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Pα+ Psychedelic Bulletin #232 📌 Q2 2026 Federal Psychedelic Lobbying Update 📌 DEA Revives Bid to Schedule Five Tryptamines 📌 Advocates Declare Victory as Oregon Shelves Psilocybin Fee Hike 📌 Stanford, UCSF Researchers Call for "More Aggressive" Blinding in Psychedelic Trials 📌 BetterLife Raises $100M to Advance Non-Hallucinogenic Candidate in Headache Disorders 📌 Ex-Compass Duo Launch Psilocybin for Autism Developer 📌 California Carves Out $4.7M for Psychedelic Research in Budget Bill 📌 Ariadne Bio Reveals Non-Hallucinogenic Candidate Targeting Apathy in Parkinson’s 📌 Other Headlines Read now: psychedelicalpha.com/news/p%…

“Puerto Rico shouldn’t aspire simply to move fastest. We should try to get this right—to build something worthy of trust and, ultimately, worthy of replication.” - Attorney and psychedelics advocate, speaking to Psychedelic Alpha about Puerto Rico’s psychedelics executive order Read more on our website: psychedelicalpha.com/news/p%…

Tanya Brara Shah will join us at The Psychedelic Healthcare Forum, co-hosted by Psychedelic Alpha and Horizons at the New York Academy of Medicine, on October 15th. Shah will speak about the pathway to public reimbursement of psychedelic therapies, such as via Medicaid. She has held roles including the Assistant Commissioner of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and currently serves as an advisor to the Psychedelic Mental Health Access Alliance. Register today: horizonsconference.org/thurs…

Ibogaine Supplier Files FDA Citizen Petition Pharmagaine, a San Francisco-headquartered iboga supplier that sources its wares primarily from the Democratic Republic of Congo, has filed a Citizen Petition with FDA. In the petition, the company requests that the agency issue draft guidance “establishing minimum authorization and documentation standards for ibogaine, noribogaine, and ibogamine-class investigational compounds administered under the federal Right-to-Try pathway”. Read more on our website: psychedelicalpha.com/news/p%…

AbbVie's AJ Cannon will join us at The Psychedelic Healthcare Forum, co-hosted by Psychedelic Alpha and Horizons at the New York Academy of Medicine, on October 15th. Following the company's acquisition of Gilgamesh Pharmaceuticals' lead candidate, bretisilocin, AbbVie is substantively involved in psychedelic drug development. Cannon will participate in a panel discussion about topics related to that endeavour. Register today: horizonsconference.org/thurs…

Defining Interventional Psychiatry A new Comment in Nature Mental Health seeks to define interventional psychiatry and provide “a framework for professional identity and practice evolution.” Among other things, it presents a ‘risk-skill matrix’ of various interventional psychiatry modalities, including psychedelics. Read more on our website: psychedelicalpha.com/news/p%…

Definium Therapeutics Chief Medical Officer Dan Karlin will join us at The Psychedelic Healthcare Forum, co-hosted by Psychedelic Alpha and Horizons at the New York Academy of Medicine, on October 15th. This year, Definium has printed three positive Phase 3 readouts of its LSD candidate (DT120) for generalised anxiety disorder and major depressive disorder. The company is gearing up for a new drug application submission in the first half of 2027, making it an opportune time to hear from its leadership. Register today: horizonsconference.org/thurs…

California Carves Out $4.7M for Psychedelic Research in Budget Bill California Governor Gavin Newsom has approved a 2026-27 budget bill, AB 113, that includes an appropriation for psychedelic research. Specifically, $4.7M is carved out for the 'California Initiative to Advance Precision Medicine', which the text of bill says is "for veterans' psychedelic research."

BREAKING: Oregon Health Authority Scraps Plans to Double Psilocybin Fees This morning, the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) announced via a distribution list email that it “will not be moving forward with the current psilocybin rulemaking process that would have included increased license fees.” It had earlier proposed a doubling of fees in order to meet a budget shortfall. Oregon Psilocybin Services then merged with the state’s Marijuana division, in a cost-saving push. Advocates from Healing Advocacy Fund and the Center for Psychedelic Policy have hailed the move as a victory. They had earlier expressed concerns that the drastic fee hikes would have made an already-difficult operating environment even more challenging.

