Psychedelics Headlines: Substitution Survey, Frank Herbert's Magic Mushrooms, Celestial Plans And News Review

Welcome to Benzinga's psychedelic headlines roundup. This is our pick of must-read news items concerning the first two weeks of March 2024.

See previous edition Psychedelics Headlines: Predicting Readiness, Correcting The Hype, Good And Bad Drugs, Training Programs And More.

Research

• The therapeutic alliance between study participants and intervention facilitators is associated with acute effects and clinical outcomes in a psilocybin-assisted therapy trial for major depressive disorder (original read.)
• Review: Making sense of psychedelics in the CNS (original read.)
• The effect of psilocybin on empathy and prosocial behavior: a proposed mechanism for enduring antidepressant effects (original read.)
• Perceived attachment history predicts psychedelic experiences: A naturalistic study (original read.)
• Psychiatric risks for worsened mental health after psychedelic use (original read.)
• Psychedelic substitution: altered substance use patterns following psychedelic use in a global survey (original read.)
• Diminished psychedelic returns on distress: Marital status and household size (original read.)

Tune In, Get Smart

• Mushroom Extract Outperforms Synthetic Psilocybin in Psychiatric Therapy, by Neuroscience News (read.)
• UN Body Reaffirms that Marijuana Legalization Violates International Treaties while Addressing Germany Cannabis Reform and U.S. Psychedelics Movement, by Marijuana Moment (read.)
• Bioethics, Psychedelic Therapy Abuse, and the Risk of Ethics Washing, by Harvard's Petrie Flom Center (read.)
• Psychedelic Lobbying and Regulatory Capture, by Vincent Joralemon for Petrie Flom (read.)
• Frank Herbert's Magic Mushrooms and the Psychedelic Science Behind Dune, by The Telegraph (read.)
• AA Founder Bill Wilson Did Not Use Psychedelics to Get Sober, by the Chemical Collective (read.)
• Psychedelic Legacies of American Religion: A review of Psychedelic Cults and Outlaw Churches by Mike Marinacci, by Psychedelic Press (read.)
• New Mexico Is a Psychedelic Hologram of Ancient Origins and People, by DoubleBlind Mag (read.)
• Psychedelic Therapy: Empowering Ukraine's Mental Health Frontlines, by The Dales Report (read.)
• Ketamine Clinics Diverge from APA Recommendations, by Medpage Today (read.)
• China's Emerging Psychedelic Scene Looks a Lot Like Silicon Valley, by Vox (read.)
• Navigating Legal Clarity on Ayahuasca in Portugal, by The International Center for Ethnobotanical Education, Research and Service (ICEERS) (read.)
• Cocaine Use Doubles in NZ: ‘A Big Change in a Short Space of Time’, by RNZ (read.)
• ‘In a Way, Stigma is the Leading Cause of Death': The Radical Plan to Tackle British Columbia's Overdose Epidemic by The Guardian (read.)
• "The Tao of the Wisdom Warrior" – The McKenna Academy's podcast with Tom Pinkson (listen.)
• New podcast by Plantscendence hosted by filmmaker Jon Reiss is out, with James Fadiman featuring within the first episodes (listen.) 
• Opioid scientist at Johns Hopkins Medicine and Maryland Opioid Research Kelly Dunn will speak at nonprofit Innovations for Substance Use Disorders next webinar on March 21 (register.)
• UC Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics (UC-BCSP) is hosting an online event on contemporary psychedelic research on March 27 (register.)
• Music for Psychedelic Integration with Jon Hopkins, Dr. Rosalind Watts and the Acer Community is taking place online April 4 (register.)
• MAPS is celebrating its 38th anniversary on April 8 with a total solar eclipse at the Texas Eclipse 2024 (details.)
• The Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute is launching a course on The Role of Psychoanalysis in Psychedelic Assisted Psychotherapy, starting April 9 (details.) 
• UK nonprofit Drug Science's Women in Psychedelics online webinar is taking place April 11 (register.)
• Livestream tickets for Breaking Convention's 2024 edition taking place April 20 are available (details.)
• Chacruna Institute's Annual Spring Conference on Plant Medicines & Psychedelic Science will take place in San Francisco's Brava Theater on April 27-28 (details.)
• Applications are open for Harvard Law School Center's three-day Psychedelics Bootcamp 2024 on legal, ethical and policy issues surrounding psychedelics in medicine and society until March 31 (details.)
• Applications are open for the 2024-2025 Certificate in Psychedelic-Assisted Therapies and Research at California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) until April 22, scholarships available (details.)
• UK's Leeds Beckett University is conducting a survey on experienced deep personal transformation/profound change in worldview as a result of engaging with self-development via meditation, psychedelics or other transpersonal practices (contact.) 

Panorama Pulse

• Clearmind Medicine CMND obtained clearance for its psychedelic-based alcoholism clinical trial in Israel, and received approval for a voluntary delisting of its common shares from the CSE.
• atai Life Sciences ATAI announced the first participant was dosed in its Phase 1b trial of VLS-01.
• BetterLife's BETRF 2-Bromo-LSD for treatment of depression was highlighted by Carleton University in a recent article.
• Numinus Wellness NUMIF provided a corporate update.
• Enveric Biosciences ENVB announced new patent issuances protecting multiple assets covered by non-binding term sheets.
• FSD Pharma HUGE submitted a Phase 1b clinical trial application to the Ethics Committee for its proprietary beverage unbuzzd, and presented positive results on its first clinical study of Lucid-21-302 (Lucid-MS) at the ACTRIMS forum.
• Canadian biotech Apex Labs filed for a U.S. patent protecting its psychedelic drug delivery system.
• Beckley Waves celebrates a year of milestones including $3.3 million in new funding, 200 retreat participants, the inaugural cohort of therapist training and the acquisition of ketamine therapy provider Nue Life.
• Psilocybin producer Rose Hill is paving the way with innovative geo-thermal cultivation enhancements in Jamaica.
• Optimi Health’s OPTHF psilocybin cultivation and analytical lab was showcased at Growing Exposed (Season 4, Ep. 4).