This Week in Psychedelics

FDA to consider MDMA-assisted therapy as a treatment for PTSD. Arizona takes first step towards legalizing psychedelic mushrooms.

February 16, 2024

This Week...

Arizona lawmakers took the first steps to legalize the use of psychedelic mushrooms in the Grand Canyon State under controlled circumstances.

The unanimous vote by the Senate Committee on Health and Human Services comes 14 years after Arizona voters approved the use of marijuana for medical purposes, and four years after that drug was legalized for recreational purposes.

Sen. T.J. Shope said his Senate Bill 1570 is not legalization but instead a way of providing treatment in a clinical setting for those struggling with conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental health issues. Here’s more: https://tucson.com/news/state-regional/government-politics/arizona-legislature-ptsd-therapy-psilocybin-psychedelic-mushrooms-mdma-workers-comp/article_d04cf34c-ca88-11ee-83eb-af2fa5a3bd50.html

The FDA agreed to review MDMA-assisted therapy as a potential treatment option for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and the application has been granted priority status, according to Lykos Therapeutics, which submitted the new drug application for MDMA in combination with psychotherapy.

The FDA granted it priority review and has since set a target date for determination by August 11.  Check it out: https://www.marijuanamoment.net/fda-grants-priority-review-of-mdma-assisted-therapy-for-ptsd-psychedelics-drug-development-company-says/

Mindbio Therapeutics announced the completion of its Phase 2a clinical trial in patients with Major Depressive Disorder.

What makes this particularly interesting is that this is the first time we’ve seen Phase 2a clinical trials with regulatory approval for take-home use and handling of a psychedelic medicine by trial patients. In this case, it’s a proprietary titratable form of LSD in microdoses called MB2201. Here’s more: https://www.mindbiotherapeutics.com/updates/mindbio-completes-world-first-take-home-phase-2a-microdosing-depression-trial

Did You Know?

Did you know that Saskatchewan was once a hub for psychedelics research?

In the 1950s, at the Weyburn Mental Hospital in Saskatchewan, research on LSD was actually 

tasked to find a cause and a cure for schizophrenia, although schizophrenic patients were not given dosages. Instead, doctors and nurses took the drug in order to feel what it was like to have hallucinations that could lead to more empathy or even, possibly, a cure. Here’s what happened: 

https://www.vice.com/en/article/wd7mq4/what-it-was-like-being-a-test-subject-in-saskatchewans-lsd-experiments