Category Archives: Psychedelics

Portfolio diversity is always ideal, but what if you had to go all in on just one with exactly $1000 to invest?

While some advise to play it safe, others opt for the more riskybut potentially rewarding investment strategies, focusing on nascent spaces like crypto, psychedelics and cannabis.

Of these three, which is the most appealing to today's marketplace?

Each sector received its support among the unscientific polling this writer conducted. An October LinkedIn poll saw 40% selecting cannabis. Crypto received 38% of the votes, with psychedelics receiving 22%.

This article should note that the pool ofLinkedIn respondents largely came from the cannabis industry.

Going off traffic from Benzinga, much of the readership is eager to learn more about crypto. Significant interest is centralized on all things Elon Musk, Dogecoin (CRYPTO: DOGE) and Shiba Inus. As of early November, other topics of interest include emerging assets like Floki Inu (CRYPTO: FLOKI) and prominent names like Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH).

On November 2, 2021, just two of the site's top 20 read articles were not about crypto. The first cannabis article to make the list came in at 27. Psychedelics didn't crack the top 50 that day.

Dr. Jeremy Britton, CFO of BostonCoin, believes that cannabis and psychedelics are "fascinating solutions for many real-world problems" but noted their similarities to pharma stocks.

Britton, a financial analyst for 29 years, gave the edge to his sector due to its lack of red tape, saying regulations can delay rollouts and ROIs for years.

"It is often the red tape and regulations which slow some of these projects down for many months, if not many years," Britton said."As much as crypto can be dangerous due to its lack of regulation, the lack of red tape also gives it speed."

Jonathan Seif, managing partner at the disruptive tech-focused advisory firm The ProFolio Group, also notedcrypto's rapidly evolving market."With large financial institutions purchasing billions of dollars in crypto, the industry is not slowing down."

Though voicing concerns about the other markets, Seif believescannabis still has a "considerable runway to clear before taking off in a sustainable way."Psychedelics,while exciting, are a decade behind cannabis, he added.

In conversations for previous articles, sources have hypothesized alternative outcomes where psychedelics could catch up to, or even outpace, cannabis regulations.

Waneta Jaikarran, director of brokerage ops for E1 Asset Management, favors crypto, citing ongoing political decisions.

"Given that the government will keep increasing the debt ceiling and making things unattractive, crypto was created to counteract that," Jaikarran said.

If possible, she'd recommend diversifying the funds. "My current outlook on crypto is using it as a hedge."

Brett Sifling, director of financial planning program Get Invested at Gerber Kawasaki Wealth and Investment Management, highlighted the potential of cannabis a market his firmheavilyfocuses on.

Sifling believes that crypto could face large drawdowns while public psychedelic companies are in their earliest stages.

Sifling leans toward ETFs such asAdvisorShares Pure US Cannabis ETF (NYSE:MSOS)."Instead of making a bet on just one cannabis company, you'd have exposure to nearly 30 different cannabis companies spanning multiple industries."

Rick Batenburg III, chief investment officer at Cliintel Capital Management Groupsaid each market has its own models and needs to assess, calling cannabis"the easiest and smartest choice" to invest in.

Citinglooming federal reform and adult use status in many states as reasons he's invested, Batenburg says hedoes notsee psychedelics following the adult-use route. He referred to crypto as "purely forex trading" notbacked by "real diligence."

Industry outsiders like Kristen Bolig, founder of home and online security company SecurityNerd, opted for cannabis, citing digital concerns.

"With the digital threat landscape for hackers becoming much larger over the past 18 months, investing in anything that is so heavily intertwined with the world wide web comes with a lot of risks," he cautioned.

Overall, each sector offers potential if a person understands the space.

Shuan Heng, VP of operations for the crypto-asset tracking site CoinMarketCap, advocates for people investing in their expertise.

Heng likes the freedom crypto creates for people. He also made a case for plant medicines and similar substances, saying, "Many others could be motivated by investing in the mental health potential of psychedelics or the medical applications of cannabis."

Photo:Ron Lach from Pexels

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I Have $1,000. Should I Invest In Cannabis, Crypto Or Psychedelics? - Benzinga - Benzinga

Psychedelic medicines may represent a new frontier for end-of-life care, as well as psychiatric treatment. While these substances including LSD, MDMA, psilocybin and ketamine, among others remain illegal, grass roots support for decriminalization or medical use is growing. Meanwhile, venture capitalists and other investors are spending billions to get on the ground floor of what could become a new health care industry.

Much of the research and discussion on medical use of psychedelics has focused on care at the end of life. Interest in the potential medical benefits of these substances became widespread during the 1960s, but research all but stopped after they were criminalized through federal legislation in 1970. The first inklings of a resurgence began in the late 1990s, and momentum has picked up during the last decade.

The evidence is just so compelling, and we have very little in terms of tools in our medical bag to be able to help people who are suffering from existential distress, anxiety and depression related to a serious illness diagnosis, Shoshana Ungerleider, M.D., internist at Crossover Health in San Francisco, founder of the organization End Well,said. We want people to be able to live fully until they die. If psychedelics given in a controlled therapeutic environment with trained clinicians who can help them do that, then these medicines should be more widely available.

