Howdy Mycopreneurs,
A lot has happened in the mushroom world this week, but when is that not the case?
The major news around the space is last Saturday’s Executive Order that President Trump issued to fast-track research and FDA review of psychedelic drugs, including psilocybin — but what does this order actually mean in practice, and who are the intended beneficiaries?
There’s a lot of misinformation and fanfare surrounding this high profile endorsement of psychedelics, so here is a brief and concise breakdown of the facts:
Trump signed an Executive Order instructing federal agencies such as the DEA and FDA to reduce restrictions on researching various psychedelic compounds (including Psilocybin) designated as ‘Breakthrough Therapies’ , with special attention given to Ibogaine
This does not legalize psychedelics, and there is no clear timeline regarding when any of these treatments will be approved
The Executive Order is exclusively applicable to pharmaceutical psychedelic compounds being developed by drug companies undergoing state-mandated regulatory pathways for intended use in medical contexts for a narrow segment of the population, most notable including veterans, for the express purposes of treating clinical diagnoses such as PTSD, Treatment Resistant Depression, and Addiction
A key feature of the order is to compress drug approval timelines from the standard timeframe of 10-12 months to a shorter yet undisclosed window after the drugs have completed the full multi-stage clinical trial process\
The order instructs federal agencies such as the HHS, VA, FDA, etc. to streamline data sharing and communication regarding psychedelic drug research and data
The order allocates $50 million for federal-state collaboration on this process
In summary, this Executive Order is a signal that the White House and corresponding federal agencies are actively reshaping the policy pipeline around psychedelic medicine for rollout of a highly regulated, very exclusive capacity that may see select populations receive controlled delivery of FDA-approved psychedelic compounds in the next few years.
Lots of people in the psychedelic space and beyond have strong opinions about this executive order and the direction psychedelics are headed in, and I’m no different — however, I invoke my right to hold two truths at once; I think it’s predictable, business as usual regulatory capture that no one should be surprised by and which is dressed up in language making it seem like “Federal prohibition of psychedelic medicine in America is over” (actual Bryan Hubbard quote), and that the media circus surrounding this announcement — most notably Joe Rogan’s central role in the affair — is explicitly designed to buy public support for the action without disclosure of the broader nuances and limitations tied to the rollout of legally available psychedelics. For example, there was no mention of the potential of Bifurcated Scheduling, which means that while psilocybin might be federally approved for use in an exclusive, patented and highly controlled framework, psilocybin mushrooms would remain a Schedule 1 drug with according penalties afforded to unsanctioned use outside of this narrow context. As a prime example of this type of approach in practice, consider the pending HF 4577 bill in Minnesota that would make psilocybin legal for medical use in a tightly regulated setting for highly specific populations while also threatening anyone who provides psilocybin to people outside of this framework with up to two years in jail, a $3000 fine, or both. More on that later in this newsletter.
For the second part of my ‘hold two truths at once’ statement, the fact that the President of the United States and federal agencies are actively embracing psychedelics in any capacity is a hallmark moment any way you look at it. Since the beginning of Mycopreneur Podcast, I’ve hosted ‘corpadelic’ and pharmaceutical industry players in long-form interviews to discuss their agendas and aspirations without bombarding them with critiques and pushback on the spot. I know a lot of people who are very jazzed about this development, including many who I share a great deal of values and ideological overlap with.
I could probably write a 3000 word newsletter breaking down this Executive Order, but hopefully what I’ve covered here provides some context and nuance to the discussion. It’s certainly more discerning than the increasingly common trope of people in the psychedelic world just commenting clapping emojis (“👏👏👏”) under AI-generated social media posts that confirm their cognitive bias, which is a prolific phenomenon in the psychedelic space.
Alright, on to the mushroom news this week
Global Mushroom News Roundup
Ergothioneine is a compound found in denser concentrations in mushrooms than any other naturally-ocurring source, and it’s nicknamed the ‘Longevity Vitamin’ for a reason — If you’ve been listening to the Mycopreneur Podcast, you’re probably already familiar with this compound thanks to our lengthy discussions about it with Lee Carroll of Real Mushrooms. New Research published this week in New Scientist covers the braoder potential of Ergothioneine to reduce period pain.
Lee is schedule to host an upcoming Mycopreneur Incubator on May 7th, so we’ll make sure to discuss Ergothioneine during that session together in community as well.
