The state of Kentucky announced that it’s taking $42 million from its portion of an opioid settlement to fund psychedelic research, specifically ibogaine for the treatment of opioid addiction. The good folks at Reason for Hope were instrumental in educating Kentucky lawmakers on the policy reform necessary to make this happen. Here’s more: https://www.marijuanamoment.net/gop-kentucky-attorney-general-launches-psychedelics-research-effort-supported-by-42-million-in-opioid-settlement-funds/

During a meeting for EU policymakers in the European Parliament, an Action Group for the Medical Use of Psychedelics was launched. The new group will work to bring together members of the European Parliament to promote the development of new EU policies and regulations that will pave the way for equitable access to affordable and safe novel psychedelic-assisted treatments in the EU. Check it out: https://parea.eu/mep-action-group

To date, there’s been little research involving the pharmacological, physiological and phenomenological differences of mescaline, LSD, and psilocybin. So we were very excited to see a new study this week in the Journal of Psychopharmacology that investigated these differences. Does Mescaline last longer than LSD? Does LSD circulate oxytocin similarly to psilocybin? Click here to see the results: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41386-023-01607-2

Did you know that Lewis Lapham, editor of Harper's Magazine, visited the Stanford Research Institute in 1959 to take LSD with Beat poet Allen Ginsburg? He documented his experience, writing, “I encountered heavy turbulence. Images inchoate and nonsensical, my arms and legs seemingly elongated and embalmed in grease...” An intense experience, to be sure. You can read more about Lapham’s experience, and why he believes the war on drugs is a war on human nature, in his own words, here: https://tomdispatch.com/lewis-lapham-drugs-and-the-national-security-state/