Category Archives: Entheogens

When it comes to psychedelic journeys, the environment can truly make all the difference. The importance of set and setting has been touted by psychedelic scholars, experts, and enthusiasts throughout history. This is especially true of what people hear during their trips.

Early studies on entheogens and their potential benefits kept participants in extremely sterile lab conditions, considered by many to be the scientists and volunteers determinants. By 1959, researchers in Saskatchewan looking into LSD as a treatment for alcoholism realized subjects were profoundly impacted by their surroundings, opting to add relaxing music (typically classical) to the dosing experience.

Famed psychedelic researcher Dr. Timothy Leary introduced the concept of set and setting to a wider audience in his 1964 book The Psychedelic Experience: A Manual Based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead. Popular music was heavily influenced by the psychedelic counterculture, with Pink Floyd, the Doors, and even the Beatles offering up LSD-inspired tunes to the masses.

Fast-forward to the 21st century. A new psychedelic renaissance inspired more in-depth research on set and setting than ever before, with particular interest paid to auditory stimuli.

A 2018 study conducted at Imperial College in London examined the role of music in psychedelic therapy. Researchers found participants had a more emotional response to the playlists presented and credited them with offering a more profound trip. But does the type of music being played make a difference?

This concept was tested in 2020 when scientists at Johns Hopkins explored combining psychedelic therapy with both classical (the old favorite for journeys) and recordings with overtone signatures, which feature droning sounds made by instruments such as Tibetan singing bowls, chimes, or didgeridoos. The study revealed that overtone tracks offered a more mystical experience in addition to helping the therapy itself have a more long-term impact (participants were enrolled in the study to help quit smoking).

As interest in psychedelics continues to grow, so too does the number of auditory aides meant to complement and enhance a persons trip. Sound baths have become increasingly commonplace, oftentimes able to alter ones perception without the need for entheogens at all. Numiunus Wellness recently launched their Music as Medicine event series, featuring entrancing meditative music alongside stunning visuals.

Several psychedelic-centric apps have hit the scene, providing the perfect soundscapes and guided meditations to transcend time and space, particularly during therapeutic sessions. Some of the most popular include Wavepaths, Trip, and Polyfauna.

A wide array of products are also available to help people augment their psychedelic journeys. The Kasina DeepVision bundle allows users to tap into both sounds and visuals, allowing for focus, relaxation, and deep introspection. The NeoRhythm headband utilizes pulsed electromagnetic field therapy to stimulate and sync the brain to create the perfect state of mind for meditation and psychedelic journeys.

inHarmony Meditation Cushion

The inHarmony meditation cushion provides an immersive 360-degree listening experience that can aid in the meditative process by quieting the outside world, letting people truly escape and make the most of their sound therapy session. Their corresponding app has over 100 music meditations, perfect for any type of trip. The company harnesses the incredible powers of vibroacoustic therapy, which uses low wave sound vibrations to promote healing. They have amassed a wide array of promising research, partnering with several leading authorities in the space, and are currently conducting their own studies with results coming soon.

The right set and setting are crucial in the psychedelic experience, drastically impacting the trajectory of an individual trip. This is especially true of what a person hears during their journey, as the right frequencies could determine both the vibe and long-term outcome of the therapeutic session.

Psychedelic Spotlight wants to help you enhance your future psychedelic journeys. Were giving away one of inHarmonys awesome meditation cushions, a $699 value! Sign up here for a chance to win!

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How Does Sound Therapy Enhance the Psychedelic Experience? - Psychedelic Spotlight

Investigators who rely on the opinions of high echelon officials, who have no direct acquaintance with the use of marijuana usually reach the conclusion that marijuana is a highly dangerous drug which produces much violent crime and insanity, says Lindesmith. These conclusions, as we have suggested, may be a reflection of upper-class hostility toward an unfamiliar lower-class indulgence. For, he writes denunciations of the weed come characteristically from persons of the classes which prefer whiskey, rum, gin and other alcoholic beverages and who do not themselves use marijuana. Such persons, overlooking the well-known effects of alcohol, commonly deplore the effects of hemp upon the lower classes and often believe that it produces murder, rape, violence and insanity. ER Bloomquist (medical doctor) Marijuana (1968).

I might add to this that many of these high echelon officials were probably also stuffing their colonial pipes full of tobacco.

For about 16 years now, Ive been bleating, to anyone who will listen, that our system of prohibitory drug laws is a bloody hypocrite. Ive relied on many hypotheticals, technical legal arguments and inferences, but, today, Ill show you the smoking gun.

Were all, by now, aware that, in 2018, the constitutional court decriminalised the personal and private use of cannabis. I do not intend to unpack that judgement, but to note the following, which are premises that I ask you to please keep in mind throughout.

Firstly, the court accepted that cannabis, while harmful, is no more so than tobacco and alcohol.

Secondly, despite the first premise, it went on to find, at paragraph 88, that [d]ealing in cannabis is a serious problem in this country and the prohibition of dealing in cannabis is a justifiable limitation

One would think then, that, because it is at least as, if not more, harmful than cannabis, dealing in tobacco would be considered a serious problem and that preventing it would be a justifiable limitation and something from which the childish South African population needed to be sheltered. Right? Wrong!

On 14 June 2022, the supreme court of appeal (SCA) handed down its appeal judgement in the case brought by British American Tobacco and others against the emergency Covid-19 lockdown regulations that purported to ban the lawful trade in tobacco.

This is from the courts own media summary: The SCA consequently held that the limitation of the rights to dignity, bodily and psychological integrity, freedom of trade and deprivation of property was not justified [it] unjustifiably limited the autonomy of persons to regulate their own affairs, and to exercise control over their bodily and psychological integrity. It infringed the right to freedom of trade in that farmers could not sell and nobody could buy their tobacco. Tobacconists were unable to trade. Farmers were unable to use their farms productively and manufacturers, their costly factories and equipment

We now have a direct, albeit probably unintended, contradiction between the wisdom of the supreme court of appeal and that of the constitutional court. There are only two ways out of this. Either this judgement of the appeal court must be overturned by the apex court on further appeal, or, if the judgement stands, which it should, then the state (which carries the constitutional onus of justifying rights limitations) must throw in the towel in its persistent attempts to criminally ban the recreational sale of cannabis and allow for it, with regulatory restrictions akin to, or certainly no more strict than, those imposed on the trade in tobacco.

That said, for my sins, Ive never thought it enough to stop at cannabis, which just so happened to have presented as the obvious first toe in the waters of reasonable, rational and humane drug law reform. Let us please never forget that tobacco and alcohol are drugs from a scientific standpoint finished and klaar. Theyre just ones that Western society has used for enough time to blind itself to the notion that its distaste for and thus banning of unfamiliar lower-class indulgence[s] rendered itself the exact, unevenly-handed hypocrite that its own (supposedly liberal) legal systems were supposed to prevent it from being. A Nutty idea, indeed.

In 2010, Professor David Nutt, internationally-respected neuropsychopharmacologist, and others published a study in The Lancet titled Drug Harms in the UK: a multi-criteria decision analysis, which, in brushstroke summary, concluded that weve gotten it all wrong in our rankings of the relative harms (to both users and society) of drugs and that this incorrect and unscientific thinking has infected the manner in which these drugs are banned and/or regulated in the UK (but, by inference, around the world) thus crying out for drug law reforms that would see us regulating in the reasonable, rational and constitutional manner that the law otherwise requires.

As far as I am aware, Nutts 2010 publication has stood the test of time and survived the rigours of international scientific and statistical peer review and criticism. It thus stands as something on which we can reasonably rely.

Additionally, Nutt was the key witness in the part-heard and live-streamed (check YouTube) 2017 Trial of the Plant by the so-called Dagga Couple in the Pretoria high court. He was cross-examined on his findings by both the state and the right-wing organisation, Doctors for Life, but emerged, in my respectful opinion, almost entirely unscathed.

He was made only to endure the kinds of questions and challenges that have one post-traumatically twitching at the memory of our HIV/Aids-denialism and our once calling for a scientific inquest into why lightning had targeted a low-income area.

I conclude by saying this. If I am correct that the supreme court of appeal tobacco judgement necessitates an unlocking of the right to recreationally consume and trade in cannabis, as also that Nutts 2010 publication gets things right to an acceptable degree, then, being all less harmful than cannabis, we ought to (necessarily correcting for our unique socioeconomic circumstances) reform our drugs laws to allow for the (reasonably regulated) use of and trade in (ranked from most to least harmful): gamma-hydroxybutyrate; benzodiazepines; ketamine; methadone; mephedrone; butane; qat (not our local kat); anabolic steroids; MDMA (ecstasy); LSD; buprenorphine; psilocybin; and other low-harm entheogens.

The argument ought also to hold true for certain drugs that I have excluded, which are established to be less harmful than alcohol, but more so than cannabis but, why push my luck? Ultimately (remembering, again, that the state must answer this) why not allow for people to turn their backs on alcohol and tobacco, even cannabis, and elect, as supposedly liberated adults, for lower-harm indulgences? The answer can only be one founded in hypocrisy and I challenge the state to contradict me.

The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Mail & Guardian.

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Could we please have some consistency in our drug laws - Mail and Guardian

Drug discovery collaboration will leverage the botanical drug development expertise of both companies

VANCOUVER, BC, June 9, 2022 /CNW/ - Filament Health Corp. (OTCQB: FLHLF) (NEO: FH) (FSE: 7QS) and Jaguar Health, Inc. (NASDAQ: JAGX) today announced that the companies have signed a letter of intent to enter a collaboration agreement to develop botanical prescription drugs for specific psychoactive target indications in the United States. The goal of the collaboration is to extend the botanical drug development skillsets of both companies in order to develop pharmaceutical-grade, standardized drug candidates and partner with a potential future licensee regarding the development and commercialization of these novel plant-based drugs for indications such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and social anxiety disorder.

