Post Tag: Business

Posted on

Dylan Beynon – Mindbloom: The Next Chapter in Mental Health and Wellbeing

In this episode, Kyle sits down with Dylan Beynon, founder of Mindbloom, NYC based mental health and wellbeing platform. In the show they talk about how Mindbloom differs from other centers, paving the way for accessibility and affordability.

3 Key Points:

  1. Mindbloom is a next-generation mental health platform, catered to accessibility and affordability.
  2. They use ketamine tablets, different from lozenges and any other method. The tablets are held in the mouth and then spit out to avoid entering the liver, causing a sedation-like experience.
  3. Mindbloom differentiates themselves from other psychedelic therapy options by using a patient-choice model, to keep it affordable for those who need it. They offer the 4-week therapy model and give patients the option to choose ‘add-ons’ like extra integration. 

Support the show

Navigating Psychedelics

Show Notes

About Dylan

  • Dylan is not a clinician or a doctor, he is an entrepreneur and a psychedelic medicine and therapeutic ketamine patient
    • These medicines have been transformative in his life and he wants to bring their benefits to the public
  • He grew up in a family that suffered greatly from mental illness
    • He lost his mother to addiction
  • He discovered positive psychology
    • When learning about the science of happiness, he realized that he wasn’t happy
    • He was in business school and wanted to be a banker and make a ton of money
    • He soon realized that money doesn’t buy happiness, and he thought maybe everything he was doing was a lie
  • He was self medicating with psychedelics
  • About 5 years ago he heard about psychedelic therapy
  • About 18 months ago he started working with a clinician doing ketamine therapy
  • He saw that when it’s done in a therapeutic context, it can have a profound effect for people to get the most out of it
  • “Recreational vs therapeutic use is a false dichotomy” – Dylan

Mindbloom

  • The goal is to build the next-generation mental health platform
  • Right now they are doing Ketamine therapy
  • They are trying to make it accessible by making it affordable
  • They are trying to bring an elevated client experience, which they do with the space and software

Software Background

  • Voters Friend – a platform to help inform voters on the candidates, to increase access to democracy
  • Mighty – increasing access to social justice
  • Mindbloom – increase access to psychedelic medicines

Differentiation

  • The protocols that Mindbloom are using are capped
  • They are increasing access to the medicines, making it affordable
    • They keep it at $150-$250 a session, where at most Ketamine Therapy centers, it can range from $1000-$2000 a session
  • Dylan says he makes this possible by bringing in technology and software tools to make the sessions for efficient and effective
    • They use patient choice care, where the patient can use their best judgement on how in depth they want their treatment
  • They can ‘add on’ extra integration time onto the therapy session, or choose not to
    • This keeps the price down and accessible for each individual patient if need be
  • Mindbloom is a 4 session program, usually 1-2 months
  • They use the platform to have the client practice using the information in the weeks between each session, so they can practice integration even when not with a therapist or in session

The Program

  • The clinician prescribes a 4 week Ketamine Therapy session for anxiety and depression
    • The clinician will schedule a video interview to learn their symptoms
    • Then they will meet in person and build an integration program if needed
    • Its $1000 for the 4 session program and $600 for the renewal program
  • They use Ketamine tablets (similar to lozenges but faster acting)
    • They’re not swallowing it, they spit it out after
    • If they swallow it, it breaks down in the liver into nor-ketaine, and that produces a sedative effect
  • After they spit it out, there is about an hour of music with no vocals
  • After the session, they move to an integration room where they are journaling
  • The protocols at Mindbloom were based on the MAPS protocol
  • They don’t have a clinician in the room during the experience, only for after the experience
  • Dylan is looking to expand to other locations
    • A lot of people request couples or group therapies, so they will be taking that into consideration when building new locations

Final Thoughts

  • The more people who are thinking critically about this and putting their intentions into making this more accessible the better
  • There needs to be more gentle conversation around psychedelics and therapy, especially around the people that are still so unaware about this field
    • We should bring sacredness, specialness, and care to the conversation with those who might still be afraid about it

