New Medicines for an Old System
October 30, 2026
In today’s newsletter…
Dear Readers,
We believe in the importance of independent journalism and continue to bring you the balanced, accurate reporting you expect from us. As psychedelic-assisted therapies move into mainstream medical systems, Lucid news reporters are covering pivotal stories including this month’s Horizons: Perspectives on Psychedelics conference in New York City and the mounting tensions in Oregon’s state-regulated psilocybin program.
While key FDA decisions on psychedelic therapies are expected within the coming months, most people who engage with psychedelics will continue to use them in non-clinical settings. Our coverage asks essential questions across this spectrum: Will expanding clinical research and institutional support for psychedelics also address systemic policies that support healing? How are state laws evolving to make psychedelic treatments available? What can history teach us about the appropriation of Indigenous knowledge? The stories in this newsletter explore some of those questions.
We invite you to join our journalistic journey into the complexity and promise of psychedelics. As a nonprofit 501c(3) community media organization, we depend on tax-exempt donations from our readers and appreciate your continued support. Join us to help keep independent journalism alive. We also welcome your story ideas, opinion pieces, and good wishes for our mission.
Sincerely,
Annie Oak Harrison
Editorial Director
Lucid News Community Media
Image by Lucid News
CULTURE: Horizons 2026 spotlights health care policies in the U.S.
BUSINESS: Proposed fee hikes for OR’s psilocybin program tabled.
CULTURE: Officials assess the roadmap to federal approval at Horizons.
HEALTH: Advocates say new NM psilocybin program rules limit access.
REVIEW: Carlos Castaneda’s deleterious impact examined in new book.
I’ll leave it up to you.
Released in 1971, psychedelic rock group Ten Years After composed an anthem that addressed pollution, economic inequality, and war against a backdrop of political and social upheaval. While it’s been fifty-five years since its release, drummer Ric Lee noted in a more recent interview that the song speaks to many of the same issues facing society today, and perhaps a similar sentiment of helplessness. As the United States approaches the 2026 midterm elections amid deep political divisions, the song offers a timely reflection on civic responsibility and the role individuals play in shaping political change. Listen to “I'd Love to Change the World.”
CULTURE
Horizons 2026: New Medicines for an Old System
What do a retired firefighter battling debilitating cluster headaches, a military general, a formerly incarcerated community mentor, and a conservative political strategist have in common? They're all part of a growing movement to bring psychedelic therapies into mainstream healthcare—and challenge the institutions that have long shaped how we understand and treat human suffering.
At this year's Horizons conference in New York, advocates explored the promise of psychedelic medicine alongside some difficult questions. Will psychedelics simply become new medicines for an old system, or can they help transform the system itself?
BUSINESS
Oregon U-turns on Doubling Psilocybin License Fees
After weeks of organized opposition and hundreds of public comments, the Oregon Health Authority has backed away from a proposal that would have doubled annual licensing fees for facilitators, manufacturers, and service centers. For some businesses, the proposed changes could have meant closing their doors.
More than 24,000 people having accessed services so far, but regulators are still grappling with how to make the program financially sustainable without pricing out providers or the people seeking treatment.
CULTURE
Federal Health Officials Outline Pre-Approval Roadmap for Psychedelic Medicines
This year at Horizons, federal officials from the Department of Health and Human Services, FDA, Department of Veterans Affairs, and ARPA-H offered a behind-the-scenes look at how the government is preparing for the first wave of potential FDA-approved psychedelic treatments.
Officials also addressed the risks of moving too quickly. With some treatments potentially approaching regulatory decisions as early as 2027, the stakes are high. Federal agencies will need to move fast to meet urgent patient needs without sacrificing the scientific rigor and safety these treatments demand.
REVIEW
How Carlos Castaneda Created a Hoax
For decades, Carlos Castaneda captivated millions with his books, shaping how generations understood spirituality and Indigenous knowledge. But a new biography, “American Trickster: The Hidden Lives of Carlos Castaneda,” by Ru Marshall, pulls back the curtain on the man whose legacy was built on deception.
From fabricated identities and borrowed teachings to sexual manipulation and the creation of a secretive cult, Castaneda's real story raises uncomfortable questions about the narratives we believe, the gurus we follow, and the ways Western culture has appropriated and misrepresented how Indigenous people use medicine plants.
HEALTH
New Mexico Medical Psilocybin Program Regulation Changes Spark Outcry
Advocates of New Mexico’s Medical Psilocybin Act delivered a unified rebuke to the New Mexico Department of Health, warning that newly added administrative mandates threaten to make the state’s landmark psychedelic therapy program inaccessible to its most vulnerable residents.
While some applaud the state's efforts to establish rigorous clinical training and safety standards, critics warn that excessive red tape — such as including mandatory prescriber approvals, landlord permissions, lengthy patient reviews, and costly staffing rules — could undermine the mission of the legislation.
💡 Bright Ideas
Listening to Cornell mathematician Steven Strogatz discuss AI, mathematics, and the search for meaning brings to mind the counterculture movement of the 60s and 70s, and why it remains so important today. Strogatz tells the story of a student who, confronted with AI’s ability to solve some of the world’s most elusive math problems, responded: But I want to make discoveries too. I want that thrill. What’s the point otherwise? If you trace the rise of the personal computer from the San Francisco Bay Area labs during the psychedelic 60s, you realize discovery was always the point. Computing wasn’t born out of a creativity-boosting psychedelic experience, nor was it intended to replace the human process of discovery. It emerged adjacent to the psychedelic experience, from a city riding the edge of chaos, where young people gathered to create a new culture and ask, How do we build a more humane world?
Writer John Markoff says of Silicon Valley today, “The surrounding culture that once pressed the laboratories about purpose — the artists, activists, and pranksters who lived next door and asked bigger questions — has been priced out, professionalized, or simply vanished. The result is a region that is vastly wealthier and intellectually narrower: superb at the “how?” but less interested in the “what for?”” For both Markoff and Strogatz, the “what for” is what matters. It is also the deeper legacy of the psychedelic 60s: not technology for its own sake, but the enduring human desire to discover, create, and imagine a better world.
From the Archives:
A Psychedelic Forecast
Erik Davis took us on a trip through late 1960s and 70s California in this article, which chronicles some of the social and political changes of the time through photo anthologies.
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