Definium releases LSD for depression Phase 3 results and Colorado activists fight recent bill’s amendments to sharing psychedelics
Plus: Survey suggests most veterans support VA-funded psychedelic-assisted therapy, and psychedelic research funding bills and a move towards psilocybin legalization in Canada
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.
Definium releases LSD for depression Phase 3 results
On Monday, New York-based psychedelics company Definium announced topline results from its Phase 3 study using a single dose of DT120, the company’s formulation of LSD, in the treatment of major depressive disorder.
In the study, 149 participants received a 100 microgram oral LSD dose or an inert placebo. Researchers tracked changes in participants’ scores on the MADRS, a standard depression assessment, from before the study to six weeks after. Participants who received LSD showed a significant improvement in depression symptoms; on average, they scored 13 points lower on the MADRS at six weeks after dosing. (Higher scores represent more severe symptoms, and a decrease of 6 points is often considered a clinically significant reduction in symptoms.) Those in the placebo group also saw improvement, but less so; on average, people who received placebo scored 5.2 points lower on the MADRS at the six-week point.
Compared to previous Phase 2 and 3 psilocybin and 5-MeO-DMT clinical trials, Definium’s reported results show some of the largest decreases in depression scores. Beckley’s BPL-003 (5-MeO-DMT) Phase 2 trial found that participants who received the largest dose of the drug showed, on average, an 11-point reduction in MADRS score four weeks after dosing, while those in the placebo group showed only a 6-point reduction. Clinical trials for psilocybin have been more mixed; while the non-profit Usona Institute’s Phase 2 psilocybin trial decreased MADRS scores by a whopping 20 points, psychedelic company Compass Pathways’ clinical trials with COMP360, their formulation of psilocybin, were less splashy: a Phase 2b study found that psilocybin decreased participants’ MADRS scores by an average of 12 points, while their more recent Phase 3 results found that psilocybin decreased MADRS scores by a modest 3.8 points compared to a placebo. (The difference between placebo and LSD in Definium’s trial was around 8 points.)
Topline results are, by definition, the highlights put forth by a company. More details about Definium’s study will be available once it is peer-reviewed by an academic journal.
The results appeared to excite investors. Definium’s stock price was up 46% the day of the announcement, and 83% over the week (as of Thursday afternoon).
Definium rebranded from MindMed at the beginning of the year, and it appeared to be a contender for one of the Trump administration’s priority vouchers for psychedelics. In the days after the president signed an executive order authorizing the release of new vouchers for psychedelics, the FDA initially posted — and then deleted — on X announcing that one of the vouchers would support research for “LSD for GAD” (generalized anxiety disorder). Definium ultimately did not receive a voucher.
Survey suggests most veterans support VA-funded psychedelic-assisted therapy
According to a new report by the thinktank RAND Corporation, about half of veterans supported the Department of Veterans Affairs providing or paying for psilocybin-assisted therapy. The report surveyed more than 1300 veterans about their attitudes and use of psychedelics. From those responses, the researchers estimated that roughly one in four US veterans — around 4.8 million — have tried psilocybin mushrooms, LSD, or MDMA in their lifetime, and that they were more likely than nonveterans to have used LSD or mescaline.
Given the federal government — and specifically, the VA’s — recent moves to bolster support for psychedelic research, RAND’s report provides perspectives from a key group that those initiatives intend to support. And yet, veterans surveyed by RAND were largely unsure whether asking VA doctors about psychedelics was sanctioned. When asked if they thought a veteran would be at risk of losing VA benefits if they spoke with a VA provider about their use of MDMA or psilocybin, around 50% of respondents said they were not sure, while between 15 to 20% of respondents said they believed they would lose benefits for bringing up psychedelic use. RAND also asked veterans if they thought the VA should provide psilocybin- or MDMA-assisted therapy to veterans, if it were approved by the Food and Drug Administration. While the most common answer was “I’m not sure,” 54% of respondents thought the VA should pay for psilocybin and 45% for MDMA, either via VA providers or community providers.
In the last couple of years, veteran-centered psychedelic advocacy groups and allied politicians have become increasingly enthusiastic about ibogaine, a once obscure psychedelic that comes from plants such as the iboga bush. (In 2023, just 12% of Americans reported having heard of the substance.) In RAND’s survey, just 0.3% of veteran respondents said they’d used the substance; for comparison, the most commonly used drugs were psilocybin (18.6%) and LSD (19.6%).