Links

Website

About Dylan Beynon

Dylan is the Founder & CEO of Mindbloom, an NYC-based mental health and wellbeing startup helping people expand their human potential with clinician-prescribed, guided psychedelic medicine experiences. There, he is partnering with clinicians, technologists, researchers, and patients to increase access to science-backed treatments, starting by reducing the cost of ketamine therapy for depression and anxiety by over 65%. Dylan is a 10-year psychedelic medicine patient and 3-time tech entrepreneur with both $100M+ in funding and an exit in his prior startups, which were focused on increasing access to justice and democracy. Dylan graduated from The Wharton School at The University of Pennsylvania.

Designed to help the body with cellular energy and cardiovascular endurance.

Get a 30 day free audible trial at audibletrial.com/psychedelicstoday
[podcast src=”https://html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/13753943/height/60/theme/standard/thumbnail/yes/direction/forward/” width=”100%” height=”60″ scrolling=”no” class=”podcast-class” frameborder=”0″ placement=”top” use_download_link=”” download_link_text=”” primary_content_url=”http://traffic.libsyn.com/psychedelicstoday/Psychedelics_Today_-_185_-_Dylan_Beynon.mp3″ theme=”standard” custom_color=”” libsyn_item_id=”13753943″ /]
Psychedelics Today Trip Journal
Posted on

Kyle and Joe – Horizons Highlights: Perspectives on Psychedelics

In this episode, Joe and Kyle sit down to cover highlights from the Horizons Conference. In the show, they discuss the presentations and topics they heard at the conference.

3 Key Points:

  1. Joe and Kyle attended Horizons: Perspectives on Psychedelics Conference in NYC, it is a forum that examines the role of psychedelic drugs and plant medicines in science, medicine, culture and spirituality.
  2. Carl Hart gave a compelling talk; Dispelling the Lies that the Psychedelic Community believes about Drugs. Greater than 80% of the effects of drugs used are positive.
  3. Another popular topic was on the economics around psychedelics, and discussion on companies trying to monopolize on psychedelics.

Support the show

Navigating Psychedelics

Show Notes

Horizons

  • Kyle mentions he loves to attend because it’s a great social event to connect with others interested or involved in the psychedelic field
  • Kyle says the videos of the talks from the conference will be released soon
  • They presented neuro-imaging data

5-MEO-DMT

  • Dr. Alan Davis did a talk on 5-MEO-DMT and its challenges
    • People have a hard time letting go into the experience because its so fast and overwhelming
  • He talked about a term, reactivation, similar to flashbacks that happen between 1-2 weeks after the experience
    • People were reporting it as positive experiences, 80% of people enjoyed the reactivations
  • He did say that there were some bad players in the 5-MEO-DMT space
    • There is no control in the dosing in underground facilitation
    • A lot of people eyeball their dosage in 5-MEO-DMT
    • Joe suggests to buy a milligram scale

Carl Hart

  • Carl Hart did a talk; Dispelling the Lies that the Psychedelic Community believes about drugs
    • Greater than 80% of the effects of drugs used are positive
  • PCP is a psychedelic drug, but the psychedelic community chooses not to own it
  • Ketamine was derived from PCP
  • Hamilton Morris said that no drug is bad, it comes down to the dose and how its being used
    • Poison can be a medicine, and medicine can be a poison, it all depends on dose
  • No drug should be illegal, drug scheduling should just go away
  • Some states are starting to ban private prisons
  • Joe says the drug war is the war on race, the war on class, etc
    • Joe suggests looking up the Portugal drug law; less overdoses, less HIV, less incarceration, etc
  • Kyle mentions that in some cultures they would drink alcohol to get into a trance state and dance around all night and then chill for 3 days afterward because they would all be recovering from the hangover

