Category Archives: Psychedelics

Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers has seemingly found his fountain of youth, as he was named the NFL MVP in each of the last two seasons despite aging into his late 30s. In a recent interview on The Aubrey Marcus Podcast,Rodgers attributed his recent success to psychedelics.

Rodgers revealed that the Ayahuasca plant, which is found in South America, has helped improve his mental health.

"I think there's so many myths and rumors about it," Rodgers said during the interview. "The fear around it is, you're going to s--t yourself, it's just a big throw-up fest ... but the negative framework of it is that is the experience, not the deep and meaningful and crazy mind-expanding possibilities, and also deep self-love and healing that can happen on the other side."

Rodgers knew the experience would make him a changed man immediately, saying "I came back and knew that I was never gonna be the same."

Since Rodgers began traveling to South America to partake in these psychedelics, he believes it's no "coincidence" that he's won the league MVP during the 2020 and 2021 seasons. Rodgers is now setting the record straight regarding negative stereotypes about the Ayahuasca plant.

"I had a magical experience with the sensation of feeling a hundred different hands on my body imparting a blessing of love and forgiveness for myself and gratitude for this life from what seemed to be my ancestors," Rodgers said when describing his first experience.

Rodgers added that he previously experimented with mushrooms before trying Ayahuasca.

Now, Rodgers believes he's more equipped to lead the Packers to glory -- and the Ayahuasca plant has helped with that.

"To be way more free at work, as a leader, as a teammate, as a friend, as a lover," Rodgers said. "I really feel like that experience paved the way for me to have the best season of my career."

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Packers' Aaron Rodgers says psychedelics led to his back-to-back MVP ...

1. With Promise of Legalization, Psychedelic Companies Joust Over Future Profits  The New York Times
2. Research, remedy and regulation: the changing dynamics of psychedelic therapy in Alberta  CBC.ca
3. Patent Controversies in Psychedelics  Psychedelic Spotlight
4. Canada Update: Psychedelics Legal Landscape, Overview & Near-Term Predictions - Optimi Health (OTC:OPTHF)  Benzinga
5. View Full Coverage on Google News

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With Promise of Legalization, Psychedelic Companies Joust Over Future Profits - The New York Times

1. How do psychedelics work? This brain region may explain their effects  PBS
2. WU lab researches magic mushrooms for mental health  Student Life
3. What Made the Mushrooms Magic: Psychedelic Study Explores the Odd Evolution of Mind-Altering Fungi  The Debrief
4. Psychedelic Sorcery: How Do Mushrooms Become Magic?  SciTechDaily
5. Everything your parents don't tell you about magic mushrooms  Vermont Cynic
6. View Full Coverage on Google News

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How do psychedelics work? This brain region may explain their effects - PBS

Psychedelic therapies are receiving unprecedented financial and political support and much of it comes from the right. Peter Thiel has invested extensively in the emerging psychedelic therapeutic industry. Jordan Peterson is a psilocybin fan. In 2018, the Mercer Foundation donated $1m to the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (Maps), the leading US psychedelics research organization, for studies of MDMA treatment of PTSD in veterans.

The Mercer family also supports the American right wing and climate crisis denial. Theyre a long way from Woodstock but Maps and some other psychedelic advocates seem glad for any support they can get.

To be sure, there are plenty of leftists and liberals who endorse the medical use of psychedelics. In July, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez offered a successful amendment to the new $768bn defense spending bill to support increased research into psychedelic treatment for veterans and active-duty service members. So did Dan Crenshaw, a navy veteran and Republican representative from Texas. Matt Gaetz, Republican from Florida and noted misogynist, offered a similar amendment.

Psychedelics have long been associated with utopian experiments. Today, some researchers dream of finding a scientific basis for the hypothesis that psychedelics might help end intractable political conflict. Last year, Maps and Imperial College London organized a joint ayahuasca trip for Israelis and Palestinians. In 2018, Imperial College received much attention for a tiny study suggesting that one dose of psilocybin therapy reduced support for authoritarian attitudes. Could psychedelics be the cure for anti-democratic tendencies? Rick Doblin, founder of Maps, has even suggested that psychedelic use could help stop environmental degradation.