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Colorado activists fight recent bill’s amendments to sharing psychedelics
Recently, Colorado lawmakers passed House Bill 1325, which lays the groundwork for an ibogaine research program in the state. But the bill also amended the state’s policy on the personal use of psychedelics, which was established in 2022 after Colorado voters passed a ballot initiative creating the state’s “Natural Medicine” program. The measure decriminalized “natural medicines” like psilocybin, and included the right to gift them to others. Last year, journalist Chris Walker described the “burgeoning grey market” growing around Colorado’s psilocybin gifting economy — and HB 1325 is an attempt to crack down on that grey market, as well as on unlicensed growing, manufacturing, and administration of psychedelic substances.
Some Colorado psychedelic activists are pushing back against those changes by signature-gathering for a referendum to challenge that aspect of the newly-passed bill. The group, which calls itself Coloradans for Natural Medicine Rights, wishes to leave the rest of the bill untouched, they write on their campaign website, but wish to reverse recent changes that “narrowed what ‘share’ means.”
Given the high costs of natural medicine via the state’s regulated program — the average session can cost upwards of $3500 — those leading the referendum are concerned that psilocybin mushrooms will no longer be accessible via sharing and gifting. Jacob Marlega, an organizer behind the referendum, is a mushroom grower and runs a harm reduction and education services program.
Psychedelic research funding bills and a move towards psilocybin legalization in Canada
In May, North Carolina senators Sophia Chitlik (D) and Bob Brinson (R) introduced Senate Bill 1018, which would earmark up to five $1 million psychedelic research grants to be given out through the state’s general fund. (North Carolina’s legislative session began in April, as many other states’ sessions were wrapping up; it runs through August.) According to the North Carolina Newsline, another legislator tried to pass similar legislation in 2023, but it stalled in committee.
In late 2023, then-President Joe Biden signed a bill called the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which established appropriations for the Department of Defense. That bill included $10 million for funding psychedelic clinical trials, and last week, members of U.S. Congress — including Lou Correa (D) and Jack Bergman (R), co-chairs of the Congressional Psychedelics Advancing Therapies (PATH) Caucus — filed an amendment to the 2027 version of the bill, which would extend that funding through 2033.
Corey Tochor, a conservative member of Canadian parliament, introduced a bill last week that would allow physicians to prescribe psilocybin and psilocin, the active metabolite of psilocybin. The country has a psilocybin access program through Health Canada, its health authority, but doctors must apply on behalf of patients, and the process can take months. A Health Canada spokesperson told CBC that the agency had authorized 354 participants since its Special Access Program launched in 2022.
New York State Police announced the arrest of a 30-year-old Brooklynite who was charged with possession of psilocybin mushrooms after he and his friends got lost on a hike in Harriman State Park, near the town of Tuxedo. The man allegedly got into a fight with his friends, then “became overwhelmed and ran through the woods” — he called for help and police say he was found with 45 grams of psilocybin mushrooms.
Harm reduction organization DanceSafe is teaming up with The Shulgin Foundation to sell pieces of art using broken glassware from the famed psychonaut Sasha Shulgin’s lab. The proceeds from the sales will be split evenly between the two organizations.
CBC released a new documentary called Prophet of Ecstasy, which follows longtime MDMA dealer Michael Clegg’s journey from “Ecstasy Kingpin” to prison and the spiritual awakening that he experienced behind bars.
According to ABC, venture capitalist and author Amy Griffin is now suing her classmate for defamation over the classmate’s allegations, detailed in a New York Times piece, that Griffin used the classmate’s experiences of sexual abuse as her own in her 2025 memoir The Tell. In the memoir, Griffin says her memories of sexual assault were awakened by MDMA-assisted therapy. The Times piece also mentions Griffin’s close ties to powerful psychedelics organizations: her husband, hedge fund founder John Griffin, has donated $1 million to MAPS, and the couple holds a 15 percent stake in Resilient Pharmaceuticals (formerly known as Lykos Therapeutics). Griffin was introduced to her MDMA therapists by MAPS founder Rick Doblin.
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