Filament Health Corp. Logo (CNW Group/Filament Health Corp.)

"We are thrilled with this collaboration with Filament Health, a company focused on discovering, developing and standardizing botanical drugs as well as the delivery to patients suffering from mental health conditions," said Steven King, PhD, Jaguar's Chief Sustainable Supply, Ethnobotanical Research & IP Officer and head of the company's Entheogen Therapeutics Initiative (ETI). Jaguar's ETI aims to discover and develop groundbreaking, novel, natural medicines derived from psychedelic and psychoactive plants for treatment of mood disorders, neurodegenerative diseases, addiction, and mental health disorders. "Jaguar and Filament are in the process of identifying plant candidates that may prove beneficial for addressing indications such as ADHD and social anxiety disorder, for which we plan to collaboratively work to develop botanical drugs."

"Filament is a leader in the development of botanical medicines, and we are dedicated to supporting the treatment of mental health conditions through our expertise and technology," said Benjamin Lightburn, Chief Executive Officer of Filament Health. "We have developed novel manufacturing and standardization techniques which we have applied to psilocybin, psilocin and ayahuasca. We are pleased to partner with Jaguar and look forward to working with their team to identify and standardize new entheogens."

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Under this partnership, Jaguar will have responsibility for the identification of plants that may offer novel mechanisms of action, as well as for botanical drug development and the raw material supply chain. Filament will be responsible for developing the manufacturing techniques required to produce standardized, pharmaceutical-grade drug candidates. The two companies will then jointly seek partnership with a potential licensee for full development and commercialization of novel drug candidates, with proceeds from the relationship split equally between Jaguar and Filament.

"We very much look forward to working with Filament on this initiative," said Lisa Conte, Jaguar's President, CEO and Founder. "Jaguar's core team began focusing more than 30 years ago on the development and commercialization of plant-based prescription medicines, and our Mytesi (crofelemer) product, approved by the U.S. FDA for the symptomatic relief of noninfectious diarrhea in adults with HIV/AIDS on antiretroviral therapy, is the only oral plant-based prescription medicine approved under FDA Botanical Guidance. Filament's expertise in natural product chemistry and drug development allows for the mobilization of a key asset we have generated over 30 years a library of 2,300 medicinal plants and 3,500 plant extracts, all from firsthand ethnobotanical investigation by Jaguar and our ETI Scientific Strategy Team (SST)."

The ETI SST will support this collaboration, and consists of leading and globally renowned ethnobotanists, physicians, and pharmacologists, as well as experts in the fields of natural product chemistry and neuropharmacology:

Michael J. Balick, Ph.D.: Considered one of the world's leading ethnobotanists and economic botanists; specialist in healing plants and toxic plants and their use by Indigenous peoples; research associate of the Brain Chemistry Labs of the Institute of EthnoMedicine; member of original scientific strategy team that contributed to development of Jaguar's plant library.

Thomas Carlson, M.D., M.S.: Ethnobotanist, botanist, physician; teaching professor of integrative biology at the University of California, Berkeley; member of original scientific strategy team that contributed to development of Jaguar's plant library; key architect of ethnomedical field research process conducted by ethnobotanist/physician teams of Jaguar predecessor company Shaman Pharmaceuticals.

Pravin Chaturvedi, Ph.D.: Pharmacologist with specialty in neuropharmacology; chair of the Scientific Advisory Board of Napo Pharmaceuticals (Napo), Jaguar's wholly-owned subsidiary, and the chief scientific officer of Jaguar; Over 25+ year career, led discovery and/or development activities for several new chemical entities including development of Napo's FDA-approved drug product, Mytesi (crofelemer), the only oral plant-based prescription medicine approved under FDA Botanical Guidance.

Julie Anne Chinnock, ND, MPH, ARNP/CRNA: Ethnobotanist; Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine; owner and manager of Ketamine clinic; part of original Shaman Pharmaceuticals field research teams; public health expert.

Stephen Dahmer, M.D.: Ethnomedical researcher and practicing integrative physician; expert on endocannabinoids who has conducted ethnomedical field research in tropical regions.

Wade Davis, Ph.D.: Ethnobotanist, anthropologist, writer, and professor of anthropology at University of British Columbia; extensive international ethnobotanical field research.

Elaine Elisabetsky, Ph.D.: Among world's leading ethnopharmacologists; professor in the pharmacology and biochemistry departments of the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil; member of original scientific strategy team that contributed to development of Jaguar's plant library.

Nigel Gericke, M.B.B.Ch.: Medical doctor, ethnobotanist, and ethnopharmacologist; former advisory panelist to the United States Pharmacopoeia; longstanding member of the Medicinal Plants Specialist Group of the World Wide Fund For Nature; founding member of the Association for African Medicinal Plants Standards.

Maurice Iwu, Ph.D.: President of Bioresources Development Group and founder of International Center for Ethnomedicine and Drug Development (InterCEDD) in Nigeria; member of original scientific strategy team that contributed to development of Jaguar's plant library.

Steven R. King, Ph.D.: Ethnobotanist; Napo's chief sustainable supply and ethnobotanical research officer; managed Napo's original scientific strategy team and outcomes; research associate of the Brain Chemistry Labs of the Institute of EthnoMedicine.

Charles Limbach, M.D.: Ethnomedical specialist and family medicine physician; member of original scientific strategy team that contributed to development of Jaguar's plant library.

David Sesin, Ph.D.: Natural product chemist; Jaguar's chief manufacturing officer; created isolation and manufacturing process for Mytesi (crofelemer).

About Filament Health(OTCQB: FLHLF) (NEO: FH) (FSE: 7QS)

Filament Health is a clinical-stage natural psychedelic drug development company. Filament believes that safe, standardized, naturally-derived botanical medicines can improve the lives of many, with a mission to see them in the hands of everyone who needs them as soon as possible. Filament's platform of proprietary intellectual property enables the discovery, development, and delivery of natural medicines, including psychedelic medicines, for clinical development. Filament is paving the way with the first-ever natural psychedelic drug candidates.

Learn more at http://www.filament.healthand on Twitter, Instagramand LinkedIn

About Jaguar Health, Jaguar Animal Health, Napo Pharmaceuticals, & Napo Therapeutics

Jaguar Health, Inc. is a commercial stage pharmaceuticals company focused on developing novel, plant-based, non-opioid, and sustainably derived prescription medicines for people and animals with GI distress, including chronic, debilitating diarrhea. Jaguar Animal Health is a tradename of Jaguar Health. Jaguar Health's wholly owned subsidiary, Napo Pharmaceuticals, Inc., focuses on developing and commercializing proprietary plant-based human pharmaceuticals from plants harvested responsibly from rainforest areas. Our crofelemer drug product candidate is the subject of the OnTarget study, an ongoing pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial for prophylaxis of diarrhea in adult cancer patients receiving targeted therapy. Jaguar Health is the majority shareholder of Napo Therapeutics S.p.A. (f/k/a Napo EU S.p.A.), an Italian corporation established by Jaguar Health in Milan, Italy in 2021 that focuses on expanding crofelemer access in Europe.

For more information about Jaguar Health, please visit https://jaguar.health. For more information about Napo Pharmaceuticals, visit http://www.napopharma.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements in this press release constitute "forward-looking statements." These include statements regarding the expectation that the collaboration between Jaguar and Filament will identify plant candidates that may prove beneficial for addressing indications such as ADHD and social anxiety disorder, and the expectation that this collaboration will identify and standardize new entheogens. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terms such as "may," "will," "should," "expect," "plan," "aim," "anticipate," "could," "intend," "target," "project," "contemplate," "believe," "estimate," "predict," "potential" or "continue" or the negative of these terms or other similar expressions. The forward-looking statements in this release are only predictions. Jaguar has based these forward-looking statements largely on its current expectations and projections about future events. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this release and are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions, some of which cannot be predicted or quantified and some of which are beyond Jaguar's control. Except as required by applicable law, Jaguar does not plan to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements contained herein, whether as a result of any new information, future events, changed circumstances or otherwise.

SOURCE Filament Health Corp.

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Filament Health and Jaguar Health Sign Letter of Intent to Develop Botanical Prescription Drugs for Specific Mental Health Indications - Yahoo Canada...

As the world grapples with multiple mental health crises, including depression and anxiety, PTSD, and rising suicide rates, psychedelics have shown great promise in early clinical trials.

But while compounds such as psilocybin, ibogaine, and DMT all are showing signs of being efficacious, they are by no means perfect medicines. All have potential downfalls that limit their ability to meet the massive scale we need to put a dent in the mental health crisis.

Therefore, while it is essential that the pace of study into classical psychedelics continues to ramp up, companies are simultaneously editing the chemical formulas of these entheogens to create better medicines.

Now, there will always be those who argue that there is no point in spending the tens of millions necessary to create new psychedelics, saying that we already have perfect medicines given to us by nature.

This argument is nonsensical. First, as will be expanded upon further in this article, in a medical context, medicines such as psilocybin and ibogaine do indeed have shortcomings. If we can harness the power of science to eliminate them, we should.

Second, many current medicines were originally derived from plants, and then were improved upon over the decades. Take for example ibuprofen, the painkiller found in brands like Advil. Ibuprofen is a synthetic derivative of the natural substance salicylic acid, which is found in the bark of trees such as a willow tree.

The ancients used to chew this bark, or turn it into a brew, to treat pain. But since its synthesis in the early 1900s, scientists have constantly been tweaking the formula to avoid negative side effects such as gastrointestinal irritation. Yet no one in their right mind would argue we go back to chewing on willow bark because it is more natural.