Talks and Topics

  • Shelby and Madison, co founders from Doubleblind Magazine did a talk
  • Fiona Misham did a talk on the use of psychedelics for festivals and fun
    • She talked about having on-site drug testing facilities and how they heighten safety
    • In 2018 in Europe the MDMA contents were tested at 168milligrams
    • 1 in 5 substances are mis-sold
    • 1 in 20 MDMA samples were long lasting N-ethylpentylone, a drug that keeps you up for 3 days straight
  • There was also an Economics panel
    • Kyle says it was a heavy and hot debate
    • There was a lot of conversation on companies making money on psychedelics
    • There was worry from some on Compass Pathways monopolizing on psychedelics
    • Kyle says big and fast growth can be dangerous for mental health
    • It’s possible that these companies will just push for results to pay off the investment than to really take the time to have slow meaningful sessions and include the therapeutic model
    • When therapists have more congruence with their client, they get better results

Links

Website

About Kyle

Kyle’s interest in exploring non-ordinary states of consciousness began when he was 16-years-old when he suffered a traumatic snowboarding accident. Waking up after having a near-death experience changed Kyle’s life. Since then, Kyle has earned his B.A. in Transpersonal Psychology, where he studied the healing potential of non-ordinary states of consciousness by exploring shamanism, plant medicine, Holotropic Breathwork, and the roots/benefits of psychedelic psychotherapy. Kyle has co-taught two college-level courses. One of the courses Kyle created as a capstone project, “Stanislav Grof’s Psychology of Extraordinary Experiences,” and the other one which he co-created, “The History of Psychedelics.”

Kyle completed his M.S. in clinical mental health counseling with an emphasis in somatic psychology. Kyle’s clinical background in mental health consists of working with at-risk teenagers in crisis and with individuals experiencing an early-episode of psychosis. Kyle also facilitates Transpersonal Breathwork workshops.

About Joe

Joe studied philosophy in New Hampshire, where he earned his B.A.. After stumbling upon the work of Stanislav Grof during his undergraduate years, Joe began participating in Holotropic Breathwork workshops in Vermont in 2003. Joe helped facilitate Holotropic and Transpersonal Breathwork workshops while he spent his time in New England. He is now working in the software industry as well as hosting a few podcasts. Joe now coordinates Dreamshadow Transpersonal Breathwork workshops, in Breckenridge, Colorado.

[podcast src=”https://html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/11811200/height/60/theme/standard/thumbnail/yes/direction/forward/” width=”100%” height=”60″ scrolling=”no” class=”podcast-class” frameborder=”0″ placement=”top” use_download_link=”” download_link_text=”” primary_content_url=”http://traffic.libsyn.com/psychedelicstoday/Psychedelics_Today_-_163_-_Kyle_Buller_and_Joe_Moore.mp3″ theme=”standard” custom_color=”” libsyn_item_id=”11811200″ /]
Psychedelics Today Trip Journal
Posted on

What’s the Psychedelic Community Talking About? Three Main Takeaways from the 2019 Horizon’s Conference

Dr Carl Hart - Horizons NYC

By Michelle Janikian

In the heart of Manhattan’s busy Greenwich Village, the Horizon’s Conference: Perspectives on Psychedelics, graced the Cooper Union Great Hall on October 12th and 13th. The largest and longest-running gathering of the psychedelic community brings folks from around the globe together for presentations on psychedelic research findings and activism every year.

The conference first ran in 2007 as a single afternoon of talks at the Judson Memorial Church with around 250 attendees. This year, both days were sold out and attendance exceeded 2,600 people, not including after-parties and other unofficial events around town.

This was also the first year that offered pre-conference classes for physicians as well as interested individuals, like Introduction to Psilocybin Therapy with Bill Richards and Rosalind Watts, Intro to MDMA Therapy for Clinicians led by Shannon Clare Carlin and Marcela Ot’alora, Intro to Ketamine Psychotherapy, and Sexual Ethics in the Psychedelic Community, all of which were sold out on Friday, October 11th.

