This Week in Psychedelics: Over 4,000 Oregonians weigh in on psilocybin therapy; health insurance for ketamine therapy; and abuses and shortcomings in “above-ground” psychedelic therapy

Welcome back to The Microdose. We’ve made it through yet another week — one filled with dark and difficult news from Ukraine, Texas, and the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. I hope you’re taking care of yourself and any loved ones who are affected or moved by the awful headlines. Psychedelics may not be top-of-mind for you right now. Nonetheless, here’s the news of the week:

Dr. Bronner’s employee insurance now covers ketamine-assisted therapy. Soap company Dr. Bronner’s has become a major supporter of psychedelic work. They’ve advocated for the legalization of psychedelics on their well-known product labels, committed $10 million dollars to the psychedelic non-profit MAPS, and were the primary financial backer of Oregon’s Measure 109, which laid the groundwork for the state-legal manufacture and supervised use of psilocybin. (For more on Dr. Bronner’s, read The Microdose’s interview with the company’s CEO — Cosmic Engagement Officer — David Bronner.)

This week, the company announced they are partnering with non-profit health plan administrator Enthea to add ketamine-assisted therapy to the healthcare benefits available to Dr. Bronner’s employees. If and when the FDA approves MDMA- and psilocybin-assisted therapy, the company says those options will also be covered as well. More generally, whether (and how) these treatments are covered by health insurance plans will determine how accessible and affordable they are to potential patients.

TheraPsil pushes back on Health Canada’s rejection. In early February, The Microdose reported that Health Canada planned to reject dozens of practitioners’ requests for exemptions that would allow them to access psilocybin as part of their training to administer psilocybin-assisted therapy. These practitioners were in training with a Canadian psilocybin advocacy group, TheraPsil, and this week, the non-profit submitted an official reply to Health Canada, which included written affidavits and video testimonials from practitioners, a written statement from the organization’s lawyers, and letters of support from others in the field. 

One letter, submitted by Johns Hopkins psychedelics researcher Roland Griffiths, emphasizes the importance of ensuring therapists are properly trained in administering psilocybin-assisted therapy. “Due to the numerous studies and reports involving psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy over the past 60 years, it has become clear that the best way for therapists to gain sufficient familiarity with such altered states is through personal experience with the substance,” he writes. “At present, there is no other way of becoming intimately familiar with the non-ordinary states of consciousness occasioned by psilocybin than by experiencing them.”

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

Psychedelics R&D costs. With at least $2 billion in investments, psychedelics companies are working with a lot of capital. But how, exactly, will that money be spent? Psychedelics market analysis company Psilocybin Alpha announced a new project that will track how much psychedelic companies are spending on drug development. 

In their analysis published Monday, Psilocybin Alpha shows a huge range in how much psychedelics companies are spending on research and development, or R&D. Field Trip Health, known for its ketamine clinics, spends only 11 percent of its total expenditure, or around $6 million on R&D; meanwhile, COMPASS Pathways, known for their contested patents on psilocybin formulations, spends 53 percent of its total expenditure, over $40 million, on R&D. 

As companies continue their R&D, they’ll need more funding — and the “runway is shortening,” Psilocybin Alpha says, as the field becomes more crowded with competitors, and early leads on promising drugs fall through. Companies might also accrue other costs, like HR or legal services, as they develop. 

Thousands of Oregonians weigh in on psilocybin therapy. In January, Oregon Psilocybin Services (OPS), a division within the Oregon Health Authority, launched a Community Interest Survey to gauge interest from the general public and potential licensees around psilocybin therapy. The survey closed February 6, and this week, OPS released the results. 

Over 4,400 people responded to the survey. The vast majority (94 percent) indicated interest in accessing psilocybin services; around 1,600 people (36 percent) said they were interested in becoming licensed facilitators; 600 (15 percent) expressed their desire to offer approved facilitator training programs; 900 (20 percent) in licensing for a service center; and over 200 (just 5 percent) in getting licensed as a testing lab for psilocybin. 

Oregon Psilocybin Services says the data will help them better understand and prepare for licensing work and training program approvals as the state begins accepting applications for licensure in the first days of 2023. Shortly after their survey results announcement, the Oregon State Public Health Laboratory also released new details about how and when labs will be able to apply for accreditation to test psilocybin. 

“Above-ground” abuses and shortcomings in psychedelic therapy. After a two-month hiatus, New York Magazine’s investigative podcast Cover Story is back. The show’s inaugural season, called Power Trip, is all about psychedelics; the first five episodes explored abusive practices in the psychedelic underground, and the next few episodes will dig into the dark side of the “above-ground” psychedelic world. (The Microdose previously spoke with Power Trip’s Lily Kay Ross about the podcast.) In this week’s episode, reporters talk with former participants in MAPS’s clinical trials using MDMA to treat PTSD. While a 2021 study reported that MDMA significantly decreased participants’ PTSD symptoms, three participants told the podcast they felt confused and abandoned after their treatment.

• “When psychedelics begin to be taken more widely, there will be a variety of less-than-ideal outcomes,” Shayla Love writes in a new VICE piece. With recent allegations of sexual abuse coming to light, and physical or psychological side effects, Love argues that it’s time to start studying the downsides of psychedelic-assisted therapy.

• VICE also reports on couples using psychedelic therapy to strengthen their connection. 

• On the Dr. Bronner’s company blog, David Bronner weighs in on the prospects of psychedelics state-level decriminalization and legalization in Colorado.

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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