Welcome to The Trip Report’s Weekly Update,

The gears of psychedelic progress keep cranking and this week was no exception.

TLDR:

Paul Stamets & Joe Rogan talk Psychedelics and Psilocybin

Decriminalize California partners w/ Beckley Foundation

Psychedelics in Forbes Magazine

Psychedlic Industry Conference Announcement

Synthetics vs. Nature

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Paul Stamets on the Joe Rodan Experience

The flywheel of the psychedelic inertia received an input of angular velocity as Paul Stamets appeared again on the Joe Rogan Experience.

Previous episodes with Paul Stamet toggled around the space of psychedelics but this most recent episode was evidence of the gaining momentum of the cultural and scientific acceptance that there’s a there, there.

Here are some select highlights.

I wonder if psychedelic medicine should circle the wagons against cannabis cowboys, apparently, Paul Stamets thinks about this too:

“Now you’ve mentioned companies, there are at least 20 new psilocybin companies that have been formed in the last year, a lot of them from the Canadian cannabis industry, they made a ton of money and several of them have called me up. I’ve talked to two groups, and both when I’ve asked them if they had done a heroic dose of psilocybin… THEY HADN’T EVEN TRIPPED!… I told one group “you guys just seem like economic opportunists” and they said “that’s exactly what we are!”

I am not sure where I stand on the idea that company founders/owners/directors etc. should have had the experience of a heroic dose. I tend to think there’s something to it. It’s like a Psychedelic Turing Test, how can we tell if Psychedelic Company founders have actually had a psychedelic experience?

“There’s a vast tidal change in medical science…it’s almost too good to be true”

“This is a worldwide movement sweeping through the mycelium underground”

Microdosing App

Microdose.me - an app that supports the study of psilocybin microdosing available in the Apple and Android stores.

How does it work? After downloading the Quantified Citizen app, you will be asked to complete an intake questionnaire, including basic demographic information, basic medical history, and self-reported use of psychedelics. You will then be asked to complete a baseline battery of self-administered cognitive performance and mental health assessments via the app. This entire intake process will take approximately 30 minutes. Regardless if you are microdosing or not, you will be asked to go about your normal daily routines for up to 3 months, completing brief daily questionnaires that should take you about 1 minute each day. You will be asked to repeat the battery of cognitive performance and mental health assessments (same as the baseline) on a monthly basis that should take you approximately 20 minutes each time.

Over the Counter Psilocybin?

In the conclusion of a lengthy monologue, Stamet points out the possibility of a microdosing stack that includes niacin as possible over the counter remedy for the mental/cognitive improvements we are familiar with but also for peripheral neuropathy because of the neurogenerative and vasodilative capacities.

I hadn’t thought about this until now. OTC microdosing, who knew? At least one Medium writer has expounded on the benefits.

Never Trust a Journalist

For his book, How to Change Your Mind, author, Michael Pollan spent a few days with Paul Stamets. Unfortunately, Stamets took him to his favorite mushroom foraging spot and begged him not to disclose it.

While he didn’t give the exact coordinates he gave away enough information to find it. And people have been showing up in throngs. And so have the cops.

I’ll never take Michael Pollan to my favorite surf spot.

Fantastic Fungi

“People have an appetite for this because it gives them hope and meaning, in a time of desperation they see actionable solutions that cross political and cultural boundaries, that can help the commons… We are under a multiplicity of stressors that lead to disease, depression, malaise, crime and poverty and this is something that can help create a tidal change for the better. Provided it’s done responsibly.

Decriminalize California & Beckley Foundation Announce Partnership

The Beckley Foundation is throwing its weight behind Decriminalize California, a state-wide ballot initiative, that would, not decriminalize psilocybin but in fact, legalize it and pave the way for cultivation, sales, and amnesty for those currently imprisoned for psilocybin possession.

“The initiative decriminalizes psilocybin use by adults aged 18+. For minors found in possession of psilocybin mushrooms, the initiative reduces the penalty to a mandatory drug education program, without the charge being added to their permanent record.”

The announcement was made on Monday:

“The Beckley Foundation is proud to announce its partnership with Decriminalize California (the California Psilocybin Decriminalization Initiative 2020), an open-source citizens’ initiative which would: legalize psilocybin mushrooms and their extracts and derivatives for therapeutic and medical use,

and decriminalize it for personal, spiritual and religious use; allowing people to cultivate and use psilocybin mushrooms in their own home and on privately-owned property; and enabling those convicted of psilocybin-related crimes to have their sentences reviewed and, when appropriate, have their criminal records expunged.”

I spoke with Zach Topley of Decriminalize California to learn more about the initiative and the partnership:

“this new initiative that we submitted a few weeks ago which is still in the public comment period right now, is pretty much a full legalization initiative…it’s essentially the same initiative as before but we’re adding in legal sales and amnesty in order to get people who are currently in prison for psilocybin offenses out of prison we have to make the offense they committed legal”

I am personally torn on the matter of legalization because of what I see as overreach in the claims that marketers and enthusiasts make for medicinal use. Decriminalization largely avoids this because it takes the marketing out of the equation. But it would be easier to simply walk down to the mushroom store and know that what I am buying has been scrutinized for quality and safety. It would have been fascinating to have been in the room with Decriminalize California as they debated how far they would push.