With this in mind, this article aims to shine a spotlight on five next-generation psychedelics that are expected to enter clinical trials this year. Keep in mind that all of these new drugs are closer to the beginning of their scientific study than the end, and any and all claims made by the companies producing them will have to be proven in multiple, rigorous, clinical trials. Furthermore, it is far too early to tell which of these will be the most efficacious.

Also note that this list is not exhaustive, and the compounds are not presented in any particular order.

18-MC, now being rebranded as MM-110, is perhaps the furthest advanced in the long line of next-generation psychedelics. Set to enter Phase 2a efficacy trials this quarter, attempting to treat Opioid Use Disorder, the MindMed (Nasdaq: MNMD. NEO: MMED) molecule already completed a Phase 1 safety trial which showed the compound to be well tolerated, without any serious adverse events.

MM-110as it is now knownis a synthetic molecule based on the extremely hallucinogenic ibogaine, which is found in the iboga shrub in Africa. While some early studies have shown ibogaine may be effective in treating various addictions, the medicine does carry with it some downsides.

First is the long psychedelic experience. An ibogaine hallucination can last upwards of 48 hours. And while this may be fine in a ritual setting, in a medical one it raises many problems, not the least of which would be the cost of monitoring a patient for two days.

The next issue is a medical one; use of ibogaine can lead to cardiovascular side effects and there are even casesalbeit rareof ibogaine use leading to cardiac arrest and death.

18-MCexcuse me, MM-110claims that it has solved both of these issues. First, the compound does not cause a hallucination. A patient could take MM-110 like they would any other prescription. Second, MindMed claims that the cardiovascular side effects have been eliminated.

If these claims hold true as MM-110 makes its way through the clinical trial process, and if it is found to be effective in treating Opioid Use Disorderand eventually perhaps other addictions as wellthen 18-MC could be a game-changer in addiction treatment.

CYB003 is Cybins (NYSE: CYBN, NEO: CYBN) next-generation psilocybin. Assuming regulatory approval, they intend to start the Phase 1 portion of their Phase 1/2a trial in mid-2022. This trial will attempt to treat Major Depressive Disorder.

While psilocybin has had some very promising results in Phase 2 clinical trials, mostly attempting to treat forms of depression, it is not a perfect medicine. In particular, there are two problems that medical psilocybin possesses.

The first is the long duration of the experience. While not nearly as long as ibogaine, a psilocybin experience can still last upwards of 6 to 8 hours. Included in this is the long time it takes for the compound to reach a therapeutic effect after ingestion, often at around an hour. This would make a therapy session very expensive and may price out lower-income people.

Next, is the variability of effect between individuals. In other words, similar-sized people could ingest the same amount of psilocybin and metabolize it differently, causing vastly different intensities of effect. This can also lead to side effects in certain populations.

Cybin says that their pre-clinical evidence shows that CYB003 counteracts these issues. First, in duration of effect, Cybin says that their next-generation psilocybins onset action is twice as fast as the original, and the overall experience may likewise be halved. This would greatly expand accessibility.

On the safety side, Cybin says that the effects of CYB003 are less variable than traditional psilocybin, which they measured by looking at plasma concentration levels. In other words, using CYB003 would cause similar effects in different individuals. Combine this with improved brain penetration ratios, which again were found in preclinical animal studies, and CYB003 may lead to fewer side effects and safer dosing options and more predictable patient outcomes.

SPL028 is Small Pharmas (TSXV: DMT, OTCQB: DMTTF) next-generation DMT. Assuming regulators are satisfied, Small Pharma hopes to launch a Phase 1 safety trial in the second half of 2022.

Unlike ibogaine and psilocybin, DMTs therapeutic issue is not that it lasts too long, but rather that its effects are too short. Traditionally, a DMT experience, whether administered through smoking or by IV, only lasts up to 20 minutesand that is on the generous side.

While there has been much less study on DMT than psilocybinin fact earlier this year Small Pharma initiated the worlds first Phase 2 trial on DMTit is hypothesized that the short duration may not be sufficient for a clinical effect to take hold.

SPL028 will last longer than regular DMT, but it will still be significantly shorter than a psilocybin trip. Essentially, Small Pharma hopes to find the sweet spot in terms of duration. Their Phase 1 trial will also test whether an IV delivery or an intramuscular delivery is best.

It is also important to note that Cybin is likewise planning on launching a pilot study this year on their own modified DMT candidate, CYB004, which also aims to lengthen the experience.

FT-104 is Field Trip Healths (Nasdaq: FTRP, TSX: FTRP) first next-generation psychedelic, which they aim to have in a Phase 1 clinical trial before the end of the first half of 2022. FT-104 is a pro-drug to the little-known psychedelic, 4-HO-DiPT, which means that FT-104 metabolizes in the body to form 4-HO-DiPT.

Once it makes its way out of Phase 1 and into later phase efficacy tests, Field Trip wants to test treating Treatment-Resistant Depression and Postpartum Depression with FT-104.

4-HO-DiPT is a psychedelic that is similar in effect to psilocybin, but with a shorter duration of effect, only lasting between 2-3 hours. As mentioned above, this could make it more practical to use in a clinical setting.

In terms of practical differences from 4-HO-DiPT, Ft-104 is more soluble, which may make it easier to use as a medicine.

Note, soon Field Trip Health will be dividing into two separate companies. When this happens, FT-104 and all other drug discovery programs will be under the purview of the new company, Reunion Neuroscience.

MEAI, unlike all other molecules on this list, is not based on a current psychedelic. Rather, Clearmind Medicine (CSE: CMND, OTC Pink: CMNDF) has a more unique molecule on its hands.

Aiming to enter Phase 1 trials by the end of this year, MEAI will attempt to treat Alcohol Use Disorder.

Essentially, according to Mark Haden, the VP of Business Development for Clearmind, MEAI induces the sensation of satiation in a subject. This means if a person takes MEAI in conjunction with alcohol, after several drinks the person will feel done with the substance, and not feel the need to have another.

Mr. Haden uses the analogy of having eaten two rich cheesecakes, and then someone places a third one down in front of you. Sure, you could have another. But you dont want to. You are satiated.

This is interesting, since if its proven to work MEAI could be used with a prescription from a doctor, but it could also possibly be available given regulatory approval as an alcohol substitute that anyone could buy.

The subjective effects of MEAI are said to feel similar to one to two beers after the first and second dose of it, and more similar to a low dose of MDMA after a third dose. Interestingly, after the third dose, Clearmind says that the prospect of having more is unsavory.

If proven to work all we have so far is anecdotal and animal evidence MEAI could revolutionize alcohol addiction treatment.

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5 Next-Generation Psychedelics Entering Clinical Trials This Year - Psychedelic Spotlight

Mescaline molecule, a natural hallucinogenic substance present in the flesh of several cacti, 3D ... [+] illustration

Pushed to the periphery of public awareness during Covid-19 pandemic, the disease of substance addiction continues to ravage humanity. Substance abuse deaths are often deaths of despair, as addiction is a brain disease that is often coincident with other mental illnesses, such as anxiety and depression. The need for new ways to treat substance use disorder has never been greater, yet medicine possesses few pharmacological tools with which to combat this pernicious disease. In addition to the burgeoning opioid epidemic, addiction to alcohol has been increasing, driven in part by the stresses of pandemic life and by the economic disparities made worse in the wake of Covid-19.

The treatment of alcohol use disorder (AUD), in particular, has limited pharmaceutical options with which to augment non-pharmacological therapies. Among the few drugs approved in the US for treatment of AUD, disulfiram, green-lit by the FDA in 1949, causes patients to experience swift and powerful hangover symptoms if they consume alcohol, thereby acting as a deterrent. More recently-approved naltrexone blunts the pleasure derived from alcohol consumption, while acamprosate helps to protect against the neurotoxicity that can occur during alcohol withdrawal. While these pharmaceuticals can be used to treat AUD, each has limitations and drawbacks. There is therefore a high unmet medical need for additional FDA-approved therapeutics targeting this disease.

After decades of neglect by the scientific community, a renaissance is occurring in the study of entheogens in the treatment of mental health disorders, with the goal of developing approved therapeutics. An entheogen is a psychoactive substance that has been historically used in spiritual contexts. For millennia, societies have used entheogens to improve their members well-being. Since many effective therapeutics, including the heart drug digoxin and the anti-malarial artemisinin, have been derived from traditional medicines, there is interest in exploring entheogens to treat mental illnesses. Among the sources of these psychoactive substances is peyote, which has been used by Native Americans for thousands of years. Apache, Huichol, Utes, Comanche, and Navajo peoples are among the current heirs of peyotes ancient discoverers and stewards of its spiritual and medicinal uses.

Journey Colab, a California biopharma startup, leads the effort to develop an FDA-approved form of mescaline, a psychoactive molecule that occurs naturally in peyote, as a therapeutic to assist with the treatment of AUD. Cognizant of the traditional discoverers of this potential therapeutic, this company, in an arrangement that is to my knowledge unique among biopharma startups, set aside a 10% equity stake to benefit traditional peyote stewards and the AUD treatment communities. I spoke with Journey Colabs founder and CEO, Jeeshan Chowdhury, its acting COO and CLO, Rebecca Lee, indigenous rights activist, impact advisor and trustee Sutton King, and addiction expert and recently-appointed scientific advisor Kelly J. Clark about the companys goals, genesis, and unique structure.

The prevalence of alcohol use disorder has increased during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Louis Metzger: Why is Journey Colab developing mescaline for AUD?

