☁️🍄 Issue No. 019: Moms on Mushrooms

Hey, y’all. Welcome back to Headlines, your resource on all things mental health tech, psychedelics, and psychological healing. An interesting one this week. 👇

MOMS ON MUSHROOMS

Across the country, moms are getting high and tripping out. 

MOMMY ISSUES

How we got here: American moms are in a crisis; many report living in a near-constant state of stress and overwhelm.  

From balancing work stressors to managing finances to caring for kids struggling with anxieties of their own, women are shouldering enormous psychological burdens. Since the beginning of the pandemic, more than 2M mothers have left the labor force.

Compounding the problem, few feel comfortable seeking support. Though broader stigma around mental health stigma has loosened, societal expectations of what “being a mom” entails hasn’t changed. Nearly 60% of mothers report feeling like a failure when they ask for help.

Zooming out, women’s health, and mental wellness in general, is severely underfunded, underresearched, and overlooked. 

• Women account for over $500B in annual medical expenses. 

• They’re more likely than men to suffer from PTSD or experience severe depression. 

• They are 3X more likely than men to struggle with eating disorders like anorexia nervosa. 

Yet, a mere 4% of all healthcare R&D is spent on women’s health issues. Meanwhile, doctors are notorious for dismissing women’s pain; over 70% of women say their doctor has told them their symptoms were imagined, and across 700+ diseases, female patients receive diagnoses significantly later than men.

HONEY, I TOOK SOME SHROOMS

Now, a rising number of moms are taking matters into their own hands. 

Moms for mycelia. As the psychedelic renaissance picks up, the “mommy microdosing movement” is taking off. Thousands of moms are swapping Prozac pills and pinot noir bottles for the hangover-free plant medicine of psilocybin.

Mother mary (jane). Yes, it’s true — moms are way higher than they used to be, reports Slate. From regulating menopausal hot flashes to calming anxiety, mothers are popping cannabis edibles and rolling up to unwind from the 24/7 grind. 

Keta-mum. Postpartum depression (PPD) is a vicious, harrowing experience for many women — an experience often marked with debilitating shame, guilt, and, in severe cases, tragedy. As ketamine-assisted therapy takes off, a growing number of women are turning to K to help work with challenging emotions. 

LOOKING AHEAD

While psychedelics and other substances may be powerful tools for easing stressors, addressing the roots of those stressors will be an entirely different ball game. One thing’s for sure: The infrastructure for modern motherhood is unsustainable. 

“We’ve moved past, I think, wanting to guzzle five bottles of wine. We’re craving something deeper, and we’re definitely craving community,” says Tracey Tee, a microdosing mom from Denver. 

Indeed, families everywhere are finding that it really does take a village. The nuclear family has been a catastrophe for many. And the bill is high: From childcare to education, families spend a staggering $42B annually on early childhood alone. 

So who’s helping? Venture-backed startups like Kinside, Brightwheel, and UrbanSitter are helping move the needle in the family tech space. 

But a more grassroots model may be needed. One example is Radish, a clan-style, multi-generational compound that spreads parenting responsibilities (“parallel parenting”) and pools resources across a tight-knit, trusted community to reduce domestic stressors.

Or, a step down from co-op style living, a budding “live closer to your friends” movement is gaining ground — one that looks to eliminate pay-per-hour nannies and lean on a support system of kith and kin that are within a stone’s throw from one’s dwelling.

Punchline: Stressed out and burnt out, many moms can’t afford to wait for an impassive, slow-moving healthcare system. The rise of psychedelics and cannabis usage reflects a deep, widespread desire for support, meaning, and connection. And it’s not just moms who need it — it’s everyone. 

QUICK HITS

• 2C-B or not 2C-B. Researchers publish the first study on the effects of psychedelic drug 2C-B.

• Fast stat. 22% of people with a behavioral health condition account for 41% of healthcare spend. 

• Bird boom. A growing number of Gen Zers are turning to birdwatching for mental health. 

