Whirling apes and altered consciousness; can Colorado communities opt out of psilocybin services, and establishing psychedelic therapy “gold standards”

Plus: MAPS announces new clinical trial results and new funding maneuvers, state legislation updates

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. 

Whirling apes and altered consciousness

Humans aren’t the only animals that experience states of altered consciousness — there have been reports of primates eating fermented fruits that get them buzzed and dolphins playing with pufferfish that secrete a narcotic-like neurotoxin. In a new study published in the journal Primates, psychologists detail their observations of captive great apes demonstrating a potentially conscious-altering behavior: spinning. In humans, spinning disrupts the inner ear; Sufi Dervishes, for instance, spin to induce trance-like states and mystical experiences.

The researchers’ study analyzes 40 videos of orangutans, gorillas, chimpanzees, and bonobos spinning on ropes during solo play, and they find that the speeds at which these apes spin would be enough to induce dizziness in humans. (The authors quip: “We invite the reader to try the observed average rotational speed, length or number of bouts performed by great apes reported here for instant validation.”) Their results suggest that our great ape ancestors might share our interest in altered states of consciousness, and they write “self-induced altered mental states of our ancestors could have shaped aspects of modern human behavior and cognition, as well as mood manipulation and mental wellbeing.”

Can Colorado communities opt out of psilocybin services?

In November, Coloradans voted to make psilocybin services legal in their state just as Oregon had done two years prior. In Oregon, municipalities can choose to opt out of allowing psilocybin services, and last fall, a majority of Oregon counties did just that. (Still, the areas of the state that remain part of the program represent the majority of Oregon’s population.) Colorado’s measure, on the other hand, included specific language prohibiting localities from banning psilocybin treatment centers.

Now, The Denver Post reports, some Colorado communities are looking into how they can maintain control over whether to allow such businesses in their municipalities. Residents of Cokedale, for instance, told the Post that they worried that the establishment of centers might lead to increases in the local homeless population and in drug trafficking. Supporters of the measure say that banning centers would prevent residents in these communities from accessing services. 

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What are best practices for psychedelic-assisted therapy?  

Two new papers published in the last week urge researchers to get serious about establishing criteria for safe and effective use of psychedelics. While the last decade has seen some promising results in studies using psychedelics to treat a variety of ailments, “there remains no standardized guidelines for clinical practice of psychotherapy accompanied by psychedelic medications,” researchers write in a Journal of Affective Disorders paper. There are some common practices in psychedelic-assisted therapy include screening participants to learn their medical histories, like preparing participants for a psychedelic session, and providing integration services after. Still, there’s a great deal of variability in the specific protocols used by researchers and practitioners. 

The difficulty in setting gold standards, the authors write, is caused by the variability in the risk profiles and subjective effects of different psychedelics, as well as unknowns about how much of psychedelic-assisted therapy’s efficacy is driven by therapy versus psychedelic substances. If the Food and Drug Administration does approve any psychedelic for medical use, it’s “unclear if the FDA will require administration of specific psychological or therapeutic treatment models,” they write. While the authors say it’s too early to set those standards now, “the field of psychedelic psychotherapy will be well served by having a centralized authority review these best practices and publish gold standards in preparation for the transition to clinical applications.”

Establishing those gold standards will require analyzing current common practices, as well as a strong understanding of the potential harms of psychedelic-assisted therapy. “In the absence of empirically derived and tested psychotherapy practices during dosing sessions, psychedelic

therapists follow a set of untested guiding principles based on observations and beliefs from early psychedelic researchers,” write Sarah McNamee, Neşe Devenot, and Meaghan Buisson in a paper published in JAMA Psychiatry. “Researchers have noted that the absence of clear guidelines leaves acceptable forms of touch open to interpretation by therapists and clients, which can lead to boundary violations while clients are in altered states.” They also raise concerns around serious harms to participants in psychedelic clinical trials, including suicidality, sexual abuse, and dependency on trial therapists. The authors call for closer rigorous study of psychotherapy protocols associated with psychedelic-assisted therapy.

MAPS announces new clinical trial results and new funding maneuvers

On Wednesday, MAPS announced new preliminary results from a follow-up study to their phase 3 clinical trials. The published results followed participants for two months after their last experimental session, and the follow-up evaluated the long-term efficacy of MDMA-assisted therapy in treating PTSD by continuing to assess those same participants. The participants, MAPS says, “demonstrated durable improvements in PTSD” for at least six months, and in for some participants, more than a year. Researchers will surely dive deep into the details of the study’s data once it’s published in a peer-reviewed journal.

These results come after claims from MAPS that the organization is struggling to raise money; MAPS founder Rick Doblin’s appeared on podcaster Joe Rogan’s show last week and broached the possibility that the organization could begin selling public shares of its for-profit side.

The State of Psychedelics: Missouri bill marches forward while Montana’s quickly shot down

Missouri’s House Bill 1154 appears poised to pass the House this week. Proposed by representative Dan Houx (R) in mid-February, the bill requires the state’s Department of Health and Senior Services to conduct studies examining the efficacy of psilocybin for treating depression, substance use disorders, and PTSD, and for providing end-of-life care. It also removes civil fines or penalties for people possessing less than 150 mg of psilocybin if they are participating in a clinical trial. Houx proposed last week that the bill be reconsidered after it had undergone several amendments, and in that vote, the vast majority of the state’s representatives — 152 to 1 — supported the bill. The house is expected to hold a formal vote this week. A similar psychedelics bill introduced by Tony Lovasco (R) earlier this legislative session has stagnated.

Meanwhile, a new psychedelics bill in Montana was first read in the state house and killed in the same week. House Bill 955, introduced last Tuesday, would have allowed Montanans access to psilocybin treatment centers. On Thursday, the House Human Services committee voted to table it. (Tabling means no further action will occur on the bill, effectively killing it.)

• The New York Times Magazine  talks with founding director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research, Dr. Roland Griffiths about his cancer diagnosis and the role of his long standing meditation practice, as well as psychedelics, in helping him stay curious and joyful through the last months of his life. 

• First responders and veterans might be able to participate in a psychedelic-assisted therapy pilot program through the University of Washington if Washington state’s revised Senate Bill 5263 passes, reports The Seattle Times.

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