BREAKING: DEA Moves Again to Place 5 Tryptamine Psychedelics in Schedule I Tomorrow, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) will publish a notice of proposed rulemaking that would place five tryptamines in Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act. Those five substances are 4-OH-DiPT, 5-MeO-AMT, 5-MeO-MiPT, 5-MeO-DET, and DiPT.

PBS Airs Segment on Psychedelics for Phantom Limb Pain In an episode of its Resolve to Solve series, PBS explores whether psychedelics like psilocybin can help patients living with phantom limb pain, including a look at UC San Diego’s clinical trial. Read more on our website: psychedelicalpha.com/news/p%…

BrainFutures' Senior Director Jazz Glastra will join us at The Psychedelic Healthcare Forum, co-hosted by Psychedelic Alpha and Horizons at the New York Academy of Medicine, on October 15th. Jazz has led various national initiatives at BrainFutures aimed to accelerating access to psychedelic therapies. At our Forum, Jazz will guide conversations related to the integration of psychedelics into medical practice, including topics like reimbursement. Register today: horizonsconference.org/thurs…

VA Secretary Doug Collins Talks Ibogaine on Fox News VA Secretary Doug Collins appeared on Fox News, where he was asked about progress around psychedelics since President Trump’s April executive order in a 90-second exchange. “Bobby Kennedy and I have been working on this since the day we came in”, he started. “The one thing to understand is that the VA already does a lot of psychedelic trials”, he went on, noting that “the big one that a lot of people ask about is ibogaine.”  “Ibogaine is not legal in the United States,” he went on, though neither are any of the psychedelics being studied by the VA. Read more on our website: psychedelicalpha.com/news/p%…

Osmind Chief Medical Officer William Sauvé will join us at The Psychedelic Healthcare Forum, co-hosted by Psychedelic Alpha and Horizons at the New York Academy of Medicine, on October 15th. He brings a wealth of experience from the interventional psychiatry field, both as a provider but also as an operator who helped scale Greenbrook's practice to over 200 sites. He now serves as CMO at Osmind, which works with more than a thousand psychiatry practices across the U.S. Register today: horizonsconference.org/thurs…

Podcast: Psychedelics in D.C., FDA’s Framework, and New Zealand’s MDMA Prescribers In the first episode of The Psychedelic News Feed Podcast, Psychedelic Alpha’s editor Josh Hardman runs through a very busy two-week period in the field, including: • Three meetings in D.C.: FDA’s public hearing, an ibogaine-related meeting hosted by ARPA-H, and a congressional briefing • A commentary published by top FDA staff outlining a model for psychedelic drug development • New Zealand’s approval of two psychiatrists to prescribe MDMA • And many other headlines. Listen on our website or wherever you get your podcasts: psychedelicalpha.com/news/po…

Today, we’re launching The Psychedelic News Feed’s audio companion, available in your preferred podcast app. Every other Monday, Psychedelic Alpha editor Josh Hardman will talk you through the preceding two weeks’ key developments across psychedelic drug development, policy, and access. Listen now and subscribe on your favourite podcast app: psychedelicalpha.com/news/in…

Is ‘Arumaya’ Usona’s Planned Psilocybin Brand Name? Nonprofit psilocybin drug developer Usona Institute has filed a trademark application for Arumaya under class 005, which covers pharmaceutical preparations, among other things. One might presume, then, that Arumaya is a potential brand name for the company’s psilocybin candidate, if it were to score FDA approval. Read more on our website: psychedelicalpha.com/news/p%…

Field Notes #5: ‘Psychedelics Week’ in Washington D.C. In this Field Note, Josh shared his notes from a busy week in Washington, D.C., including three meetings: • FDA’s part 15 psychedelics public hearing • ARPA-H’s ibogaine initiative (ASCENT-IBO) Proposers Day • A congressional briefing on psychedelics Listen now on our website: psychedelicalpha.com/news/fi…

In our latest, we provide a brief dispatch from ARPA-H's ibogaine workshop in Washington, D.C. Read more on our website: psychedelicalpha.com/news/mo…