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December 15 – 21, 2025
A Note from the Editor
This week, we published our last Bulletin of 2025, which featured interviews, policy and drug development updates, and a closer look at some recent research findings. Our attention now turns to planning for what is sure to be an eventful 2026, but not before we share our 2025 Year in Review.
This year, we’re doing things a little differently. While we will still share a couple of articles from our desk, a selection of global dispatches from guest authors, and Michael Haichin’s Interdisciplinary Annotated Psychedelic Research Bibliography, the core of our 2025 Year in Review coverage is in the form of a three-part narrated presentation that I have pulled together. In it, I share data and updates from around the world, as well as deep dives into specific topics, such as what I learned during a trip to D.C.
The first session, which looks back at 2025 and takes stock of where the field is today, with a primary focus on drug development and policy, will be shared early next week with our PĪ±+subscribers. Join today to get access to the videos as they publish.
Below, you will find your Psychedelic News Feed, a one-stop digest for the latest coverage of psychedelics business, policy, research and beyond.
As the holiday period approaches, we atĀ Psychedelic Alpha areĀ busy focusing on the launch of several new features and pieces of content to round out 2025 and welcome the new year.
There’s little rest among psychedelics advocates, too. Outside of the traditional model of pharmaceutical approvals, where a regulator like the FDA gives a nod to new drugs, some countries and states continue to pursue psychedelic access pathways with a focus on launching next year.
In Europe, tweaks to Czechia’s criminal code will allow for medical access to psilocybin in 2026, for certain patients in specific contexts, as guidelines for the use of the drug have now been drafted by the country’s psychiatric society.
In the U.S., meanwhile, New Mexico’s Medical Psilocybin Advisory Board has brought forward plans for the launch of its state-regulated program by a year. It now hopes to allow the first patients to access psilocybin in December 2026. That’s around the same time that a pharmaceutical form of psilocybin could be up for FDA approval. It’s certainly going to be an interesting year.
At the federal level, a rumoured executive order to reclassify marijuana has been making headlines. If the supposedly imminent move materialises, psychedelics advocates will be watching closely for how MAGA reacts.
And, back atĀ Psychedelic Alpha, we were pleased to publish the second Issue ofĀ The Psychedelic Practitioner earlier this week, which focuses on the topic of Psychedelic Preparation. The next Issue, which will be published in February, will focus on Dosing.
Below, you will find your Psychedelic News Feed, a one-stop digest for the latest coverage of psychedelics business, policy, research and beyond.
This week, I shared my Dispatch from D.C., which reflects on my time speaking with lawyers, lobbyists, and advocates, but also agency staffers, drug developers, and well-connected individuals in an attempt to take the temperature on psychedelics among those who might shape the field’s future.
There is significant tumult not only across U.S. politics and the regulatory apparatus, but also within the psychedelics field itself, which does not appear to have landed on a clear or coordinated āaskā. But beneath the noise, there appeared to be a quiet confidence among some that multiple FDA approvals of psychedelics are close at hand, with as many as three possible over the next 18 months.
The day after that piece was published, STATreported that the FDA will only expect one Phase 3 trial before considering a new drug for approval. While many drugs already receive approval on the basis of one pivotal study, psychiatric drugs are often put through two or more Phase 3 trials. In our latest Bulletin, I cover what this could mean for the psychedelics field.
We also cover the Freedom to Heal Act, which was introduced this week by Senators Cory Booker (D) and Rand Paul (R). It aims to ‘fix’ what its backers view as a ‘gap’ in federal Right to Try law that effectively excludes Schedule I substances, including psychedelics. Advocates are flying in to D.C. early next week to drum up support.
Outside of D.C., longevity enthusiast Bryan Johnson’s live-streamed ingestion of psilocybin mushrooms last Sunday generated buzz early in the week. While some applauded the online event as a laudable move to reduce stigma, others poked fun at the spectacle.
Below, you will find your Psychedelic News Feed, a one-stop digest for the latest coverage of psychedelics business, policy, research and beyond.
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