These results support a recent model proposing that psychedelics reduce the ‘precision-weighting of priors’, thus altering the balance of top-down versus bottom-up information passing. The robust hypothesis-confirming nature of these findings imply the discovery of an important mechanistic principle underpinning psychedelic-induced altered states. The present analyses were applied to the first EEG data on the…
“It is a misnomer to say that all drugs are equally dangerous and hedonic”, says Andrew D. Penn, RN, MS, NP, CNS, APRN-BC, a Psych Congress Steering Committee member, associate clinical professor at the University of California, San Francisco, and attending nurse practitioner at the San Francisco Veterans Administration. “It’s quite clear that these are…
In a double-blind study, scientists utilized small doses… …was similar to what 20 mg of commonly used painkillers like oxycodone or morphine could bring about. This is important because unlike oxycodone and morphine… lack of addiction potential makes microdoses… a potential… for chronic or severe pain management. Original Article (The Swaddle):LSD microdosing can increase pain…
…expands the traditional meaning of set & setting in psychedelic therapy to include the broader contexts in which these substances are used. He calls this the “collective set and setting”: the broader cultural and social contexts in which these substances are used. This is something that pharmacological discourse has been reluctant to acknowledge over the…
Researchers… approach to producing psilocybin but used baker’s yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, rather than bacteria. The yeast expresses a key enzyme involved in the same magic mushroom production pathway of psilocybin, which doesn’t involve the need for expensive chemicals. During their production of psilocybin and psilocin through synthetic biology, the yeast also produced intermediate products – molecules…
Passing Measure 109, she said, would “set up Oregonians as really the guinea pigs to be receiving psilocybin treatment for psychological conditions with high rates of morbidity and mortality if treated quickly or left untreated.” The leader of the Oregon Psychiatric Physician Association told The Lund Report the group opposes the measure, as does American…
New research recently published in Psychopharmacology provides evidence that inert placebo pills can induce psychedelic-like effects, including perceptual alterations. The findings highlight the importance of expectations and context when ingesting psychedelic substances. The researchers told the participants they were being given iprocin – a homologue of psilocybin, the active ingredient in psychedelic mushrooms – and that they…
The scientific study of psychedelics is not immune from broader crises that are currently ongoing in the scientific realm, like the replication crisis… and the increasingly privatized funding of research… What may further limit the researcher’s degree of freedom, is that most studies on psychedelics are sponsored by private foundations with a vested interest. In…
The center plans to collaborate with the Graduate Theological Union, an independent consortium of religious schools and theological institutes based in Berkeley and the larger San Francisco Bay Area, in the development of an immersive learning program on psychedelics and spirituality. The new… Center for the Science of Psychedelics will conduct research using psychedelics to…
Perhaps the most intriguing finding in the study is the observation that the analgesic effect seen in the 20-µg LSD group is comparable to what prior studies have seen with in the same cold water pain test for opioids such as oxycodone and morphine. The researchers described the results of the study as “remarkable”, with…
