Psyched: States With Psychedelics Legalization Bills, Next-Gen Molecule For Addiction Treatment And More

Legalizing Psychedelics From New York To Washington And Five In Between: Which State Will Go First?

Legislators in seven U.S. states are introducing psychedelics bills as they seek to emulate measures that have been approved in Oregon and Colorado. 

From state-regulated psychedelic therapy programs to the legalization of Schedule I substances, the spectrum is broad. We can only hope that they will bring a good dose of debate to the table.

Illinois’ new Compassionate Use and Research of Entheogens (CURE) Act would create a state-regulated psychedelic-assisted therapy program for adults over 18.

Therapy would be provided by a trained facilitator at a licensed service center, and criminal penalties for psilocybin possession would be removed, though it does not allow recreational sales.

Virginia has two psychedelic reform pieces. 

HB 1513 would legalize psilocybin possession for holders of a health professional prescription for the treatment of three conditions (refractory depression, PTSD or end-of-life anxiety) protect doctors and pharmacists distributing the psychedelic from prosecution, and amend state drug laws making non-medical possession of psilocybin a class 2 misdemeanor.

This proposal has recently been turned down by Virginia legislators, as they ultimately decided to lay it on the table.

SB 932 requests state-level reclassification of psilocybin from Schedule I to Schedule III. It also calls stipulates a new state psilocybin advisory board must develop a long-term strategic plan for establishing therapeutic access to psilocybin services.

Continue reading on the other proposals -New York, Washington, Connecticut, New Hampshire and Arizona’s- with exclusive comments by specialized cannabis and psychedelics lawyer Joshua Kappel.

Finally, two other states are moving towards psychedelics decriminalization: a Missouri bill would legalize psilocybin therapy, while New Jersey’s psilocybin for health and wellness proposal got additional support.

Next-Generation Psychedelics: The Case Of MEAI And Its Potential To Treat Addiction

Increasing evidence of psychedelics’ potential for benefiting both mental and physical health conditions is moving biotech companies and scientists in the sector to major innovative heights.

Psychedelic science is growing in terms of treatment specificity, as each novel or classical compound targets and aims to ameliorate or cure particular health conditions. Towards this goal, researchers are working to develop substances that hold on to the benefits and let go of the side effects of original, "first-generation" psychedelic substances.

This is what a common definition of next-generation psychedelics looks like.

In order to help familiarize our readers with this new field, Benzinga interviewed the CEO and regulatory development advisor of an Israeli-based psychedelics company, which is researching addiction treatment with a molecule called MEAI.

Clearmind Medicine Inc. CMND, which began operations in May 2021, is led by CEO Dr. Adi Zuloff-Shani, Ph.D., a biomedical research and development executive with 20 years experience in strategic and operational leadership in the healthcare industry.

The company has recently obtained further positive results on its trial assessing the treatment of cocaine addiction and has teamed up for research and development projects on additional next-gen psychedelics with a renowned Israeli university. 

Continue reading Part 1 and Part 2 of this series.

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.

News included several partnerships and new businesses -see Red Light Holland TRUFF, Core One Labs CLABF, Optimi Health OPTHF- including magic mushrooms export to a UK-based research facility, and corporate moves towards patents and FDA special designation granting -see Mindset Pharma MSSTF, PharmaTher Holdings PHRRF.

On the other hand, psychedelics company Numinus Wellness NUMIF shared its 2023’s first quarter financials -see Benzinga’s analysis here - and provided an update on its latest business decisions, while a new report estimates the value of the psychedelics global market to become $12 billion by 2029.

As for psychedelics studies, Cybin CYBN’s sponsored wearable technology trial provided pretty good results as did the one designed by MAPS PBC testing the effects of MDMA for severe PTSD through neuroimaging, while an Australian trial on psilocybin for anxiety is set to post findings.

Other research-related news this week involved an approved clinical study designed by partners Filament Health FLHLF and a Danish psychiatric center. They began the dosing stage for two trials: assessing the treatment of stroke and focusing on a novel, non-hallucinogenic LSD-based compound. 

Last, some advice on how to talk to your teens about psychedelics and other drugs from one of our partners.

See Also: Last Week's Edition Of 'Psyched'

Psychedelics EFTs Weekly Performance

This is how the sector’s major EFTs performed in the week spanning January 17-20.

• AdvisorShares Psychedelics PSIL opened Tuesday, Jan. 17 at a solid $2.29 (compared to the prior week’s opening at $2.00). The uptrend held throughout the week and finally closed at $2.21 on Friday, Jan. 20, higher than the prior week’s closing at $2.13.
  For this EFT, the yearly price range was once between $6.26 and $1.82, had been changed to $5.75 as the highest and $1.79 as the lowest, and is now set between $5.24 and $1.79.

The Elemental Advisors PSYK EFT PSYK opened Tuesday, Jan. 17 at $18.24, certainly better than the prior week’s opening at $16.75. That remained pretty constant during the week, closing at $18.39 on Friday, Jan. 20, an improvement from prior closing at $18.24.
For this EFT, the yearly price range was set between $23.32 and $16.70, and now the lowest price has been adjusted to $16.28.