Quarterly federal lobbying figures show rising spending by psychedelic companies; the DEA renewed a move to reschedule certain tryptamines; Oregon abandoned a proposed psilocybin fee increase; research and financing updates round out the bulletin.
Federal lobbying by psychedelic companies rose in Q2 2026, approaching $350,000 in aggregate and led largely by Compass Pathways and Definium Therapeutics.
The DEA has revived an effort to place multiple tryptamines into Schedule 5 — a regulatory action that could affect research and access pathways.
Academic teams called for stronger blinding methods in psychedelic trials while BetterLife announced a $100M raise for a non-hallucinogenic headache candidate.
# Quick summary
Psychedelic companies' spending on federal lobbying firms increased in Q2 2026, reaching just shy of $350,000 in total. That amount remains small compared with traditional healthcare and pharma lobbying, but it marks a distinct uptick for the psychedelic sector. The spending was driven principally by Compass Pathways and Definium Therapeutics.
Schedule 5. The bulletin reports the agency is again pursuing that regulatory path.
Oregon shelved a proposed increase to fees tied to its psilocybin program after advocates and stakeholders criticized the hike. The bulletin frames this as a victory for advocates who opposed the higher fees.
Researchers at Stanford and UCSF called for "more aggressive" blinding strategies in psychedelic trials. The bulletin highlights this methodological critique as part of an ongoing debate over trial design and placebo control in psychedelic research.
BetterLife announced a $100 million financing to advance a non-hallucinogenic candidate targeting headache disorders. The bulletin lists this as a notable financing development in the space.
The bulletin bundles additional items under "Other Headlines" but highlights the items above as primary developments for the quarter. The reporting continues a regular cadence of policy and industry tracking, combining public filings, regulatory action updates, research commentary, and financing news.
# Bottom line
Compass Shares 52-Week Follow-Up and Five Training Grant Recipients Earlier this month, Compass Pathways shared topline data from Part C of its smaller, placebo-controlled Phase 3 trial, COMP005. As a reminder, COMP005 enrolled 258 patients with treatment-resistant depression (TRD) to receive either a 25 mg dose of the
Welcome to our fifth Field Note. As a reminder, Field Notes are timely, candid voice notes from our Founder and Editor, Josh Hardman, that give our Pα+ readers a pulse on recent developments in psychedelic drug development, policy, and access. In this Field Note, Josh shared his notes from a busy week in Washington, D.
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