End Well recently produced a conference on the subject of psychedelic medicine for dying patients.

The body of scientific literature on psychedelics for dying patients continues to advance. Johns Hopkins Medicine in 2019 established a Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research backed by $17 million in grants.

Researchers have identified a number of clinical benefits, including reduction of anxiety, depression and improved acceptance of mortality, according to a 2019 literature review in the journal Current Oncology. The paper cited studies indicating that the most commonly used psychedelic drugs have no tissue toxicity, do not interfere with liver function, have few interactions with other medications and carry no long-term physical effects. Common side effects tend to be short in duration, such as nausea and vomiting or disruption of visual or spatial orientation.

Patients who use psychedelic medicines often report what researchers commonly describe as a mystical experience, involving a feeling of unity, sacredness, deeply-felt positive mood, transcendence of space and time, and other effects that study participants found difficult to verbalize, according to the Current Oncology paper.

This can be transformative for people with anyone who is wracked with trauma, grief, loss or extreme states of suffering, Sunil Aggarwal, M.D., co-founder, co-director and practitioner at the Advanced Integrative Medical Science (AIMS) Institute in Seattle, told Hospice News. Theres also evidence that these substances can also reduce physical pain.

Aggarwal is a board-certified hospice and palliative care physician and a past chair of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (AAHPM).

All psychedelics are illegal at the federal level and in most states. Oregon in 2020 became the first in the union to remove criminal penalties for all illegal drugs and is now in the process of establishing the nations first state-licensed psilocybin-assisted therapy system.

More action has been happening at the local level, with communities such as Washington, D.C., Denver, Ann Arbor, Mich., three Massachusetts cities, and Santa Cruz and Oakland in California voting to decriminalize some psychedelics and permit medical use. Some of these regions are now considering statewide decriminalization.

Connecticut and Texas each have laws on the books that created work groups to study the medical use of psilocybin, MDMA and ketamine. Legislatures in Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Missouri, Vermont and New York state are currently mulling decriminalization or medical use bills.

In late July, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) reintroduced an amendment to remove federal barriers to research the therapeutic potential of psychedelic substances. The U.S. House of Representatives quickly shot down the legislation, though it garnered more support this round than the previous time it was introduced.

We quite a few years off from having enough trained therapists and a policy pathway for which these can be made more widely available in a controlled therapeutic setting, Ungerleider said. Theres just so much interest right now among patients and among family members to learn more about this. All health care professionals need to have an understanding of where were at with psychedelics.

Interest in psychedelics has transcended the research space and entered the business world. The familiar adage, follow the money, frequently provides good indicators of which way the wind is blowing.

The psychedelics industry is expected to bring in more than $6.85 billion by 2027, Forbes reported. Many of these investors are seeking to reproduce the lucrative results of the cannabis industry that emerged in the wake of legalization among a number of states. A recent report indicated that 36 states and four territories allow use of medical cannabis products, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

The largest investors in psychedelics include the venture capital firms Conscious Fund, Explorer Equity Group and Pala Santo. Earlier this year, Florida-based cannabis and psychedelics attorney Dustin Robinson co-founded Iter Investments, a new venture capital group focused on that sector.

A United Kingdom-based psychedelics-focused pharmaceutical company, Compass Pathways (NASDAQ: CMPS), went public in Sept. 2020 and is now worth an estimated $1.2 billion.

Theres a unique opportunity to be able to go ahead and develop and commercialize [psychedelics] to a much larger patient population, health care investor and venture capitalist Andrew Lee told Hospice News. Itll be interesting to see how natural pharmaceuticals might work. Theres the nonprofit, sacred path, the pharma path and the botanical drug sort of path. The most important thing is that this is another tool in the toolbox for treating a number of conditions.

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Psychedelics Could Be New Frontier in End-of-Life Care - Hospice News

Detroit has joined the growing number of cities and states that have decriminalized entheogenic plants and fungi, more colloquially known as magic mushrooms and psychedelics.

Voters, including the citys incumbent mayor who won a re-election, passed Proposal E on Tuesday night to decriminalize entheogenic plants and fungi. Just more than 61 percent of voters supported the measure, with nearly 39 percent of voters opposing it, according to the City of Detroits unofficial election results Wednesday.

Detroiters voted in high numbers in support of further decriminalization, Michigan State Sen. Adam Hollier of Detroit told the PBS NewsHour after the election. The war on drugs was a war on Black and brown communities and its good to see Black communities pushing back.

Voters in the majority-Black city were asked whether to amend the city code to decriminalize to the fullest extent permitted under Michigan law the personal possession and therapeutic use of Entheogenic Plants by adults and make the personal possession and therapeutic use of Entheogenic Plants by adults the citys lowest law-enforcement priority.

READ MORE: Why the push to decriminalize psychedelics is growing in Michigan

State and federal law still prohibits personal possession and therapeutic use of entheogenic plants and fungi. But decriminalizing use and possession within city limits means the local police department does not prioritize arrests for those offenses, unless theyre linked to another crime. The measure did not authorize commercialization of the plants and fungi.

