2 days ago
Nearly one in three veterans who relies on the government for health care could benefit from taking psychedelic drugs like magic mushrooms or MDMA.
That's not the ******* sment of some hippie or fading 1960s rock star. It came from Andrew Gradison, a senior adviser at President Donald Trump's Veterans Health Administration. Gradison told a conference for psychedelics enthusiasts this month that he is eager to ramp up the VA's capacity to give the drugs to as many as 2.1 million veterans with mental illnesses like post-traumatic stress disorder or depression. Gradison said 6.4 million veterans regularly rely on the VA for care.
No government regulator has deemed psychedelics safe or effective for mental illness. Under former President Joe Biden, the Food and Drug Administration in 2024 resoundingly rejected a proposal to authorize MDMA — also known as ecstasy — combined with talk therapy, to treat people with PTSD.
But psychedelics are getting a second chance in the Trump administration. Trump in April issued an executive order to accelerate research, clinical trials and patient access to the drugs. Republicans in Congress are among psychedelics' biggest backers. And the constituency they are seeking to please, veterans, are disproportionately Republicans.
Veterans, frustrated with high suicide rates among their fellow ex-service members, are lobbying aggressively to see Trump follow through.
#Veterans #psychedelics #drugs #mdma
That's not the ******* sment of some hippie or fading 1960s rock star. It came from Andrew Gradison, a senior adviser at President Donald Trump's Veterans Health Administration. Gradison told a conference for psychedelics enthusiasts this month that he is eager to ramp up the VA's capacity to give the drugs to as many as 2.1 million veterans with mental illnesses like post-traumatic stress disorder or depression. Gradison said 6.4 million veterans regularly rely on the VA for care.
No government regulator has deemed psychedelics safe or effective for mental illness. Under former President Joe Biden, the Food and Drug Administration in 2024 resoundingly rejected a proposal to authorize MDMA — also known as ecstasy — combined with talk therapy, to treat people with PTSD.
But psychedelics are getting a second chance in the Trump administration. Trump in April issued an executive order to accelerate research, clinical trials and patient access to the drugs. Republicans in Congress are among psychedelics' biggest backers. And the constituency they are seeking to please, veterans, are disproportionately Republicans.
Veterans, frustrated with high suicide rates among their fellow ex-service members, are lobbying aggressively to see Trump follow through.
#Veterans #psychedelics #drugs #mdma
2 months ago
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — A Dutch drug addiction and mental health institute warned users on Friday about potentially lethal ecstasy pills shaped to look like the head of U.S. President Donald Trump.
The respected Trimbos Institute said that several of the pills have been handed in recently at a network of centers that test drugs for users before they take them.
"Absolutely do not use these pills," the institute warned.
It released a photo of the pills that have a depiction of Trump's head on one side and on the other side "NL" and "Trump" stamped into the surface either side of a vertical line. One of the pills has a green face and another is yellow.
The institute warned in a " Red Alert " published on its website and social media that they contain a high concentration of a chemical called PMMA, or para-methoxymethamfetamine, that is similar to MDMA, the active ingredient in ecstasy pills.
#pills
The respected Trimbos Institute said that several of the pills have been handed in recently at a network of centers that test drugs for users before they take them.
"Absolutely do not use these pills," the institute warned.
It released a photo of the pills that have a depiction of Trump's head on one side and on the other side "NL" and "Trump" stamped into the surface either side of a vertical line. One of the pills has a green face and another is yellow.
The institute warned in a " Red Alert " published on its website and social media that they contain a high concentration of a chemical called PMMA, or para-methoxymethamfetamine, that is similar to MDMA, the active ingredient in ecstasy pills.
#pills
3 months ago
The exclusive U.S. licensing deal adds a second clinical-stage CNS ****** et to Jupiter Neurosciences' pipeline, expanding its development strategy beyond its lead Parkinson's disease program.
Jupiter Neurosciences (NASDAQ:JUNS) signed a definitive agreement for exclusive U.S. rights to ALA-002 in a transaction valued at up to $100 million.
The Jupiter Neurosciences ALA-002 license agreement transforms the company from a single-program developer into a dual clinical-stage CNS company.
ALA-002 is a patented, FDA-designated Novel Chemical Entity (NCE) designed as a non-racemic MDMA formulation for neuropsychiatric disorders.
The deal combines a modest upfront payment with milestone-based consideration tied to clinical, regulatory and commercial progress.
