Explore the World of Plant Medicine and Psychedelics. A Weekly Digest of Exclusive Stories, Insights, and Research.
Welcome to this week’s edition of The Guide ⚡
Today’s newsletter takes about 5 minutes to read—so if you’ve only got 60 seconds, here’s what you need to know:
Microdosing psychedelics is widely reported to improve mood, focus, and creativity, but the strongest clinical studies suggest many of these benefits may be driven by placebo and expectation.
Recent placebo-controlled trials show little to no measurable cognitive improvement beyond placebo, even as participants still report feeling better overall.
There are early signals that microdosing may influence emotional processing and brain activity, but the effects appear subtle and inconsistent compared to full-dose psychedelic therapy.
🎙️ This week on the pod: We sat down with Cory Firth, Founder of Flow Rx and Co-Founder of Five Discovery, to explore how he’s supporting the next generation’s mental health and where the current systems are falling short.
❤🩹 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…
🧠 The Webdelics Team
👋 New here? We do this every week… Join Us!
🎙️ Planting Seeds of Healing — with Cory Firth
🎧 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…
📜 The “Must Read” For The Week
Psychedelic Studies You Need to Know About…
Psychedelic research over the last year has given the field something more useful than headlines and talking points…
It’s given us further evidence that these medicines can have a big impact on changing lives.
This past year’s most important papers focused less on broad promises and more on dosing, durability, mechanisms, psychotherapy practices, and safety, helping us to answer questions that will shape what actually translates into clinical practice.
💫 Key Findings from Recently Published Studies
🍄 Psilocybin for severe treatment-resistant depression
Aaronson et al. found that a single dose of psilocybin paired with psychotherapy showed meaningful antidepressant effects in people with severe treatment-resistant depression.
🎚 The intensity of the experience can influence outcomes
A 2025 meta-analysis found that stronger psychedelic experiences were associated with better therapeutic outcomes, especially in mood disorders.
🔗 Meta-analysis, 2025
3. Emotional breakthrough matters
🧠 Key Finding: New 2025 work in depression linked emotional breakthrough and altered-state effects after psilocybin with better treatment response.
🔗 Goodwin et al., 2025
4. Cancer-related distress showed durable benefits
🧠 Key Finding: A 2025 follow-up study found some patients with cancer-related depression maintained benefits up to two years after a single psilocybin session with psychotherapy.
🔗 Long-term follow-up, 2025
5. MDMA research clarified mechanism, not just outcomes
🧠 Key Finding: A 2025 analysis found that increased self-compassion helped explain part of MDMA-assisted therapy’s effect in severe PTSD.
🔗 Agin-Liebes et al., 2025
6. Substance use research kept building
🧠 Key Finding: A 2025 review concluded that psilocybin for alcohol use disorder currently has one of the clearest efficacy signals among psychedelic-assisted addiction treatments.
🔗 Piper et al., 2025
7. Reviews delivered a reality check
🧠 Key Finding: Two major 2025 evidence reviews found real promise across psychedelic therapies, while also highlighting persistent issues with blinding, trial quality, and safety reporting.
🔗 Living systematic review, 2025
🔗 Bahji et al., 2025
🛣️ It’s Still Only the Beginning…
The biggest 2025 takeaway is that psychedelic medicine is entering a more serious phase. The field still looks promising, but the most valuable new studies were the ones that clarified how these treatments work, how long they last, and what researchers still need to prove.
👉 Subscribe to The Guide for evidence-based takes on psychedelics, research, and integration tools—delivered weekly to your inbox.
💬 Don’t Confuse What Feels True With What’s Been Proven…
As Samuel Butler elegantly stated, “Life is not an exact science, it is an art.”
Challenging our beliefs and knowledge is essential for finding the truth, especially in a crowded space like plant medicine and psychedelics.
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.
🪧 Want to sponsor? [email protected]
🧠 The Guide - by Webdelics
Disclaimer: Webdelics does not support or promote any illegal activities, including the use of substances that may be mentioned in this newsletter. We encourage all readers to familiarize themselves with and adhere to the laws in their region. Please note that Webdelics does not offer mental health, medical, or clinical services and should not be used as a replacement for professional medical, psychological, or psychiatric care, diagnosis, or treatment.