But what kind of talks are given in such a collegiate atmosphere, at a podium that’s hosted leaders such as Abraham Lincoln, Susan B. Anthony, and Barack Obama? On day one, Julie Holland, M.D. and author of Weekends at Bellevue hosted the science-themed presentations, including recent research on psilocybin from the Imperial College London team, mindfulness-assisted Ketamine therapy by Elias Dakwar, M.D., the potential harms and benefits of 5-meO-DMT given by Alan K. Davis, PhD, among other fascinating and informative talks.

Then on day two, the theme switched to culture and Bia Labate, Executive Director of Chacruna and MAPS’s cultural specialist hosted presentations on psychedelics in the media by the DoubleBlind Mag founders, the indigenous peyote way of life by Steven Benally, president of Azee’ Bee Nahagha Nation (formerly known as the Native American Church of Navajo Land), the intersection of art and psychedelic-assisted therapy by artist and activist, Swoon, along with other important and moving discussions. 

Let’s take a look at three main themes that emerged this year at Horizon’s to get a sense of the kinds of issues the psychedelic community is currently debating.

1. Psychedelics are coming, but how? Medicalization vs. Decriminalization vs. Legalization

The conversation at this year’s Horizon’s seemed to move past whether or not legal psychedelics are coming. Everyone at the conference seemed to agree that the future includes some kind of legal option for substances like psilocybin, but now the question is: What’s the best model for moving forward?

At the end of day one, Carl Hart, PhD, Colombia University professor of psychology, and author of High Price: A Neuroscientist’s Journey of Self Discovery That Challenges Everything You Know About Drugs and Society, proposed legalizing and regulating all drugs as a civil rights and safety issue to a standing ovation. 

Carl Hart PHD - Columbia University

Yet, even for the psychedelic community, Hart’s ideas are somewhat radical. Other organizations in the space strongly believe in a more medicalized model, where psychedelics wouldn’t be legal to use and possess by anyone, but instead only by doctors who would administer them in a controlled environment to qualifying patients. It’s a big debate in the community, especially considering the medicalization of psychedelics probably wouldn’t be accessible to everyone because of the high price tag that will likely come attached. 

Decriminalization is the third option, but can still fall short of being enough for the safest and most responsible drug use. For this reason, many in the community see it more as a step toward full, adult-use legalization than the finish line. In Hart’s talk, he pointed to the fact that law enforcement can still marginalize certain groups, especially POC (people of color), with decriminalization, and without regulations and purity testing of substances, people don’t have enough information to use drugs safely.

2. Economic Models of Psychedelic Expansion

Which brings us to our next point, if psychedelics are legalized, will companies be able to make a profit from selling them? Could “Big Psychedelics” come in and monopolize the space?

George Goldsmith, Bia Labate, Dr. James Rucker

While this issue was brought up in many contexts at Horizons, it was the center of discussion on Sunday morning at a panel titled, “Economic Models for the Expansion of Psychedelics”. George Goldsmith, co-founder and CEO of Compass Pathways, a for-profit company that has patented synthetic psilocybin and threatens to monopolize the space, was a member of the panel and put in the hot seat by many in the community, both during the Q & A and by the other panelists. Goldsmith is already a millionaire and is poised to make the most profit and have the most control over medicalized psilocybin, and that is cause for alarm for many people in the community. Most of the other organizations sponsoring research into psychedelic-assisted therapy are not-for-profit organizations, like MAPS with MDMA and the Usona Institute with psilocybin.

Other options for psychedelic expansion were also addressed in this discussion, like the “pollinator approach” by economics and public policy professor, Bennet A. Zelner, PhD, which is a more community-based model of resource and information sharing and distribution. 

3. “Coming Out” as a Psychedelic User

Lastly, another main theme that was touched on in both presentations and private conversations was the need of community members to “come out” publicly as psychedelic users. The idea is to show the mainstream that anyone can be a responsible psychedelic (or other type of drug) user to try and break some of the stigma that still surrounds these substances. If we can change the public perception of psychedelics, then a shift in law and policy could naturally follow. 

Horizons NYC Opening Ceremony and Party

There’s even a group from Costa Rica trying to start an international coming-out campaign on February 20, 2020 called “Thank You Plant Medicine” to support folks in telling their transformative psychedelic stories publicly. 

