Psychedelics Headlines: A Form Of Life, Treating Chronic Pain, Microdosing And More

Welcome to Benzinga’s psychedelic headlines roundup. This is our pick of must-read news items from the last two weeks of March 2024.

See previous edition Psychedelics Headlines: Substitution Survey, Frank Herbert’s Magic Mushrooms, Celestial Plans And News Review

Research

• Psychedelic Therapy as a Form of Life (original read,)
• Scoping Review: The Role of Psychedelics in the Management of Chronic Pain (original read.)
• Improvements in well-being following naturalistic psychedelic use and underlying mechanisms of change in older adults: A prospective cohort study (original read.)
• Effects of discontinuation of serotonergic antidepressants prior to psilocybin therapy versus escitalopram for major depression (original read.)
• Exploring the discourses around microdosing psychedelics within the r/microdosing online community (original read.)
• UK medical students’ self-reported knowledge and harm assessment of psychedelics and their application in clinical research: a cross-sectional study (original read.)
• Cultural Divergence in Psychedelic Use among Medical Students: An ESPAD-Adapted Survey among Poles and Iraqis (original read.)
• Structure-activity relationships of serotonergic 5-MeO-DMT derivatives: insights into psychoactive and thermoregulatory properties (original read.)
• Safety pharmacology of acute psilocybin administration in healthy participants (original read.)
• First Proof that Psilacetin is a Prodrug of Psilocin, coverage by Psychedelic Science Review.

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Tune In, Get Smart

• "The Psychedelic Evangelist," on belated, respected field researcher Dr. Roland Griffiths by The New York Times (read.)
• "The FDA Backdoor to MDMA Rescheduling," by Vincent Joralemon for Harvard's Petrie Flom Center (read.)
• "‘Get on Your Knees' -Alberta Cops Raid Home Over Ayahuasca Delivery," by Mattha Busby for Filtermag (read.)
• "Cops Demand Access to Psychedelic Assisted Treatment at the United Nations," by Drogriporter (read.)
• "RFK Jr’s maloca of mystical politics" (read) and "Five reservations about psychedelic therapy," by researcher Jules Evans (read.)
• "Through the Psychedelic Looking Glass," by Winston Ross for New Lines mag (read.)
• "Psychedelic Theodicy – Denying Psychedelics' Potential for Harm," By Sam Woolfe for The Chemical Collective (read.)
• Cognitive impairment, dementia, Alzheimer's and psychedelics: 5 Questions for researcher Albert Garcia-Romeu by The Microdose (read.)
• Spiritual Health Practitioners Bring ‘Unique, And Uniquely Valuable' Expertise To Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy, Study Says – by Marijuana Moment (read.)
• "The Teachings of the Chacruna Plant," by DoubleBlind (read.)
• "The Importance of Ethnobiology:  Ayahuasca Sustainability, Biognosis, and a Balanced Coexistence between Humanity and Nature," by Michael Coe for the McKenna Academy (read.)
• BBC's "People Fixing the World" podcast episode on magic mushrooms and mental health (listen.)
• Psychedelics Today's new podcast episode: "Reflections from Shulgin Farm: Psychedelics, Legacy, and the Spirit of Discovery" (listen.)
• Prof. David Nutt discussed the roadblocks and breakthroughs in psychedelic therapy at Mind Body Health & Politics podcast (listen.)
• New Stanford survey aims to understand more about people's exposure to media related to psychedelics (participate.)

Panorama Pulse

• Usona Institute announced the launch of its Phase 3 clinical trial on psilocybin as Major Depressive Disorder treatment.
• Rose Hill has partnered with the University of Guelph to research psilocybin mushrooms' potential for autism in the adolescent brain.
• Compass Pathways CMPS board chair and co-founder George Goldsmith and co-founder Ekaterina Malievskaia have stepped down from the board of directors.
• Cybin CYBN announced the closing of its oversubscribed private placement of $150 million.
• Cortexa would be the first clinic to supply psilocybin under the Australian Authorized Prescriber's Scheme.
• Filament Health FLHLF announced it is now shipping its botanical psilocybin to four countries for clinical research purposes.
• FSD Pharma HUGE and iNGENu CRO signed an agreement to conduct a clinical study on the safety and efficacy of multiple ascending doses of Lucid-21-302 (Lucid-MS.)
• Red Light Holland TRUFF Happy Caps’ mushroom home-grow kits are now available in over 270 retail stores across Canada. MISTERCAP was selected by Urban Outfitters for nationwide distribution.
• Clearmind Medicine’s CMND psychedelic-based treatment was granted a divisional patent approval in China, plus the company submitted an international patent application for preventing and treating depression.
• PharmAla's MDXXF novel MDMA-like molecule a P-1 received patent allowance from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
• Silo Pharma SILO filed a U.S. patent covering its ketamine implant targeting fibromyalgia and chronic pain.

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