Here’s What to Know About the New Brain-Boosting Stimulant

Good morning, and happy Thursday! Welcome to another edition of The Drop In, DoubleBlind’s newsletter delivering independent journalism about psychedelics straight to your inbox.

On deck today, we have a story about major flooding that’s devastated parts of the Ucayali region of Peru, leaving many Shipibo-Konibo villages submerged. Then, we dig into a new study on a little-known designer drug that may sharpen your thinking, according to science. If you keep scrolling, you’ll find stories on everything you need to know about Kanna, how to take “Sass,” and a deep dive into the three types of ketamine. 

Also, if you’re around this Sunday, we’re hanging out with Willy Myco to learn about synthesizing LSD. Come join us! You can learn more about the workshop here.

Mary Carreón
Senior Editor

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Amazon Floods Ravage Indigenous Villages, Shipibo Healers Call for Help

As record flooding devastates the Peruvian Amazon, Shipibo-Konibo communities are calling on the global ayahuasca community for support.

Since December, relentless rains have pounded Peru, triggering flash floods and landslides that have left hundreds of thousands of people displaced. Nearly 170,000 people have been affected nationwide, with over 3,000 homes destroyed and over 80,000 homes and structures damaged. In Ucayali — a region of the Amazon that is home to the Shipibo-Konibo, the stewards of ayahuasca — entire villages and ancestral farmland have been submerged. 

A state of emergency now stretches across at least 962 districts of the country. According to reports, the flooding in Ucayali is the worst it’s been in 15 years. Along with families being displaced, crops, farmland, businesses, and homes have also been destroyed. The impact has been catastrophic for the Shipibo-Konibo, an Indigenous community that resides in the Ucayali, and have long stewarded the land and waterways.

In response, Walter Ramiro López, a Shipibo-Konibo Onanya (or ancestral medicine healer) and president of ASOMASHK, an acronym for Asociación de Onanyabo Médicos Ancestrales, posted a call for support during this challenging time.

“There are many people in the world, seekers and followers of medicines, who have come to our communities to enjoy and consecrate and drink this sacred medicine with some maestros and maestras, wise men and women of our Shipibo-Konibo people,” Water says in a video. “To you brothers, I make that call because thanks to these medicines…some of you have recovered your health and now have a better life. I believe that this world can be much better when there is a balance of reciprocity… this is the time for us to put our hands on our chest and say, ‘I’ll help you brother.’ Because our brothers living on the banks of the Ucayali are living a moment of terror.”

Jakon Kibi, a Shipibo-Konibo medicine community, is teaming up with ASOMASHK—an alliance of Onanyabo and ancestral medicine practitioners—to deliver urgent relief and long-term recovery support to Shipibo-Konibo communities devastated by catastrophic flooding. They need your help. They created a GoFundMe to which the global medicine community can contribute funds. 

“We are calling upon the international community…to reflect on the profound gifts of ancestral knowledge the Shipibo-Konibo have shared with you, and the world, and to engage in tangible reciprocal relationship by contributing monetary support in their time of urgent need,” the GoFundMe page says. “Every donation, no matter the amount, makes a difference. Thank you for your generosity and support.”

Solidarity with Indigenous communities has never been more vital. Now’s your chance to engage in reciprocity in a necessary, tangible, and meaningful way.

Designer Drug 3-MMC Might Sharpen Your Thinking, New Study Says

Researchers are eyeing the therapeutic potential of 3-MMC, a once-obscure designer stimulant that may enhance focus and cognition.

A new study in Neuropsychopharmacology suggests that low to moderate doses of 3-methylmethcathinone (3-MMC), a synthetic stimulant in the cathinone family, delivers a mild high with no alarming health effects. Participants reported feeling buzzed, performed better on cognitive tasks, and only experienced slight upticks in heart rate and blood pressure — nothing that raised red flags. PsyPost reports that this is the first controlled study to examine how 3-MMC behaves in the human body at doses typical for recreational use.

For those who don’t know, 3-MMC is a lab-born cousin of cathinones, compounds naturally found in the khat plant. Unlike pharmaceuticals, which endure rigorous safety trials, synthetic cathinones often hit the market through a legal gray area, with effects that remain largely a mystery until ER doctors start reporting cases. Until now, most of what we knew about 3-MMC came from hospital reports involving heavy users or people on polydrug cocktails.