It was a busy and exciting year at Horizons NYC, and a great opportunity for the community to come together to push the conversation forward. These are three major issues to continue to pay attention to as psychedelic research and decriminalization progress!

About the Author

Michelle Janikian is a journalist focused on drug policy, trends, and education. She’s the author of Your Psilocybin Mushroom Companion, and her work has also been featured in Playboy, DoubleBlind Mag, High Times, Rolling Stone and Teen Vogue. One of her core beliefs is ending the prohibition of drugs can greatly benefit society, as long as we have harm reduction education to accompany it. Find out more on her website: www.michellejanikian.com or on Instagram @michelle.janikian.

Psychedelics Today Trip Journal
Posted on

Greg Kieser – Psychedelics role in the emergence of Super-Intelligent Entities

[podcast src=”https://html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/10868029/height/60/theme/standard/thumbnail/no/direction/forward/” height=”60″ width=”100%” placement=”top” theme=”standard”]

Download
In this episode, Kyle sits down to chat with Greg Kieser, Founder of think-tank, Supersystemic.ly and author of Dear Machine, a book written as a letter to a future super-intelligent entity. Topics covered include blockchain, AI, money, Psychedelic Investments and how psychedelics can help humanity prepare for the emergence of super-intelligent entities.

3 Key Points:

  1. Blockchain offers an enormous amount of opportunity, by taking data that would otherwise be protected by government or big corporations, and making it accessible to the general population for a more accessible information source.
  2. Money is this interesting concept, that we are storing our time, our energy and our goods in a piece of paper. Psychedelics can help with this, be rewiring the way we think about money and the overall exchange for goods and services.
  3. Psilocybin is a cure, its use does not need to be continued for it to work, so Compass Pathways is highly incentivized to continue to heal new people, which is what we want, healing at scale.

Support the show

Navigating Psychedelics

Trip Journal                                               Integration Workbook

Show Notes

About Greg

  • Greg worked at a foundation in NYC aimed at reducing the rate of poverty
  • He started an angel investment firm/think tank, Supersystemic.ly
  • He wrote the book, Dear Machine, a letter to a future, super-intelligent entity

Looking to the Past

  • Our nutrition narrowed when we became farmers
    • “The truth is, we can’t go back to where we came from, we have to go to a new place, so how do we do that?” – Greg
    • There is such difficulty with people living in clusters (cities) and transporting all of the food in from the country
    • It’s important for the psyche to get back to nature and even taking on a hobby as simple as gardening can be so healing
    • Children’s immune system has been shown to become stronger when living on farms and playing with animals and in the dirt
  • Psychedelics are helpful in understanding how interconnected everything is

Integration of Technology

  • Blockchains have the capacity to take data and pull it into a place where we have more control over it (can’t be bought or sold)
  • When we combine our knowledge of technology with psychedelics, we will really start to progress as a species

Block Chain

  • The creator of Bitcoin created BlockChain, which is a type of database that lives out on the internet that no one can own
    • It offers an enormous amount of opportunity, by taking data that would otherwise be protected by government or big corporations, and making it accessible to the general population for a more accessible information source
  • Greg mentions a block chain that will be a regeneration of land
    • Maybe all the members donate $50 to the block chain, and those members then can follow the progress of a pond or the growth of a tree, etc
    • Its a good example of a block chain being used for good

Money

  • Money is this interesting concept, that we are storing our time, our energy and our goods in a piece of paper
    • Psychedelics can help with this, be rewiring the way we think about money and the overall exchange for goods and services

