A Note from the Editor

I write this short note from Stockholm, Sweden, where the fantastic Borealis Summit just wrapped.

I gave a talk that provided an update of sorts on the psychedelic drug development pipeline as well as policy developments from around the world. It was among the driest topics, truth be told, with others exploring themes as rich as consciousness and meaning-making, challenging experiences, and gender and psychedelics.

As a Brit myself, I am very pleased to have reason to attend events and cover stories much closer to home, with Europe catching up with its North American counterparts in terms of psychedelic policy reform efforts, government-funded research, and so on. The continent, and the Nordics, are making their mark on the so-called psychedelic renaissance.

Elsewhere this week, we published a very long Issue of the Psychedelic Bulletin, which covers a whole host of topics: from atai Life Sciences’ $11.4M NIDA grant and Reunion Neuroscience’s $133M upsized Series A financing to a payor-backed psilocybin pilot program in Australia and real-world outcomes data from Oregon’s psilocybin services.

In the press, a New York Times feature has caused quite a stir. It details the story of venture capitalist Amy Griffin, whose immensely popular book, “The Tell”, recounts her story of recovering what she describes as a memory of sexual assault by a teacher during her childhood. The apparent memory was recovered, Griffin says, during an underground MDMA therapy experience. (Griffin was connected to the MDMA therapists via MAPS founder Rick Doblin. Her husband is a MAPS donor, and the pair invested in Lykos Therapeutics via their foundation.) The Times piece probes Griffin’s account and presents several questions that the book, and its popularity, raise. The case also draws focus on questions around psychedelic-induced recovered memories, which is quite a sensitive matter. During my time in Stockholm, I spoke to an expert on this topic; the interview will be published soon.

Anyhow, without further ado: Here’s your Psychedelic News Feed, a one-stop digest for the latest coverage of psychedelics business, policy, research and beyond.

Josh Hardman
Founder & Editor