This Week in Psychedelics: Inside a Vancouver shroom store, psychedelic chaplains, and Terran Biosciences’ new deals

Plus: The Latest in Oregon, and The State of Psychedelics

Happy Friday, and welcome back to The Microdose. Here’s the news of the week:

Terran Biosciences snapping up new licenses. Unlike companies such as atai and Compass, biotech company Terran Biosciences hasn’t been the subject of many headlines. The company claims it already has 150 psychedelics patents in its arsenal, and in 2022, the company has been quickly snapping up opportunities to develop and license new drugs. In March, they announced an exclusive licensing agreement with the University of Maryland, Baltimore to commercialize the university’s patents, a deal to acquire a proprietary software platform and patents from Columbia University, and acquisition of a portfolio of therapeutics from Concert Pharmaceuticals. Late last week, they announced a new agreement with pharmaceutical giant Sanofi to commercialize two central nervous system (CNS) therapeutics. Details on the deal and on Terran’s financials are scarce, but this recent activity suggests the company has significant capital, and that larger, well-resourced institutions see promise in their work. “[Terran’s] ability to strike a deal with Sanofi, which has a market cap of over $130 billion at the time of writing, has impressed many,” writes Psilocybin Alpha’s Josh Hardman. It also shows how bigger pharma companies like Sanofi are entering the psychedelics game; the other heavyweight player is Japan’s Otsuka, which has invested in Compass.

Inside a Vancouver shroom store. Earlier this month, we reported on stores openly selling psilocybin products in Vancouver. Selling psilocybin is not legal, but store owners are counting on the Vancouver Police Department — as well as higher authorities — to deprioritize prosecuting their transgressions. This week, Insider writer Allan Akhtar visited a psilocybin dispensary called Zoomers and reported on the experience. Buyers must show two forms of government-issued identification and fill out a 4-page document where they attest to having a medical reason for their purchase. “The nurse manager said depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder are the most common reasons people put down for seeking psychedelics,” Akhtar writes. A variety of dried mushrooms, edibles, and psilocybin-infused drinks were for sale, and nurses helped customers select varieties based on what kind of experience they were seeking. Akhtar also made observations about the patrons themselves: “The small store created a welcoming, friendly environment for people of all ages, but I did not see any non-white patrons come into the store,” he writes. 

Psychedelic chaplains and the future of psychedelics in religion. The growing popularity of psychedelics has spurred discussion among researchers, therapists, and pharmaceutical companies about best practices. Religious leaders should be a part of the conversation too, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary’s Ron Cole-Turner argues in a new paper, published in the journal Religions. Many people have profound spiritual experiences when taking psychedelics, and faith leaders — “psychedelic chaplains,” as Cole-Turner calls them — could help people process those experiences. “Medical professionals need to stand back from the role of actively encouraging the patient to find spiritual meaning in the experience,” says Cole-Turner. “Medical professionals can support their patients but cannot be seen as guiding them in their interpretation of religious, spiritual, or mystical dimensions of the experience.” 

Religion and theology scholars could also lead the way in demanding changes from religious institutions. Cole-Turner highlights the United Methodist Church’s Book of Resolutions, which includes declarations like “we support strong, humane law-enforcement efforts against the illegal sale of all drugs” — he characterizes this as “pure War on Drugs rhetoric wholly unaffected by the past 15 years of research.” 

Some religious leaders have already adopted psychedelics as sacraments. “If religious institutions old or new begin to weave the use of psychedelics into their spiritual practices, the result will be a significant, possibly profound spiritual shift,” Cole-Turner writes.

There has never been a more exciting – or bewildering – time in the world of psychedelics. Don’t miss a beat.

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The Latest in Oregon

On Thursday, the Oregon Psilocybin Advisory Board held its monthly meeting on Zoom. The board nominated a new chair — Atheir Abbas, a psychiatrist at Oregon Health and Science University — and deliberated over recommendations from the licensing subcommittee (a full list is available on the meeting agenda here). Some items provoked significant discussion; for instance, people raised concerns around a recommendation against using “audio, photo, or video surveillance within areas of a service center where clients are permitted.” Some pointed out such recordings could be used to train practitioners, while others pointed out such recordings might be necessary for safety at facilities. The recommendation was amended to allow such records as long as clients consent. Though no one specifically mentioned it, disturbing footage released from Meghan Buisson’s MDMA-assisted therapy in a MAPS clinical trial illustrates another consideration: clients might want recordings of their interactions at service centers for their own safety.

Other recommendations, like those about packaging and labels, were approved without many concerns, while others, like recommendations related to advertising psilocybin, generated last-minute concerns, like the distinction between advertising psilocybin products versus services, and what might constitute inappropriate claims in advertising. The Oregon Health Authority is required to have their rules and regulations written by June 30, so with just two months left, the advisory board will have to move quickly to finalize proposed rules. 

The State of Psychedelics

In late March, a bipartisan group of Colorado lawmakers introduced House Bill 22-1344, which would legalize the “prescribing, dispensing, transporting, possessing, and using” of MDMA once the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) approves it. The bill’s rescheduling would apply only to prescription MDMA, while non-prescription MDMA would remain illegal in Colorado’s Schedule I. (Some experts believe FDA approval could happen within the next year, and the bill itself mentions that MDMA could be prescribed for PTSD “as soon as 2023.”) The bill passed the house, and this week, the state senate’s Health and Human Services Committee unanimously approved the bill. Next, it will go for a vote before the full Senate.

• DoubleBlind reflects on the partnership between Urban Outfitters and a brand called Psychedelic Water, whose water doesn’t actually contain psychedelics: “Early psychonauts like Allen Ginsberg, who believed that psychedelics would help people re-imagine capitalist society, are rolling in their graves.”

• The U.C. Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics just announced a new 9-month psychedelic facilitator training program. More details are available on the Center’s training website, where the application will go live on May 2.

• National Geographic describes the history and biology of psilocybin mushrooms thriving across the West Coast of the U.S.

You’re all caught up! Have a great weekend. Stay tuned for a new 5 Questions on Monday.

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