#clinical #deal
Jupiter Neurosciences (NASDAQ:JUNS) signed a definitive agreement for exclusive U.S. rights to ALA-002 in a transaction valued at up to $100 million.
The Jupiter Neurosciences ALA-002 license agreement transforms the company from a single-program developer into a dual clinical-stage CNS company.
ALA-002 is a patented, FDA-designated Novel Chemical Entity (NCE) designed as a non-racemic MDMA formulation for neuropsychiatric disorders.
The deal combines a modest upfront payment with milestone-based consideration tied to clinical, regulatory and commercial progress.
#clinical #deal
4 months ago
Last week, news broke that Amy Griffin, author of the 2025 New York Times bestselling memoir "The Tell," had filed a lawsuit against the anonymous former classmate who, last March, sued Griffin, alleging that several of the anecdotes in the book — which details a horrific experience of childhood rape and ****** ual abuse — were not Griffin's, but her own. Griffin's countersuit claims that the classmate's lawsuit characterizes her as "a fraud and a thief." This isn't the kind of delicious, schadenfreude-dipped publishing-world drama about a bad art friend that other writers love to deconstruct in group texts. It's a dispiriting legal battle in which two women who likely suffered profound ****** ual trauma are publicly battling, one with a focus on preserving both her reputation and her business interests, and the other with almost nothing on her side, including, thanks to Griffin's countersuit, anonymity.
"The Tell" is about a woman who is by every possible measure successful, trying to understand what unseen force is holding her apart from an otherwise beautiful life — impacting her marriage, alienating her children and causing panic attacks. On the encouragement of her equally successful, equally blessed husband, Griffin agrees to try therapeutic MDMA. A former star student and long-distance runner from a prominent family in Amarillo, Texas, Griffin goes into her first session with a competitor's single-minded determination to, as she writes, "get to the finish line."
It takes almost no time for the drug to unearth memories of habitual ****** ual abuse by a teacher at her middle school that began when Griffin was 12 and continued until she was 16. Her confidence in the memories she recovers ("My body knew what had happened to me. The way I'd shake when I'd tell my story; the way my eyes welled up with tears at the mention of Texas") sets her on a relentless trajectory of seeking legal and emotional redress.
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I listened to "The Tell" on audiobook knowing very little about it. I didn't know that Griffin is married to a billionaire former hedge-fund founder, or that she's on the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Board of Trustees, or that her own venture-capital firm, G9, has made her a billionaire in her own right. I didn't see the seals of approval from America's trio of book-club heavies — Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, and Jenna Bush Hager — on its cover. I didn't read the glowing blurbs for a first-time author from Gwyneth Paltrow, Gloria Steinem, Chanel Miller and Mariska Hargitay. I didn't know that the book wasn't written so much as it was built by a prominent ghostwriter, a cadre of well-placed friends and colleagues, and a publishing industry that's made billions of dollars from trauma memoirs by women.
"The Tell" is about a woman who is by every possible measure successful, trying to understand what unseen force is holding her apart from an otherwise beautiful life — impacting her marriage, alienating her children and causing panic attacks. On the encouragement of her equally successful, equally blessed husband, Griffin agrees to try therapeutic MDMA. A former star student and long-distance runner from a prominent family in Amarillo, Texas, Griffin goes into her first session with a competitor's single-minded determination to, as she writes, "get to the finish line."
It takes almost no time for the drug to unearth memories of habitual ****** ual abuse by a teacher at her middle school that began when Griffin was 12 and continued until she was 16. Her confidence in the memories she recovers ("My body knew what had happened to me. The way I'd shake when I'd tell my story; the way my eyes welled up with tears at the mention of Texas") sets her on a relentless trajectory of seeking legal and emotional redress.
Want more from culture than just the latest trend? The Swell highlights art made to last.
Sign up here
I listened to "The Tell" on audiobook knowing very little about it. I didn't know that Griffin is married to a billionaire former hedge-fund founder, or that she's on the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Board of Trustees, or that her own venture-capital firm, G9, has made her a billionaire in her own right. I didn't see the seals of approval from America's trio of book-club heavies — Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, and Jenna Bush Hager — on its cover. I didn't read the glowing blurbs for a first-time author from Gwyneth Paltrow, Gloria Steinem, Chanel Miller and Mariska Hargitay. I didn't know that the book wasn't written so much as it was built by a prominent ghostwriter, a cadre of well-placed friends and colleagues, and a publishing industry that's made billions of dollars from trauma memoirs by women.