The entheogenic plants include psilocybin mushrooms, ibogaine from Africa, ayahuasca from South America and peyote and mescaline from certain cacti.

In the efforts to decriminalize both marijuana and psychedelics, critics have shared fears about fewer penalties leading to more drug use and potentially to more crime.

A growing body of research suggests that these substances can help relieve post-traumatic stress disorder, addiction and withdrawal symptoms, major depression and anxiety, among other conditions.

Along with pointing to research on medicinal benefits of these substances something 35 percent of voters support, according to a Hill Harris-X poll in June supporters say decriminalizing them is also way to help curb some of the racial disparities that emerged in law enforcement as a result of Richard Nixons so-called war on drugs.

The war on drugs continues to destroy the lives of so many, and has specifically targeted people of color and other vulnerable communities, said Eugene Katz, a Detroit resident who voted in favor of the proposal. But the people are changing that with ballot measures like this its part of a nationwide movement to reclaim our inalienable right to the earth and the gifts it offers people, like the entheogenic plants many hold sacred, which have a long history of safe use and a culture with deep roots reaching back thousands of years

The Detroit proposal comes when many states and cities have decriminalized or legalized the medical or recreational use of marijuana or cannabis, and are now beginning to do the same with entheogenic plants or fungi. Denver was the first city to decriminalize psychedelic mushrooms in 2019. Since then, Oregon, Rhode Island, New Jersey, the District of Columbia, along with eight other U.S. cities have decriminalized entheogenic plants and fungi in some way.

READ MORE: Oregon leads the way in decriminalizing hard drugs

In September 2020, in a unanimous decision, Ann Arbors City Council passed legislation to decriminalize the possession, non-commercial use, and cultivation of entheogenic plants and fungi. Shortly thereafter, the Washtenaw County Prosecutors Office issued a policy directive to make prosecuting people for crimes involving entheogenic plants and fungi its lowest priority.

Another resolution in in Grand Rapids, Michigan, authorized more research into entheogenic plants and fungi as a potential step toward decriminalizing them

Other Michigan cities beginning to organize around this issue include the Detroit suburbs of Hazel Park and Madison Heights; the states capital city, Lansing, and neighboring college town East Lansing; upstate tourist destination Traverse City; Ypsilanti, which neighbors Ann Arbor; and Flint.

In September 2021, Hollier and fellow state senator Jeff Irwin of Ann Arbor introduced a bill to decriminalize the manufacture, possession, delivery, and use of entheogenic plants and fungi statewide. It also allows usage of entheogenic plants and fungi for research. Commercial production and sale would still be prohibited. The bill is now waiting in the Judiciary and Public Safety Committee.

Now that Detroit has joined the list of cities that has taken action on entheogenic plants and fungi, I hope the state legislature will quickly adopt the legislation we have to decriminalize these natural psychedelics, Hollier said.

WATCH MORE: Why psychedelic drugs are having a medical renaissance

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Detroit just decriminalized psychedelics and magic mushrooms. Heres what that means - PBS NewsHour

Since ancient times, practitioners of traditional medicine across the globe have turned to plants and fungi with psychedelic properties in the hopes of healing the mind and spirit. New research suggests a link between psychedelics and a healthy body, as well.

The study finds a strong association between lifetime use of classic psychedelics and lower rates of cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

This observational research does not explore or assert a causal relationship between the compounds and heart health or diabetes. It establishes only a correlation.

No one should read this paper and think that using psychedelics is a good way to prevent heart disease or diabetes, Dr. Edo Paz of K Health told Medical News Today in an email. Dr. Paz was not involved in the research.

The studys lead author, Dr. Otto Simonsson, explained to MNT, We still know very little about the long-term effects of classic psychedelics on physical health. We are in the early days.

The study paper has been published in Scientific Reports.

The psychedelics considered classic fall into three classes, each with similar structures and mechanisms of action. All, however, primarily act as serotonin 2A receptor agonists.

The three classes of drugs are:

Given the medicinal use of psychedelics throughout human history, scientists in the mid-20th century began testing their potential value in treating mood disorders and addiction, often with encouraging results.

However, the criminalization of many of these compounds by the 1970s led to a reduction in psychedelics research.

The 21st century has seen renewed psychedelic advocacy, new funding, and the fading of stigma associated with these substances, and scientists have returned to studying them. In 2000, Johns Hopkins University was the first to receive regulatory approval for psychedelic research, which included healthy volunteers.

The present study was based on data from the 20152018 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, which included responses from 171,766 adults in the United States aged at least 18.

Use of psychedelics was associated with a 23% lower chance of heart disease and a 12% lower chance of diabetes.

The authors explain:

Respondents who reported having tried a classic psychedelic at least once in their lifetime had lower odds of heart disease in the past year and lower odds of diabetes in the past year.