Psychedelics can certainly increase openness but this can be openness to Nazism, eco-fascism or UFO cults as well as to peace and love. Julius Evola, an Italian philosopher and fascist admired by both Hitler and Steve Bannon, was a staunch LSD advocate. Governor Greg Abbott of Texas, who recently made headlines for sending buses of migrants to New York, Washington and Chicago, signed a 2021 state bill to study the medical benefits of psychedelics. Steve Bannon supports legalized psychedelics, too.

As professors Brian Pace and Nee Devenot point out in their work rebutting the science on psychedelics as a kind of medicine for authoritarianism, psychedelics have never had a purely leftwing fanbase. Andrew Anglin, the founder of the neo-Nazi website Daily Stormer, experimented extensively with psychedelics in his youth. The founder of 8chan, the now-defunct extremist message board that hosted the manifestos of several mass shooters, was inspired by a mushroom trip.

Why is the American right so intrigued by these substances today? The most obvious answer is money. As psychedelics are absorbed into mainstream medicine, they promise to become another American cash cow. Money will come from patents on novel formulations and by patenting and providing the associated treatment techniques.

There may be political factors at play, as well. Was the Mercer Foundations donation to Maps motivated by a desire to shore up American military resources by palliating the harms suffered by those sent to fight those wars? The military-industrial complex is even more lucrative than the pharmaceutical sector, but those weapons still require human beings to deploy them. Is rightwing psychedelic funding an attempt to ensure the continued viability of American wars around the world?

And, if MDMA is so helpful in the treatment of PTSD, why are veterans given special priority in a society that has traumatized so many people? What about the trauma of racism, of poverty, of police violence and mass incarceration problems actively increased by rightwing policies supported by people like the Mercers?

Psychedelics have the potential to help people break out of repetitive, destructive thoughts, to help them discover new possibilities and new joy. But the effects of psychoactive drugs can never be detached from their setting.

Its foolish to imagine positive transformation achieved with the help of Rebekah Mercer, Steve Bannon or Greg Abbott. After all, these are the same people who vociferously oppose universal healthcare and deny climate change. With their support, we can expect psychedelic medicine for the elite, as a tool of state power or an engine of conspiracy theories, rather than a liberationist psychedelic movement. Until we have universal, single-payer healthcare, the benefits of psychedelic therapy will be out of reach for most Americans.

And its nave to expect psychedelics to change your mind for the better (in Michael Pollans formulation) when theyre a gift of the right wing, or when theyre offered within a framework of gross inequality. Look at Burning Man: this pseudo-utopia has become a playground of Silicon Valleys ultra-rich. It leaves the desert strewn with thousands of abandoned bicycles and produces 12-hour traffic jams in the desert which is hotter than ever thanks to our profligate burning of fossil fuels. With the wrong company, a journey of self-discovery can lead to even deeper solipsism. In fact, the illusion of transcendence can be used to justify greater selfishness, even cruelty.

Psychedelic therapies like all other forms of care should be available to those who need them, not only to those with money and connections and political utility. In the psychedelic community theres a lot of talk about integration, a processing of your trip. But this integration is too often limited to the individual. To be truly beneficial, psychedelics should be integrated into a social vision of equality and justice, one that opposes the sacrifice of human life and health at the altar of military spending and empire building, one that values every life regardless of race, nationality, religion, gender or class.

Magic mushrooms are no magic cure for societys ills, and a substance as powerful as psychedelics can be dangerous if it falls into the wrong hands. Psychedelic advocates need to stop cozying up to the right and expand their mission to encompass a commitment to broader social justice.

Ross Ellenhorn is a sociologist, psychotherapist and author and the founder and CEO of Ellenhorn. His new book, Purple Crayons: The Art of Drawing a Life, is out on 1 November. Dimitri Mugianis is a harm reductionist, activist, musician, poet, writer, and anarchist, with over two decades of experience as a psychedelic practitioner. Ellenhorn and Mugianis are the founders of Cardea

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Why is the American right suddenly so interested in psychedelic drugs? - The Guardian

Can psychedelics cure mental illness? This question is now under vigorous investigation at research centers across the world and is the subject of a Nova documentary that premieres Wednesday night on PBS.

People who take psychedelic substances have reported powerful mystical experiences that are often characterized by a sense of unity or oneness with other things, a profoundly positive mood and transcendence of time and space.

These mind-altering substances have been used by humans for thousands of years in ritual settings. In the 1950s, some researchers demonstrated their promise as therapies for certain mental illnesses. But this research abruptly came to an end as authorities cracked down on psychedelics after they rose to prominence in the 1960s counterculture. The U.S. government criminalized the possession of psychedelics in 1968.

