Altitude Journal
The Journal
Deep dives into the science and culture of consciousness.
Psychedelics in Uniform: What the Military Did to Soldiers, and What the VA Is Now Asking of Veterans
The Army spent decades dosing enlisted men with psychedelics they weren't told they were taking. Eighty years later, the VA and Pentagon are running versions of the same experiment again — with consent forms, IRBs, and an executive order behind them.
LSD Has 14 Patents in Our Tracker. The Company Closest to Approval Owns One.
A company-by-company look at the smallest patent footprint of any compound on our tracker — and why Definium, the company furthest along in trials, barely shows up in it.
The 5-MeO-DMT Patent Race Has a Twist: The Clinical Leader Barely Owns Any of It
A company-by-company look at who holds 5-MeO-DMT''s 164 patents — and why the program with the strongest Phase 2b data in the field has almost none of them.
Psilocybin Has 223 Patents in Play. Here's Who Actually Holds Them.
A company-by-company look at who's patenting psilocybin, what they're actually claiming, and why one of the biggest names in the field has spent a year fighting to keep its patents alive.
677 Patents and One FDA Rejection: Mapping the Psychedelic Drug Pipeline
Our own count of who's filing patents on psilocybin, MDMA, LSD, ketamine, ibogaine, and 5-MeO-DMT — what they're claiming to treat, where they're based, and the one company that's already been told no by the FDA.
I Flushed My Antidepressants in Paradise. I Got Lucky.
A psychopharmacologist, a prescription that made my brain feel like it was short-circuiting, and a decision I made alone in a hotel bathroom. What I didn't know then about SSRIs — and what nobody told me — turns out to be a much bigger story than mine.
Quick Trip or Daily Practice: The Brain Doesn't Care How You Get There
Psilocybin's calling card on an MRI is a quieted default mode network and a burst of new neural connections. A growing body of research says meditation and the vagus nerve reach some of the same systems — on a different timeline. The evidence points to complementary paths, not competing ones.
Kambo: The Ceremony That Promises Purification and Delivers Peril
A critical look at the frog secretion ritual gaining traction in wellness circles — including the first suspected UK death linked to it — and the medical evidence that should give you serious pause.
I Thought I'd Walked Into a Retirement Community. What I Found Was a Masterclass in How the Brain Stays Young
A visit to my aunt's 55+ community in Florida looked, at first, suspiciously happy. What I found underneath it was a daily structure that lines up with decades of research on community, purpose, and brain health.
Eli Lilly Just Paid $3.8 Billion for the Same Molecule People Get From a Toad
Eli Lilly's acquisition of AtaiBeckley centers on a synthetic version of 5-MeO-DMT — the compound underground "Bufo" ceremonies harvest from a wild toad. What the deal signals for the toad, the field, and the science.
Holding Your Breath On Purpose
A family meditation habit nudged a curious question at the breakfast table: could slowed breathing and brief breath‑holds be doing a little of the same brain‑clearing and neuron‑strengthening work researchers are now testing?
Everyone Knows Which Pill They Got. The FDA Just Said What To Do About It.
Functional unblinding is the methodological problem at the centre of psychedelic research. After three years in draft, the FDA's final trial guidance says how sponsors must handle it.
The Next Psilocybin Question Is Not Hype. It Is Evidence, Timing, and Review.
A regulatory-watch explainer on why the next phase of psilocybin medicine is about evidence, timing, and review rather than hype.
Fear Is Not a Character Flaw. It's Architecture.
And here's what I've learned about rewiring it — from the amygdala to meditation to psychedelics.
Three Paths to a Healthier Brain: Learning, Meditation, and Psychedelics
Why neuroscience says you need all three — and how to combine them safely.
Clinical vs. Consumer: Navigating the New Psilocybin Landscape
The same compound, very different experiences. Understanding the difference between clinical and consumer use is essential.
What Is Evidence-Based Healing? A Guide to Altitude Global's Standards
The healing and wellness space is experiencing a credibility crisis. Here's how Altitude evaluates practitioners.
The God Molecule and the Spilled Milk
How a single encounter with Bufo changed the way I move through the world.
The Clinical Revolution: Psilocybin and 5-MeO-DMT Move from Underground to Evidence-Based Medicine
Rigorous clinical trials are providing what decades of anecdotal evidence couldn't: peer-reviewed data showing these compounds may offer rapid, sustained relief.