Compass Pathways Is Establishing a Virtual Drug Discovery Center

Sam Wood, writing for The Philadelphia Inquirer:

Jason Wallach has a vision. He sees Philadelphia becoming a center for psychedelic studies. From his laboratory at the University of the Sciences, Wallach is leading a network of national researchers delving into the mind-altering substances.

In August, Wallach paired with Compass Pathways, the mental health company backed by entrepreneur Peter Thiel, a founder of Paypal and Palantir Technologies.

Compass gave the researcher $500,000 to launch a Drug Discovery Center in West Philadelphia to investigate “new serotonergic compounds.” These substances work on a specific neuroreceptor in the brain, 5-HT2A,and include the active ingredients in psilocybin, DMT, mescaline, ibogaine and LSD.

Last week, Compass (NASDAQ: CMPS) announced it is building on its Wallach-led project to include researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) and the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW).

Compass appears to be introducing a new model for psychedelic research, where multiple physical locations collaborate on the same research projects together. Rather than thinking of this new Drug Discovery Center as being based in Philadelphia with satellite research centers in San Diego and Wisconsin, it seems like it’s more accurate to consider it as one single research center that is distributed across multiple locations virtually.

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MindMed’s LSD Neutralizer Study Has Begun

Psilocybin Alpha:

MindMed has commenced a study for its “LSD neutralizer technology,” which it hopes will be effective in shortening and even stopping the effects of an LSD trip during LSD assisted therapy sessions.

In collaboration with the Liechti Lab at University Hospital Basel, a Phase 1 clinical trial will evaluate the effect of ketanserin for this purpose.

MindMed hopes the study will be completed by the end of 2021.

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A GOP Lawmaker in Iowa Filed a Bill to Allow Psychedelic Access for Seriously Ill Patients

Kyle Jaeger, writing for Marijuana Moment:

A Republican Iowa lawmaker recently filed a bill that would allow seriously ill people to use psilocybin mushrooms, MDMA, LSD, DMT or peyote as alternative treatments after they’ve exhausted traditional legal medicines.

Rep. Jeff Shipley (R), who also introduced legislation earlier this month that would remove psilocybin from the state’s list of controlled drugs, told Marijuana Moment that adding these substances to Iowa’s “right to try” law would be “the most conservative approach to usher in the new age of mental and emotional healthcare.”

“This bill relates to the decriminalization of certain schedule I controlled substances for the purposes of use by a patient diagnosed with a terminal illness or a life-threatening disease or condition,” an explanation of the measure states.

Terminally ill patients and those with life-threatening diseases or conditions would be eligible for alternative treatments with the psychedelics if a healthcare provider attests that they 1) considered and rejected, or tried and failed to respond to, traditional pharmaceuticals, 2) received a recommendation to use a controlled substance for treatment, 3) have documentation proving as much and 4) have submitted written informed consent.

If anyone should be allowed to use psychedelics, it’s people who are at the end of their lives.

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A New California Bill Would Decriminalize Psychedelics

Vivian Ho, writing for The Guardian:

A California lawmaker has introduced legislation that would decriminalize psychedelics in the state, the latest bold step in a movement to end America’s war on drugs.

Scott Wiener, the state senator who authored the bill, hopes that in following the lead of places such as Oakland, Santa Cruz and the District of Columbia – all cities which have decriminalized psychedelics – California will move one step closer to decriminalizing the use and possession of all drugs, something that Oregon passed by voter initiative in November.

“People should not be going to jail for possessing or using drugs,” Wiener told the Guardian. “It’s a health issue, not a criminal issue, and I hope that we get all the way there.”

Although this bill is similar to the typical natural psychedelics decrim efforts that have been pushed recently by groups like Decriminalize Nature, it would go one step further by also decriminalizing synthetic psychedelics and expunging criminal records for possession and use:

This bill, unveiled on Thursday, would decriminalize possession and personal use of psilocybin, psilocyn, MDMA, LSD, ketamine, DMT, mescaline and ibogaine – all drugs that can be used for medical treatment. While the decriminalization would apply for any kind of possession or use, not just medical, the bill makes a point to tout the medical benefits of psychedelics, a strategy familiar to drug policy reform advocates. […]

The bill would also expunge criminal records for people convicted of possession or personal use of these substances. It would create a taskforce to recommend which regulatory body would oversee personal and therapeutic use of these substances for mental health treatment.

Wiener did not include peyote as one of the substances because of a shortage of the drug among indigenous practitioners, he said. Peyote is a sacred plant for many indigenous tribes, and at the behest of the native community, the bill will not decriminalize peyote, or mescaline when it is sourced from peyote.

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Texas Would Study Psilocybin, MDMA, and Ketamine Under New Bill

Kyle Jaeger, writing for Marijuana Moment:

A Texas lawmaker introduced a bill on Wednesday that would require the state to study the therapeutic potential of psilocybin, MDMA and ketamine in the treatment of certain mental health conditions.

The legislation from Rep. Alex Dominguez (D) would mandate that the Department of State Health Services conduct the study in collaboration with the Texas Medical Board and report on its findings by December 1, 2022.

Researchers should “evaluate and determine whether alternative therapies are effective in treating the mental health and other medical conditions” such as depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, bipolar disorder, chronic pain and migraines, the text of the bill, HB 1802, states.

The study should also “compare the efficacy of the alternative therapies with the efficacy of treatments currently used for the mental health and other medical conditions,” it continues.

A couple weeks ago legislators in Connecticut filed a bill to establish a task force for studying the medicinal benefits of psilocybin and now Texas is following suit with this legislation. It’s nice to see states getting directly involved with psychedelic research—hopefully their studies will help them enact some progressive state-level drug policy reforms in the near future.

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