Psychedelics & Empathogens
Psilocybin, LSD, MDMA, DMT/ayahuasca, mescaline, ibogaine, 5-MeO-DMT — substances that produce profound altered states.
Latest reporting
Psilocybin Lowered Inflammation Markers in Parkinson's Patients. Don't Let Anyone Tell You What That Proves.
A JAMA Psychiatry study reports lower inflammation markers in people with Parkinson's disease after psilocybin. It was small and had no control group. What it can and cannot tell clinicians.
Two Postdocs Are Telling the DEA That Schedule I Is Not a Place to Park Uncertainty
Students for Sensible Drug Policy, two early-career scientists and MindState Design Labs asked the DEA for a hearing on placing five tryptamines in Schedule I. What the proposal covers, what it doesn't, and who it could hit first.
FDA Wants to Know How to Test Ibogaine on Humans. You Have Until Nov. 20 to Tell It.
FDA's Oct. 5 request for information on ibogaine trial design closes Nov. 20 (docket FDA-2026-N-10429). Here is what it asks and who should comment.
Through eight lenses
Science
5-HT2A agonism (classical psychedelics), MDMA serotonin/dopamine/NE release, ibogaine multi-receptor (anti-addiction window).
Biology
Acute autonomic effects, serotonin syndrome risk in combos, ibogaine cardiac risk (QT prolongation — real, requires screening), HPPD rare but possible.
Psilocybin Lowered Inflammation Markers in Parkinson's Patients. Don't Let Anyone Tell You What That Proves.
Nov 1The Government Spent 55 Years Calling Psilocybin Medically Worthless. Now It's Racing to Approve It.
Sep 24Washington Fast-Tracked Psilocybin This Year — Your Local VA Still Can't Prescribe It
Aug 15
Psychology
"mystical experience" correlating with therapeutic outcome (Griffiths et al.); challenging experiences and how they're handled in set/setting.
Ibogaine Is Being Sold as a Reset Button. Its Own Researchers Say the Evidence Is 'Modest.'
Oct 17Psychedelics Are Racing Toward FDA Approval. For Addiction, the Evidence Is Still Mostly Stories.
Oct 14Eighteen Thousand People Registered to Watch the FDA Plan Psychedelic Medicine. Almost No University Teaches How to Give It.
Oct 4
Policy
Mostly Schedule I; Oregon Measure 109, Colorado Prop 122, FDA breakthrough designations; MDMA 2024 rejection; state-level initiatives for decrim/regulated access.
Trends
Psychedelic clinic growth (often off-label ketamine), "microdosing" research (mostly null), ayahuasca tourism.
Eighteen Thousand People Registered to Watch the FDA Plan Psychedelic Medicine. Almost No University Teaches How to Give It.
Oct 4Psilocybin Just Got the FDA's Fastest Lane Ever Built. Getting There Is Still the Hard Part.
Aug 27Eli Lilly Just Paid $3.8 Billion to Bet That Depression's Next Blockbuster Looks Like DMT
Jul 31
Treatment
Psilocybin+therapy for AUD (NYU + Hopkins RCTs); ibogaine for OUD (Stanford case series, Kentucky state research); MDMA-AT for PTSD (post-2024 setback, new trials).
Harm Reduction
Set/setting, integration, contraindications (SSRIs, heart conditions, family psychosis history for classical psychedelics), test kits.
Washington Is Sprinting to Approve Psychedelics. It Left the VA at the Starting Line.
Sep 16The FDA Wants to Talk About Psilocybin's Future. It Won't Touch Who's Using It Right Now.
Sep 14People Who Drink and Occasionally Use Psilocybin Score Lower on Depression Scales. Don't Call It a Treatment Yet.
Aug 7