Scientists have started to investigate whether psilocybin, the primary substance responsible for the psychedelic effects of “magic” mushrooms, could be helpful to those who suffer from migraine headache. Their new findings, published in Neurotherapeutics, provide preliminary evidence that the drug could provide long-lasting therapeutic benefits to migraine sufferers.
Anecdotal reports have circulated for years that psilocybin lessens migraine symptoms. But there has been little scientific evidence to back the claims. The newly published research is the first double-blind, placebo-controlled study to examine whether psilocybin affects migraine disease.
“As a headache medicine physician, I see the need for a better understanding of headache disorders, including migraine, and the need for more treatment options. I’ve also studied the neuropharmacology of psychedelics for a number of years and appreciate their ability to help us understand more about the workings of the human brain,” explained study author Emmanuelle A. D. Schindler (@eadschindler), an assistant professor of neurology at Yale School of Medicine.
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Psychedelic drug development company Cybin will launch a phase two clinical trial on its sublingual formulation of psilocybin, the psychedelic compound found in “magic mushrooms”, for patients with Major Depressive Disorder later this year.
The company announced that the ethics board at the University of the West Indies Hospital in Jamaica granted approval this week.
Doug Drysdale, the company’s CEO, says the approval to start a clinical trial is a big step.
“I really think we have the opportunity to revolutionize how you treat mental illness,” says Drysdale, who worked in the pharmaceutical industry for 30 years before joining Cybin. “There’s nothing else out there today that could enable you to remove a person’s depressive symptoms for potentially months at a time.”
The start of the trial is still subject to final confirmation by Jamaica’s Ministry of Health.
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Democrats Unveil Bill to Decriminalize Drug Possession at Federal Level, Expunge Records
Source: Newsweek
A bill to end criminal penalties for drug possession at the federal level was unveiled by Democrats on Tuesday, ahead of the 50th anniversary when President Richard Nixon declared the "war on drugs."
The Drug Policy Reform Act (DPRA) would decriminalize personal use possession of all scheduled drugs—including marijuana, heroin and cocaine—and automatically expunge records and provide for resentencing for those serving time for certain drug-related arrests. It would also prohibit the denial of employment, immigration status, public benefits, voting rights, and more based upon a criminal history for drug possession.
The legislation, proposed by Representatives Cori Bush of Missouri and Bonnie Watson Coleman of New Jersey, also calls for the country to address substance abuse with more health-centered approaches.
"The United States has not simply failed in how we carried out the War on Drugs—the War on Drugs stands as a stain on our national conscience since its very inception," Coleman said in a statement.
Come July 1, possession of marijuana will be legal in Connecticut, and retail sales will likely be underway by May 2022.
The state Senate voted 16 to 11 Thursday to approve the use of recreational cannabis and sent the bill to Gov. Ned Lamont for signature.
Lamont said he would sign the bill.
A months long process to legalize marijuana, which some lawmakers noted has been decades in the making, at last reached a conclusion.
Locally, state Senators Cathy Osten, D-Sprague and Norm Needleman, D-Essex voted yes. State Sen. Heather Somers, R-Groton, voted no. State Sen. Paul Formica, R-East Lyme, who is on vacation, did not cast a vote. On Wednesday, all four senators had agreed that the extended nature of the special session would cause a number of legislators to miss Thursday's vote. A total of nine senators statewide were absent or did not vote.
The Senate was voting on the bill for a third time. The state House failed to call the bill in time during the regular session, causing a special session and requiring a second vote. When the Senate passed the bill a second time, an amendment drew a veto threat from Lamont. The first vote was 19-17 in favor, and the second vote was 19-12.
The governor's Chief of Staff Paul Mounds sent out a statement Tuesday evening opposing an amendment that would have included people with past cannabis convictions as social equity applicants, saying it "opens the floodgates for tens of thousands of previously ineligible applicants to enter the adult-use cannabis industry."
"That is not equity, and Governor Lamont will veto this bill if it reaches his desk in its current form," he said.
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A bill to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana for personal use in Louisiana will become law after Gov. John Bel Edwards signed the legislation from Democratic Rep. Cedric Glover Tuesday.
