Today’s newsletter takes about 5 minutes to read—so if you’ve only got 60 seconds, here’s what you need to know:

❤‍🩹 As interest in psychedelics keeps growing, informed conversations matter more than ever.

The goal isn’t just to be inspired by what’s possible, but to understand what’s credible, what’s early, and what we know we still don’t know…

👋 New here? We do this every week… Join Us!

🕯 Ayahuasca ceremonies are now practiced across the United States — but that freedom was not guaranteed.

In 2009, a landmark federal court case secured legal protection for the Santo Daime church’s ceremonial use of ayahuasca, which started the trend and movement.

Jonathan Goldman, the founder of the Church of the Holy Light of the Queen, was the lead plaintiff in the case that secured legal protection for Santo Daime ceremonies in the United States.

Hosted by our very own Steve Elfrink, a licensed psilocybin facilitator and somatic trauma pioneer, they will dive deep into the process and share the journey.

• The legal battle for ayahuasca in the U.S.
• Religious freedom and plant medicine
• Ceremony, responsibility, and community
• The future of psychedelic law

👉 Register here: I wanna join!

❓ Submit anonymous questions: I’m curious…

🎧 In this episode, we had a blast sitting down with Cory Firth, the Founder of Flow Rx and Co-Founder of Five Discovery, to rethink how we support the mental-health journeys of kids and teens. Cory helped us unpack why traditional classrooms and therapy models often fall short and how community-driven, plant-medicine-informed care could close the gap.

💼 Cory went deep and shared some raw stories from his own adolescence dealing with depression, discussed the details behind Neuma’s social-wellness pilots, and outlined the guardrails he believes are essential for safe, scalable, psychedelic programs aimed at treating mental health disorders.

⚡️ You can expect a hopeful, actionable conversation about leadership, radical empathy, and the next generation’s right to evidence-based psychedelic healing. Cory also offers concrete tips parents and educators can start using today to make the world a better place for our children and families…

Microdosing—the practice of taking very small, sub-perceptual amounts of psychedelics like psilocybin—has become one of the most talked-about trends in mental health and performance culture.

Advocates say it can boost mood, sharpen creativity, and ease symptoms of anxiety and depression without producing a full psychedelic trip…

But when researchers put those claims to the test, the picture becomes much more complicated.

And as interest grows, so does the key question:

Are these benefits real, or largely driven by expectation?

Microdosing means taking about one-tenth of a standard dose on an intermittent schedule, often every few days, depending on the protocols you follow.

Early observational research helped fuel excitement around microdosing.

In a widely cited 2019 study, people who microdosed over six weeks reported lower depression and stress, less distractibility, and better day-to-day functioning…

But that same paper also noted a major limitation: Expectation could be shaping outcomes.

That concern became much harder to ignore in 2021, when researchers at Imperial College London conducted a large, self-blinding microdosing study.

Both the microdose and placebo groups improved over time, but there were no significant between-group differences on most psychological outcomes.

The authors concluded that many anecdotal benefits could be explained by the placebo effect… But keep in mind that doesn’t necessarily mean it didn’t work.

More recent reviews have largely reinforced that takeaway, where a 2024 rapid review of placebo-controlled low-dose LSD and psilocybin studies found mixed results across affect, cognition, physiology, and subjective experience.

And a 2026 meta-analysis of 14 studies found no overall cognitive enhancement from microdosing, with the main measurable signal being a decrease in cognitive control rather than a broad boost in performance.

But while the research may not justify the outcomes, people continue to swear by the benefits of microdosing…

Even with neutral research findings, positive self-reports persist in both society and research.

Research surveys and naturalistic studies continue to find that many people associate microdosing with better mood, less anxiety, improved focus, and more creativity.

But as you can imagine, there are some nuances here…

In a 2026 mega-analysis pooling three double-blind longitudinal trials, psilocybin microdosing showed a limited effect on the quality of divergent thinking, not broad creativity across the board.

And a separate 2026 paper from two double-blind placebo-controlled trials found that psilocybin microdosing did not reliably improve cognitive or emotional functioning beyond placebo, though participants in both groups generally described the experience positively.

Confused yet? Same.

The most evidence-based answer right now is… Probably a bit of both.

Microdosing may produce subtle, acute effects in some people, and there are hints of narrow benefits in specific domains, such as divergent thinking…

But the strongest controlled evidence still suggests that many of the widely reported benefits are heavily shaped by expectancy, context, and belief.

Microdosing remains one of the most culturally influential ideas in psychedelics, but scientifically, it is far from settled.

And as it stands today, the best available research does not show clear, broad, reliable benefits across mood, cognition, and mental health… But that doesn’t mean it’s not worth pursuing (in a safe and legal way).

For now, it’s clear that the field needs more large, well-blinded, placebo-controlled studies before stronger claims can be made.

And as always, any exploration of psychedelics should happen legally, carefully, and with appropriate professional support.

👉 Subscribe to The Guide for evidence-based takes on psychedelics, research, and integration tools—delivered weekly to your inbox.

Microdosing sits at an interesting crossroads where personal experience, cultural momentum, and scientific rigor may not always align.

It’s easy to trust what feels good. To believe that if something helps, it must be working in the way we think it is…

But one of the most important lessons from psychedelic research right now is:

Expectations are powerful. Context matters. And not everything that feels transformative is fully understood yet…

That doesn’t make our perspectives or experiences any less meaningful; It just means we need to always stay curious and keep an open mind…

At Webdelics, we’re here to make plant-medicine and psychedelic education clear, evidence-based, and actionable, so you can make informed choices with fewer regrets…

📩 If this helped, forward it to someone who could use a good dose of love in their life…

💬 Questions, corrections, or topics to cover next? Hit reply.

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