A Note from the Editor

The biggest headline in the psychedelics field this week was outgoing New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy’s signing S2283 into law, establishing a $6M psilocybin pilot program in the state. While some outlets hailed this as the fourth state-regulated psilocybin access system in the U.S., it does not create a psilocybin services system like those seen in Oregon and Colorado.

Instead, the legislation creates a two-year pilot program that will see the drug researched at three hospitals in New Jersey, which will each receive $2M, in accordance with FDA and DEA regulations. (Compare that, for example, to Oregon and Colorado, which defy DEA scheduling and are not aligned with FDA.)

The bill did originally envisage the creation of an Oregon-style system featuring service centres and the like. But it was stripped down as it progressed through the state legislature, much to the chagrin of some in the psychedelic policy reform movement.

We may see more state-sponsored psychedelic research bills pass in the coming months, with several introduced already. You can track 55 bills that are in motion in the state and at the federal level via our new Psychedelic Bill Tracker.

While legislators seem increasingly open to psychedelic policy initiatives, Americans remain somewhat divided, according to a new Ipsos/Psychedelic Alpha poll released this week. You can read the topline over at Ipsos and a deeper dive in our latest Bulletin.

Aside from their attitudes, we also got a look at how Americans are using psychedelics and related substances last week, as RAND shared the first cut of data from its 2025 survey. It reports, among other things, that around 10 million U.S. adults microdosed last year.

Elsewhere, our 2025 Year in Review looked at funding, public markets, and M&A activity in the field last year. We reported a relatively strong close to the year in terms of financing activity and a bullish sentiment on the public markets.

Our latest Op-Ed from that same Year in Review series came from Helena Aicher, a researcher and psychotherapist working within Switzerland’s framework for limited medical use. There, Aicher reflects on how Europe’s psychedelics landscape evolved in 2025.

It certainly seems like the pace of developments is not letting up, with plenty to cover on the policy reform side. Pα+ subscribers should keep an eye out for our first roundup of 2026 on that front.

Below, you will find your Psychedelic News Feed, a one-stop digest for the latest coverage of psychedelics business, policy, research and beyond.

Josh Hardman
Founder & Editor