Psyched: DEA Boosts Research Production, Booker's Psychedelics Reform, Kanye West's George Floyd Comments And More

DEA Boosts Production Of Cannabis & Psychedelics For Research In 2023

The DEA is proposing that 6.7 million grams (14,770 pounds) of marijuana be grown for research, more than double the amount suggested for 2022 (3.2 million grams). 

The agency also raised the quota for “all other THC” to 15,000 grams from previously 2,000 grams, indicating the popularity and therefore the need for research into cannabinoids like delta-8 THC, and delta-10.

As for psychedelics, the DEA has been raising production quotas over the last couple of years, but has now proposed to keep the same 8,000-gram quota for psilocybin as in 2022, while doubling the production of other important components of magic mushrooms (such as psilocin) from 4,000 to 8,000 grams, raising productions of LSD from 500 grams to 1,200, of 5-MeO-DMT from 2,550 grams to 6,000 and of manufactured mescaline from 100 grams to 1,200.

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Cory Booker: 'Safe And Effective Treatments' With Psychedelics, Calls For Reform

Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) is pushing for a reform to broaden therapeutic access to psychedelics for people with mental health conditions. He recently called attention to the fact that while psychedelics still remain a Schedule I drug that limits research, ongoing studies are bringing about “massive breakthroughs.” 

“The war on drugs, we know, was a failure. It wasn’t a war on drugs. It was a war on people, especially vulnerable people. Well now, we see that some drugs, like certain psychedelics, can help vulnerable people deal with their addiction, their trauma, their anxiety, their depression and more,” Booker said.

On July 2022, bipartisan lawmakers including Senators Cory Booker (D-NY), Rand Paul (R-KY) and Reps. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) and Nancy Mace (R-SC)- sent companion bills clarifying that federal Right to Try (RTT) laws that give terminally-ill patients access to Schedule I substances including marijuana and psychedelics. 

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Kanye West: George Floyd Died From Fentanyl, Family Sues Over 'Repugnant' Comments

Kanye West claimed that George Floyd died of fentanyl rather than suffocated on live TV by a Minneapolis policeman. Floyd’s family says they will file a $250 million lawsuit against West.

Speaking on hip-hop podcast Drink Champs, West said it wasn't Derek Chauvin’s knee on Floyd's neck for 9½ minutes that killed him, but that he died from fentanyl use. Chavin was found guilty on all counts in George Floyd's murder in April 2021. 

"Kanye's comments are a repugnant attempt to discount George Floyd's life and to profit from his inhumane death," said Floyd family Attorney Pat D. Dixon III, per NPR. "We will hold Mr. West accountable for his flagrant remarks against Mr. Floyd's legacy."

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The Milestone Round

Each week, we learn about new clinical trials, the creation of psychedelic-based compounds and novel potential treatments for those suffering from mental and physical health conditions.

Here are several important announcements on funding. A German precision psychiatry company got former Deutsche Bank DB CEO and Real Madrid player Toni Kroos to participate in its $14 million investment fund, a new NYC and Cambridge-based psychedelics company launched with a $22 million Series A financing towards developing novel genetic engineering with psychoactive compounds, a nonprofit addressing harm reduction and enhanced quality of life for people with opioid addiction successfully raised funds to advance “psychedelics as medicine” clinical research protocol, and a venture studio launched a crowdfunding campaign to expand people’s relation with the psychedelics industry.

In the legal arena, Australia locally decriminalized a list of drugs including some psychedelics, somehow joining the Canadian province Alberta which recently passed a measure to regulate psychedelic-assisted therapies. 

In the U.S., the November ballot will be heated as quite a few states will decide whether to legalize marijuana and psychedelics and one governor seems hesitant in his support. 

Business highlights last week included the purchase of U.K. superfoods company by a wellness firm backed by Dr. Deepak Chopra to further participate in the growing global market, a short-acting psychedelics company’s posting of its latest financial results and newly granted USPTO patent, and the immersion of a cannabis company within the psychedelics space by obtaining a Health Canada license for psilocybin.   

Last, last week several compelling clinical trials got underway. The list includes a UK university study addressing the origin of the mushrooms’ psychedelic compounds that could hold far-reaching consequences for the medical field, a novel clinical trial co-organized between the University of Texas and a veterans’ nonprofit on psilocybin and 5-MeO-DMT as potential treatments for prolonged grief, a Phase 1 study assessing a company’s novel direct-to-brain drug delivery tech, the continuation of Columbia University-led research targeting Alzheimer’s and stress-induced disorders with ketamine therapy. 

Psychedelics EFTs Weekly Performance

This is how the sector’s major EFTs performed in the week spanning October 17 to 21.

• AdvisorShares Psychedelics PSIL opened Monday, Oct. 17 at $2.57, slightly lower than the prior week’s start at $2.80 on Monday 10, fell to $2.45 midweek and closed at $2.44 (Thursday 20). On Friday 21, the price was around $2.47. 

• The Elemental Advisors PSYK EFT PSYK opened Monday 17 at $17.57 (the week’s highest,) considerably lower than the previous week’s opening at $18.40. Price fell on Wednesday 19 to $16.91 and has been in the stable low value of $16.86 ever since.  

For this EFT, the yearly price range is between $23.32 and $16.71.