Only in the past few years has the stigma surrounding psychedelics started to fade. Now, scientists from institutions around the worldincluding prestigious centers like Johns Hopkins University and Imperial College Londonare carrying out pioneering research into these substances.

Some research groups have demonstrated that psychedelics combined with therapy sessions show promise for the treatment of a range of mental health conditions, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), addiction and depression.

One group featured in the Nova film received psilocybin-assisted therapy as part of a limited clinical trial. Some of the members showed a 50 percent reduction in drinking, compared with a group treated with psychotherapy alone, and some patients experienced remarkable recoveries.

Another group from a different trial featured in the film involved cancer patients with major depressive disorders. Significant improvements were seen in the majority of participants.

And MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD is now in the final stages of the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) approval process, while psilocybin-assisted therapies for depression, among others, are also being examined by the agency.

A neuroscientist featured in the Nova documentary, Yasmin Hurd, who is director of the Addiction Institute at the Mount Sinai Behavioral Health System, told Newsweek one of the things we know is that psychedelics work on the neurotransmitter serotonin, which is involved with disorders related to depression and anxiety. This may explain some of their therapeutic effects, although more research needs to be done to understand the biological mechanisms at play.

"These psychedelics impact on the serotonergic system, and they work also in changing the plasticity of neurons, meaning that they can change the structure of them," Hurd said.

"In a number of substance use disordersnot allthe neurons retract, they have lost their spines. And we've seen that a lot of these psychedelic drugs actually cause the spines to grow again. That's one of the ways in which many people feel that psychedelics may be working."

Studies have looked at the serotonergic system in humans, and researchers have been able to correlate psilocybin-induced changes in the brain with improved outcomes for emotional states and cognition.

"Also, when you look in the human brain, you can see that the psychedelics change the connectivity between brain regions. For example, if we think about a brain region like the amygdala[it] is really critical for emotional regulation and [is] highly sensitized to negative memories," Hurd said.

In PTSD, for example, the amygdala is highly active, but psychedelics appear to reduce the activity of these amygdala networks.

"We still don't know completely how the psychedelics may be reducing depression or anxiety and PTSD, but those are some of the things that we've seen," Hurd said.

She also said there are still many unknowns when it comes to psychedelic therapies and their effectiveness. "The dosing is still really challenging to know. The type of disorder and who [these treatments] might be better suited forthose are things that are still being investigated."

Hurd said it is important people realize that the therapies being investigated do not simply involve people being given a pill. An important aspect of these potential treatments is the associated behavioral therapy.

"The field is still trying to understand what component of behavioral therapy that's needed," Hurd said.

Another challenge with the research into psychedelic therapies is that there tends to be no placebo control.

"Normally, when you run clinical studies to see if something works, you have to make sure that it [doesn't just work] because somebody wants it to work. That may ultimately be the biggest challenge with psychedelics," Hurd said.

The use of psychedelics also comes with risks and ethical concerns. Psychedelic experiences can have negative outcomes if an individual is not in the right frame of mind or environment when taking them. Scientists stress the importance of administering them in a therapeutic setting when mental health conditions are treated.

"Psychedelics are very different from all other medications," Hurd said. "You need to be in a particular environmentNative peoples, when they have used these psychedelics, it was in a group setting. So for these particular medications, there needs to be extremely controlled settings."

She continued: "The more studies that are done, hopefully, we'll be able to understand which particular individuals can benefit from it in combination with therapy...and who may be at risk. There's no medication that's going to work on everyone."

Certain groups of people should also avoid taking psychedelics, such as people with a personal or family history of schizophrenia or bipolar disorder who are at risk of experiencing negative psychotic states.

As for the future, psychedelic therapies may be available as FDA-approved medications where the dosing and side effects are known and the drug is administered by a physician.

Despite the risks and remaining unknowns, Hurd said psychedelics have the potential to upend how we currently treat mental health conditions.

"You have to be brave enough to be open to [the fact that psychedelics] can revolutionize [treatment] for people whose lives are destroyed by their addiction, the craving that they can't stop no matter how much they want to. Anything to me that can help people get their lives back I think can be extremely powerful."

