Psychedelic Brain Science

In this episode, Alaina discusses the evolving language about some of our favorite substances and how we got to the term psychedelic. In the first segment, she highlights some historical names for psychedelic substances in western medicine. In the second segment, she is joined by Stanford anesthesiologist and psychedelic researcher Dr. Boris Heifets to discuss how the scientific field classifies compounds as psychedelic and how to make sense of the psychedelic experience.

For more on Dr. Heifets research:

https://heifetslab.stanford.edu/publications/

For more on the history and references discussed in the introduction:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/14761703/

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0278584606000364

https://psychiatryonline.org/doi/abs/10.1176/ajp.108.8.572

https://academic.oup.com/ijnp/article/16/10/2165/652314?login=true

https://marijuana-uses.com/mr-x/

https://content.ucpress.edu/title/9780520285422/9780520285422_chapter1.pdf

Content only reflects opinions of the authors and does not reflect the opinion of others or author affiliations.

This special episode includes presentations from a recent workshop, where Dr. Alaina Jaster, Dr. Neşe Devenot of Johns Hopkins and Dr. Gill Bedi of University of Melbourne presented their expertise and perspectives on how the psychedelic research field can move forward from the recent FDA rejection of MDMA-AT.

Dr. Jaster's presentation sets the tone by going over recent events, followed by how researchers can be involved in promoting evidence-based regulatory and policy decisions.

Dr. Devenot's presentation focused on what it means to be a psychedelic bioethicist and how the recent events have conflated constructive criticism with attacks, followed by a call to be better about having these discussions.

Dr. Bedi's presentation discussed how scientists studying MDMA and other psychedelics can better their study design and use methodology that is evidence-based and thorough.

These taken together, provided the framework for how to move forward in the field and prompted a discussion by members in the crowd (of which was not recorded to protect those participating).

For more information and to see some of the slides, you can go to psychedeliccbrainscience.com

Alaina is joined by physician, author, activist and educator Dr. Peter Grinspoon to discuss the use of psychedelics and cannabis in recovery, the stigma associated with drug use and the idea of "california sober."

Have questions or want to read his book? Check out Dr. Grinspoon's website https://www.petergrinspoon.com/

This episode is the last of the Psychedelic Circuits mini-series! Today, Alaina gives a brief overview on circuits involved in stress responses. Then Dr. Devin Effinger deep dives into his work with the amygdala, paraventricular nucleus and how these regions send signals to relay important information about threat, stress and more. This circuit goes beyond just anxiety disorders and can also be implicated in substance use disorders.

For publications of Dr. Effinger related to our discussion:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1kg0tH2iRxDbR6UyaVtg9DGHOf78GXwG_?usp=drive_link

Welcome to a super extra special episode of Psychedelic Brain Science! Dr. Jaster has finally settled back into real life after spending a week at DEA HQ fighting with Students for Sensible Drug Policy and many other scientists to keep DOI and DOC legal. She's joined today by psychedelic journalist Jack Gorsline, who was embedded with the team. They go through each day and give highlights and takeaways from the experience.

For more of Jack Gorsline:

https://doubleblindmag.com/author/jack-gorsline/

https://filtermag.org/author/jack-gorsline/

https://psychedelicalpha.com/?s=jack+gorsline

Coverage by Hamilton Morris:

https://www.patreon.com/HamiltonMorris

For podcast episodes on this topic:

https://www.psychedelicbrainscience.com/podcast/episode/1c16abd2/sensible-drug-policy-in-the-psychedelic-era-part-2-ft-special-guests

https://www.psychedelicbrainscience.com/podcast/episode/1b884a6b/sensible-drug-policy-in-the-psychedelic-era-ft-special-guests

Episode with Tanner Anderson:

https://www.psychedelicbrainscience.com/podcast/episode/27ff1c32/psychedelic-circuits-the-claustrum-ft-tanner-anderson

Episode with Dr. Cameron

https://www.psychedelicbrainscience.com/podcast/episode/1f74c1a7/plasticity-and-psychoplastogens-ft-lindsay-cameron