The research follows an earlier analysis of the same data by Dr. Simonsson and senior investigator Prof. Peter S. Hendricks. Dr. Simonsson explained that it found associations between lifetime classic psychedelic use and lower odds of being overweight, as well as lower odds of having hypertension in the past year.

Of the new studys closer look, he said, It was therefore not completely surprising to find that lifetime classic psychedelic use was also associated with lower odds of heart disease and diabetes in the past year.

Addressing the connection between psychedelics, heart disease, and diabetes, Dr. Simonsson cited another study.There is an in-depth review paper suggesting that psychedelics if administered in the proper context may be conducive to good physical health by promoting positive lifestyle change. This is our working hypothesis, too.

Dr. Paz told MNT that he suspected that People who have tried psychedelic medications probably have other characteristics that differentiate them from people who have not tried psychedelics, and it is those characteristics that are associated with a lower risk of heart disease or diabetes.

So if you want to reduce your risk of heart disease and diabetes, explained Dr. Paz, do not reach for psychedelics. Focus on a healthy diet, get plenty of exercise, and maintain a healthy weight. You should also know your blood pressure and your cholesterol levels, and work to keep those in a healthy range.

Whatever the causal link, if any, the study authors write that their investigation demonstrates the need for further research to investigate potential causal pathways of classic psychedelics on cardiometabolic health (i.e., lifestyle changes, mental health benefits, anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory characteristics, and affinity to specific serotonin receptor subtypes).

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Psychedelics linked to lower risk of heart disease and diabetes - Medical News Today

Thomas Hartle is an unlikely psychedelics adventurer. The 53-year-old father of two from Saskatoon, Canada, describes himself as being about as ordinary and boring as white bread. Until a few years ago, he had never even considered taking any sort of illegal substance. I grew up in the This is your brain on drugs generation, he tells me when we speak over a video call, referring to the notorious anti-drugs campaign launched in 1987 that featured that memorable slogan over the image of an egg frying on a skillet. I considered that whole class of drugs as not just unhelpful, but as something that ruins peoples lives.

In 2016, Hartle was diagnosed with stage four colon cancer. He went through multiple rounds of chemotherapy and radiation treatment, but the cancer returned in August 2019. Faced with the very real prospect of death, he decided to seek out new ways of coping. It was then he remembered research hed come across online, published by Johns Hopkins Medicine in 2016, which suggested (via a small sample of 51 patients) that therapeutic use of psilocybin the active ingredient in magic mushrooms could help decrease depression and anxiety in patients with life-threatening cancer.

Last year, Hartle wrote to Canadas Ministry of Controlled Substances to ask for a legal exemption to try psilocybin for himself. He was one of four patients in the country to be granted permission and became the first Canadian to legally experience a psychedelic therapy session on 12 August 2020. The results were immediate, and measurable. The day before, Hartle had registered 36 on the Beck Anxiety Inventory, on which any score above 25 is considered severe anxiety. The following day, using the same metric, he scored six, considered minimal. I knocked 30 points off my standing level of anxiety, says Hartle, And that really lasted for a very long time.

For Hartle, the benefits of psilocybin therapy went far beyond simply reducing his fear and anxiety over dying. He says he found the experience itself to be a profound one, and that it gave him new belief in the possibility of life after death. My views on death have really changed tremendously, he says. Before, life after death was a sort of academic, intellectual concept, whereas now it feels tangible. Ive physically experienced states of consciousness that have nothing to do with this life or anything that I would identify with Thomas.

Hartle is not alone in reporting this kind of positive response. Laurie Brooks, a 53-year-old from Abbotsford, British Columbia, was another of the original group of four patients granted permission to try psilocybin therapy in Canada last year. She also has colon cancer, and in August 2019 her doctors told her she may only have six months to a year to live. It was then she became interested in psychedelic therapy. If this was it for me, I didnt want to be crying and depressed, she says. So I did my trip, and it was such a profound change. I went from feeling desperate, alone and grief-stricken to the next day feeling as if I were able to see my cancer in a box beside me on the floor. I felt in control, rather than it controlling me, and that made a huge difference. A lot of healing has come from that.

(Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Psilocybin was banned globally as part of the UN Convention on Psychotropic Substances in 1971, primarily for political reasons as psychedelics were considered a destabilising influence whichthreatened established cultural norms. Very little research was done into the potential of psychedelics for the next two decades, but since the early Nineties there have been a resurgence in clinical trials and the approach to psilocybin is now more lenient in some other countries. As well as the compassionate use allowances that gave Hartle and Brooks access to psychedelic therapy in Canada, several areas of the United States have already relaxed legislation around psilocybin. City councils in Denver, Colorado and Oakland, California have both decriminalised magic mushrooms, while in November last year Oregon became the first state to legalise the use of psilocybin for a two-year window for both recreational and therapeutic use.

Psilocybin is a Class A drug in the UK. It is also listed as a Schedule 1 drug under the Misuse of Drugs Regulations (along with substances like MDMA and LSD), which means it cannot be lawfully possessed or prescribed and that a Home Office licence is needed before it can be used in research. Despite the optimistic results of some recent research, sample sizes have been small. Although it is not considered an addictive drug, the potential for a bad trip remains, during which users may experience disturbing hallucinations, panic, delirium and psychosis. Some users may even experience Hallucinogen Persisting Perception Disorder (HPPD), often referred to as flashbacks, involving perceptual changes lasting weeks or months which can require medical attention.