"This is not a decision I took lightly," Edwards said. "The state of Louisiana should no longer incarcerate people for minor legal infractions, especially those that are legal in many states, that can ruin lives and destroy families, as well as cost taxpayers."
Although Edwards said the bill won't technically "decriminalize" possession of small amounts of pot, the penalty would be less than most speeding tickets.
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Johnson & Johnson agrees to stop selling opioids nationwide in $230 million settlement with New York
Source: CNBC
New York Attorney General Letitia James announced on Saturday that Johnson & Johnson has agreed to halt sales of opioids nationwide in a $230 million settlement with New York state.
As part of the settlement, the company will resolve opioids-related claims and allocate payments over nine years. It could also pay $30 million more in the first year if the state executive chamber signs into law new legislation creating an opioid settlement fund, according to the press release from James’ office.
“The opioid epidemic has wreaked havoc on countless communities across New York state and the rest of the nation, leaving millions still addicted to dangerous and deadly opioids,” James said in a statement.
Clarence Thomas Suggests Federal Marijuana Laws May Be Unconstitutional While Balking About Case the
Source: Law and Crime
Clarence Thomas Suggests Federal Marijuana Laws May Be Unconstitutional While Balking About Case the Supreme Court Didn’t Take
Justice Clarence Thomas disagreed with the Supreme Court’s denial of certiorari — that’s a refusal to hear — a tax case Monday, and the conservative justice’s statement strongly suggests he believes any federal marijuana ban is unconstitutional.
The case is Standing Akimbo, LLC v. United States, in which the owners of a Colorado marijuana dispensary appealed an unfavorable tax decision that treated them differently from other business owners. The Internal Revenue Code does not allow a tax deduction or credit for expenses incurred by establishments whose business model “consists of trafficking in controlled substances” in violation of federal or state law. Despite marijuana being legal for both medical and recreational use in many states, it remains a controlled substance under federal law. As a result, business that dispense marijuana are denied tax benefits that would be available to other businesses.
Thomas began his statement disagreeing with the Court’s refusal to hear the case by commenting that the legal landscape with regard to marijuana has changed dramatically in the past 16 years. In 2005, the Court held in Gonzales v. Raich that Congress could prohibit the cultivation and use of marijuana — even when done entirely within one state’s borders — to avoid causing a “gaping hole” in Congress’ “closed regulatory system.” Since then, however, many states have legalized both medicinal and recreational cannabis use.
The result is that the federal government now has what Justice Thomas called a “half-in, half-out regime that simultaneously tolerates and forbids local use of marijuana.”
Recreational marijuana legal to possess, grow in New Mexico
29 June 2021, 23:36
SANTA FE, N.M. -- It's legal for people in New Mexico to possess recreational marijuana and grow those plants at home as of Tuesday, the same day regulators opened discussions on rules for the launch of pot sales next year.
The milestone was celebrated by cannabis consumers and advocates for criminal justice reform who say poor and minority communities have been prosecuted disproportionately for using marijuana. Now, the scent of marijuana no longer is an adequate cause for searching vehicles and property in New Mexico.
Recreational marijuana is now legal in 16 states and Washington, D.C., with Connecticut and Virginia set to join the list Thursday.
It turns out, psychedelic mushroom trips may change your life.
A psychedelic drug called psilocybin, which shows up naturally in some mushrooms, has shown signs of increasing durable connections between neurons in mouse brains, according to a new study published in the journal Neuron.
In other words, the damage depression does to your brain might be reversible with psychedelic mushrooms, and scientists think the trip itself could play a vital role.
"We not only saw a 10% increase in the number of neuronal connections, but also they were on average about 10% larger, so the connections were stronger as well," said the study's lead author Alex Kwan, who is also an associate professor of both psychiatry and neuroscience at Yale, in an embargoed release shared with IE. Earlier laboratory experiments hinted that psilocybin, in addition to the anesthetic ketamine, can reduce the effects of depression. But this latest research showed these compounds also increase the density of dendritic spines, creating small protrusions on nerve cells capable of enhancing the way information transmits from one neuron to the next. Depression and chronic stress are known factors in the reduction of these crucial neuronal connections.