I can see decriminalization passing a ballot initiative but I wonder about legalization. In comparison to cannabis, I think there is a level of concern in the psychedelic community for protecting the sanctity of plant medicine that did not and does not exist in cannabis and this absence has allowed for the commercialization of cannabis. I am just not sure how this would play out. I supposed we’ll find out.

OK Boomer.

On the other hand, perhaps I am too concerned about commercialization before medicalization since psilocybin has a better track record at fundamentally altering people’s character, making them nicer, more compassionate and more caring.

This announcement also afforded me learn about the Beckley Foundation.

The Beckley Foundation is legit AF

Founded by Amanda “I don’t give a fuck if I am British Nobility, I do what I want” Fielding, the Beckley Foundation has been a leading voice in drug policy reform and scientific study of Psychedelics since 1998.

The organization has the credit of having Albert Hoffman and Alexander Shulgin as past members of its Scientific Advisory board. Current members include David Nichols of the Heffer Research Institute, V.S. Ramachandran among others.

In short, they're legit.

Fielding, like many of the elder statespeople of the psychedelic community, has lived a rich life. Her Wikipedia page describes her as the “Countess Wemyss and March” a title I can only assume means nobility. Her first psychedelic experience was unintentional and nearly “broke her” after her coffee was dosed with LSD. But made such a lasting impression of awe and significance that she took up the cause of Drug Reform and the Science of Psychedelic substances.

Oh, and she also drilled a hole in her head. On purpose. I told you she does not give a fuck.

(The technique, known as trepanation, in which a hole is drilled into the skull to expose the dura mater. was thought to allow for the “full heartbeat” to express itself inside the cranial cavity relieving hysteria and other mental conditions in ye olde day.)

But, the reality is that much of the progress on decriminalization and scientific progress in this domain can be attributed to Amanda and the Beckley Foundation.

Psychedelics Make Two Headlines in Forbes

Javier Hasse, a well-known Cannabis journalist, penned an article that made it to Editor’s pick in Forbes. The piece highlights the recent hiring of former Biogen and Pfizer executive at Field Trip Ventures, a psychedelic investment firm/psychedelic clinic franchise/psilocybin mushroom research farm largely made up of people who have managed to exit the Cannabis industry successfully. Presumably, Forbes readership is unfamiliar with the coming psychedelic market. Consider this another example of the creep of psychedelia out of the underground and into the light of day.

Another cannabis writer, David Carpenter wrote a piece as well. Enthusiastic Donors Pony Up In Support Of Psychedelic Research, Harm Reduction Efforts

“The key reason for all this interest and activity around psychedelic substances is pretty simple: Psychedelics actually work. They deliver positive results where other traditional pharmacological remedies have often fail.”

“It appears the political and social headwinds that psychedelics faced for decades is diminishing, and with it the prejudice that donors once felt being openly linked to their support.”

That’s what I’m talking about.

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Cannabis Veterans, iCAN, Launch Psychdedlic Platform

Israeli Ballers in Weedland, iCAN (Israel-Cannabis) announced Psychedeli-Tech, a conference and discovery platform for psychedelic science, innovation, investment, regulation, and medicine.

PsyTech is the global industry conference platform for the new wave of psychedelic medicine. With renewed research interest in LSD, MDMA, Ketamine and psilocybin, and a growing normalization after decades of stigma, psychedelics are the next therapeutic frontier. This comeback holds promise for people living with depression, addiction, anxiety, dementia, PTSD and other disorders, and presents an opportunity for first movers in the psychedelics market. The PsyTech conference was created by the team behind CannaTech, the premier innovation conference for the cannabis industry. Leveraging years of experience building a global cannabis ecosystem, PsyTech is poised to elevate the psychedelics conversation, foster normalization and accelerate innovation.

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Synthetics vs Nature

A concept that divides a room in psychedelic circles is the nature vs synthetics debate.

DoubleBlind published What’s Lost When Psychedelic Mushrooms Become Synthetic Psilocybin

This debate is sure to continue in the age of Psychedelic Biotech.

Last week Field Trip Ventures announced the formation of a grow and research facility in Jamaica to uncover new and exciting compounds from the naturally occurring species while ATAI and Cyclica announced a partnership to harness the power of AI to identify new and exciting ways in which compounds from psychedelic substances interact with the human proteome.

Could this be the ‘Google vs. Facebook’ or ‘Apple vs. Microsoft’ of the Psychedelic Era???

If you made it this far you either like what we’re doing here or have a lot of time to kill.

Either way, sharing The Trip Report with other psychedelic enthusiasts in your life is greatly appreciated.

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