But pressure is growing on governments around the world to allow greater research into psychedelic therapy in general. Campaigners like Conservative MP Crispin Blunt are calling for psilocybin to be moved to Schedule 2, which would enable the drug to be used in scientific and medical research. Last month,Mr Blunt called on Boris Johnsonto cut through the current barriers to research into psilocybin and similar compounds in the UK.

In response, the Prime Minister said only that his government will consider the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs recent advice on reducing barriers to research with controlled drugs such as the one he describes, and we will be getting back to him as soon as possible. British government pronouncements on this subject often resemble a classic Catch-22: They will allow further research only once further research has been done.

Ive interviewed patients who have used psychedelics and what I hear from them is that it allowed them to talk about scary things

Dr Anthony Back, director of palliative care at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance

These developments have been welcomed by medical professionals like Dr Anthony Back, the director of palliative care at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance and a professor of medicine at the University of Washington. Dr Back has spent years studying the way that doctors communicate with patients who are at the end of their lives, and believes the current system often fails both parties. After reading the psilocybin research from Johns Hopkins, as well as a similar study at NYU, Dr Back decided to investigate for himself.

I arranged to have an underground experience with psilocybin. That experience made me think: Wow! There is really something to this. It really is a game changer. His own positive experience has been mirrored by the patients hes spoken to. Ive now interviewed a bunch of patients who have used psychedelics, both in studies and underground, and what I hear from them is that it allowed them to talk about scary things, he says. Usually, our defences go up when we try to talk about these subjects. It turns out, unlike what our egos normally think, that actually we arent destroyed if we talk about death. In fact, something really important and even beautiful can happen.

(Getty Images)

Dr Back offers some insight into how psychedelics are able to have such a transformative impact on brain function. One important aspect is that they physically reduce blood flow to whats known as the default mode network. The default mode network is where all of our stories about me are created. Im the kind of person who likes this, Im not the kind of person who does that, explains Dr Back. What psychedelics do is disrupt all those usual little stories that we have about ourselves. All of a sudden, were able to make connections between things that are already in our brains but that arent usually connected. Psychedelics give you a window of time when you can make all these different connections that are outside of your usual habits of thinking. This description rings true to Thomas Hartle, who offers a metaphor. Its the equivalent of fresh, fallen snow, says Hartle. Where all the old pathways used to be, theres now this fresh covering.

Its the equivalent of fresh, fallen snow. Where all the old pathways used to be, theres now this fresh covering

Thomas Hartle

Part of the reason some doctors and patients are so intrigued by psychedelic therapy is that they believe it provides a form of treatment which conventional medicines simply cant offer, as the San Francisco-based physician Dr Shoshana Ungerleider explains. As MDs, when we see somebody anxious or distressed, we prescribe them medicine like a benzo [Benzodiazepines, drugs used to treat anxiety and depression] or an opiate to calm them down or dull their senses, she points out. Weve been doing that for a long time, because those are the sorts of tools we have, but what that also does is blunt your ability to live fully and be present.

Hoping to open conversations about the best ways to improve end-of-life care, Dr Ungerleider founded the non-profit End Well in 2017. She was so impressed by the potential of psychedelics to transform the field that earlier this month she organised The End In Mind, a virtual conference dedicated specifically to the use of psychedelics. From my point of view, the power of these medicines is that we can not only reduce physical pain symptoms, but also the emotional distress that so many people have around this time of life, she says, urging politicians like the Prime Minister to remove the barriers that still stand against further research. I think we have an obligation as a society to really investigate this fully.

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The people turning to psychedelics on their deathbeds - The Independent

The risk for abuse exists in every possible therapeutic setting, from a comfortable office to a ... [+] colorful underground ceremonybut the stakes are considerably higher when a client is under the influence of a psychedelic.

Psychedelic therapy is everywhere: on the covers ofmagazinesandnewspapers, the subject of recentbest-selling books, inTV showsanddocumentaries, and in the pitch decks and business plans of dozens of public companies keen to hawk it as the solution to the worlds mental health woes.

If youre in the echo chamber, it can be easy to get lost in the noise.

There is no doubt that psychedelic therapy can have a profound impact on individuals suffering from mental health issues like depression and PTSD, but while research on the subject has never been so eagerly pursued, its not a panacea, and it doesnt come without risks.

One of the risks currentlybeing discussed more openlywithin the psychedelic community is therapy abuse, afterallegationsof sexual misconduct were recently brought against Aharon Grossbard and Francoise Bourzat in an essay inMad In America.

[Psychedelic] therapyabuseincluding therapists and doctors having sex with clientshas a history that reaches back to the early days of LSD, but you wouldnt know that reading [Michael] Pollans account or listening to todays psychedelic proselytizer, writes Will Hall, therapist and therapy abuse survivor in the piece.