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Senate Democrats unveiling push to legalize marijuana at federal level
Source: The Hill
Senate Democrats on Wednesday are unveiling a renewed push to legalize marijuana at the federal level.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) will hold a news conference to introduce a discussion draft of the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act.
According to a summary of the discussion draft obtained by NBC News, the legislation is intended to expunge federal convictions of nonviolent marijuana charges, remove the drug from the Controlled Substances Act and set up a system to tax marijuana in states that legalize it.
The proposal still allows individual states to set their own marijuana laws, however.
Drug overdose deaths in 2020 hit highest number ever recorded, CDC data shows
Source: CNN
(CNN)Drug overdose deaths rose by close to 30% in the United States in 2020, hitting the highest number ever recorded, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Wednesday.
More than 93,000 people died from drug overdoses in 2020, according to provisional data released by the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics. That's a 29.4% increase from the 72,151 deaths projected for 2019.
"Overdose deaths from synthetic opioids (primarily fentanyl) and psychostimulants such as methamphetamine also increased in 2020 compared to 2019. Cocaine deaths also increased in 2020, as did deaths from natural and semi-synthetic opioids (such as prescription pain medication)," the NCHS said in a statement.
"This is the highest number of overdose deaths ever recorded in a 12-month period, and the largest increase since at least 1999," Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health, said in a statement.
Drug Distributors and J.&J. Announce $26 Billion Deal to End Opioids Lawsuits
Source: New York Times
After two years of wrangling, the country’s three major drug distributors and a pharmaceutical giant have reached a $26 billion deal with states that would release some of the biggest companies in the industry from all legal liability in the opioid epidemic. The announcement was made Wednesday afternoon by a bipartisan group of state attorneys general. The offer will now go out to every state and municipality in the country for approval.
If enough of them formally sign on to it, billions of dollars from the companies could begin to be released to help communities pay for addiction treatment and prevention services and other steep financial costs of the epidemic. In return, the states and cities would drop thousands of lawsuits against the companies and pledge not to bring any future action. The settlement binds only these four companies — the drug distributors Cardinal Health, AmerisourceBergen, McKesson, and Johnson & Johnson — leaving thousands of other lawsuits against many other pharmaceutical defendants, including manufacturers and drugstore chains, in the mammoth nationwide litigation still unresolved.
But these four companies are widely seen as among the defendants with the deepest pockets. In an emailed statement, Michael Ullmann, executive vice president and general counsel of Johnson & Johnson, said: “We recognize the opioid crisis is a tremendously complex public health issue, and we have deep sympathy for everyone affected. This settlement will directly support state and local efforts to make meaningful progress in addressing the opioid crisis in the United States.”
In a joint statement, the three distributors said: “While the companies strongly dispute the allegations made in these lawsuits, they believe the proposed settlement agreement and settlement process it establishes are important steps toward achieving broad resolution of governmental opioid claims and delivering meaningful relief to communities across the United States.” The distributors, which by law are supposed to monitor quantities of prescription drug shipments, have been accused of turning a blind eye for two decades while pharmacies across the country ordered millions of pills for their communities.
The proportion of schizophrenia cases linked with problematic use of marijuana has increased over the past 25 years, according to a new study from Denmark.
In 1995, 2% of schizophrenia diagnoses in the country were associated with cannabis use disorder. In 2000, it increased to around 4%. Since 2010, that figure increased to 8%, the study found.
"I think it is highly important to use both our study and other studies to highlight and emphasize that cannabis use is not harmless," said Carsten Hjorthøj, an associate professor at the Copenhagen Research Center for Mental Health and an author of the study published in the medical journal JAMA Psychiatry, via email.
"There is, unfortunately, evidence to suggest that cannabis is increasingly seen as a somewhat harmless substance. This is unfortunate, since we see links with schizophrenia, poorer cognitive function, substance use disorders, etc," Hjorthøj wrote.
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(Mother Jones) The American Medical Association’s new training on pain management arrived in the midst of a burgeoning crisis. It was September 2007, and doctors were prescribing enough opioid painkillers each year for every American adult to have a bottle of the addictive pills. Overdoses were at a historic high and showed no signs of slowing down. Just four months earlier, executives at Purdue Pharma had pleaded guilty to felony charges for misleading regulators and physicians about the dangers of OxyContin.