Episode with Dr. de la Fuente

https://www.psychedelicbrainscience.com/podcast/episode/1cdc3577/wtf-is-a-head-twitch-ft-dr-mario-de-la-fuente

Episodes with Dr. Elder

https://www.psychedelicbrainscience.com/podcast/episode/251caf98/special-episode-the-state-of-psychoactiveentheogenic-plants-and-fungi

https://www.psychedelicbrainscience.com/podcast/episode/2ea213a9/struture-function-part-one-ft-harrison-elder

https://www.psychedelicbrainscience.com/podcast/episode/1fb85762/structure-function-part-two-ft-harrison-elder

Episode with Dr. Charles Nichols

https://www.psychedelicbrainscience.com/podcast/episode/2839565b/are-psychedelics-anti-inflammatory-ft-dr-charles-nichols

Episode with Dr. Ramos

https://www.psychedelicbrainscience.com/podcast/episode/23032876/psychedelic-circuits-the-spinal-cord-ft-dr-raul-ramos

This episode is the second installment of the mini-series focused on brain circuits outside of the typical frontal cortex conversation. Today, we hear from Alaina on the basics of pain and touch perception, as well as how our nerves send information to our brains. Alaina is then joined by Dr. Raul Ramos of UC Berkeley, an expert on studying sensory modalities who is now focusing their work on phenethylamine psychedelics, including DOI. This episode includes a special guest from a previous episode, talk about the clitoris, and the Grateful Dead.

Resources discussed in this episode including papers, diagrams, and a very cool video can be found at this link: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/12jTUQnRxCCVZ93nsysNMT0ANF2fTQ8Ug?usp=drive_link

This episode is the first of three in a mini-series focused on brain circuits outside of the typical conversations. Today, we hear from Alaina on the basics of how neurons talk to each other and a refresher on serotonin signaling. Alaina is then joined by special guest Tanner Anderson, a PhD candidate at University of Kentucky and soon to be postdoc at Yale. Tanner will discuss his recently published findings related to cortical excitability and this fun brain region called the claustrum.

Find his JUST PUBLISHED paper here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HAQcUFAuP5igAoa7FykWgT8tZXvuYbnK/view?usp=sharing

Welcome to season 4. In this two part episode, Alaina talks about the ongoing petition against the DEA's proposed rule to schedule DOI and DOC. In the first half of this episode, Alaina is joined by Elijah Z. Ullman, of the SSDP Science Policy Committee. They discuss the background and specific reasons why DOI and DOC should not be scheduled. In the second half of the podcast, Alaina is joined by Brett Phelps and Robert Rush, the legal counsel representing two of the three parties involved in the DEA case.

For more information on SSDP visit: https://ssdp.org/

For more information on our lawyers:

https://rrushlaw.com/about/

https://brettphelpslaw.com/

Suggested reading on the topic:

https://www.marijuanamoment.net/deas-move-to-ban-two-psychedelics-is-challenged-as-a-disservice-to-science-in-legal-filing-from-student-group/

https://filtermag.org/block-dea-psychedelics-ban/

https://www.aspet.org/docs/default-source/advocacy-files/aspet-dea-doi-and-doc-comments-1-12-2024.pdf?sfvrsn=62e172d3_0

https://www.nature.com/articles/nrn3530

Content only reflects opinions of the authors and does not reflect the opinion of others or author affiliations.

Support this podcast: 

https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/psychedelicbrainscience/support

Join us for this special episode featuring discussion from the Richmond, VA annual Mushroom Mania festival presented by the RVA Moon Market.

Alaina is joined by fellow panelists:

Will E. Nelson, Co-founder of Decriminalize Nature RVA

Isa Boliver, South American Medicine Woman

Dr. Harrison Elder, postdoctoral researcher at Johns Hopkins researching cannabis and psychedelics

Alistaire McKemy MSW, licensed clinical social worker

Alaina and Zarmeen are BACK BABY! In this short episode, they wanted to give some updates on their lives, explain what the heck is going on with the podcast and preview a couple exciting upcoming episodes.