She continued: "In the United States, we have millions of people with a substance use disorder. Addiction has a huge cost to our society. [Psychedelics could] be extremely powerful in helping us to have healthy adults. But at the same time, we don't want to exacerbate and worsen people's outcomes.

"So I'm cautiously optimistic, but I like to see data. Hopefully, now with more clinical trials being supported by the National Institutes of Health and clinical trials going through the FDA channels, we will be able to get much better insights," Hurd said.

Can Psychedelics Cure? premieres Wednesday at 9 p.m. EDT/8 p.m. CDT on PBS. The film will also be available for streaming at PBS.org/nova, Nova on YouTube and via the PBS Video app.

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Can Psychedelics Cure? Science Is on the Verge of Finding Out - Newsweek

In the 1960s, research surfaced linking psychedelic use to an increased risk of cancer. But a new study published in theJournal of Psychopharmacologyfound no such link. The researchers studied recent data from a large national survey of Americans and found that psychedelic use (e.g., LSD, MDMA, DMT) was not associated with lifetime cancer development.

Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) was first associated with cancer risk when a 1967 study reported chromosomal damage in human white blood cells after exposure. A series of subsequent studies were released suggesting that LSD may have carcinogenic potential, and case reports of LSD users developing cancer added to this concern.

Beginning in the late 1960s, concerns were raised by laboratory experiments that LSD and other psychedelics might damage chromosomes and potentially cause hematological cancers such as leukemia and lymphoma, said study author Brian S. Barnett, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University.

Once a potential connection between psychedelics and cancer was reported by the media, it became an important factor in psychedelics becoming Schedule 1 drugs and research into their therapeutic applications coming to an end for nearly half a century.

However, multiple flaws have been identified in the concepts and methodologies of these early studies. For example, many of them tested LSD concentrations and durations of exposure that far exceeded reasonable dosages of LSD. Additionally, many studies did not control for use of other drugs alongside LSD.

Today, most of the available evidence suggests that psychedelics do not pose a carcinogenic risk. But Barnett and his colleagues note that research in this area largely faded out with the 70s. Now that much more epidemiological data is available, the researchers aimed to revisit and clarify the link between psychedelics and cancer risk. This topic is particularly relevant, the authors say, in light of the ongoing discussion regarding the therapeutic potential of psychedelics.

With psychedelics now moving rapidly toward FDA approval as medications, I thought it would be interesting to use data from a U.S. government survey of tens of thousands Americans about drug use and health problems to investigate this safety question and see if there actually is any association between psychedelic use and cancer, Barnett explained.

The researchers aimed to expand upon a 2021 population-level study by Simonsson and associates, which explored the link between lifetime psychedelic use and cancer diagnosis in the past 12 months. For the current study, the researchers explored associations between lifetime psychedelic use and lifetime cancer diagnosis. They also differentiated between cancer of any kind and hematologic cancers (e.g., leukemia, lymphoma).

Barnett and his team analyzed data from the 20152019 editions of the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, a nationally representative survey of Americans. Focusing on participants aged 18 and older, the final sample included 210,021 respondents. Importantly, the survey included data on a large number of confounding variables such as age, sex, race/ethnicity, income, educational attainment, lifetime history of HIV/AIDS, and other drug use.

When controlling for confounding variables, the results revealed that lifetime psychedelic use was not associated with lifetime cancer diagnosis nor hematologic cancer diagnosis. This was true for each of the three classifications of psychedelics: tryptamine (5-MeO-DIPT, AMT, DMT), lysergamide (LSD), and phenethylamine (2C-B, mescaline, MDMA, peyote, and San Pedro).

Interestingly, when researchers did not control for confounding variables, they found that lifetime psychedelic use was associated with a lower prevalence of lifetime cancer diagnosis. The authors suggest that this association may have been driven by the lower age of respondents who reported lifetime psychedelic use.

The authors said results support the findings of Simonsson and colleagues (2021), which revealed no significant link between psychedelic use and cancer diagnosis in the past 12 months. The current study extended these findings to include lifetime diagnosis of cancer and hematologic cancer.

However, every scientific study has limitations, Barnett noted. While it is unlikely that the limitations of this study would change the outcome, its important to know that the dataset used for the study does not provide information on the number of times participants used psychedelics (we only knew who used them during their lifetime), doses of psychedelics used, and whether participants psychedelic use preceded their cancer diagnosis or vice versa.