To be clear, the risk for abuse, whether mental, verbal, physical, or sexual, exists in every possible therapeutic setting, from a comfortable office to a colorful underground ceremonybut the stakes are considerably higher when a client is under the influence of a psychedelic.

Even where mistreatment doesnt include sexual contact, harm from emotional betrayal can be just as devastating, writes Hall, who was contacted for this piece but didnt provide a comment.

Therapists have an enormous special duty to protect their clients from that betrayal, he writes. When you add psychedelics, the risks only get magnified.

How safe will a client feel in the hands of a therapist, guide, or shaman when theyre opened up by a powerful psychedelic drug, especially if they are navigating intense trauma? The answer to that question will determine whether they leave the session feeling better or worse than when they arrived.

Psychedelics can be, literally, incapacitating, says Dr. Clancy Cavnar, a clinical psychologist and co-founder at the non-profitChacruna Institute. This means that the therapist must take full responsibility for how the session proceeds, as the client is too intoxicated to make rational choices.

For people who have been traumatized by authority figures, being highly dependent on an authority figure during psychedelic therapy could be frightening, and potentially re-traumatizing, she says.

If a therapist is aware and caring, these issues can be mitigated, clarifies Cavnar, but for therapists with unexplored shadows and no supervising body to sanction them, the power differential could lead to an abusive relationship.

The outcome could be devastating for the client: They may cease their quest to heal if they are abused in the healing domain. They may be frightened away from plant medicines or other healing modalities because they are associated with the abuser. They may suffer PTSD from the treatment they received, necessitating healing on top of their original complaint.

While Cavnar says its impossible to say how common psychedelic therapy abuse is, survey data self-reported by therapists suggestsnine to 12 percentof mental health professionals have had sexual contact with their patients, however data on the subjectis scarce, and estimates vary. That number does not account for abuse that might take place in underground psychedelic communities and groups, where one cant exactly file a complaint.

Due to high levels of shame and guilt, victims dont come forward, says Bia Labate, PhD, co-founder, and executive director at Chacruna and the public education and culture specialist for the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS).

Labate says there are several misconceptions about psychedelic therapy, including the idea that a licensed practitioner is less likely to commit abuse because they hold a license.

Its also an illusion to think that that abuse is something that is related only to medicalization and corporatization of psychedelics, and that it does not happen among Indigenous people and in traditional contexts.

While its hard to measure these things, Labate says 25 years of fieldwork and anecdotal evidence obtained by Chacruna on ayahuasca ceremonies shows that sexual misconduct is pretty prevalent in those settings.

Another misconception about psychedelic therapy, according to Cavnar, is that abusive behavior would be reported and dealt with accordingly in such a woke community. That, she says, is rarely the case.

In an emerging industry trying to avoid negative press, the open discussion of an issue like abuse is seen as a potential threat to the advancement of approved psychedelic medicine, and could potentially bring legal attention and repression to underground communities.

Fear aside, the psychedelic community needs to be aware of bad actors and use its own informal system to get the word out about providers who are abusive, says Cavnar.

Since Halls essay has been published, some members of the psychedelic community have responded with statements, includingMAPS, theCenter for Consciousness Medicine, andDr. Phil Wolfsonof the Ketamine Research Foundation. Anopen lettercalling for added measures to prevent harm and abuse within psychedelic communities was also published and is signed by more than 200 therapists and practitioners.

Independent of how abuse occurs in the psychedelic community, Labate says its important to consider each case while doing everything to protect victims and survivors"and, of course, do all we can to prevent such abuse from happening in the first place.

MAPS has published a code of ethics for psychedelic psychotherapy, while Chacruna offers several resources on the subject, including a guide to raising awareness aroundsexual abuse in ayahuasca circles, as well aslegal resourcesfor victims and survivors. Labate says it has operated as an informal hub for complaints and support for victims, but the organization is not really well structured this way.

We think that raising the conversations around these topics is fundamental, and we must collectively address it andengage in discussions to identify how cultural mechanisms can be developed, she says.

We must find a way to foremost tend to the needs of survivors, and when appropriate and possible, offer pathways of repair for repentant abusers who are reformed and wish to return to the community. Knowing where that balance is, is the million-dollar question.

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Psychedelic Therapy Is Hyped, But Its Not Risk-Free: How Therapy Abuse Can Retraumatize Clients - Forbes

GLASGOW, SCOTLAND- OCTOBER 19: Slot machines are seen in an amusement arcade following the ... [+] announcement of the newly proposed gambling bill which will effect casinos and amusement arcades across the UK, October 19, 2004 in Glasgow, Scotland. The new law if approved by the government will allow casinos with over 1,250 slot machines unlimted jackpots, currently Britain has 126 casinos with slot machine winnings being limited to GBP2,000. (Photo by Christopher Furlong /Getty Images) *** Local Caption ***

Statistics from the North American Foundation for Gambling Addiction and Help estimate that more than 2.6% of Americans struggle with some form of gambling abuse, and many opponents of the expanding sports betting marketplace argue that few measures have been put in place to aid the more than 10 million people battling this addiction.

