Erika Dyck argues that how people learn about psychedelics today matters, based on the histories of these drugs and their use in clinical medicine. Psychedelic drugs have a long and colorful history that has influenced attitudes across academia, culture, and medicine since before the 1950s, but their history has been marked by polarizing opinions, with negative cultural attitudes toward non-medical drug use and consciousness-altering substances in medicine. More recent public conversations feature enthusiastic claims about benefits that often sever the current culture of psychedelics from the past, potentially distancing them from conservative mainstream institutions like universities, food and drug administrations, and healthcare systems.
Erika Dyck examines whether the renewed interest in psychedelics will create another generational divide, as occurred in the 20th century. She notes that psychedelics' past—including unethical research and associations with violence—continues to shape their present. Psychedelics have been blamed for turning a generation against authority and postwar values. Dyck argues that psychedelics are not the problem but may be a symptom of deeper social tensions.
Tryp Therapeutics examines the use of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy for binge eating disorder. Their lead program, TRP-8803, uses an intravenous formulation of psilocin, the active metabolite of psilocybin, to achieve precise and reproducible blood levels, overcoming the variability of oral psilocybin administration. The text suggests this approach could improve clinical outcomes by ensuring consistent dosing, but it does not present any experimental results or data from human studies.