The authors said that more research will be necessary to better understand the physiological safety of psychedelics. Future research in this area would benefit from employing more detailed epidemiological data, the authors wrote, including age of first use for each psychedelic, number of lifetime uses of each psychedelic, time since last use of each psychedelic, age at each type of cancer diagnosis, and information about use of less well-known psychedelics that are gaining increased societal attention, such as ibogaine and ayahuasca.

The study, Is psychedelic use associated with cancer?: Interrogating a half-century-old claim using contemporary population-level data, was authored by Brian S Barnett, Kathleen Ziegler, Rick Doblin, and Andrew D Carlo.

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Large national survey suggests that the use of psychedelics is not associated with lifetime cancer development - PsyPost

Short-acting psychedelics biotech firm Small Pharma Inc. DMTTFreceived a USPTO patent protecting the composition matter of a group of deuterated DMT compounds, with expected exclusivity until April 2041.

We have made significant strides this year progressing our research and development programs and in securing key IP to support and protect them, saidCEO George Tziras.

We secured eight patent grants so far this year, bringing our total from four to twelve. The grant of this second United States patent effectively protects all pharmaceutical formulations of the specified deuterated DMT compounds, enabling us to progress our deuterated pipeline with even greater confidence.

Indeed, the new patent will further strengthen the companys intellectual property position by being the equivalent to an existing European patent, therefore expanding protection for the companys deuterated DMT pipeline in the global market.

Small Pharmarecently released its financial results for the three and six months ended August 31, 2022, as well as business highlights for the period including its two advanced clinical programs and the companys preclinical pipeline.

Its short-acting psychedelic assisted therapies under development are currently focusing on depression treatment with lead candidate SPL026, a proprietary synthetic formulation of DMT. More specifically, Small Pharma is advancing a clinical program of intravenous (IV) SPL026 in conjunction with psychotherapy for the treatment of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD).

Photo courtesy of RF._.studio onPexels and Jynto onWikimedia Commons.

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This Pharma Company Just Scored Another Psychedelics Patent And Set Its Sights On 70 More - Small Pharma - Benzinga

For decades, consciousness researchers have been fascinated by the psychedelic qualities that certain varieties of fungus possess and the remarkable effects they have on the human mind.

Since the early 2000s, a new wave of scientific studies focused on the effects of these hallucinatory compounds have emerged, beginning with Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research being granted regulatory approval in 2000 to reinitiate research with psychedelics in healthy, psychedelic-nave volunteers.

Six years later, they published the results of their findings, which found long-term positive effects that resulted from as little as a single dose of psilocybin. Subsequent research led to a federal grant in 2021 from the National Institutes of Health to study the possible impact psilocybin might have on helping smokers quit, marking the first time in five decades that such a grant was provided for psychedelic treatment research.

With the growing awareness of psilocybins importance in treating everything from addiction to anxiety and depression, now scientists are trying to narrow down what led certain fungi to take the unique evolutionary path that helped them produce psychedelic compounds in the first place.

Recently, a research team at the University of Plymouth has taken up the case in a new study, which uses novel genetic science coupled with behavioral experiments to help unravel the origins of psychedelic compounds in certain fungi.

Among the theories the team explored included whether hallucinatory compounds might have developed as a unique defense mechanism against invertebrates that rely on fungi as a staple of their diets. Another angle they explored looked at whether some psychedelics were produced in order to manipulate the behavior of insects, not unlike how flowering plants have evolved to work with pollinators in what are often very remarkable ways.

Due to its occurrence in so-called magic mushrooms, psilocybin had been a natural central area of focus that the University of Plymouth team chose to explore. This, along with the compounds similarity to the neurotransmitter serotonin, which is synthesized within our bodies and plays a critical role in conveying information between nerve cells.

John Ellis, Ph.D., Lecturer in Conservation Genetics and one of the researchers supervising the study, says that despite their ubiquity in the natural world, fungi actually present a number of challenges when it comes to their incorporation in studies like the one his team has undertaken.

Fungi generally receive less attention overall than animals and plants, partly because they are less apparent, people interact with them less and they can be hard to study, Ellis recently said in a statement. Ellis also cites the problems associated with the illegality of psychedelic use, which in decades past has required special permits and other preparation in order for studies to occur.

Due to such barriers, some of the most intriguing data on the use of psychedelics is already several decades old.