Jeeshan Chowdhury: Mescaline is very interesting relative to other psychedelics because it has a relatively long duration (10-12 hours). The extended experience allows people to navigate core traumas in a way that other psychedelics don't. Mescaline may give people more of an opportunity for extended neuroplasticity, which allows them to make the most of talk therapy and community support as part of holistic therapy for AUD. Despite the medical worlds best efforts, conventional therapies for AUD have yielded abysmal rates of durable remission and harm reduction. We have very clear observations that mescaline, when combined with therapy and community support, is incredibly powerful at alleviating suffering from this disease.

Metzger: Kelly, youve recently joined Journeys scientific advisory board. What drew you to Journey Colabs approach?

Kelly J. Clark: I was pleased to see that Journey Colab is approaching the development of mescaline for AUD treatment in a way thats evidence-based, with appropriately designed clinical trials. AUD is an underserved disease and has suffered from addiction treatment being largely segregated from the rest of medicine. I see mescaline as having the potential to assist psychotherapy by enabling acute episodes of care within a chronic care paradigm. The medical community and regulators are moving toward measuring addiction treatment outcomes in terms of harm reduction and functioning, rather than utter abstinence. Journeys work is part of that paradigm shift.

Metzger: Jeeshan, what inspired you to found Journey Colab and to create its unusual ownership structure?

Chowdhury: I never thought that I would start a psychedelic drug company. I'm very much a product of two things: First, coming from a conservative Muslim family, where there's a very strict conservative view on substances; and second, being a child of the 1980s from Canada with its war on drugs. I grew up thinking that psychedelics would fry your brain.

I founded this company through my own mental health journey. From the outside, my life looked great. I became a physician and was subsequently a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, where I earned M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in health informatics. Later, much to the chagrin of my immigrant parents, I dropped out of medical residency to come to San Francisco to participate in a startup incubator program called Y Combinator. My first company was ListRunner, a digital health startup that was acquired by Commure through its expansion.

Everything looked great from the outside, but I always felt like I was drowning in my mental health problems. I sought out care, the best that we had available at the time antidepressants and talk therapy. These helped, but to a limited extent. It was like having a life preserver to keep my head above water, but these therapies didnt get me out of my immersion in depression.

I came to psychedelic medicine out of desperation for something that would work after trying so many things that didn't improve my mental wellness in a transformative way. Psychedelic therapy enabled me to see maladaptive patterns that had formed since childhood, and in combination with talk therapy, enabled me to change them. It also helped to catalyze my understanding of how these patterns arose. Psychedelic therapy completely saved my life.

I have been on both ends of the stethoscope and have seen that there are people suffering from mental illnesses, including AUD, far more intensely than I had. I realized that we don't have adequate tools with which to help many of them. I took the California Institute of Integral Studies course on psychedelic training and research. On this learning journey, I met Sam Altman (board member of Journey Colab). Together we realized that not only do we need to advance psychedelic therapy, particularly around addictions, but we need to do it in the right way. If we take psychedelic medicine and just put it into an existing system that does not serve us well, we will not get transformational results. Thats why we set up Journey Colab as a stakeholder model, where 10% of the founding equity is set aside in reciprocity to give back to the communities where psychedelic use originated and to help the therapist and community partners with whom were working.

Metzger: How is Journey Colab learning from these traditional users of mescaline?

Chowdhury: We are creating a space of trust and dialogue in our consultation process to apply what we learn from traditional mescaline users to clinical and scientific methods. We aim to create a clinical protocol that is accessible to people where they are. We are making something new that fits into a clinical environment, and we are ensuring that we share the value that is created from this dialogue with these communities.

Metzger: Can you tell me more about how this sharing of equity is structured?

Rebecca Lee: We created a perpetual purpose trust that holds 10% of our founding equity. It's different from more familiar forms of trust because instead of naming a particular person or entity as the beneficiary, the beneficiary is a defined purpose in this case, the purpose of the Journey Reciprocity Trust is to share the value created by the company with Indigenous communities that have traditionally used psychedelic medicine, with groups that are working on the conservation of the organisms producing naturally occurring psychedelics (because so many of theses are threatened due to environmental degradation and over-harvesting), with the therapists who will be delivering this care, with other nonprofit psychedelic partners in the space, and with communities that are under-served by mental healthcare. We wanted to share this sort of co-founder ownership of Journey Colab with our stakeholder community. The trust will be led by an independent stewardship committee of five members, who will each represent the beneficiary communities. One of the seats will be filled by Sutton King, a powerful advocate for Native Americans, a descendant of Wisconsins Menominee and Oneida Nations, and Journey Colabs founding Head of Impact. Sutton has spent her whole life advocating for underserved communities.

Metzger: Sutton, as impact advisor and trustee at Journey Colab, in what ways do you envision the trust impacting indigenous communities? What is the type of impact you would like to see?

Sutton King: The Journey Reciprocity Trust represents a principle that is central to my identity as an Afro-Indigenous woman: the Seventh-Generation Principle. This Haudenosaunee philosophy inherited from my people holds that our decisions today should result in a sustainable world seven generations into the future. The Journey Reciprocity Trust embodies this principle by sharing the success of Journey Colab with stakeholders far into the future, supporting equitable access to mental health services, and ensuring the protection of sacred plant medicines. Indigenous-led, the trust emphasizes the importance and validity of Indigenous voices and their autonomy to make decisions. Such voices are oftentimes excluded and alienated. We cannot use the medicines that Indigenous cultures have protected without valuing Indigenous ways of being and thinking. The trust has the ability to support Indigenous communities with the economic investment necessary to continue strengthening sovereignty and the preservation of culture and land. Through centering access and benefit-sharing, the trust has an opportunity to redistribute wealth in a way that respects the plight of Indigenous peoples and begins using money as a tool for restorative healing.

The conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.

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Mental Health Startup Journey Colab Aims To Develop Mescaline As An FDA-Approved Treatment For Alcohol Use Disorder - Forbes

In her youth, Martha Hammel suffered from severe anorexia, anxiety and suicidality. One chance encounter with psilocybin mushrooms changed everything.

She recalls being in an outdoor atmosphere sitting on blankets with a small group of friends. Soft music played in the background. She and her peers had researched the correct way to engage with the psychedelic compound and designated a sitter the term to describe a sober person who assists others under the influence of psychedelic drugs to accompany their trip.

At the time, Hammel had never drunk alcohol, consumed marijuana nor smoked a cigarette. Eating the entheogenic fungi was her first intake of any sort of mood- or mind-altering substance. And it was done mindfully and respectfully, Hammel said: It was done well.

In that experience, I felt the eating disorder lift, and this anxiety that had been weighing me down for my entire life and this self-hatred intention I had been feeling, it all lifted, Hammel said. And I distinctly remember experiencing this thought of, I dont need that anymore. And it stayed gone.

It would be years before Hammel tried psilocybin mushrooms again, because the initial encounter was such a relief, she said.

Psilocybin is the naturally occurring psychedelic compound produced by more than 200 species of mushrooms. It is among chemicals such as ayahuasca, mescaline, LSD and ibogaine, known as entheogens. Commonly interchanged with the term psychedelics, entheogens refer to a psychoactive substance derived primarily from plant sources when it is used for its religious or spiritual effects.

Entheogenic plants and fungi have been used by humans in indigenous and religious rituals for centuries. These compounds trigger non-ordinary states of consciousness which often include hallucinogenic effects and if exercised in a safe set and setting, Hammel explains, they can produce therapeutic outcomes.

In just a three-hour time span, I found my way out its really powerful medicine, Hammel said. It was actually the moment I decided to become a nutritionist; I had this realization that I wanted to help other women with eating disorders.

Hammel is now a certified nutrition specialist, natural food chef, addiction recovery coach and psychedelic integration coach. She earned a masters degree in nutrition and integrative health from the Maryland University of Integrative Health and has undergone advanced training programs for mindfulness-based psychedelic therapy and ketamine-assisted psychotherapy.

She spends her time between Aspen and Boulder, where she is the nutritionist and guide at the Center for Medicinal Mindfulness one of the first legal psychedelic therapy clinics to operate in North America that offers services in cannabis- and ketamine-assisted therapies.

These plant medicines, they can be profoundly healing in so many more ways than you could ever see possible, Hammel said. And to discount the power of that big experience is dangerous.

From healing her mental health to shaping her career, Hammel commends the power of her own big experience with plant medicines years ago. She has become a prominent voice in psychedelic activism and education across all of Colorado, and right now, her efforts are honed in on Aspen.

Hammel is the lead campaign manager for Right To Heal Aspen, the citizen-led initiative seeking to decriminalize plant medicines within the city of Aspen for therapeutic use.

Following a yearlong collaborative process involving community members, city council members, attorneys and experts in the field of psychedelics, Hammel and fellow representatives Isaac Flanagan and Laura Betti recently presented a citizen-initiated ordinance and petition regarding therapeutic access to plant medicines and the decriminalization of these compounds in the city of Aspen.

On Tuesday, April 12, Aspen City Clerk Nicole Henning officially approved the proposed petition as submitted. According to her acceptance letter, the petition proponents have 180 days to circulate the petitions following the clerks approval. The letter also notes that 925 signatures of city electors will be required to place this matter on the ballot. Hammel said she aims to collect signatures from 1,500 Aspen voters.

With the petition hitting the ground running, Aspen may be the next city to hop on the psychedelic train.

Renewed scientific interest and clinical research involving psychedelic medicine has gained traction in recent years. In turn, a number of U.S. cities and states are revising their legal frameworks around these drugs.

Denver was the first city to decriminalize psilocybin in 2019, followed by similar initiatives surrounding entheogenic plants and fungi in Washington, D.C.; Oakland and Santa Cruz, California; Cambridge, Massachusetts; Ann Arbor, Michigan; Seattle, Washington which became the largest city to decriminalize noncommercial activity around psychedelic substances and Detroit.

