Psychedelics Headlines: Magic Mushrooms For Sexual Wellbeing, The DEA's Stance, The Therapist's Role & More

Welcome to Benzinga's weekly psychedelics news roundup. We have pulled together several must-read news items from the last week of December 2023 and the first of January 2024. 

Research

• Disorders due to substance use: Hallucinogens and MDMA-related substances (read).

• MDMA-assisted therapy for borderline personality disorder (read).

• Unintentional ketamine overdose via telehealth (read).

• Preliminary evidence for the importance of therapeutic alliance in MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for posttraumatic stress disorder (read).

• UK medical students’ self-reported knowledge and harm assessment of psychedelics and their application in clinical research: a cross-sectional study (read).

• Commentary: “ARC: a framework for access, reciprocity and conduct in psychedelic therapies” (read).

• Gilgamesh Pharmaceuticals' first peer-reviewed publication for GM-1020, an oral ketamine analog designed for reduced dissociative/sedative properties potentially suitable for at-home use (read).

• Beckley Foundation’s report on “Reversing The Exploitation Of Amazonian Indigenous Peoples: Drug Trafficking And Extractive Economies In Peru” (read).

• ‘Anonymous Curanderas’ are helping women in their community address trauma from domestic violence (read).

Tune In, Get Smarts

• Drug Science’s new podcast “Psilocybin for sexual wellbeing and relationships” with researcher Tommaso Barba (listen).

• TTBOOK’s interview with Robin Carhart-Harris “Magic mushrooms and the 'entropic brain'” (listen).

• Researcher Nick Jikomes’ conversation with anesthesiologist & neuroscientist Dr. Alex Proekt "Consciousness, Anesthesia, Coma, Vegetative States, Sleep Pills (Ambien), Ketamine, AI & ChatGPT" (listen).

• Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research’s new survey study of people with hallucinogen-persisting perception disorder (HPPD) (participate). 

• Chacruna Institute’s 2024 courses on psychedelic justice and call for submissions for “Global History of Psychedelics.”

TL;DR (Too Long; Didn’t Read)

• The DEA confirmed that psychedelic mushroom spores are federally legal prior to germination (read).

• Optimi Health OPTHF received a precursor license for MDMA formulation. The company reportedly completed the encapsulation of 40mg & 60mg dosage formats.

• PharmAla Biotech Holdings PMBHF filed its audited yearly financials (period ended Aug. 31, 2023).

• Dutch Minister of Health Ernst Kuipers announced he will provide €1.6 million for future research on psychedelic-assisted therapy in the Netherlands (read).

• Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema backs drug reform and calls on an international conference to explore alternatives to prohibition (read).

• Prof. David Nutt’s new book “Psychedelics, The Revolutionary Drugs That Could Change Your Life - A Guide from the Expert” is out in the U.S. and published by Hachette.

Dr. Frederick Barrett, Director of Johns Hopkins Psychedelics Research Center, was appointed as the next Oliver Lee McCabe Professor in the Neuropsychopharmacology of Consciousness (preceded by Dr. Roland Griffiths).