• Numi-nary. Numinus Wellness begins landmark study on psilocybin therapy for depression; shares soared 30% on the news. 

• K raid. Legal ketamine is fueling illegal use; between 2017 and 2022, the volume of illicit ketamine seizures rose a whopping 1,100%.

• The golden shroom. The CA Senate has approved a bill to decriminalize psychedelics like psilocybin and mescaline; it now moves to the State Assembly. 

• Sigma shroom. Functional mushroom company Four Sigmatic unveils a major rebrand, putting mental wellness center stage. 

• The road less traveled. Scientists studying psychedelics should be psychonauts of their own, argues Steve Paulson for Nautilus.

• Too fast too soon? Is Australia’s imminent legalization of MDMA and psilocybin  jumping the gun?

NEWS & TRENDS

1) Take your ketamine to work day 

Over 80% of US workers suffer from work-related stress, and employee well-being programs are now indispensable for many companies. Yet, the average utilization of traditional mental health benefits tends to be quite low — a paltry 2–3%. 

Could on-site ketamine change those stats? Some companies think so. The substance has skyrocketed in popularity this past year as a treatment for depression, and now corporations are experimenting with K to help workers improve work-life balance and decrease stress. → Read more 

2) Bad bot

AI is eating the world, and therapy appears to be its next dish, as we wrote in Issue No. 017: AI Eats Therapy. But there may be a few wrinkles to iron out before that becomes a reality.

Last week, the National Eating Disorder Association (NEDA) replaced its helpline’s human employees (after allegedly firing them for unionizing) with an AI chatbot named Tessa — but its tenure has been short-lived. Within days, NEDA disabled the bot for giving out “harmful” advice — including telling those struggling with ED to try counting calories and losing weight.→ Read more 

DEALS & DEBUTS

🌿 Kentucky announced a $42M allocation of its opioid settlement funds for psychedelic research, specifically ibogaine for addiction. The goal is to make Kentucky the first US state to pursue a clinical program around ibogaine. 

→ source

🍄 Cybin, a psychedelic biotech company, announced that it entered a common share purchase agreement with Lincoln Park Capital Fund for $30M of shares. → source

🧪  MBM BioImpact is acquiring Reunion Neuroscience, a clinical-stage psychedelic pharma company, for $13.1M in an all-cash transaction.→ source

🛀🏾 Selva Ventures, a health- and wellness-focused VC, closed $34M in capital commitments for its second fund. The company invests in better-for-you brands emphasizing self-care such as MUD/WTR (coffee alternative) and Cake (sexual wellness). → source 

💚 Greenspace Health, a measurement-based care (MBC) mental health platform, teamed up with Yale Measurement-Based Care Collaborative (YMBCC) to launch the Yale MBC Collaborative Knowledge Hub, a platform to provide MBC education to providers.→ source

🕹️ Strivr, a platform for enterprise VR solutions, partnered with AI mental health platform Reulay and VR mental fitness startup Healium to host its first in-headset mental health applications. → source

📞 Diall, a Q&A platform with therapists, launched in Apple’s App Store. The startup aims to be the most trusted source for mental health content, advice, and answers on the internet. → source

WHAT I’M READING

• Blind spot. An industry-wide challenge for psychedelics: It’s pretty difficult to achieve double-blind results. In other words, patients can easily tell whether they’ve taken shrooms or not. (Are the walls moving? Yes or no?). But now, in the quest for better evidence, scientists are erasing people’s memories after their trip. → WIRED

All set, folks! Hope you’re having a great time out there as we get into the swing of summer. 

🪷 Little life update for me — I’ve just moved into a coliving spot here in SF with 13 other awesome humans at The Muse: A house centered around an ethos of aligning head, heart, body, and soul + cultivating deep and meaningful connection. Grateful to be here and excited to observe the ins and outs of what makes a community thrive. :)

Until next Sunday,

-Mel