The overturn of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) the US federal government awarded individual states with the ability to legalize and regulate sports betting in their respective jurisdictions. In doing so, each state has also been given the responsibility to establish clear methods to both prevent, identify, and offer help to those labeled as problem gamblers.

Many sportsbook operators give customers the ability to pause their accounts and to establish self imposed limits, but outside of support groups and dial-in hotlines, few true solutions exist to aid those looking for help.

New research is currently being conducted by a prominent biotech company to explore ketamine as a potential remedy for compulsive behaviors and more specifically gambling addiction.

Awakn Life Sciences has brought on the expertise of Dr. David Nutt, psychiatrist and Edmund J. Safra Professor of Neuropsychopharmacology in the Division of Brain Science, Dept of Medicine, Imperial College London. In doing so, the Awakn team has announced their plans to conduct the first clinical examination of ketamine and gambling addictions.

As a psychopharmacologist, Dr. Nutt has made it his lifes work to study the effects of drugs on the brain. Over the last 15 years I've started studying psychedelics, opens Dr. Nutt, largely because very few people were and I thought it was something someone had to do.

While on this 15-year journey, Dr. Nutt found it particularly interesting that little had been done to advance the research conducted more than a half century ago focused on psychedelics and their impact on brain disorders.

It turned out that studying psychedelics opened up a whole new set of possibilities for treating mental disorders that I hadn't thought of before, partly because I didn't know the literature. It's only now that I've gone back to the 1950s and 60s and discovered there was quite a lot of interest then in treating addiction, particularly alcoholism with psychedelics, then.

Much like gambling, psychedelics cary many unfair social stigmatism, with the act of sports betting just recently making the leap from a taboo, degenerative behavior to a socially acceptable one over the last three years.

Where one could easily argue that the pandemic expedited the spread of sports betting regulation and its public acceptance, the increased emphasis on mental health has also thrust the psychedelic therapeutics industry back into the spotlight. Unbeknownst to many, the two industries might be more connected than one might think.

Our modern imaging work showed that psychedelics disrupt a circuit in the brain that seems to be overactive in conditions like depression. And it's also overactive in conditions where, and probably any condition where people get over engaged in thinking about a single thought.

So in depression, continues Dr. Nutt, depressed people are thinking about mistakes they've made. They're thinking about having low self esteem, etc. And of course, in addiction, people are thinking about the next chance they get to drink or to shoot up or to gamble.

Those in Dr. Nutts field of study often use the term internalizing disorders when labeling this kind of thought process. As he dove deeper, Dr. Nutt had the revelation that the processes of disrupting internal thinking and depression could potentially disrupt the internal thinking in addiction as well.

Dr. Nutt acknowledges that he was not the first to come to this conclusion, referencing the Bogenschutz study in New Mexicos look into alcoholism, and the ongoing clinical trials at Johns Hopkins targeting psychedelics therapeutics for smoking cessation.

So now we've got the neuroscience of psychedelics and some clinical data. Why not bring them together?

The opportunity to make this connection came when Awakn Life Sciences extended Dr. Nutt an offer to join as the groups Chief Research Officer, granting him access to the funding necessary to conduct this research.

Awakn has focused most of its research on the battle against addiction, and gambling addiction presented itself as a prime candidate for the studys efforts. Similarly to the research being conducted at Johns Hopkins for smoking cessation, gambling addiction is viewed as more of a raw addiction that has less outside influences condemning or reinforcing the compulsive action.

We've been studying gambling on the grounds that it's an addiction that isn't confounded by drug use, added Dr. Nutt, suggesting that other chemical dependencies often come with a wide variety of variables that potentially disrupt scientific findings. These substances also produce an obvious biological reaction in the human brain.

Gambling addiction can be difficult to detect, as the problem bettor can often maintain a relatively normal lifestyle. Alcoholics and opiate addicts, for comparison, regularly see their substance dependency impact their personal and professional lives, creating outside stressors and factors that can skew a studys results.

When asked why Awakn had chosen ketamine as the leading candidate, Dr. Nutt points to the most obvious of reasons; Its legal.

Ketamine has long been used as an anesthetic, and the psychoactive chemical is often administered to relieve pain and even induce the loss of consciousness. Given its wide acceptance in the medical community, ketamine was an obvious choice for the study given that it can be both prescribed and put into practice right away.

Ketamine is basically an easily accessible, inexpensive, sort of psychedelic, adds Dr. Nutt. But while it may not be as powerful as psychedelics as drugs like psilocybin or DMT, it's psychedelic enough. It definitely disrupts brain function during the trip, and it seems to be just enough in terms of alcoholism to allow people to recover. So maybe what we can do with setting up this trial is to see if it produces the same disruption in people who are gambling compulsively.

Ketamine is already widely used in the United States to treat depression, but Awakn is seeking to construct a manualized approach to incorporate the chemical into a three-dose psychotherapeutic regimen.