AI

  • AI is going to get more and more powerful and corporations and governments are going to want to get their hands on AI for more power
    • In Dear Machine, Greg wrote about a super aware machine that helps us to make super intelligent decisions based on what food to eat (based on our microbes, our genetics, what is the most sustainable for the environment, etc)
    • Greg fears that the government will try to take control of it and have its own agenda, but he thinks that with super awareness for decision making, that good will win
  • Kyle mentions that the Western mind is so obsessed with Apocalypse
  • AI and Superintelligence are going to accelerate whatever systems we already have in place
    • If it happened right now, it would look ugly
    • But, if we create a world that appreciates interconnectedness and the diversity and complexity of our minds and our bodies, then we will be in a much better place
    • Psychedelics have a huge role to play, it allows us to appreciate things, it helps get our ego out of the way, it helps us break addiction
  • Monoculturization has led to a lot of bad things
  • “Don’t try to change the system, just make a new system” – Buckminster Fuller
  • Human well being and environmental stability are two metrics that we need to work on

Interest in Psychedelics

  • Greg’s interest in psychedelics began when we was invited to Psilocybin ceremonies
    • He said it just ‘clicks’
    • “You really don’t understand what psychedelics are until you take them” – Greg
    • He then began to invest in psychedelics, microbiomes, agriculture, etc

Compass Pathways

  • The main problem with the health system is that we get into the idea of patenting molecules
    • Psilocybin is a molecule that can’t be patented, so he’s not worried
  • Greg wants to see psilocybin use at a larger scale, so the medical model is a great way to get there
  • As a part of Compass Pathway’s program, in order to be a therapist and provide the therapy, you have to go through the therapy yourself
  • Psilocybin is a cure, its use does not need to be continued for it to work, so Compass is highly incentivized to continue to heal new people, which is what we want, healing at scale

Looking Ahead

  • Greg is most excited to see healing from opioid addiction
    • Alcohol and tobacco fall under that in his hopes for healing
  • Greg is also really excited about the microbiome and the gut connection to the rest of the body
    • There was an Autism study that gave people with Autism a microbe transplant from healthy people and after 2 years there has been a remission of symptoms
      Microbiome Reddit 

Links

Supersystemic.ly
Dear Machine: A Letter to a Super-Aware/Intelligent Machine (SAIM)

About Greg Kieser

Greg Kieser is founder of Supersystemic.ly, a Brooklyn-based think-tank and angel investment firm dedicated to increasing humanity’s readiness for the emergence of superintelligent entities through the study and spread of “supersystemic” perspectives and innovations. Kieser, whose university and independent studies of complex systems science form the operating thesis of the company, founded Supersystemic.ly after more than a decade overseeing a portfolio of technology initiatives at an NYC-based poverty-fighting foundation. His work at the foundation was driven by a complex set of metrics for measuring the impact of investments on the economic, physical and mental well-being of low-income New Yorkers. Dear Machine, and to a greater extent the company, unites his unique skills and knowledge in technology, social investing and complex systems science.

Psychedelics Today Trip Journal
Posted on

Brad Burge – MAPS and the Phase 3 Trial for MDMA Assisted Psychotherapy

Brad Burge

[podcast src=”https://html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/8598011/height/60/theme/standard/thumbnail/yes/direction/forward/” height=”60″ width=”100%” placement=”top” theme=”standard”]

Download

In this Episode, Joe interviews Brad Burge, Director of Strategic Communications at MAPS. In this episode they discuss the Phase 3 Trial for MDMA Assisted Psychotherapy, contradictions and Expanded Access.

3 Key Points:

  1. MAPS is about to run Phase 3 Trials of MDMA Assisted Psychotherapy
  2. If MDMA passes this third phase, it will still be tricky to get insurance involved. But the cost of one series of MDMA Therapy is much cheaper than a lifetime of typical pharmaceutical drugs and therapy sessions to heal PTSD.
  3. The only reason for-profit companies haven’t gotten involved before was because there wasn’t a promise on their investment. Finally, for-profit companies (like Compass Pathways) are interested in advancing these medicines (Psilocybin and MDMA).