On the state level, Oregon was the first to legalize psilocybin-assisted therapy and decriminalize the personal possession of such compounds in November 2020. In Colorado, advocates are pushing to get a statewide decrim initiative on the upcoming November ballot. At the same time, Sen. Joann Ginal and Rep. Alex Valdez, both Democrats, are sponsoring a new bill that would create a panel to study plant medicines in mental health treatment.

Whether it be state lawmakers proposing the formation of working groups for research on these compounds or local governments taking steps to enlist the personal use and possession of entheogenic plants among the lowest law enforcement priorities, America has entered an era of psychedelic drug reform, and its only on the rise.

The Aspen movement was spurred just over a year ago in a city council meeting when Councilmember Skippy Mesirow introduced the idea of psychedelic-assisted therapies as a healing modality amid the communitys mental health crisis.

Pictured is a hut located at the Soltara Healing Center in Costa Rica. Skippy Mesirow experienced his first and second ayahuasca ceremonies within this hut.

It was an offhand comment that I think we should be looking at bringing these incredibly beneficial compounds of healing to our community that is struggling with issues of mental health, suicidality, substance abuse and disconnection, Mesirow said. I expected to get laughed at, and surprisingly, my colleagues were really receptive.

Like Hammel, Mesirows passion and support for the initiative stems from his own life-altering experience with entheogenic plants. Having long suffered from acute and chronic anxiety, Mesirow said he tried out different healing modalities for 15 years.

Three years ago, Mesirow embarked on a weeklong retreat in Costa Rica at the Soltara Healing Center, where he engaged in an ayahuasca ceremony. Ayahuasca which can induce a much more intense experience than mushrooms, Hammel explained is an herbal brew that has been used for ritual and healing purposes since pre-Columbian times.

The ceremonial concoction originated in the Shipibo tribe tradition out of the Amazons Peruvian region. Through a series of ceremonies followed by integration, many Western facilitators understand ayahuasca to clear and cleanse past traumas, to put the entheogen in simple terms.

Mesirow explained that while he did not necessarily uncover a clear answer to the root of his anxiety during the first ceremonies, it was the post-integration work that allowed him to hold onto those learnings, and unknowingly, he had created the environment to answer the question for himself.

The moment you set the intention to work with these plants, they begin to work on you, Mesirow said. But the substances are not the answer in of themselves; theyre a tool or the gateway its the setting, the safety and the integration that allows for them to change lives.

A year later, Mesirow returned to the same retreat in Costa Rica for his second ayahuasca experience, where his intention at that point was to put eyes on his childhood.

He describes this go-around as walking through the Great Library of Alexandria of his own mind, recalling memories that he had blocked out before the age of 13. In this second series of ceremonies, Mesirow said he experienced terrifying moments, followed by a distinct feeling of singularity, in which he said he understood everything he needed to heal.

I may have gotten to where I am now in terms of my well-being without that experience, Mesirow said. But, for me, its been very central to my own healing development it changed my life profoundly.

After Mesirow planted the psychedelic-healing seed at a council meeting last year, council held two public work sessions on the topic. Mesirow brought in neuroscientists, psychiatrists and drug reform activists from all over the country to educate council members on these compounds.

In building this network, one of the organizations Mesirow reached out to was the Center for Medicinal Mindfulness in Boulder, where he connected with Hammel and brought her on board.

A patient undergoes a psychedelic-assisted therapy treatment at the Center for Medicinal Mindfulness in Boulder.

During a council work session held last May, it was apparent not all members were sold on the decrim movement. While there was interest, Mesirow said his colleagues were unsure if council was the right body to be putting this forward. The matter was turned over to Aspen citizens.

We put out the ask to our community to see who would be interested, and it was a huge amount of energy that showed up more than Id ever seen on any other topic, Mesirow said.

Spearheaded by Mesirow and Hammel, the Psychedelic Task Force formed at the start of summer 2021. The working group made up of about 30 community members including Roaring Fork residents outside of Pitkin County met twice a month at the Here House Club in Aspen over the course of eight months.

We opened the first meeting by discussing why we were there, and almost everyone in the room had had their lives saved in some capacity by plant medicines, Hammel said. So there was this deep sense of respect for the medicines, and we wanted to really look at: What is therapeutic use?

Mesirow emphasized the groups focus on therapeutic use, stating that this is the first attempt in the nation a municipal legislation around this movement has been so heavily grounded in the therapeutic and healing benefits of these compounds, he said.

The group came together with a very clear why we have one of the highest suicide rates, substance abuse problems and severe cases of depression and anxiety, Mesirow said. These compounds are showing the most profound ability to mediate, heal and in some instances cure those things plaguing our community.

Another significant discussion Hammel recalls emerging early on in the task force meetings had to do with whether they were looking to decriminalize just psilocybin or all plant medicines.

The thing that we kept coming back to was nobody should ever get arrested for possessing or eating a plant ever, Hammel said.

Through working with activists nationwide and analyzing the language of the Denver petition that led to the capital citys ballot passage three years ago, the local task force crafted a proposed legislation. After undergoing changes and tweaks, the initiated ordinance and petition was finalized in early April and is now circulating in the community. The final version and details on the legislation can be accessed through the Right To Heal Aspen website.

The initiatives three-step framework is rooted in a model Mesirow calls The 5 Ss of Psychedelic Success: screening, set, setting, support and sanctity.

If passed upon voter approval, the ordinance will first establish a six-month advisory committee to develop educational strategies to enable the safe, therapeutic access to plant medicines by adults defined in the document as an individual 21 years of age or older.

Six months after the effective date of the ordinance, plant medicines would then be decriminalized in the city of Aspen. According to the legislation, plant medicines include ayahuasca, ibogaine, dimethyltryptamine (DMT), psilocybin, psilocin and mescaline excluding peyote.

Mayor Torre said that while he supports people using plant-based therapies and is all for the petition process in its intention and essence, he believes the ordinance as drafted could still be improved and hes weary about some of the language.

There should be no mistaking the true intention here, and that true intention is therapeutic use, Torre said. The language that decriminalizes it or deprioritizes it was not language that I thought shouldve been in this ordinance.

Torre also said he thinks the six-month advisory committee should go into effect before the actual ordinance, rather than post-approval, emphasizing that there is more educational work to be done in the community prior to the ordinance potentially passing.

One message that needs to be clear is that there is a difference between using any of these substances recreationally versus therapeutically, there is a difference, Torre said. Simply getting some mushrooms and taking them does not always mean that youre going to be using them positively or effectively for yourself.

Aspen School District Board of Education President Katy Frisch expressed concerns on exactly that point when it comes to the youth community.

Im super nervous about having another substance more accessible to kids, Frisch said. No matter what the ballot language is, theres a lot of possible ways that kids will get their hands on this stuff and wont use it in the right way.

Though the school board has not yet held a meeting to discuss Aspens decriminalization initiative, Frisch anticipates this matter as something they will have to deal with which takes more time away from academics to talk about and implement training around yet another substance that is illegal for kids, and illegal for a reason, she said.

Ive already spoken to admin about if something like this passes, we need to think about what well do from an educational perspective for students and staff, Frisch said. A teacher can probably tell if a student is drunk in class, I dont know whether theyre going to be able to tell if a student has taken this sort of drug.

Frisch said she understands why people support the use of plant medicines for mental health issues among adults, but looking at this from the perspective of how access may impact younger community members, she fears the already appalling drug-use levels will worsen.

I can tell you right now, our self-reported numbers for kids drug and alcohol use are extremely high relative to other parts of the country and even the state, she said. We have a huge substance abuse problem here, and the availability of psychedelic drugs is a big question mark for me.

The psychedelic reform movement elicits many question marks from myriad research fields to the legal and political arenas.

As decriminalization efforts meet success in cities around the country, it is worth noting that psilocybin and other psychedelic drugs are still illegal in those jurisdictions under state law. The term decriminalize is technically inaccurate, according to the psychedelic drug policy reform tracker. Rather, local governments have taken steps to deprioritize enforcing criminal penalties on the city level, and these municipal reforms are progressing in different ways based on different cities motives.

With Aspens focus on therapeutic use, the ordinance language around its decrim initiative involves protecting the use of these plant medicines for therapy by deprioritizing the imposition of criminal penalties on adults for therapeutic use.

According to the proposed legislation, therapeutic use includes the possession, storage, planting, cultivating, transporting and noncommercial sharing of these compounds. This does not include the sale of plant medicines for remuneration. Meaning, unlike marijuana, psychedelics would not be displayed publicly nor sold in stores.

To further support that decrim factor, the Aspen ordinance would prohibit all departments, agencies, boards, commissioners, officers and employees of the city of Aspen from using city resources to assist in the enforcement of criminal penalties on adults for therapeutic use of these plant medicines.

Ninth Judicial Chief Deputy District Attorney Don Nottingham said that if this ordinance were to pass in Aspen, not one thing would change in his jurisdiction. Psychedelics like marijuana are still federally illegal, he said, and from his point of view, they would remain illegal.

Aspen can decriminalize all they want, Nottingham said jokingly. My job is to follow state laws, not city laws.

Nottingham did throw in a comment that of all the substance-use related cases that come to the 9th Judicial District Attorneys Office serving Pitkin, Garfield and Rio Blanco counties a very small percentage of those cases involve psilocybin mushrooms.

Like cannabis, psilocybin is considered a Schedule I drug which the United States Drug Enforcement Administration defines as drugs with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential of abuse.

