June was another busy month for the world of psychedelics. In this post we’re going to cover a bunch of interesting stuff, including an LSD shop operating legally in Berlin, an update on an ayahuasca church’s attempt to get a religious exemption to use the psychedelic drug in America, an app that lets users scan their pills to see what they contain, and much more.
Here is a slimmed-down video recap version that is available for those who prefer an easier-to-digest option:
There’s a lot to get through this month, so without further ado, let’s jump into the news:
Drug Policy
Wins
There were a few more drug policy reform wins this month. Perhaps most impressively, after several years, Mexico’s Supreme Court finally struck down marijuana prohibition in the country after its lawmakers failed to do so. This means that possessing and using cannabis in Mexico will be legal, but establishing a regulated market will take some time.
In the United States, New Mexico’s cannabis legalization law went into effect, making limited possession and cultivation of marijuana legal for adults 21 and over.
Connecticut’s governor signed two bills: one that will prompt the state to study the therapeutic potential of psilocybin mushrooms and another that will enable Connecticut to become the 18th state to legalize cannabis for adults.
Texas’ governor let a bill go through (without signing it) that will require the state to study the therapeutic potential of psychedelics for military veterans.
California’s Senate approved a bill that would decriminalize psychedelics by removing criminal penalties for possessing or sharing this class of drugs, although it still has a few more steps to go before it can be enacted into law.
Rounding out this month’s drug policy wins, Nevada’s governor signed a bill into law that regulates cannabis consumption lounges and Louisiana’s governor signed a marijuana decriminalization bill into law.
Losses
Not everything went smoothly, however. After a four-year wait, the DEA has finally denied a request for religious exemption that was submitted back in 2017 by an ayahuasca church known as Soul Quest. The church has been offering ayahuasca ceremonies in the United States for many years even though it had not previously been given a religious exemption to do so. The DEA’s investigation uncovered concerns about Soul Quest’s safety and security protocols and procedures and the church’s sincerity of religious belief was also questioned.
But the fight isn’t over yet, as there is still a chance that the matter could still be resolved in court. This particular case will be important for the future because it will set a precedent for other churches and religions to use other psychedelics as well, so it’s worth keeping your eyes on this one.
Meanwhile, Delaware’s attempt to legalize cannabis in the state has died for this session, following disagreements regarding social equity initiatives involving the bill.
Future
Looking to the future, a federal drug decriminalization measure was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives. Although it’s unlikely to pass at this time, it’s a sign that our society has come quite a long way when it comes to loosening up its approach to drug policy.
Industry
This next one is quite a doozy. It turns out that Berlin now has an above-ground LSD shop run by one of Donald Trump’s relatives, thanks to a loophole in the law.
Well, kind of… technically the store is selling an LSD analogue known as 1CP-LSD, and owner Carl Trump claims to share a distant relative with former U.S. President Donald Trump, but that relationship has not been officially verified. At any rate, Berliners have had access to legally purchase the psychedelic drug but they better act quickly because Germany has announced plans to make it illegal soon.
In other industry news, the company known as Atai Life Sciences went public on the Nasdaq, raising more than $200 million during its initial public offering. Now Atai is the largest publicly-traded psychedelic company in the world.
After three big IPOs from the top juggernauts in the psychedelic industry (COMPASS Pathways, Field Trip, and now Atai) over the last year, it looks like psychedelics have officially secured their position in mainstream by joining the second-largest stock exchange in the world.
Research
There were a handful of interesting psychedelic research studies that caught my eye this month. First up is a small phase II clinical trial of using nitrous oxide to treat depression where 85 percent of patients saw improvements.
Next up, a study found that psilocybin may be capable of reducing suicidal thoughts in terminally ill patients. It may not come a surprise to the readers of this blog that magic mushrooms have the potential to provide a real sense of hope to a group of people who are in dire need of it. Hopefully psychedelic medicine will be available to them soon.
And some new research on drugged driving was published, this time specifically about operating a motor vehicle after ingesting cannabis. One study found that driving stoned is actually far safer than getting behind the wheel after taking prescription drugs, which really makes me think about how scary it is to be on the road with people who are on medications recommended to them by their doctor that negatively impact their ability to drive. Meanwhile, a separate (federally-funded) study found that testing people for impairment based on their levels of THC is not reliable.
Miscellaneous
Harm reductionists have yet another tool that can be used to help psychonauts use drugs as safely as possible; a new app called Pill-iD lets users scan pills to see what they contain.
However, it’s not a perfect option because rather than find out what’s actually inside a pill, the app instead uses machine learning to cross-check the user’s image against a large database of scanned pills to provide details about what drug is actually contained within, the risk level from taking it, and any potential side effects.
So while it’s not advisable to rely solely on this new app to find out what’s inside your pill, it could help inform naïve users that there is a possibility they might have bought an adulterated drug. As I’ve tried to hammer home over and over again, it’s always advisable to use a reagent test kit to further rule out the possibility that your pills contain unwanted drugs and to properly weigh your substances before you take them.
June brought two new psychedelic holidays that you might consider celebrating next year. The first, on June 12th, could possibly be named “Tram Day” (it doesn’t appear to have an official name yet), celebrates the day when Albert Hofmann’s assistant, Susi Ramstein, became the first woman ever to take LSD.
And the second holiday, on June 20th, was the first annual World Psychedelics Day, which was intended to “recognize a new age of informed perspectives on the beneficial properties of both modern psychedelic compounds and ancient plant medicines and practices.”
Although this year’s celebrations have already passed, you can put both of these new psychedelic holidays on your 2022 calendar so you can celebrate them next year.
Wrapping up this month’s recap is a story about a revolution in drug checking: at-home psilocybin test kits that can test the potency of magic mushrooms. Until now it’s been difficult to determine with any level of accuracy the amount of psilocybin in a batch of shrooms but this new technology will give anyone the ability to find that out for themselves.
That’s all for this month’s update. Remember to always test and weigh your drugs and until next time—keep thinking wilder.
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