This Week in Psychedelics: Decriminalize Nature splinters, Bicycle Day, and an upcoming protest at the DEA
Happy Friday, and welcome back to The Microdose. Here’s the news of the week:
Decriminalize Nature splinters. When Decriminalize Nature was founded in 2019, it took a loose, grassroots approach to organizing around psychedelic issues. Anyone could start a chapter in their local community, which led to a diversity of approaches: some groups focused on introducing state ballot initiatives, while others focused on decriminalization at the city or town level, or developing proposals for how to regulate entheogenic ceremonies. By 2021, the organization had spawned over 100 local chapters, and Decriminalize Nature released a guide for those chapters explaining its “core values and ethos.”
Since then, Lucid News reports, some chapters have split from the Oakland-based mothership — some disagree with the organization’s insistence that all entheogenic plants and fungi be included in decriminalization efforts, despite requests from Native American leaders to omit peyote from the list. (The peyote cactus is already under threat from habitat destruction and poaching, and Native experts are concerned that decriminalization efforts could worsen the situation.) Chapters that have broken ties with the main Decriminalize Nature group also claim the national group has overstepped in some communities’ efforts by appointing local leaders or taking credit for chapters’ efforts, according to Lucid News.
The State of Psychedelics. Psychedelics advocates in Illinois are partnering with state representative La Shawn Ford to draft a new psychedelics bill called the Illinois Compassionate Use of Natural Plants and Fungi Act. The Illinois Psychedelics Society’s fact sheet says the bill would decriminalize possession and use of plants and fungi such as those containing ibogaine and psilocybin at the state level. It would also decriminalize the manufacture and distribution of related paraphernalia, like items used to store or cultivate those plants. The bill would also establish a state advisory board to guide the establishment of psilocybin services in Illinois.
Earlier this month, Massachusetts psychedelics advocacy group Bay Staters for Natural Medicine (BSNM) announced recent developments in their state: the city of Worcester is considering a resolution that deprioritizes law enforcement of entheogenic plants and fungi. The group has helped pass similar resolutions in the towns of Somerville, Cambridge, Northampton, and Easthampton, and the group says it aims to continue this work across the state. (The Lucid News piece above mentions that Decriminalize Nature chapters in Massachusetts have splintered; some are now part of BSNM.)
A “bad trip” for psychedelic investors. Things aren’t looking great for psychedelic investors — Bloomberg reports that an exchange-traded fund (ETF) that tracks psychedelics company stock has plummeted over the last year, losing two-thirds of its value. Back in December, we reported on psychedelic pharma company atai’s falling stock prices, leading its founder, Christian Angermayer, to commit to locking up his investment for another two years in hopes of reassuring other investors. But since then, the company’s stock price has continued to fall, albeit more slowly; while the company’s shares traded at around $20 in the first weeks after going public in summer 2021, that price dipped to around $7 in December, and now sits at around $5.
These companies have more challenges ahead as they continue expensive research and development and compete for funding in a crowded field. And, according to Bloomberg, market conditions are already tough: “Rising interest rates have also made capital providers less tolerant of firms that won’t produce profits for years, and psychedelics companies are no exception,” writes Bloomberg columnist Chris Bryant. “My view is that capital providers will need more assurances about regulation, the scalability of psychedelic drug treatments and the defensibility of intellectual property rights before they tiptoe back in.”
Bicycle Day. April 19 marked the 79th anniversary of Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann’s famous LSD trip in 1943. Hofmann was the first human to intentionally ingest the drug, and to mark that milestone, some psychedelics advocates celebrate “Bicycle Day,” derived from Hofmann’s recollection of his first real trip. After he took LSD — at 4:20pm, if you can believe it — he began to hallucinate and trip over his words.
He asked his lab assistant to escort him home, and because few cars were available due to World War II restrictions, they rode their bikes. “On the way home, my condition began to assume threatening forms. Everything in my field of vision wavered and was distorted as if seen in a curved mirror.” Hofmann recalled in his book, LSD, My Problem Child. “I also had the sensation of being unable to move from the spot. Nevertheless, my assistant later told me that we had traveled very rapidly. Finally, we arrived at home safe and sound, and I was just barely capable of asking my companion to summon our family doctor and request milk from the neighbors.”
Since then, fans of psychedelics have embraced April 19 as a holiday. With psychedelic business booming, some noted an uptick in commercial mentions of the date:
Upcoming protest at the DEA. Two weeks ago, we reported on the terminally ill patients who have been unable to gain approval from the DEA to try psilocybin-assisted therapy under the Right to Try Act passed by Congress in 2018. The act allows patients who have been diagnosed with a terminal illness and exhausted all other treatment options to try “investigational drugs”; advocates say psilocybin meets the criteria to be considered such a drug.
Now, David Bronner, CEO (cosmic engagement officer) of Dr. Bronner’s soaps, and other Right to Try leaders like Kathryn Tucker, an attorney who has led litigation against the DEA, have announced a protest at the DEA’s Virginia headquarters on May 9th. On the group’s website, they’ve announced an organizational Zoom meeting next week, as well as a form to collect info about potential participants’ travel needs.
STAT’s Olivia Goldhill explores the possibility of elder abuse in psychedelic therapy and details a dispute between the family of Holocaust survivor and philanthropist George Sarlo and his personal assistant and companion Vicky Dulai. Sarlo’s family alleged Dulai supplied Sarlo with psychedelics, increasing his dependency on her; Dulai denied the claims and filed an elder abuse complaint against Sarlo’s daughters in 2021. The dispute was settled privately later that year. “Despite the conflicting accounts, it’s clear there’s a critical need for strong regulations to protect users of psychedelic medicines against potential abuse,” Goldhill writes.
Psychedelic-assisted therapy has made a splash in Western countries — and if it proves effective in treating mental health issues, that means less wealthy parts of the world are missing out. “To date, no clinical studies on psychedelic therapy have been conducted in sub-Saharan Africa,” Yogesh Rajkotia, CEO of global health firm ThinkWell writes in an op-ed in the San Francisco Chronicle. “This potentially paradigm-shifting therapy is gearing up to benefit only the privileged few.”
As the psychedelics world grows, will taking these drugs require psychiatrists, or even a prescribing physician? A recent piece in Neo.Life explores the possibility of a world in which psychedelics are available for everyday use.
Religious leaders of a variety of faiths who participated in a psilocybin study at Johns Hopkins and New York University shared their experiences with Lucid News.
You’re all caught up! Have a great weekend. Stay tuned for a new 5 Questions on Monday.
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