Signed into law by former President Richard Nixon, the Controlled Substance Act (CSA) of 1970 established this legal framework in efforts to categorize drugs into five schedules based on their medical application and the drugs abuse or dependence potential. According to the legislation, Schedule I drugs are considered to have the highest potential for abuse and the potential to create psychological and/or physical dependence.

The CSA was a precursor to Nixons War on Drugs, which he proclaimed in 1971, followed by other federal funding for drug-control agencies, such as the Drug Enforcement Agency, and strict drug crime measures under the Nixon administration.

In the two decades prior to the War on Drugs which has been largely condemned as a political campaign motivated by racist ideology rather than medical reasons by many social advocacy nonprofits and academics psychedelic research was rampant, and culture followed suit.

The early 1950s saw breakthrough studies on the therapeutic potential of LSD, for instance. Due to the growing anti-drug legislature, these studies were short lived. By the late 1960s, psychedelic research had halted with only hippy counterculture left in its place.

Thoryn Stephens grew up in San Francisco chasing Grateful Dead concerts and Hunter S. Thompsons lore. While plant medicines were an integral part of his life from a young age, Stephens relationship with the compounds changed after a ceremonial experience involving mescaline (peyote) in the upper Amazon jungles of Ecuador.

Fascinated and inspired, Stephens started ordering plant materials from all over the world, studying and extracting these compounds to understand their nature.

I really began to understand the power of these plants as tools, essentially for us as humans, Stephens said. And thats really what drove me to be really interested in science: molecular biology and biotechnology.

Stephens who now lives in Aspen and was a part of the Psychedelic Task Force is the founder and CEO of the newly launched software company, Eve Health Systems. The digital platform uses data to drive measurement-based care involving mental-behavioral health, which includes case management and data analysis of legal psychedelic therapy and studies.

Connected to plant medicines on a professional, scientific and spiritual level, Stephens is well versed in the nationwide research efforts around these compounds. He mentioned the movement with ketamine-assisted therapies in helping veterans, explaining how many companies are in the process of stewarding different psychedelic drugs through clinical trials. MDMA is in phase three trials for post traumatic stress disorder therapies, Stephens adds, and psilocybin is in phase two trials for multiple indications, including depression, alcohol use disorder and anorexia nervosa.

While it could take years of research and clinical trials to prove any potential efficacies of these plant medicines, many are sold on the anecdotal evidence from their own personal experiences.

Seven years ago, Jim Harris was at a music festival in California. He was in his ninth month of recovery following a snowkite accident on the Patagonian Icecap, where he was paralyzed from the waist down. Given the state of his spine, Harris was not able to stand without a walker on the outdoor field where the festival took place his knees would ache and lock out, and he could not lift up his right foot due to his hamstring and glute lacking functionality.

Harris said his friends were getting loose with booze, but at that point, even a small amount of alcohol would have made it difficult for him to be mobile. He ate half of a small chocolate square containing psilocybin mushrooms.

Jim Harris during his journey to recovery following an accident that paralyzed him waist down. Harris, who is now a printmaker living in Carbondale, once made a living as a mountain guide and photographer.

Harris remembers leaning on his walker in the big-open field with his group of friends, about 100 yards from the stage. He recalls admiring the pink cotton candy patterns in the clouds, feeling slightly stoned in the cannabis sense when all of a sudden, he realized that he was able to pick his right foot up off the ground.

Muscles that hadnt worked in nine months since my accident began firing, Harris said. Through the psychedelic state, some part of my brain was tasked with something it hadnt been.

While the experience did not magically fix the injury, Harris said, that one muscle activation persisted and the recruitment of the nerve pathway stayed, which was a major progression for his walking functionality.

Two months ago, Harris attended a conference on psychedelics and chronic pain. One of the researchers brought up the potential for psychedelics among spinal cord injuries. Harris said he was immediately taken back to the moment at the music festival seven years ago.

Right now, there is a lot of focus in the medical world on different psychiatric uses, and my hunch is, it seems there will be emerging interest in psychedelics and pain management, especially neuropathic pain and phantom pains people have from different nerve damage, Harris said. Psychedelics seem like they have promise to rewire some of that pain reception.

Read more here:

Breaking down the decrim movement: Discoveries, doubts and personal ins & outs - Aspen Daily News

Entheogenic use by ancient Aztecs

The ancient Aztecs employed a variety of entheogenic plants and animals within their society. The various species have been identified through their depiction on murals, vases, and other objects.

There are many pieces of archaeological evidence in reference to the use of entheogens early in the history of Mesoamerica. Olmec burial sites with remains of the Bufo toad (Bufo marinus), Maya mushroom effigies,[dubious discuss] and Spanish writings all point to a heavy involvement with psychoactive substances in the Aztec lifestyle.

The Florentine codex contains multiple references to the use of psychoactive plants among the Aztecs. The 11th book of the series contains identifications of five plant entheogens. R. Gordon Wasson, Richard Evans Schultes, and Albert Hofmann have suggested that the statue of Xochipilli, the Aztec 'Prince of Flowers,' contains effigies of a number of plant based entheogens.

The plants were primarily used by the priests, or tlamacazqui, other nobility, and visiting dignitaries. They would use them for divination much as the indigenous groups of central Mexico do today. The priests would also ingest the entheogens to engage in prophecy, interpret visions, and heal.

Ololiuqui (Coatl xoxouhqui) was identified as Rivea corymbosa in 1941 by Richard Evans Schultes. The name Ololiuqui refers to the brown seeds of the Rivea corymbosa (Morning Glory) plant.Tlitliltzin was identified later as being Ipomoea violacea by R. Gordon Wasson. This variation contains black seeds and usually has bluish hued flowers.

The seeds of these plants contain the psychoactive d-lysergic acid amide, or LSA. The preparation of the seeds involved grinding them on a metate, then filtering them with water to extract the alkaloids. The resulting brew was then drunk to bring forth visions.

The Florentine Codex Book 11 describes the Ololiuqui intoxication:

It makes one besotted; it deranges one, troubles one, maddens one, makes one possessed. He who eats it, who drinks it, sees many things which greatly terrify him. He is really frightened [by the] poisonous serpent which he sees for that reason.

The morning glory was also utilized in healing rituals by the ticitl. The ticitl would often take ololiuqui to determine the cause of diseases and illness. It was also used as an anesthetic to ease pain by creating a paste from the seeds and tobacco leaf, then rubbing it on the affected body part.

Called "Teonancatl" in Nahuatl (literally "god mushroom"compound of the words teo(tl) (god) and nancatl (mushroom))the mushroom genus Psilocybe has a long history of use within Mesoamerica.[1] The members of the Aztec upper class would often take teonancatl at festivals and other large gatherings. According to Fernando Alvarado Tezozomoc, it was often a difficult task to procure mushrooms. They were quite costly as well as very difficult to locate, requiring all-night searches.

Both Fray Bernardino de Sahagn and Fray Toribio de Benavente Motolinia describe the use of the mushrooms.[2] The Aztecs would drink chocolate and eat the mushrooms with honey. Those partaking in the mushroom ceremonies would fast before ingesting the sacrament. The act of taking mushrooms is known as monanacahuia, meaning to "mushroom oneself".

Some written observations under the influence of the doctrine of Catholicism account the use of the mushroom among the Montezumanic people. Allegedly, during the emperor's coronation ceremony, many prisoners were sacrificed, had their flesh eaten, and their hearts removed. Those who were invited guests to the feast ate mushrooms, which Diego Durn describes as causing those who ate them to go insane. After the defeat of the Aztecs, the Spanish forbade traditional religious practices and rituals that they considered "pagan idolatry", including ceremonial mushroom use.

Not much is known of the use of sinicuichi (alternate spelling sinicuiche) among the Aztecs. R. Gordon Wasson identified the flower on the statue of Xochipilli and suggested from its placement with other entheogens that it was probably used in a ritualistic context. Multiple alkaloids have been isolated from the plant; with cryogenine, lythrine, and nesodine being the most important.

Sinicuichi could be the plant tonatiuh yxiuh "the herb of the sun" from the Aztec Herbal of 1552. tonatiuh means sun. This is interesting because today in Central and South America, sinicuichi is often called abre-o-sol, or the "sun opener." Tonatiuh yxiuh is described as being a summer blooming plant, as is Heimia.

The Herbal also includes a recipe for a potion to conquer fear. It reads:

Let one who is fear-burdened take as a drink a potion made of the herb tonatiuh yxiuh which throws out the brightness of gold.

One of the effects of sinicuichi is that it adds a golden halo or tinge to objects when ingested.[citation needed]

Tlapatl and mixitl are both Datura species, Datura stramonium and Datura innoxia, with strong hallucinogenic (deliriant) properties. The plants typically have large, white or purplish, trumpet-shaped flowers and spiny seed capsules, that of D. stramonium being held erect and dehisceing by four valves and that of D. innoxia nodding downward and breaking up irregularly. The active principles are the tropane alkaloids atropine, scopolamine, and hyoscyamine.

The use of datura spans millennia. It has been employed by both many indigenous groups in North, Central, and South America for a variety of uses. Called toloache today in Mexico, datura species were used among the Aztec for medicine, divination, and malevolent purposes.

For healing, tlapatl was made into an ointment which was spread over infected areas to cure gout, as well as applied as a local anesthetic. The plants were also utilized to cause harm to others. For example, it was believed that mixitl would cause a being to become paralyzed and mute, while tlapatl will cause those who take it to be disturbed and go mad.

The cactus known as peyotl, or more commonly peyote (Lophophora williamsii), has a rich history of use in Mesoamerica. Its use in northern Mexico among the Huichol has been written about extensively. It is thought that since peyote only grows in certain regions of Mexico, the Aztecs would receive dried buttons through long-distance trade. Peyote was viewed as being a protective plant by the Aztec. Sahagn suggested that the plant is what allowed the Aztec warriors to fight as they did.

