🍺 Ancient Psychedelic Beer Unearthed

👋 Welcome

Hey friends!

This week, we’re diving into some incredible discoveries from across the psychedelic field — from Spain’s historic move to legalize medical cannabis to new psilocybin research showing its promise for pain and depression.

But the headline story takes us way back — archaeologists in Peru have uncovered evidence of an ancient psychedelic beer brewed by Wari elites to forge alliances and consolidate power. It’s a reminder that the link between chemistry and connection runs deeper than history books ever told us.

We’ll also touch on one of the most powerful lessons in modern psychedelic science: the real work begins after the trip, during the window when the brain is most open to change.

Let’s jump in.

🔝 Weekly Highlights

• 🌿 What Ayahuasca Teaches Us About Death — Scientists studied regular ayahuasca users and found something remarkable: a measurable drop in fear of death and a rise in acceptance. The more they journeyed, the more they embraced the mystery. Read more
  

• 🍃 Spain Goes Green — It’s official: medical marijuana is now legal in Spain. Lawmakers approved its therapeutic use, marking a new era of plant-based healthcare across Europe. Full story
  

• 🧠 Psilocybin’s Dual Power — University of Pennsylvania researchers show psilocybin lights up brain circuits linked to both chronic pain and depression. Translation? One compound, two massive public health problems. See study

🧬 Quick Hits

RESEARCH 🔬

• 👩‍⚕️ Healing the healers: Group psilocybin therapy helped doctors and nurses fight burnout and depression. Turns out, those saving others might need saving too. Learn more
  

• 🧠 A brain switch for better moods: Scientists found psychedelics activate a key front-brain pathway that could inspire faster, cleaner antidepressants. Nature study
  

• 🧒 The teen gap: A Lancet review revealed almost no research on psychedelic therapy in adolescents—calling for ethics, caution, and curiosity in equal measure. Read it
  

• 🌿 Next-gen cannabis compound: A new cannabinoid with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory powers could soon hit skincare shelves. Science meets self-care. Read more

POLICY 🏛️

• 🍄 Mushrooms in Manhattan? — New York legislators are debating a regulated psilocybin framework. What once got you jail time might soon get you healing time. Details
  

• 🗳️ Massachusetts makes moves: Lawmakers advanced a statewide pilot program to study psilocybin-assisted therapy. East Coast energy is shifting fast. Read it

BUSINESS 📈

• 💊 MindMed takes the lead: With steady trial progress and FDA engagement, MindMed is positioning itself as the biotech front-runner in psychedelic medicine. Full story
  

• 📊 Investor optimism is back: Psychedelic Alpha’s Q3 2025 survey shows investor confidence has surged to its highest point in years. See data
  

• 💰 PharmaTher cashes in: The company sold its Ketamine ANDA in a deal worth up to $25 million - another sign the industry is maturing. Details

CULTURE 🎭

• 🏈 NFL player gets real: Colts star Braden Smith opened up about battling OCD and finding relief through psychedelic-assisted therapy. Courage in motion. Read interview
  

• 🔬 Crystals of consciousness: This post blew up last weekend for a good reason — these images show LSD, DMT, and MDMA under a microscope, and they’re pure science-meets-art. See them

⚱️ Main Feature

The Case of the Psychedelic Beer

Archaeologists in Peru unearthed evidence that between 600 and 1000 CE, ancient Wari elites brewed a psychoactive beer made from Anadenanthera colubrina seeds to charm allies and consolidate power.

The seeds contain DMT-like tryptamines such as bufotenine, which likely produced a mild but meaningful shift in perception — enough to enhance empathy, connection, and shared ritual experience.

Consciousness as diplomacy — proof that humans have always known how to mix chemistry with connection.

The finding adds to a growing body of evidence showing that altered states served as both spiritual experiences and social technologies. Across cultures and centuries, humans used psychoactive rituals to commune with the divine, build trust, form alliances, and shape the societies we live in today.

These ceremonies often stood at the center of politics, trade, and cultural identity. Sharing a drink that softened boundaries between self and other may have been one of humanity’s earliest tools for negotiation, empathy, and unity.

The Wari’s brew reminds us that mind-altering substances have long been used to shape connection and culture — as tools for unity, influence, and understanding across every level of society.

👉 Get the full story here

🔍 Honorable Mention

The Hidden Door Reopened: How Psychedelics Reset the Brain’s Social Learning Window

For decades, scientists believed the brain’s “critical periods” — those early-life windows when we rapidly absorb emotional and social learning — closed forever after childhood.

But research from Johns Hopkins University’s Dölen Lab has changed that story. While the study was published in 2023, I feel it’s something important to keep in the back of our minds.

They discovered that psychedelics can temporarily reopen this hidden door. During that time, the brain becomes unusually flexible — more open to trust, empathy, and emotional relearning. It’s as if the system that teaches us how to connect suddenly remembers how to grow again.

Even more fascinating?

Each compound keeps that window open for a different span — and those durations scale with the length of the experience itself.

During this window, the brain’s metaplasticity — its ability to re-learn how to learn — spikes. Old patterns loosen. New habits, emotional associations, and relational insights take root more easily.

That’s why this “critical period” matters so much.

It marks the phase when the mind is most teachable, when change feels natural instead of forced, and when therapy or community support can reach the deepest layers of the psyche.

When integration aligns with that window, transformation becomes far more than theory:

• Schedule therapy, journaling, or breathwork sessions while the brain remains open.

• Reinforce positive behaviors through small daily rituals.

• Rehearse conversations or reactions you want to handle differently.

• Spend intentional, prosocial time with others.

• Anchor new routines with cues and rewards.

Knowing when the brain is most open to re-learning means we can support healing more effectively.

The medicine may start the process, but integration is where it becomes permanent.

👉 Read the full study

🎁 Psychedelic Utility Belt

• 🍄 Meet Psilocybe azurescens — Nature’s heavyweight champion of potency. Learn its habitat, chemistry, and why it’s earned the nickname “Flying Saucer Mushroom.” Explore it
  

• ⚠️ Harm Reduction, Always — If you’re going to explore altered states, do it with wisdom. Here’s your checklist for safe, grounded, intentional journeys. Check it out

👋 Signoff

Progress in this space doesn’t always make headlines, but every study, policy shift, and story of healing moves the frontier forward.

From the lab to the legislature, from ceremony to clinic, it’s all part of one long arc toward understanding how we grow — and how we reconnect.

Stay bold. Stay curious. And remember: healing doesn’t just change the brain. It changes the way we see one another.

Have a peaceful end to your week!

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