In this article, Marcelo Leite outlines the major developments in psychedelic science and markets going into 2024 that are causing industry trepidation. The biggest news of January comes from MAPS and its business division, which has been rebranded as Lykos Therapeutics.

The Chacruna Institute and Sacred Plant Alliance filed this amicus brief on October 17, 2023 in support of the plaintiff church in the Iowaska Church of Healing v. United States case, to emphasize to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit why the decision in the lower court, the district court, was wrongly decided.

The United Nations has played a significant historical role in the control of psychedelic drugs worldwide. 2023's World Drug Report marks a renewed interest in psychotropic substances on the part of the international governing body.

Psychedelic Science 2023 brought together 12,000 registrants in Denver, Colorado, four times as many people as the previous conference in 2017, crowning the movement to rehabilitate psychedelics for therapeutic use against depression and other disorders. Science unveils unsuspected mechanisms of brain reconfiguration and ends decades of research bans imposed by the war on drugs, but serious obstacles remain to be overcome.

The final day of Psychedelic Science 2023 focused on celebrating the accomplishments of psychiatrist Stanislav Grof. During this celebration, Indigenous voices challenged the commodification of science in psychedelic spaces through commentary & protest, leading to reactions from some leaders in the psychedelic community, including Rick Doblin and Chacruna's Bia Labate.

Marcelo Leite highlights statements made by anthropologist Bia Labate in her opening remarks for Psychedelic Science 2023 that address the problem of Indigenous exclusion at the conference and within the broader Western psychedelic community.

Read Bia Labate's opening remarks for Psychedelic Science 2023 conference in Denver, Colorado, June 2023. She urges businesses, researchers, and clinicians to take reciprocity and community care seriously.

Emily Sinclair reflects on her experience at Breaking Convention 2023, a biannual psychedelic conference held in the United Kingdom. Although the lively, festival vibe that the conference is known for prevailed, Sinclair notes that there was still room made to discuss serious topics, including queerphobia and racism and the problems that come with increased professionalization.

In an effort to better measure their impact, Chacruna compiled a 2022 report of their milestones and main achievements.

A Canadian company, Filament Health, plans to develop ayahuasca pills. These pills promise to provide a standardized ayahuasca experience, but what does the commodification of ayahuasca mean for ethical consumption. Indigenous peoples with cultural and spiritual connections to ayahuasca need to be given the opportunity to provide full consent.