Every issue of The Alkaloid — the weekly independent newsletter on cannabis, psychedelics, and plant medicine.
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For nearly ninety years, one of psychedelic chemistry's great unsolved mysteries was hiding in plain sight. Albert Hofmann, who first synthesized LSD in 1938, searched morning glory plants for a fungus he was sure existed. A WVU undergraduate found it on a seed coat.
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Eleven million American adults used psilocybin in the past year — more than the populations of Pennsylvania or Illinois. Past-year use among adults 30 and over rose 188% in four years. It happened almost entirely without legal frameworks or medical infrastructure catching up.
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Why do psychedelics with different chemistries — psilocybin, LSD, DMT, mescaline, ayahuasca — produce experiences described in such similar terms? An international consortium published the largest psychedelic brain imaging study ever. The answer rewrites the dominant theory.
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On November 12, 2026, the federal government will effectively ban most hemp-derived THC products — delta-8 gummies, THCA flower, HHC vapes. Buried in the shutdown spending bill, the provision affects 95% of products on the market. Seven months to adapt.
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Trump's executive order on psychedelics is the most consequential federal policy shift in the field's history. It directs the FDA to fast-track psilocybin, ibogaine, and MDMA, allocates $50M for state research, and expands Right to Try — via the medical pathway, not scheduling reform.