To fill that gap, researchers recruited 14 healthy adults, all with past experience using stimulants like MDMA or amphetamines. Over four lab sessions, they received either a placebo or 25, 50, or 100 milligrams of 3-MMC, with at least a week between doses to ensure clean results. Researchers monitored their vitals, cognitive performance, and subjective experiences for five hours after ingesting the drug.

The results showed clear, dose-dependent stimulant effects. Heart rate and blood pressure nudged upward but stayed within safe limits. Cognitive performance improved, particularly in tasks requiring rapid tracking or symbol-matching. Unlike many stimulants, 3-MMC didn’t seem to spike impulsivity. Higher doses led to stronger euphoria and mild appetite suppression — potentially reinforcing use, but without the compulsive edge of harder stimulants.

Researchers caution that this was a small study focused on single doses. The long-term safety of repeated use remains unknown. We also still don’t know how 3-MMC interacts with other drugs, despite it often being taken in conjunction with other drugs. Next on the docket for researchers is whether 3-MMC holds therapeutic promise, perhaps even for pain relief.

“Cathinones have previously been demonstrated to possess analgesic potential at full doses,” said study author Johannes G. Ramaekers, a professor of psychopharmacology at Maastricht University, to PsyPost. “It would be interesting to explore whether 3-MMC at low doses that are safe and do not induce a challenging subjective experience hold analgesic potential as well.”

Join Us

FREE WORKSHOP | Synthesizing LSD with Willy Myco
March 30 | 1 PM PT

For decades, the synthesis of LSD has been shrouded in secrecy—gatekept by elite chemists, entangled in legal red tape, and steeped in underground lore. Even buying ONE ingredient can put you on a government watch list. 

Willy Myco pulled off the seemingly impossible. Traveling to a remote Pakistani lab, he risked everything to make the world’s first step-by-step video tutorial for synthesizing LSD.

Now, he’s coming to DoubleBlind to tell the full story. And it gets weird.

Join us for a free, no-holds-barred discussion with journalist Patrick Maravelias and mycologist, chemist, and psychedelic educator Willy Myco. 

🔥 This is one conversation you won’t want to miss.

 Free for DoubleBlind+ members (Not a member? Sign up for a free trial & get instant access.)

Join DB+ and Get the Workshop Free!

Learn with Us

⚗️ There are hundreds of kanna products coming into the market right now, from small-time Etsy sellers to full e-commerce stores. Here’s what you need to look for when buying kanna extracts.

💊 Both derived from the sassafras tree, MDA is known as MDMA’s psychedelic cousin. That one little “meth” group (the second M in MDMA) changes the dosage, duration, and effects. Here’s the full story on “Sass.”

🧑‍🔬 An aspiring psychonaut can now buy 3 types of ketamine… but is there really a difference? Or is it all just marketing hype? We dig into the data, neuroscience, and subjective experience in this article here. 

💧 We now have real data about the exact timing of LSD tolerance. If you experiment with LSD microdosing, this article will help you dial in your practice and get better results.

DoubleBlind Digs

Here are today’s recommendations to help you live more psychedelically… 

1. Chacruna’s psychedelic Culture conference is coming up fast: March 29-30 in San Francisco. This is one of the truly special gatherings in the psychedelic space. Get your tickets here.

2. Indigenous wisdom, psychedelics, and depth psychology intersect in an ancient practice called “Soul Retrieval.” But how do we relate to this in a post-modern world? Join Dr. Ido Cohen and an incredible group of teachers for a powerful, mythic journey into Jungian psychology, archetypes, and ancestral wisdom. It's on April 27th. Get your tickets here.

3. Growing mushrooms is harder than YouTube videos make it seem. There are SO MANY things that can go wrong (speaking from experience). Fortunately, Northspore has solved every single one of these problems for you. Grow your mushrooms the smart way with Northspore.

4. Want to add a little spice to your intimacy? Check out Foria’s CBD-infused oils. In the words of one woman: “WOW! It really does intensify the experience!! Convinced. Hooked. Possibly addicted”. Shop Foria here

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Feeling Frisky? 

Spring is in the air and the entire natural world is getting flirty. You, as an expression of nature, take part of these same broad cycles of hormones, attraction, and sex. Sex and intimacy are deeply ingrained parts of life, and, curiously, the more we embrace them, the more empowered we feel. Unsurprisingly, psychedelics can help with that.

Check out Shelby’s conversation with Britta Love for more