Support the show

Navigating Psychedelics

Show Notes

MAPS

Phase 3 Study

  • They are now in Phase 3 Trials
  • They started recruiting at 14 sites (US, Canada and Israel) and are recruiting 150 volunteers with severe PTSD
  • Participation

The Future of MDMA Assisted Therapy

  • Breakthrough Therapy Designation
  • After phase 3 trials, if all goes well, it would mean that MDMA would be the drug to be used (only) alongside Psychotherapy
  • MAPS is training therapists, counselors and social workers
    • One way to get more people educated who are interested in this would be taking therapy interns in and having them gain credits for interning and learning alongside trained therapists

Access

  • Expanded Access is known as ‘compassionate use’, a program by the FDA that allows people to receive a treatment that is still in trials
  • In order to administer the therapy you are required to get a DEA schedule 1 license
  • “If there’s one thing that changes public perspective on psychedelic therapy, its individual stories of people who have been healed, transformed by or positively or even negatively affected by them in some way” – Brad
  • They have published many studies of the trials
    • The most recent was the Boulder study, 76% of people didn’t have PTSD a year after MDMA assisted therapy
  • Insurance won’t cover expanded access, it will have to pass Phase 3 trials until insurance can be used in MDMA Assisted Psychotherapy
  • The MDMA is a very small cost (fraction) of the total cost, it’s the hours on hours of psychotherapy that cost so much
  • But the cost of one MDMA Therapy Session process is much cheaper than a lifetime of pharmaceutical drugs and therapy sessions to heal PTSD

Argument

  • Joe says he hears this strange argument that people say “giving soldiers MDMA just makes war easier”
    • Brad says it’s not about putting these people back into war, it’s about healing the retired veterans to help them adapt back into their everyday life
    • “MDMA Assisted Psychotherapy is going to make them a better lover not a better fighter” – Brad
    • “If there’s one commonality in psychedelic experiences, its that things are connected.” – Brad

Compass Pathways

  • Joe mentions that people are scared to see a business come in that’s acting like a normal pharmaceutical company
  • MAPS is not tied at all with Compass Pathways
  • Out of the top two things Americans are mad about, at least one of them is the Pharmaceutical Industry
  • Finally, for-profit companies are interested in advancing these medicines (MDMA)
    • The only reason for-profit companies haven’t gotten involved before was because there wasn’t a promise on their investment
    • Capitalism has a tendency to put profit first
    • “Money can be used for good as well as evil” – Brad
  • MAPS has raised over 70 billion dollars all from donations
  • Compass owns its own safety data
  • Part of the goal of a patent is to protect the investment

Zendo Project

  • MAPS Psychedelic Harm Reduction and Peer Support resource

Rave Act

  • The Department of Justice announced that providing free water and harm reduction education are not violations of the rave act
  • Amend the Rave Act

Pharmaceutical MDMA

  • The pharmaceutical grade MDMA costs 800,000 for one kilogram
  • It won’t be available in bottles, it will be available in bubble packs
    • More than one is never needed

Involvement

  • 2021 or 2022 is the next Psychedelic Science Conference
  • Joe is starting a Psychedelic Club in Breckenridge, CO

Links

Twitter
Facebook
Website

About Brad

Brad Burge is Director of Strategic Communications at the non-profit Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS). Brad earned his B.A. in Communication and Psychology from Stanford University in 2005 and his M.A. in Communication from the University of California, San Diego in 2009. He began working with MAPS in 2009, where he engages daily with journalists and media producers around the world to enhance public knowledge about psychedelic research, while also helping develop and evolve MAPS’ brand and outreach strategy. Brad is passionate about finding healthier, more effective, and more compassionate ways for humans to work with the pharmaceutical and digital communications technologies of the 21st century. When he’s not plugged in, you’ll find him in the mountains, carrying a backpack, somewhere down a long trail.

Psychedelics Today Trip Journal
Posted on

Kyle and Joe – The Cost of Spiritual Emergence: Psychedelics, Spirituality and Capitalism

[podcast src=”https://html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/7091831/height/60/theme/standard/autoplay/no/autonext/no/thumbnail/yes/preload/no/no_addthis/no/direction/forward/” height=”60″ width=”100%” placement=”top” theme=”standard”]

Download

In this episode of Psychedelics Today, Kyle and Joe dig into and create conversation over an email received about the cost of psychedelics, the facets of capitalism and about feeling isolated after a psychedelic experience.

