This Week in Psychedelics: Effects of psilocybin therapy a year later, Instagram removes psychedelics content, and the plight of the toads
Happy Friday, and welcome back to The Microdose. Some highlights from the week:
How long does the therapeutic benefit of psilocybin therapy endure? Recent clinical studies suggest psilocybin therapy can be an effective treatment for some people diagnosed with depression, and might be as efficacious as commonly prescribed antidepressant medications like Lexapro. But how long do those positive effects last? Previous studies typically tracked participants for at most several months after their last psilocybin therapy session.
This week, Johns Hopkins researchers published results in the Journal of Psychopharmacology from a study that followed two dozen participants for a year after receiving psilocybin therapy. These participants were diagnosed with depression and received two sessions of psilocybin therapy, followed by four check-ins over the next year. A week after treatment, participants scored lower on measures of depression than they did before treatment, and those results persisted. But part of that effect could be due to other factors; the researchers point out that a third of their participants started taking antidepressants during the year after their psilocybin treatment, and more than 40 percent were also in therapy. In a Twitter thread, lead researcher Natalie Gukasyan reflected on the results and hinted at next steps:
Pushing back on the DEA. In mid-January, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration announced they were considering adding five previously unscheduled tryptamines to their list of Schedule I drugs. (Read The Microdose’s coverage of that here.) The agency allowed the public to submit comments and requests for a hearing for a month after its announcement; that deadline was Monday, February 14. According to Psychedelic Spotlight, four parties submitted hearing requests, and a judge has granted a hearing. A prehearing conference will be held May 4.
There has never been a more exciting – or bewildering – time in the world of psychedelics. Don’t miss a beat.
Instagram removes DoubleBlind’s account. Psychedelics publication DoubleBlind announced yesterday that Instagram removed their account from the platform. DoubleBlind says Instagram did not give a specific reason for the removal, and that according to a company rep, the account is currently deactivated and not permanently deleted.
Instagram has a history of removing content related to psychedelics. DoubleBlind’s account was previously taken down in May 2021, and after an appeal to Instagram, the account was reinstated. Shelby Schnur, DoubleBlind’s head of social, says that three of DoubleBlind’s posts have been removed: one for “nudity,” and two for “sale of illegal goods,” but that their appeals of those removals were also successful.
And it’s not just DoubleBlind; The Microdose reported in December that the platform removed a photo of ayahuasca posted by a Brazilian spiritual school, and that Instagram and Facebook’s Oversight Board ruled that the removal was unwarranted.
In the meantime, DoubleBlind has created a back-up Instagram account and has encouraged followers to contact the company to report the issue. Shelby Hartman, the company’s co-founder and CEO, calls the removal disheartening. “This isn't just about DoubleBlind, it's about censorship,” she says. “Perhaps the most frustrating part of this is that when Instagram flags a post or shuts down an account, they don't offer any meaningful explanation as to why and we can't seem to figure out why some posts get flagged and others don't. We have closely reviewed their acceptable use policy, and have not violated it. Moving forward, we hope that platforms like Facebook and Instagram choose to be on the side of fair, accurate journalism and education." Instagram did not respond to The Microdose’s request for comment.
Oregon’s Psilocybin Equity Task Force. In early February, a group of Oregon senators sponsored Senate Bill 1580, which would establish a task force on psilocybin health equity. According to the bill, that task force would consist of 15 members, with representatives from a community-based health organization, a federally recognized Oregon tribe, and each of the Oregon Psilocybin Advisory Board’s subcommittees, as well as economists, researchers, and psychotherapists. This group would study and make recommendations to reduce barriers that people of color may face while starting psilocybin businesses and accessing psilocybin services. This week, the bill was referred to the state’s Joint Committee on Ways and Means for further discussion.
The plight of the toads. As celebrities like Mike Tyson gush about 5-MeO-DMT from “the toad," the drug has become more popular than ever. But it can be tricky to procure; it comes from Incilius alvarius, the Sonoran Desert toad, which secretes the substance as a defense mechanism. (The drug can also be synthesized in a lab.) Habitat destruction and trafficking are contributing to the toad’s declining populations, and even those who attempt to sustainably collect the toad’s psychedelic bufotoxin and release the animals back into the wild are contributing to its decline by unnecessarily stressing the animals. “People are self-medicating at the expense of another creature,” one researcher told High Country News last year.
In a piece for Lucid News, David E. Carpenter calls toad bufotoxin collection “the factory farming of psychedelics,” and reports on efforts to develop synthetic 5-MeO-DMT and on efforts to reproduce in a lab the toad glands that make 5-MeO-DMT. Some believe the toad secretion contains something extra that the synthetic version of the drug doesn’t. So far, scientists have only had anecdotes to go on, but Carpenter interviews researchers who are currently studying differences between “natural” and synthetic psilocybin, and who hope to study the toad secretion as well.
Psychedelic drug company Mindstate has raised $11.5 million in seed funding from Max Hodak, co-founder of Neuralink. Axios calls the deal “mammoth for a seed round.”
atai Life Sciences announced a $500,000 donation to MAPS, which will fund the organization’s general operations and efforts to “increase diversity, equity, and inclusion in psychedelic healthcare.”
You’re all caught up! Have a great weekend, and stay tuned on Monday for 5 Questions, our weekly Q&A with a leader in the psychedelics space.
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