Happy Holidaze and Happy New Year! Due to an extra busy holiday season on my end, this month’s recap is a bit less detailed than normal and there isn’t a video version up on YouTube. However, I wanted to share December’s biggest highlights so you can get an idea of what happened in the world of psychedelics during the last month of 2021.
Followup
There’s some followup on last month’s story about fentanyl-tainted cannabis. Following the report that the first real case of it was found in Connecticut, a high school in Tennessee was thought to have fentanyl-laced vape pens circulating amongst its teenage students. However, perhaps we should be skeptical. After all, this may be a case of fentanyl panic rather than an actuality. The latest reports have shown that there wasn’t any fentanyl detected in cannabis in Vermont and Massachusetts. And the case in Connecticut is still under development.
Policy
Wins
There were two major drug policy wins this month. Port Townsend, Washington became the 13th city to decriminalize psychedelics and Malta became the first European country to legalize cannabis.
Losses
Not everything was successful though. An attempt to allow therapeutic use of psychedelics in Australia was rejected. The reasoning behind the denial was a lack of sufficient evidence, according to the country’s medical regulator.
Industry
A non-profit known as Freedom to Operate submitted a new legal filing that argues against Compass Pathways’ patent on its form of synthetic psilocybin based on the idea that it is not a novel invention. The results from this case will set a precedent for not just Compass Pathways but other psychedelic companies as well.
Research
Published Studies
Two studies were published this month worth mentioning. The first found that SSRIs can be used safely with psilocybin to treat depression and the second showed that people who use psychedelics were under less stress during Covid-19.
Future Studies
The FDA authorized a Phase 2 clinical trial to treat frontline clinicians dealing with Covid-related distress with psilocybin. The study will aim to assuage depression, anxiety, burnout and post-traumatic stress among doctors, nurses and healthcare professionals.
Research Centers
A new Center for Psychedelic Research and Therapy is launching at the University of Texas at Austin. The center will look at working with psychedelics in a clinical environment in the treatment of mental illness.
Miscellaneous
And last but not least, I’d like to encourage you one last time to take this year’s Global Drug Survey. Today’s the last day you can submit an entry and responses will help researchers better understand how and why people use drugs.
That’s all for this month’s update. Remember to always test and weigh your drugs and until next time—keep thinking wilder.
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