DoubleBlind Mag Weekly Recap: The LSD Holiday, DMT-Based Addiction Treatment, And Shrooms Vs. Acid

Welcome to Benzinga Cannabis' DoubleBlind Mag Weekly Recap, a look at the top stories of the week on DoubleBlind Magazine.

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Bicycle Day: Demons, Milk, and “Medicine for the Soul”

A brief history on Albert Hofmann's botched experiment with LSD that sparked a cultural phenomenon.

By James McClure

Every year on April 19th, devoted psychonauts celebrate Bicycle Day—the LSD holiday, akin to 4/20 for cannabis. But the very first Bicycle Day was nothing to celebrate for Albert Hofmann, the Swiss scientist who discovered LSD’s hallucinatory effects after accidentally dosing himself with acid. At one point, Hofmann was convinced he would not survive the ordeal that would become the basis for the holiday—and yet, dozens of trips later, he’s called it a tool for human evolution.

Find out why in our brief history of Bicycle Day.

Hofmann Invented LSD to Treat Heart and Lung Issues

The history of Bicycle Day begins in 1938, when Hofmann, who was working in the pharmaceutical department of Sandoz Laboratories in Basel, first synthesized LSD from ergot, a fungus that commonly grows on grains of rye. At the time, Hofmann had no idea that LSD had psychedelic effects. In fact, he was hoping that it would be a useful analeptic, a type of stimulant for treating respiratory and circulatory problems. 

Since analeptics were often used to help people recover from anesthesia, Hofmann’s lab began testing LSD on sedated animals. The new drug made the sleeping subjects twitch a bit, but nothing more, so the lab shelved the experiment and all other tests on LSD. 

Hofmann wouldn’t touch the substance again for another five years, but when he did, it changed his life and revolutionized psychedelic science. 

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This Startup is Developing a DMT-Based Addiction Treatment

Does pharmaceuticalizing the DMT experience make it more accessible, or detract from the therapeutic value of ego death and mysticism?

By Danielle Simone Brand

DMT (N-dimethyltryptamine) is known to occasion among the most intense of psychedelic experiences: For some it offers a blastoff into another dimension, an opportunity to “meet God”—or aliens. It can be transformative, mystical, or scary, but the effects only last about half an hour. DMT is also present in ayahuasca, although in this case, the experience is elongated over a few hours. The space-and-time bending effects can be followed by profoundly positive changes for the experiencer. Seeking freedom from addiction, depression, or grief, many have flocked to Amazonian ayahuasca retreats in recent years to consult plant medicine and the curanderos and curanderas who keep it. 

Timothy Ko, CEO of Entheon Biomedical, a Vancouver-based startup seeking to develop psilocybin- and DMT-based addiction treatments, tells DoubleBlind he had a transformative experience with DMT about five years ago that brought him out of a kind of depression that “felt like drowning.” Emerging with a renewed sense of meaning, he went on to create what he describes as a more reflective and integrated life. With psychedelics, he says, “there’s a re-wiring that takes place.” 

Ko’s brother, who suffered from trauma and addiction—and fatally overdosed in 2019—didn’t have access to DMT. But soon, perhaps, more people with addiction and serious mental health challenges will benefit from psychedelic-assisted therapy. Entheon is working with a team of scientists, including three well-known psychedelic researchers—Matthew Johnson at Johns Hopkins, Robin-Carhart Harris at Imperial College London, and Christopher Timmerman, also at Imperial College—to develop, test, and gain approval from Health Canada for a therapeutically-focused, synthetic DMT that can be given in clinical settings for treating addiction.

The relationship between psychedelics and addiction is an ongoing area of investigation. For instance, institutions like the Center for Psychedelics and Consciousness Research at Johns Hopkins study psilocybin, the psychedelic compound in magic mushrooms, and its potential to help people with addiction, anxiety, and other conditions. A 2020 scholarly review shows that DMT may work through similar pathways as psilocybin—involving serotonin and glutamate receptors to curb addictive behaviors, while promoting qualities such as openness, empathy, and positive mood. 

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Shrooms vs. Acid

Psilocybin mushrooms and LSD are among the most popular of the classic psychedelics, but do you know the difference in each of their effects?

By Jeff Lebowe

Magic mushrooms and acid are among the most well known of the classic psychedelics, but oftentimes, those who are curious to trip for the first time may not fully understand the difference between the two. For starters, mushrooms (“shrooms” for short) are an organic psychedelic that grows from the ground (although synthetic versions of their main component, psilocybin, are being used in clinical trials). Acid, or LSD (lysergic-acid-diethylamide), on the other hand, is a synthetic compound (although it can also be derived from the ergot fungus), and occasions a trip that lasts about twice as long as shrooming. 

That said, a trip is a trip is a trip, and so it’s not surprising that many substances classified as “psychedelics” share significant traits, such as a similar molecular structure, a lack of addictive potential, and antagonistic function on the 5-Hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) receptor group, which causes an excess of serotonin in the synaptic cleft between neurons. Perhaps due to these similarities, the phenomena of “a psychedelic experience,” no matter whether it’s brought on by acid or shrooms, or any other substance, can have a broadly analogous (and largely positive) influence on human consciousness. 

While both shrooms and acid meet the rather broad definition of psychedelic, they can each produce experiences that are markedly different in ambience, onset, duration, and visual effect. Here’s how to tell them apart. 

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See Also:

• 'Psychedelics Are Queer:' Author Bett Williams' Winding Road To Finding Mushrooms — And Herself
• High Stakes: Will The Legalization Of Psychedelics Mimic That Of Cannabis? Will It Learn From Its Mistakes?
• What You Need To Know About Publicly-Traded Psychedelics Companies
• Will Shroom Dispensaries Become A Thing Anytime Soon?

Photo via DoubleBlind Mag.