R. Gordon Wasson has posited that the plant known as pipiltzintzintli is in fact Salvia divinorum. It is not entirely known whether or not this plant was used by the Aztecs as a psychotropic, but Jonathan Ott (1996) argues that although there are competing species for the identification of pipiltzintzintli, Salvia divinorum is probably the "best bet." There are references to use of pipiltzintzintli in Spanish arrest records from the conquest, as well as a reference to the mixing of ololiuqui with pipiltzintzintli.

Contemporaneously, the Mazatec, meaning "people of the deer" in Nahuatl, from the Oaxaca region of Mexico utilize Salvia divinorum when Psilocybe spp. mushrooms are not readily available. They chew and swallow the leaves of fresh salvia to enter into a shamanic state of consciousness. The Mazatec use the plant in both divination and healing ceremonies, perhaps as the Aztecs did 500 years ago. Modern users of Salvia have adapted the traditional method, forgoing the swallowing of juices due to Salvinorin A being readily absorbed by the mucous membranes of the mouth.

toloatzin (Datura spp.).

Aztecs combined cacao with psilocybin mushrooms, a polysubstance combination referred to as "cacahua-xochitl", which literally means "chocolate-mushrooms".[3]

At the very first, mushrooms had been served...They ate no more food; they only drank chocolate during the night. And they ate the mushrooms with honey. When the mushrooms took effect on them, then they danced, then they wept. But some, while still in command of their senses, entered and sat there by the house on their seats; they did no more, but only sat there nodding.

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Aztec use of entheogens - Wikipedia

This month, the Michigan Board of Canvassers approved a ballot initiative that asks the people of Michigan to decriminalize certain psychedelic plants and fungi. Titled the Michigan Decriminalization of Psilocybin Mushrooms and Other Plants and Fungi Initiative, (the Initiative) the proposal seeks to have Michigan join the ranks of states that have opened up their laws to allow for the use of naturally occurring psychedelics, sometimes called entheogens, and also proposes some interesting changes to the states drug laws that are not necessarily limited to psychedelic plants and fungi. The full text of the Initiative can be found here.

At the core of the Initiative is the addition of a section to Michigans Public Health Code that explicitly decriminalizes the possession, use, cultivation, production, creation, analysis, giving away, and delivery by or between natural persons eighteen (18) years of age or older of psilocybin, psilocyn, ibogaine, mescaline, Peyote, and dimethyltryptamine which the Initiative refers to as natural plants and mushrooms. The proposed new section MCL 333.7462 sets forth provisions applicable both to individuals over the age of 18 and to hospitals and psychiatric hospitals.

In addition to permitting individual use, the Initiative would also allow the provision of supervision, guidance, therapeutic, harm reduction, spiritual, counseling, and related supportive services with or without remuneration by natural persons eighteen (18) years of age and older to natural persons eighteen (18) years of age or older who are engaging in the intentional and consenting use of natural plants and mushrooms. This provision may harbinger the arrival of a new psychedelic-focused business model in Michigan. Specifically, the inclusion within Michigans statutory framework of an acknowledgment that natural plants and mushrooms may be part of the provision of therapeutic, spiritual or, for lack of a better term, wellness servicesfor paywould provide a sound legal foundation upon which businesses centered around the psychedelic experience could be built. A major caveat found in the Initiative, however, is that in order to comply with the law, a business intending to provide such services would have to be designated by a qualifying hospital or psychiatric hospital for that purpose.

The Initiative does not flesh out how businesses would operate, or hospitals make allowance for them. This is a symptom of a wider issue with the Initiative, which is that the proposed new statutory language is relatively brief and thus does not provide the level of clarity or guidance that would-be participants may hope to see. Contrast the Initiatives handful of pages with Oregons Psylocibin Services Act, which clocks in at more than 70 pages and sets forth detailed instructions for the establishment of a regulatory framework within Oregons Health Authority. Note, however, that Michigan law requires the entire text of an initiative to be included on a petition. It should also be noted that two Michigan State Senators co-sponsored a bill in September 2021 that, should it progress through the legislature, would provide a different path towards a legalized entheogen industry. The text of that bill, SB 0631, can be found here.

While the addition of MCL 333.7462 and the related definitional changes throughout the Public Health law are clearly the centerpiece of the Initiative, this ballot proposal also includes changes to the Public Health Law that, if adopted, would signal a significant policy shift by the State of Michigan with respect to the war on drugs. Numerous sections would be amended to dramatically reduce controlled substance-related penalties, lowering fines by orders of magnitude and changing minimum prison sentences from decades to months or less. Relatedly, the Initiative includes a change to the definition of the term drug paraphernalia to specifically exclude testing equipment, products, or materials used, intended for use, or designed for use in identifying or in analyzing the strength, effectiveness, or purity of controlled substances. This is a potentially life-saving change because it would make it easier for opioid users to have and use testing equipment that would allow them to identify whether the substance that they are about to use is tainted with fentanyl, and adjust their use accordingly. While there is some debate over the issue, the availability of such test kits is thought by many in the public health space to reduce unintentional fentanyl overdoses and deaths.

When all is said and done, the Initiative is a first step towards establishing the lawful use of certain psychedelics in Michigan. As more and more studies show that psychedelics can provide dramatic mental health benefits, particularly against major depression and PTSD, the Initiative would provide Michiganders with access to a simultaneously ancient and cutting edge addition to the mental health toolkit. To make the November 2022 ballot, proponents of the Initiative will need to file 340,047 valid signatures by June 1, 2022.

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The Michigan Decriminalization of Psilocybin Mushrooms and Other Plants and Fungi Initiative Has Been Approved For Circulation As A Ballot Initiative...

The Psychedelic Renaissance is propelled by the promise of a planet where hallucinogens can heal us and unspin the ugliness from societys fabric, freeing us from our egos and fostering community. Voices in the psychedelic community sing praises that entheogens open our minds, make us more cooperative, and encourage a left-leaning worldview. This assumption is even supported by a survey co-authored by Dr. Robin Carhart-Harris, head of the Center for Psychedelic Research at Imperial College London. While the study found that psilocybin could decrease authoritarian political views, psychedelics alone cant make the world more inclusive especially when the psychedelic movement historically has its own issues with inclusion.

While their wisdom is astute and their contributions immense, we have to stop exalting the 1960s counterculture whites as the birth of the psychedelic movement. Just as Annais Nin was critical of their appropriative language, we should be, too. Long before the hippie heyday, Indigenous Black and Brown people leveraged psychedelic substances for their healing and community-building powers. Ayahuasca has a long history as an elixir among the Indigenous communities of the Amazon basin, as do magic mushrooms by Mazatec Shamans and Iboga root within the spiritual discipline of Bwiti.

Soon after psychedelics became a symbol of the counterculture, bureaucratic systems labeled these substances as a societal notoriety, belittling the historical use of these substances in indigenous culture. By the 1970s, when antiwar and Black Power movements were gaining momentum, Richard Nixon declared war on drugs. Research into psychedelics shuttered instantaneously, and drugs became a reason to sift Black peoples homes, cars, and persons and put them in prison.

Even as we see sweeping decriminalization of psychedelics, exclusion persists. Leaders built western mental health services with a Eurocentric approach that ignores intersectionality and how race and ethnicity impact mental illness. Underrepresentation of BIPOC remains a problem not only for psychedelic research but in clinical research across the board.

A 2018 research article published in BMC Psychiatry demonstrated that out of 18 U.S. psychedelic trials since 1993, 82.5% of the participants were white. Only 2.2% of participants were Black American, 2.2% Latinx, 1.5% Asian origin, and 4.7% Indigenous.

This oversight is massive especially when you consider the potential psychedelic-assisted therapy holds to treat racial and intergenerational trauma within communities of color. Dr. Monnica T. Williams collaborated with other researchers in 2020 to conduct a cross-sectional online survey of 313 Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) in North America. The results of the study suggest that naturalistic use of classic psychedelics or MDMA is associated with significant reductions in traumatic stress, depression, and anxiety symptoms related to experiences of racism.

During Black History Month and beyond, Psychedelic Spotlight is committed to celebrating and exploring the transformative research the Black community is pioneering in the field of psychedelic therapy and science. Heres a living list of Black psychedelic pioneers working toward collective liberation:

Monnica Williams is a licensed clinical psychologist and Associate Professor at The University of Ottawas School of Psychology. She is also at the forefront of efforts to include people of color and marginalized communities in clinical trials studying the therapeutic effects of psychedelics.

Dr. Williams has said of her mission to explore psychedelic-assisted therapy for racial trauma: I think psychedelic medicine has the potential to help heal the wounds of those suffering from racial trauma and bring healing to the consciousness of those who perpetrate and perpetuate racial violence.

Sara Reed is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. She is also a member of Dr. Williams research team and the Creative Executive Officer of Minds iHealth Solutions. This digital health company facilitates evidence-based and culturally responsible therapy services for underserved groups. Having undergone psychedelic-assisted therapy herself, she writes evocatively of her MDMA therapy session that:

Mea young, black woman, free. No longer bound by the constraints of my political realities, I set sail on a journey that allowed me to reconnect and rest in a place saturated by grace, mercy, and love; I call that place home.

Jamilah R. George is a psychology Ph.D. candidate and preeminent advocate for the mental and holistic wellbeing of disenfranchised groups, including women, people of color, impoverished communities, and any intersection of the above. She fuels her work with her dedication toward social justice and equality in psychedelic science. She was a MAPS-sponsored phase 2 MDMA-assisted psychotherapy co-therapist whose delegation honed in on treatment-resistant PTSD among people of color.

