☁️🍄 Issue No. 025

Welcome back to it

July 23, 2023

This issue is presented by

Hey, y’all. Welcome back to Headlines. As some of you may have noticed, we didn’t send out an issue last Sunday. I’ve been recovering from a small health scare recently. ❤️‍🩹

Fortunately, after some deep rest and care from amazing friends and family, I’m on my way to making a full recovery. Extremely grateful to be healthy again.

Now? I’m excited to ease back into the swing of things, slowly but surely. We’re keeping it short and sweet this week, but we’ll be fully up and running by next Sunday. 

In the meantime, I truly appreciate you all so much for your continued support and for reading and sharing. This experience has reminded me of just how precious one’s health is, both physical and mental. 

All that is to say — it’s a blessing to be able to do work in this field. If you can, give your loved ones an extra squeeze for me this week. 🫂

QUICK HITS

  • Right turn. The political right increasingly backs psychedelics to treat trauma. 

  • Special K. Worldwide sales for J&J’s esketamine drug Spravato are up 98.6% YoY.

  • Natural high. Honeydew, a new eco-community inspired by psychedelics, opens in Italy.

  • 1-800-SHROOM. Dig into a study on the Fireside Project, a nonprofit support line for bad trips. 

  • On a roll. New trial looks at MDMA therapy for adolescent PTSD; MDMA makes appearance in US defense funding bill. 

  • Real talk. The five most commonly reported negative experiences in psychotherapy. 

  • Zoomed out. Video calls take the highest toll on our mental health compared to text, email, and SMS. 

  • Rest assured. Sleep wearable maker Hapbee awarded Nexus Certification, deemed effective tool for military suicide prevention.

  • Mommy issues. Maternal mortality is reaching crisis levels; mental health conditions are the leading cause.

  • Benefits breakdown. 85% of employees don’t use their mental health benefits.

Today’s newsletter is sponsored by our friends from:

📣 Calling all mental wellness professionals

Spend more time working with clients and less time fiddling on your laptop.

Design your own custom app with Youll, a no-code platform from the engineering team behind Headspace.

Purpose-built for wellness professionals, from yogis to breathwork practitioners, Youll makes building an app simple and straightforward — no tech experience required.

Tailor your branding, enable subscriptions, and select from 100+ customizable modules while maintaining full control of your clients’ experience.

Create your app in just 30 days: Book a demo here.

QUICK HITS

  • Tok talks. TikTok is forming a Youth Council to make the platform safer for teens. 

  • On track. Psychedelic Alpha launches worldwide psychedelic laws tracker. 

  • AI meditation. Ogimi enlists AI as a personalized mindfulness coach. 

  • Downsize. Headspace lays off 181 employees in its second round of cuts. 

  • Fine lines. Could botox help ease symptoms of depression? Some say yes.

  • Cash crunch. Psychedelic renaissance pioneer MAPS is strapped for cash, offering $85M of private shares. 

  • The name’s bond. Soul Tribes is launching the world’s first tax-exempt psychedelic bond. 

  • Lucid dream tech. Prophetic AI plans device to induce and stabilize lucid dreams. 

NEWS & TRENDS

1) Psychedelic poll

UC Berkeley has unveiled the results of its first-ever psychedelics survey, illuminating noteworthy shifts in public attitude toward psychedelics in recent years. 

  • Over 60% of respondents said they'd be willing to try psychedelic therapy if it were available by prescription. 

  • 61% indicated support for the legalization of psychedelic substances; 35% marked “strong” support. 

  • Nearly 50% are in favor of eliminating criminal penalties for personal psychedelic use and possession.

How policymakers choose to respond to this evolving landscape remains to be seen — except for the city of Berkeley itself, which passed legislation just this week to decriminalize plant-/fungi-based psychedelics. → Read more

2) Say hello to neurocosmetics 

Beauty meets brain is taking on a whole new meaning. Across skincare, a growing number of brands are hoping to marry the worlds of dermatology and mental wellness, leveraging ingredients traditionally used for mood-boosting—from 5HTP to GABA—in topical products. 

The trend comes as no surprise. Inner and outer wellness are increasingly seen as intertwined, especially among younger consumers: 72% of Gen Z and millennials use beauty and self-care activities to combat stress and anxiety. But, as many physicians point out, there’s little to no data supporting claims. 

Still, with a toner named serotoner? We just might have to try it for the pun alone. → Read more

DEALS & DEBUTS

🔬 Filament Health, a natural psychedelic drug developer is going public via a $210M SPAC merger with Jupiter Acquisition Corp, expected to close in Q4 2023.→ source

🙌 UpLift, an omnichannel behavioral health provider, raised $10.7M in Series A funding led by Ballast Point Ventures to expand access to its virtual mental healthcare services.→ source

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Family First, a caregiver mental health platform, closed a $11M Series A led by RPM Ventures and Eos Venture Partners. → source

🚀 Affect Therapeutics, an organization targeting addiction recovery with technology and drug development, secured $16M in a Series A funding round led by ARTIS Ventures. → source

💪 Big Health, a digital therapeutics company, acquired adolescent digital therapeutics company Limbix and its depression app SparkRx to expand beyond adult insomnia and anxiety. → source

🧠 NeuroFlow, a behavioral health integration platform, partnered with Novant Health to expand mental health services, bridging the gap between physical and mental health care. → source

🎵 Calm linked up with Spotify to make its wellness content directly available on the popular music streaming platform. → source

💳️‍ Hapbee Technologies, the aforementioned sleep and wellness wearable maker, teamed up with TrueMed, a healthcare payment provider, to allow customers to use HSA/FSA funds for Hapbee device purchases.→ source

WHAT I’M READING

  • $100M for psychedelics. “In 2018, I found myself experiencing tremendous emotional and mental pain… [psychedelics] transformed me, reconnected me with my faith and helped me cope with the pain I was feeling.” Toms founder Blake Mycoskie explains his decision to donate millions towards psychedelic research. → Newsweek

  • The quest for belonging. The digital age has made us more connected than ever — or so it seems. Thing is, less and less of folks today have a place where they truly feel like they belong. How can we change that? → Group Therapy

See you next Sunday,

-Mel