According to Ellis, there were some very interesting studies in the 1940s and 50s into the use of LSD as a psychotherapeutic treatment for alcoholism and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Around that time, people also became interested in fungi from an anthropological perspective.

One example he provides involves the studies conducted decades ago by the research team of Mara Sabina and R. Gordon Wasson, who traveled to Mexico to observe religious ceremonial practices that incorporated the use of psychedelic fungi.

Around this time, there were also other charismatic individuals, such as Timothy Leary, who advocated the use of LSD more widely by the general public, Ellis says. However, as Leary and others worked to bring more widespread attention to the use of psychedelics, that attention also had the negative effect of drawing attention from lawmakers, whose regulations against psychedelic substances led both to cultural stigmas and also impeded scientific studies of their potential benefits in therapeutic practice.

Fortunately, it seems that many of the old attitudes toward psychedelics and their academic study have changed in recent years, potentially allowing researchers like Ellis to explore their beneficial nature.

More recently, people have returned to that initial research and found that compounds such as psilocybin can have psychotherapeutic benefits, he says.

However, that has not addressed their evolution in nature, he adds, which is what makes the research we are doing so exciting.

With the help of cutting-edge DNA sequencing technologies, the team compared psychoactive and non-psychoactive fungi samples to explore how large a segment of the animal kingdom regularly feasts on psychedelic fungi and how its effects on those species might compare to human experiences with psychedelics.

Along with its focus on DNA sequencing, the research also incorporates gene editing technologies aimed at creating mutated fungi which is incapable of synthesizing compounds like psilocybin.

Fundamentally, Ellis and the University of Plymouth team hope that their research can have the overall effect of helping remove some of the remaining stigmas against psychedelics and their serious study by academics.

I hope our project can change the public perception of magic mushrooms, Ellis says. But beyond that, asking questions about the biological world is a fundamental part of our human nature and this project fits into a long narrative of research asking questions about biodiversity and its evolution.

Micah Hanks is Editor-in-Chief and Co-Founder of The Debrief. Follow his work atmicahhanks.comand on Twitter:@MicahHanks.

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What Made the Mushrooms Magic: Psychedelic Study Explores the Odd Evolution of Mind-Altering Fungi - The Debrief

The Healing Company Inc. (OTC:HLCO), a publicly traded company backed by Dr. Deepak Chopraand psychedelics investor Christian Angermayer among others,has acquired UK plant-based superfood brands Your Super to capitalize on two high-growth wellness sectors:superfoods and plant-based nutrition, which together represent more than $200 billion of global market potential.

The acquisition, financed through a combination of cash and Healing Companyequity, will focus on expanding the impact and accessibility of Your Super's leading healing products portfolio, building on the company's traction to date.

The Healing Company has closed a $150 million credit facility with investment company i80 Group with the aim of further advancing its goal of providing expanded access to integrated healing methods through a community of healthcare brands.

Los Angeles-based health and wellness brand Your Super, whoseprevious investors includePepsiCo PEPand Beyond Meats PowerPlant Partners, was createdafter co-founder Michael Kuechs cancer diagnosis at age 24. Facing this reality, he and his partner and co-founder Kristel de Groot began developing superfood and plant protein mixes to boost his immunity, and theirmission eventually became to improve people's health with the power of superplants.

The certified B-Corp company has proven its ability to grow quickly while maintaining strong margins and a positive EBITDA outlook. In numbers, ithas sold more than 5 million products across the US and Europe, ranking 25th on 2021 Inc.s fastest-growing companies list, with three-year revenue growth of 11,477% and $180 million in cumulative revenue.

Within the wellness industry, which is predicted to reach $7 trillion by 2025, the supplement category has historically shown stability in a downturn, growing 8% through the 2007-2009 recession. The founders see the market as favorable for mergers and acquisitions, with valuations dropping considerably from 2021.

That is, the new credit facility is expected to fuel the company's plans to drive consolidation in a fragmented market, with the objective of buying and scaling more than 15 supplements and nutraceuticals brands in the next few years.

The Healing Companys co-founder and CEO Simon Belsham said he was certain about the acquisition of Your Super, calling it a powerful brand with robust margins and a fantastic product portfolio in a large and growing sector: preventative healthcare.

