Shark on Acid; Another nasal spray; Beckley Flexes; Science explains the trip; influencers under the influence
Shark on Acid; Another nasal spray; Beckley Flexes; Science explains the trip; influencers under the influence
Get Smart on the business, policy and impact of Psychedelics
Welcome to The Trip Report, a newsletter on the future of psychedelic medicine, legalization and the businesses, professions, policy, and issues that will come with it.
If you’re as obsessed with thinking about the emerging psychedelic space then you’ve come to the right place. If you’re new, welcome.
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Business
Shark on Acid
Toronto based Psychedelic Startup, MindMed made waves this week when a shark named Mr. Wonderful (aka Kevin O’Leary of the hit show Shark Tank) took a bite of equity in the pre-clinical trials company as part of a $6 million round in the company that is gearing up for their first sponsored research trial.
O’Leary took to Twitter:
Psychedelics could save lives, cure depression, help alcoholism, get people off opioids—why wouldn’t I want to be invested?! @mindmedco and microdosing are making waves and I am so excited to be a part of it!MindMed is notable because it is attempting to bring an Ibogaine derivative, 18-MC, that does not cause a psychedelic experience to market for the treatment of addiction.
This, of course, is one of those issues that divides psychedelia, namely how important is the psychedelic experience to achieving the desired outcome, in this case, addiction?
The Forbes article is well researched and offers a bit of history into Ibogaine and attempts to build research around it a few decades ago. Mindmed purchased the rights to the compound, 18-MC and the previous company and team, Savant Health.
If anyone knows which episode of Shark Tank MindMed founder JR Rahn appeared to pitch the Sharks please let me know.
Do you even nasal, bro?
The flood of psychedelic start-ups, capital and yet-to-be created or marketed products is based on the belief that "legalization is inevitable. We expect states to fall like dominoes thereafter, much like cannabis but with a more compressed timeline there is nothing to be afraid of in a medical rollout of mushrooms." At least that’s what Mike Arnold is betting on. The founder of Silo Wellness, the Oregon based psychedelic start up responsible for the psilocybin nasal spray you may have seen recently is very bullish on decriminalization/legalization efforts in the very near future.
Such confidence is perhaps warranted, but such hubris sets the stage for black swans and unexpected outcomes like the 2000 dot.com bubble, the 2008 housing crisis and the 2016 election of hillary clinton.
See what I did there?
But this confidence does spurn innovation and nasaly delivered micro-dosing and psychedelic based compounds that don’t potentiate a trip but hope to relieve suffering are two such innovations.
The productification of psychedelic molecules that have originated in nature, such as psilocybin containing mushrooms, is one of the more popular debates in psychedelia. Just last month, my local psychedelic society here in Portland, Maine hosted it's monthly meeting around this very topic.
And one can't help but compare this innovation with the ketamine-as-nasal spray product released earlier this year.
Sparvato really pissed people off because it is an inferior treatment compared to the standard ketamine infusion and an attempt to corner a market and jack up prices.
However, Silo is betting on legalization so that it does not have to pony up to fund research and overcome regulatory hurtles as we are seeing MAPS, USONA and Compass undertake.
If the product works as they hope, the bioavailability and uptake speed are sure to attract many-a-micro-dosers.
Do you have a psychedelic based start-up, non-profit, research lab, clinic or investment fund?
Do you need to gain traction, influence, and engagement in the emerging psychedelic ecosystem?
Let us do the heavy lifting on creating captivating, informative and engaging content that will bring your message to readers.
reach out to thetripreport@protonmail.com with a brief description of your project and what you need
Policy
Regulators, Mount Up
The Beckley Foundation released their Roadmap to Regulation, a document intended to educate policy makers on the harm that comes, not from consuming MDMA as the current ideologically driven drug laws presuppose, but from the unregulated production and distribution:
“Crucially, our evidence shows that most harms associated with MDMA use arise from its unregulated status as an illegal drug, and that any risks inherent to MDMA could be more effectively mitigated within a legally regulated market.”
“The report outlines, for the first time, detailed recommendations for drug policy reform in order to better control the production, distribution, purchase, and consumption of MDMA products.”
No, I did not read the 158 page summary—I have a 2 year old son.
But, this painstaking and unglamorous work represents the effort and focus that allows us to be here at this moment, talking about, thinking about, investing in a future in which compounds like MDMA, Psilocybin, LSD, etc and the states of consciousness they evoke. Thanks to people like Amanda Fielding, Rick Doblin, Bob Jesse and others I can write a newsletter, you can start psychedelic clinics, startups, fund startups, seek treatment, etc. in an emerging field that has been locked behind bars for decades.
So a sincere thank you is in order for Karenza Moore, Hattie Wells and Amanda Fielding for this document. Hopefully it gets read by the people who need to read it because they are policy makers and their children are old enough to sleep through the night.
The rest of us can watch this video:
The Oregon Signature Trail
Activitsts in Oregon are attempting to get two ballot initiatives on the 2020 ballot:
To do so each ballot will need to collect a shit load of signatures, 112,200 each.
I wonder how much these two efforts will either feed off of each other or compete against each other.
I suppose we’ll find out.
Impact
Beware the Psychedelic Influencer
As Trip Report readers you may have picked up on the fact that I am cannabis-suspicious. I think the market incentive to pedal cannabis and cannabis products as health promoting and medicinal is a bad idea and dishonest. Let’s just call a spade a spade and say weed feels good and it’s fun.
So, when I saw this piece from VICE on how cannabis companies rely on influencers to push the wellness message to make it stick in customers minds and without getting in trouble with the FDA, I knew right away….
It is a genius move.
And got me wondering about how this might play out with psychedelics.
I think the comparison between cannabis legalization and the movement in psychedelics are a reversal since the psychedelic movement is riding on a wave of scientific research.
This of course has been the case for alternative medicine, supplements, healing arts and health promoting practices for a while. When we combine a traditionally used compound or practice with modern marketing and profit motive it is easy to find examples of over reach in claims.
This happens with acupuncture, natural supplements and nutrition.
The rise of cannabis Direct to Consumer brands which lean heavily on Influencer Marketing creates an environment where brands take the upside but not have to suffer the consequences of their affiliates claims.
Has science finally explained the mechanism of psychedelic experience?
“The unique and important thing about this study is the scientists monitored two physiological aspects of the test subjects while they were under the influence of psilocybin—the levels of psilocin in their blood plasma and the amount of psilocin bound to the 5-HT2A receptors in their brains.”
“This is the first time researchers have correlated psilocin bound to 5-HT2A receptors in the brain, levels of psilocin in the blood, and subjective experiences.”
That’s it for this week’s roundup, thanks for reading and see you on Sunday in which I’ll publish a piece on Gabor Mate, Psychedelic Medicine, and the Resilient Phenotype.
If you’ve read this far you either like what we’re doing here or you’re just really into the emerging psychedelic ecosystem and as curious as we are as to how this whole thing will unfold.
Do you have a psychedelic based start-up, non-profit, research lab, clinic or investment fund?
Do you need to gain traction, influence, and engagement in the emerging psychedelic ecosystem?
Let us help you by doing the heavy lifting on creating captivating, informative and engaging content—Newsletters, articles or web content—that will bring your message to readers.
Comments, questions, tips? Send me a note!
Written and Curated in Portland, Maine by Zachary Haigney, thetripreport@protonmail.com