Check out Real Mushrooms Ergo +
Chalk up a potential candidate for headline of the year here ⬆️
Water doesn’t freeze automatically below 0°C; it needs a trigger, a process called ice nucleation, which can be initiated by particles like dust or microbes such as Pseudomonas syringae, a plant-dwelling bacterium that produces proteins accelerating ice formation and increasing frost damage to crops. Researchers at Virginia Tech have found that certain fungi in the Mortierellaceae family later acquired similar ice-nucleating genes from this bacterium, giving them the same capability.
Mycopreneur collaborator and frequent Incubator attendee just dropped a Bicycle Day blotter art collaboration with Bam Margera of Jackass fame.
From Edward:
“Bam and I did an LSD blotter art collaboration to celebrate Bicycle Day (4/19). It revolves around the idea of rebirth and the concept of the Phoenix, based on his overcoming his addictions. His son is also named Phoenix.
I personally had to learn to walk again after being completely paralyzed and also strongly relate to the metaphor of The Phoenix”
A ‘legal mushroom dispensary’ offering hemp, functional mushrooms, and psychedelic adjacent products’ is set to close it’s brick and mortar retail location in St. Petersburg, Florida.
The shop owner Carlos Hermida said that the store’s biggest challenge was marketing, saying their social media pages got shut down often.
Probably too little too late here, but he should have tapped in with Mycopreneur — between the weekly Mycopreneur Newsletter and Mycopreneur Podcast, the weekly Mycopreneur Incubator, the social media audience of 40k +, and numerous in-person events worldwide, this platform reaches millions of people annually in a notoriously difficult niche while having one of the strongest track records and highest credibility profiles in the mushroom and psychedelic space globally. In fact, let’s consider this blurb right here the soft launch of MycoPR, the public relations wing of Mycopreneur.
And if you’re affected by the closure of the St. Pete mushroom dispensary or are generally looking to take ownership of your own mushroom research pipeline, this is the perfect opportunity to tap in with Mycopreneur collaborators Full Canopy Genetics. Their mushroom genetics and research materials are internationally renowned, as is evidenced by their recent success at the commercial trade fair Spannabis in Bilbao, Spain this past weekend.
The Texas Mushroom Conference just wrapped their 4th annual edition this past weekend at University of Texas Austin’s campus — organized my the dynamite team at Mycelium Matters, this event is increasingly establishing itself as one of the most iconic and can’t miss mushroom events anywhere in the United States. I was fortunate to be the emcee for last year’s edition of the conference, and was invited to do so again this year but alas I was 15,000 feet in the sky on top of Salkantay Mountain in the Peruvian Andes with no connection to the outside world during the event. See you there next year!
HF 4577 bill in Minnesota “establishes a legal framework for the therapeutic use of psilocybin, a psychoactive compound found in certain mushrooms, for individuals aged 21 and older who have a diagnosed qualifying medical condition and are enrolled in a regulated program”
This bill is a great example of the potential dangers of fast-tracking psychedelic therapies within a bottle-necked framework as is currently being pushed at the federal and state levels; while it sounds great on the surfacer, read a little closer and you’ll see the warning signs:
“Rymer’s bill would change psilocybin in Minnesota law from a Schedule I drug, a substance that has a high potential for abuse and no accepted medical use, to a Schedule IV drug — a reclassification that notes a lower abuse risk and allows psilocybin to be prescribed for therapeutic use….
”Patients, facilitators or suppliers who intentionally give or sell psilocybin to people not registered in the program could be charged with a felony under the bill. Individuals could go to jail for up to two years, be charged with a $3,000 fine or both, according to the bill.”
In effect, the very people who have stewarded over psilocybin mushroom traditions, research, and culture of millennia would be branded as criminals under this framework while an industry built on their backs would take shape and dominate the space. Fuck that.
Mycopreneur Incubator Today
The weekly Mycopreneur Incubator is our low-key, cost-free networking and acceleration hub for mushroom entrepreneurs, researchers, and the myco-curious. It’s every Thursday at 3 pm ET / 12 pm PT U.S.
Time: Today, Thursday, April 23rd, at 3 pm et / 12 pm pt
If you want to put the recurring link for the Mycopreneur Incubator into your calendar, you can do so here
Meeting ID: 875 7527 7676
Passcode: 038704
Note: I’m in La Paz, Bolivia and heading to a ‘Cholita’ women’s wrestling match at this hour — it’s essentially Lucha Libre wrestling but all women. As such, I’ll kick off the meeting from my phone and let people in the zoom room as usual, but my participation may be limited after this.
Thanks for reading the Mycopreneur Newsletter, and see you at the Incubator today.
PS Please share this with friends or post on your social media etc. if you feel so compelled
Bye for now,
Dennis