Camille Barton is an artist, educator, and thought leader who leverages Afrofuturism to explore interventions toward total system change. They were previously the project manager of the Psychedelic Medicine and Cultural Trauma Workshop headed by MAPS, which prefaced the first MDMA Psychotherapy training for therapists of color in 2019. You can read their words on drug policy and racial justice in DoubleBlind Magazine, ViceUk, and more.

Like Barton, Ayize Jama-Everett is a multipotentialite, Afrofuturist, and writer. Jame-Everett graduated from the Graduate Theological Union in 2001 with a Masters of Divinity. There, his thesis focused on the spiritual use of substances among homeless youth across Morocco, London, and the Bay Area. Afterward, he started teaching The Sacred and the Substance, one of the inaugural survey courses of sacred plant use at the Graduate Theological Union. Ayize received a Masters degree in Clinical Psychology from New College of California in 2013 before expanding his suite of skills with a Masters in Fine Arts, Creative Writing from The University of California, Riverside.

Like Ayize himself, his books transcend categorization but hold to what he considers the veracity of fictions ability to expose the human condition. In ways, reading his work mirrors a challenging psychedelic experience; expect to meet philosophical questions with uncomfortable answers. This year, he will be working on an upcoming project, A Table of Our Own: a documentary for Black professionals working with sacred plant medicine.

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5 Black Pioneers Combatting the Whitewashing of Psychedelics - Psychedelic Spotlight

The Concordia Mycological Society (CMS) wrapped up its first student-led informational session on January 26, and its safe to say that more than a few people came away as newly minted mushroom-heads. The two-part series set out to demystify fungi, and although myths were dispelled, mushrooms remain as mystical as ever.

Mycological societies have been popping up all over in the last few years, with members going on foraging expeditions and sharing their passion. Part of the mushroom frenzy might be explained by how quickly the field is expanding after a long period of banned or under-funded research. As interest in mushrooms increases, events like the CMS informational sessions are determined to convert us from mycophobia to mycophilia.

Environmental Science student and presenter Francisca Spedding summed up her interest in mycology, the study of fungi: When I was studying biology I just found out how wacky [fungi] are [] and how much potential they have. With a shelf of plants in her zoom background basking in sun-lamps, she gave an overview of fungi, which only became classified differently from plants in the 1960s. In fact, genetic sequencing has revealed that animals are more closely related to fungi than to plants. Spedding explained how fungi can be hard to nail down, ranging from unicellular and invisible to the naked eye, to some of the largest living structures on earth.

What we often think of asmushrooms are really just the reproductive organs, generating spores so prolific and resilient that they can be found inside glaciers, deep sea vents, the stratosphere, and even brain channels. But the vast majority of a mushrooms biomass is underground, in mycelium networks that can move information through an ecosystem so efficiently and expansively that they are now being mapped on a large scale. The symbiotic relationship between mycelium and the roots of plants, referred to as mycorrhiza, make up networks which are exceptional at stabilizing environments and transporting life-sustaining nutrients over vast distances. The way plants communicate through this multispecies network is still being explored. Eugenio Garza, a student specializing in cellular molecular biology, emphasized another way that fungi are instrumental to the survival of our ecosystems. Partially because they are the only major organism that can break down lignin, a component of all vascular plants, fungi are the primary decomposers of plant material on the planet. Digesting their nutrients externally, fungi help with the creation and maintenance of new soil. By offering this key process in the biogeochemical cycle, they recycle the planets limited resources.

Because theyre so diverse, fungi can interact with other species in unpredictable ways. In 2016, two species were discovered to be producing cathinone an amphetamine and psilocybin a hallucinogen in cicadas, sending the insects into a sex-fuelled frenzy. Cordyceps, also known as the zombie fungus, can be detected by ants, who escort any infected ant elsewhere, kill it, and then kill themselves to prevent the colony from being infected.

Mycophiles come from disciplines just as diverse as the fungi they study. Meryem Benallal, political science major and co-founder of CMS, explained how to recognize poisonous mushrooms to avoid mycetism (mushroom poisoning), of which there are around 150 cases in Canada each year. Mycetism has a long list of symptoms that can consist of anything from vomiting, diarrhea, stomach pain, hallucinations, speech impairment, and nausea, to symptoms as deadly as seizures, coma, destruction of muscle tissues, unquenchable thirst, or failure of vital organs. Although treatment has improved, there are still no proven antidotes for mycetism, which in some species can be brought on by a single cap. Despite the lack of funding to support these skills, Benallal noted that mushroom identification can be a lifelong pursuit. Expert and amateur mycologists can draw upon a wealth of experience and information, much of which is drawn from Indigenous peoples and knowledge systems.

Humans have long used fungi for healing, such as in psychedelic-based therapies. Entheogenic mushrooms, discussed by speaker Phillipe Lavoie, are psychoactive mushrooms taken toproduce a mystical or spiritual experience. Psilocybin, the most common entheogen, is found in at least 144 species of mushrooms. Psilocybin has been linked to neurogenesis and an increase in neuronal connections. Attendee Aaron Moore used an analogy of sledding: its easy to fall back into grooves youve already carved in the snow, but psilocybin can provide a fresh layer of powder. This process may allow new habits and behavioral patterns to form.

Some of the first depictions of mushrooms may refer to their entheogenic capabilities. Cave paintings in modern-day Algeria, believed to be 7 to 9 thousand years old, show a connection of mushrooms to the head theorized to represent the perceptual shift they effected on people. In the Americas, many Indigenous populations integrated psilocybin mushrooms into their culture. One Nahuatl word for entheogenic mushrooms is teonancatl, literally god fungus, referring to their ability to establish a link between the divine and the physical. Following the Spanish invasion of the Triple Alliance and surrounding nations in 1519, firsthand reports from European merchants of entheogenic mushroom use preceded Christian condemnation and punishment of the practice, believing the visions brought on to be demonic. This prohibition pushed psychedelic ceremonies underground, and the secret was so closely guarded that among non-Indigenous people in early 20th century Europe and North America it was believed that reports of Indigenous entheogenic mushroom use were mere superstition. It wasnt until 1955 that ethnomycologists Valentina Pavlovna and R. Gordon Wasson traveled to Huautla de Jimnez, Oaxaca, to attempt to understand the spiritual and medical traditions surrounding mushrooms. A pediatrician, Valentina approached the traditions from a medical point of view and posited that if the active agent in these mushrooms could be isolated and a supply assured, it could be a vital tool in the study of psychic processes, as well as help treat drug addiction, mental illness, and terminal diseases. The two experienced a traditional ceremony organized by Mara Sabina, a Mazatec Curandera, or Healer, who used psilocybin mushrooms for a medicinal and spiritual experience of purification and the divine called Velada. Maras natural healing ceremonies were vital to her community. With a boom in psychedelics in the 1960s, Huautla de Jimnez received so much tourism that it raised police suspicions that Mara Sabina was a drug dealer. The high traffic of foreign tourists threatened the Mazatec community, and to Sabina, took the sacredness out of the medicine. She died in extreme poverty, ostracized and largely unrecognized for her contribution to psychedelic history. It was later revealed that Wassons 1956 expedition had been funded by the CIAs mind control project MK Ultra. In 1971, then-president Richard Nixon signed the controlled substances act into law, branding LSD and psilocybin as dangerous, highly addictive, and having no medical benefits, contradicting all previous studies on the substances. As Canada and the UN followed with similarly draconian policies, the psychedelic era came to an end.

Today, entheogens are being researched for use in treating PTSD, depression, substance abuse, end-of-life anxiety, OCD, eating disorders, and Alzheimers disease. Special access programs allow healthcare professionals to request certain drugs that are not usually prescribable if conventional treatment is not a suitable option.

Following an ancient, worldwide tradition of using mushrooms in healing, a wide variety of fungi outside psilocybin mushrooms are being researched for medical use. Hericenones and Erinacines, from Lions Mane mushrooms, induce increases of up to 60.6 per cent nerve growth factor synthesis in nerve cells, which are essential for neuron growth and differentiation. Cordyceps, long used in Ayurvedic medicine, can be used in treating HIV, due to cordycepins immune promoting and anti-inflammatory effects, and in 2017 a study found it could also fight leukemia cells. We could even use fungi to protect ourselves from radiation Cryptococcus neoformans was discovered in 1991 to be uniquely thriving in radioactive conditions, unlike other organisms living in spite of them. As more species are discovered and more genomes sequenced, there is incredible potential for new molecules. Furthermore, metagenomic techniques make it possible to sample genetic material directly from the environment, disrupting fungi as little as possible.

The world of mushrooms is an expansive and rewarding one. You can become a part of it by supporting the decriminalization of psilocybin and sensible drug policy in general. For those interested in ending the stigmatization of the use of psychedelics, the Canadian Psychedelic Association conducts research on psychotherapy and seeks to connect and serve all facets of the psychedelic community and movement in Canada. Canadian Students for Sensible Drug Policy advocate for the decriminalization of drug use and believe that drug use should be an issue of public health, not criminal justice.

For non-Indigenous readers, we can also learn more by respecting Indigenous knowledge systems, and by recognizing traditional medicine and First Nations titles to ecosystem management and regulation.

If you want to get involved yourself, find your nearest mycological society, and when conditions permit, you can meet and share a drink, some knowledge, and head out to forage together. CMS, from whom all of this information was adapted, aims to contribute to a greener future in doing so. By destigmatizing the use of psilocybin and promoting education about the magical world of mushrooms, we can go from mycophobia to mycotopia.

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From Mycophobia to Mycophilia - The McGill Daily - The McGill Daily