In light of this news, one might have expected the AMA—the prestigious organization that bills itself as the “unified voice” of America’s doctors dedicated to “the art and science of medicine and the betterment of public health”—to bring attention to the crisis in its newly updated continuing education course on how to treat pain.
Instead, the 12-module training suggested that doctors were still too tentative about prescribing narcotics. “The effectiveness of opioid therapy may be undermined by misconceptions about their risks, particularly risks associated with abuse and addiction,” read materials from one session. The class included ideas like “pseudoaddiction,” referring to when pain patients seem “inappropriately drug seeking,” but aren’t truly addicted—rather, they just needed more pills.
For young children who were unable to verbalize their pain, materials encouraged prescribers to use the “Poker Chip Tool”: lay out four poker chips in front of a child, explain that the chips are “pieces of hurt,” and ask how many pieces of hurt the child has. The course instructs, “Do not give children an option for zero hurt.”
Thousands of physicians took the course, which was first released in 2003 and updated periodically over the next decade.
A team of researchers affiliated with multiple institutions in the U.S. has found evidence that medicinal cannabis products relieve depression and improve the quality of life. In their paper published in the journal Frontiers in Psychiatry, the group describes their study involving online surveys about the benefits of cannabis products.
Prior research findings regarding the use of cannabis-based products to treat depression and anxiety have been mixed. Some patients have shown improvements while others have not. Prior research has also found that other drugs developed to treat depression and anxiety also have mixed results—some have seen improvements while others have not, and some patients have found that they cannot tolerate the side effects of the drugs. Also, some people have begun using medicinally approved cannabis products to help with their depression, anxiety, chronic pain or sleep disorder, regardless of the research track record—either independently, or with assistance from a doctor. In this new effort, the researchers conducted a study to gauge the opinions of people who use such products, rather than focusing on reports from the medical community regarding how well they thought they worked.
Antibiotic Resistance is at a Crisis Point – Government Support for Academia and Big Pharma to Find New Drugs Could Help Defeat Superbugs
by Andre Hudson
October 29, 2021
(The Conversation) Antibiotic resistance poses one of the most important health challenges of the 21st century. And time has already run out to stop its dire consequences.
The rise of multidrug-resistant bacteria has already led to a significant increase in human disease and death. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that approximately 2.8 million people worldwide are infected with antibiotic-resistant bacteria, accounting for 35,000 deaths each year in the U.S. and 700,000 deaths around the globe.
A 2019 joint report by the United Nations, World Health Organization and World Organization for Animal Health states that drug-resistant diseases could cause 10 million deaths each year by 2050 and force up to 24 million people into extreme poverty by 2030 if no action is taken. Superbugs are already able to evade all existing treatments – a 70-year-old woman from Nevada died in 2016 from a bacterial infection resistant to every available antibiotic in the U.S.
Conclusion:
(A) bipartisan bill proposed in June 2021, the Pioneering Antimicrobial Subscriptions to End Upsurging Resistance (PASTEUR) Act…would pay developers contractually agreed-upon amounts to research and develop antimicrobial drugs for a time period that ranges from five years up to the end of the patent.
I believe the passage of this act would be an important step in the right direction to address antibiotic resistance and the threat it poses to human health in the U.S. and around the globe. A monetary incentive to take up basic research around new ways to kill dangerous bacteria seems to me like the world’s best available option for emerging from the antibiotic resistance crisis.
Boris Johnson has said he will examine the latest advice on the legalisation of psilocybin - a psychedelic drug found in magic mushrooms.
Tory MP Crispin Blunt urged the PM to review the law to allow more research into the drug's therapeutic qualities.
Mr Blunt said it had "exciting potential" for the treatment of mental health conditions such as depression, trauma and addiction.
Mr Johnson said he would get back to Mr Blunt "as soon as possible".
Psilocybin is currently included in Schedule 1 of the Misuse of Drugs Act, along with drugs like ecstasy and LSD. This means it cannot be lawfully possessed or prescribed and a Home Office licence is needed for use in research.
Campaigners, including Mr Blunt, want it to be moved to Schedule 2 with restrictions to prevent inappropriate prescribing to facilitate medical and scientific research.
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