This revolutionary study hopes to provide substantiated evidence and data that supports an abstinence based psychotherapy process using ketamine to curb, and even eliminate these compulsive brain patterns.

What we're hoping is that we can develop and prove that a systematic form of administration and psychotherapy is effective, wed be able to license that as an indicator as a mode of treatment without necessarily having to license the medicine.

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Defeating Gambling Addiction: New Study Looks To Defy The Odds With Psychedelics - Forbes

Shares from psychedelics unicorn Compass Pathways (NASDAQ:CMPS) are soaring inanticipation of the data being created bythe companys phase 2 trial with the psychedelic psilocybin.

Adding to the excitement, Compassannounced on Wednesday the launch of a new program using the hallucinogenic compound in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder.

Psilocybin is the active molecule in so-called magic mushrooms. Compass is currently in the final stages of a phase 2 trial with the molecule for treatment-resistant depression.

Compass is expected to release data from its depression study in the coming weeks. Anticipation for the announcement has led the companys stock to rise 13% in the last 5 days and 50% in the last month, with a current price of $45.3.

With this new announcement, the company is taking its proprietary version of synthetic psilocybin, called COMP360, to 20 patients in a safety and tolerability study of psilocybin therapy for people who suffer from PTSD resulting from trauma experienced as adults.

The study will begin at The Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience at Kings College London. Participants will receive a single 25mg dose of COMP360, given in conjunction with specialist psychological support.

The primary endpoint of the study is to assess the safety of COMP360 psilocybin therapy. Secondary endpoints will measure efficacy in improving PTSD symptoms, functionality, and quality of life, noted acompany press release.

Post-traumatic stress disorder is the main indication behind MAPS phase 3 trial using MDMA (or ecstasy) in combination with talk therapy. The program is universally expected to become the first FDA-approved psychedelic protocol by late 2022 or early 2023.

George Goldsmith, Compass CEO and co-founder, said the company is pleased to be able to expand the development of COMP360 into the indication of PTSD.

Benzinga Photo.

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This Psychedelics Unicorn's Stock Is Up 50% In One MonthBeating Bitcoin, Ethereum And Dogecoin - Benzing - Benzinga

Psychedelics have picked up more and more momentum on Wall Street, with famed investors such as Kevin OLeary and Peter Thiel recognizing the potential in the psych drug industry.

Psychedelic drugs, such as psilocybin mushrooms and LSD, were once seen merely as a way for college students and concert goers to escape reality or at least enhance it. Now, these drugs are being heavily considered by doctors throughout the world as a way to treat various mental illnesses and other health problems.

Throughout the last five trading days, Atai Life Sciences (NASDAQ: ATAI), has skyrocketed, outperforming big names such as Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA), NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA) and GameStop Corp (NYSE: GME).

Heres how the returns break down throughout the last five trading days:

What Does Atai Do?

Atai Life Sciences is a pre-clinical biotech companyfocused on treating

various mental illnesses and disorders using psychedelic drugs. The company has drugs in its pipeline to cure or alleviate the effects of treatment-resistant depression, schizophrenia and more.

Atai is using psilocybin, ketamine, MDMA and other similar drugs to attack these mental illnesses. Thiel, a major investor in Atai, has invested$12 million through his VC firm, Thiel Capital.

Photo Courtesy of Unsplash

2021 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

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This Psychedelics Stock Was Up More Than 20% Last Week, Outperforming Tesla, Nvidia and GameStop - Benzinga

Winston & Strawn associate Brett Waters has a lot more than just Biglaw on his plate these days. The antitrust associate has launched a nonprofit Reason for Hope to advocate for the legalization of psychedelic-assisted therapy in the United States.

The advocacy is personal for Waters he lost both his grandfather and mother to suicide. Since those experiences, he began working with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and he learned about research suggesting psychedelic-assisted therapy can make a difference for folks experiencing trauma-related suicidal ideation and treatment-resistant depression. Waters told Law.com these treatments can facilitate real meaningful healing and the sort of healing that traditional therapy struggles to provide. I believe theres a huge potential for effectiveness for people who feel isolated and a lack of connectivity.

And its something he wishes were available for his mother:

If I had made this connection sooner, theres no doubt Id have taken my mom out of the country or found of a way of doing it legally.I didnt make that connection early enough; now I have a pretty serious level of regret, he said. Until I get this done, get this changed and get everyone access, Im going to continue to punish myself.

But those treatments are not available in this country, hence the need for the Reason for Hopes legal advocacy. But before Waters began the work, he ran it by Winston & Strawn, in was he characterizes as one of the more nerve-wracking emails, but the firm was happy to support him:

Winston & Strawn has a long and proud history of supporting public interest endeavors both on a firmwide basis and by encouraging our attorneys to pursue individual matters, a spokeswoman for the firm said. We support Mr. Waters efforts to promote research aimed at helping veterans and others suffering from mental health challenges.

Seems like Winston & Strawn is stepping up to support the mental health efforts of its attorneys.

Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email herwith any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

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Biglaw Associate Is Advocating For Therapeutic Use Of Psychedelics And The Firm Is Backing Him Up - Above the Law