MN, deprioritizes enforcement of drug laws for some psychedelic substances; Santa Barbara, CA, launches effort to do the same
Last week, Minneapolis mayor Jared Frey signed an executive order declaring that “the investigation or arrest of persons for planting, cultivating, purchasing, transporting, distributing, engaging in practices with, or possessing Entheogenic Plants or plant compounds which are on the federal Schedule I list shall be the lowest law enforcement priority.” The entheogenic plants and compounds mentioned in the executive order include psilocybin, ayahuasca, mescaline (excluding peyote), and iboga.
Meanwhile, psychedelics advocacy group Decriminalize Nature is working with District 216, a psychedelic social club, on a campaign to deprioritize enforcement of laws on entheogenic plants and fungi in Santa Barbara, according to the Santa Barbara Independent. The Independent reports that the group has “collected 500 signatures (and counting) on a petition to decriminalize entheogens in the city,” and that several council members have expressed support for the idea.
Canadian shroom store raids continue
Two weeks ago, we reported that a new psilocybin mushroom dispensary opened in Montreal and that local police raided it immediately, arresting four people. Shortly after, it reopened, and last week, that same dispensary — called FunGuyz — was raided a second time, reports CBC. Five people were arrested, and the owners “have claimed to be campaigners for the legalization of psilocybin,” according to CBC.
Another dispensary located in Brantford, Ontario, was also raided by local police last week. The Brantford Expositor reports that one woman was arrested and that the police seized roughly 554 grams of psilocybin mushrooms with an estimated street value of $5,540, and 521.5 grams of psilocybin edibles with an estimated street value of $5,215.
Pets and psychedelics
Psychedelic trips can be an intense experience for humans, and according to a new piece published on psychedelic therapy search site HealingMaps, pets can feel disoriented by their owner’s trips too. “You have a situation where the humans are kind of moving weirdly and making loud sounds,” veterinarian Casara Andre told HealingMaps. Andre recommends pets be out of the house for any psychedelic trips, and she says she’s interested in exploring the possibility of using psychedelics to treat pets’ ailments. There’s little science at the moment on the effects of psychedelics on dogs or cats, and ethical issues remain about medicating pets with psychoactive substances.
In the Medium-hosted publication The Shadow, a medical trainee details how his psilocybin trip triggered months of mania and psychosis. In his newsletter Ecstatic Integration, author and psychedelics adverse effects researcher Jules Evans recounts the rocky history of the group Decriminalize Nature and interviews its controversial co-founder Carlos Plazola.
The Tampa Bay Times reviews a cannabis and psychedelics convention in St. Petersburg, Florida.
You’re all caught up! Have a great weekend. The Microdose’s Friday news round-up is taking a summer vacation — you’ll still receive issues of 5 Questions on Mondays. We’ll be back in your inboxes with This Week in Psychedelics the last Friday of August.
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Trained service dogs could be great in a psychedelic therapeutic setting, imo.
Psychedelics for pets is abuse. No to any bonds.