From the medicinal point of view, the companys chief scientific advisor,Deepak Chopra, added: "Food is medicine, and we now know definitively that plant-based nutrition has immense healing potential as it combats inflammation, which causes more than 80% of chronic disease. Your Super has developed clean, plant-based, superfood mixes that help more people benefit from the healing power of plants, and we're excited to help increase access to their products through this acquisition."

Regarding the new $150 million credit line news, founder and CEO of i80 Group Marc Helwani stated that The Healing Company's targeted acquisition strategy is highly attractive in the currentchallenging economic environment with ongoing declining asset prices and that the company's team is perfectly positioned to capitalize on this reality.

Photo courtesy of The Healing Company.

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Psychedelics And Wellness: The Healing Company Buys PepsiCo-Backed Superfoods Company - (HLCO) - Benzinga

DENVER (KDVR) Colorado voters will soon decide on statewide measures that address things like affordable housing, school meals, psychedelic drugs and alcohol. And of course, there will be several measures on taxes.

There are 11 statewide measures on the ballot this general election.

The proposed amendments to the Colorado Constitution will each require 55% approval, while the remaining measures will each require a simple majority vote to pass, according to the 2022 ballot information book, known as the Blue Book.

The Blue Book breaks down the pros and cons of each measure, and its available in English-language and Spanish-language text versions, and theres also an audio version.

Five of the measures were referred by the state legislature, while the other six were citizen-led. (Heres an easy way to tell, according to the Blue Book: An amendment or proposition placed on the ballot by the legislature is named with a letter or double letters, while citizen-led measures are named with numbers).

Voters have until Monday, Oct. 31, to return their ballot by mail and until Tuesday, Nov. 8, to use a ballot dropbox or vote in person. Here is a rundown of what voters will decide this election.

These measures will each require 55% approval.

Starting in 2025, the 18th Judicial District will split, and Douglas, Elbert and Lincoln counties will move to the newly created 23rd Judicial District. Amendment D would allow the governor to designate judges from the original district to serve the rest of their terms in the new district. It would also require judges to establish residency there.

Amendment E would extend existing property tax exemptions for disabled veterans to the surviving spouse of a U.S. military member who died in the line of duty or from a service-related injury or disease.

Amendment F would reduce the amount of time that a nonprofit can operate in Colorado before it can get a bingo-raffle license. It would also allow bingo-raffle workers to receive compensation, which is not allowed in the state right now.

The rest of the measures on the ballot will require a simple majority vote in favor to pass.

Along with the constitutional amendment that would benefit Gold Star families, several other items on the ballot will deal with taxes. The measures look to taxes to fund other programs, reduce taxes overall or educate people on the impact of tax changes.

Proposition FF would limit state income tax deductions on people who make $300,000 or more to fund healthy, free school meals for students in public schools. The money would also fund grants to help schools buy Colorado food products and increase wages for school food employees. Read more on the free school meals measure here.

Proposition GG would require any ballot initiative that increases or decreases state income taxes to include a table that shows the average tax change for filers across income levels.

Proposition 121 would reduce the state income tax rate from 4.55% to 4.40%. Read more on the proposed income tax reduction in Colorado here.

Proposition 123 would send 0.01% of state income tax toward affordable housing programs. It would also exempt that money from the state revenue limit, so it would reduce the pool of money refunded to taxpayers because of the Taxpayer Bill of Rights. Read more on the affordable housing measure here.

Colorado voters will once again have their say on substances this November, including natural psychedelics and alcohol.

Proposition 122 would decriminalize the personal possession and use of psychedelic mushrooms for people ages 21 and older and allow the creation of healing centers where people could consume the fungi while supervised. It would also open the door for the decriminalization of the psychedelic drugs dimethyltryptamine (DMT), ibogaine and mescaline as soon as 2026. Read more on the move to decriminalize psychedelic mushrooms here.

Proposition 124 would allow the number of liquor licenses a person can have to increase to eight by 2026. The limit would increase thereafter until 2037 when the number of liquor licenses a person could have would be unlimited.

Proposition 125 would allow stores that are licensed to sell beer, like grocery and convenience stores, to sell wine too. Learn more about the measure to allow wine in grocery stores.

Proposition 126 would allow third-party alcohol delivery. FOX31s Gabrielle Franklin spoke to businesses about the potential impact of third-party alcohol delivery.

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What's on the Colorado ballot? Housing, psychedelics, school meals, alcohol, taxes and more | FOX31 Denver - FOX 31 Denver