3 Key Points:

  1. Capitalism in psychedelics is a complex topic and includes factors such as the schooling system, the medical system, monopoly, trade, and other facets that go into the cost of psychedelics.
  2. There are other forms of therapy that don’t have to involve psychedelics or lots of money.
  3. Feeling isolated after an experience is sometimes our own blockage, by refusing to create community because a person hasn’t had the same experience as us. Psychedelics aren’t always needed for a psychedelic experience.

Support the show

Navigating Psychedelics

Navigating Psychedelics

Show Notes

Email concern: Some psychedelic experiences seem segregated by a price bracket.
Ketamine Therapy – believed it would help with their depression, but ended up spending a thousand dollars every two weeks.

Joe – curious that ketamine lozenges may be a cheaper option that could help.
Kyle – although the drug itself may be cheap, you’re not just paying for the lozenges, you’re paying for a therapist or a psychiatrist.
Kyle – in America, healing is a privilege. We work hard to pay for health insurance, or even if we are insured through work or family, it gets hard to pay for because of the premiums.
“I would rather pay for taking care of myself, than going out and partying with friends.”
Healing may have to be a choice sadly, you may have to ask yourself “do I want this or do I need this?”
Joe – One treatment of ketamine is beneficial for a short-term intervention in an urgent state
One session of ketamine therapy helps the user understand the situation clearer and can reduce the thoughts of suicide
Kyle – “some of my greatest healing experiences were done through my own work, with myself or with friends”

“How do you feel about the resurgence of spirituality and psychedelics and it’s capitalism?”
Joe – Going from the states to Peru to do ayahuasca to reach spiritualism isn’t the only means of spirituality. There are so many other options than capitalist outlets to find spiritual development.
Kyle – “I want to offer a lot of help, and do free workshops, but need money to survive.”
Joe – Jokingly “You’re three months behind on your rent Terrence!”


A person doesn’t need hundreds of trips to be complete and happy, Aldous Huxley says you need three to four strong trips throughout your life.
“How do we protect the planet, and how do we maintain freedom?”

To talk about Capitalism and psychedelics, we are assuming that something needs to mediate the trade or exchange for therapy. Let’s continue to educate ourselves so that we don’t blame capitalism on the fact that therapy has a cost. It’s a hard conversation to have, it’s a complex topic.
Joe – pro-socialized medicine
$30,000 for a first responder to take an overdose death away
$20-$30 for a Narcan
Let’s prevent and heal more. Capitalism does incentivize doctors and healers.
Kyle – “how can we use these as tools and not toys?”
Medicalization of psychedelics may have a potential tie to capitalism
The difference between doing it legally for an extremely high price, versus paying the market price for a gram of mushrooms (illegally) and doing the work (therapy) on your own.
Joe – Monopoly=capitalism
Kyle – the Education system
Student loan debt can be a half a million dollars to be a doctor or therapist
That debt plays an effect on how much those doctors or therapists charge

“How do you deal with isolationism that certain psychedelic experiences bring forward?”
Kyle – “this has been a huge issue in my life, this resonates with me. After having my near-death experience, I didn’t know to talk to people, how to function in the world. A near-death experience is one of the most psychedelic things. To slowly slip away and ‘die’, and come back to this place and not feel like this is where I belong, how do I exist here? It can lead to isolation. It can be extremely heavy.”
“We’re all experiencing this reality through our own lens, so we have to meet people where they are.”
The reason these experiences can make us feel lonely is that of the lack of community. Kyle believes in not just constantly going into these experiences, but more about the integration of the experiences.
Joe – Tim Leary says “Find the others”. But there are a lot of psychedelic people out there who don’t take psychedelics that can be a part of your ‘community’.
Kyle – it makes sense to feel like you need to connect with someone who has done psychedelics in order for them to understand, but we can connect with other people who may not have had psychedelic experiences.
The psychedelic experience isn’t the only way. We can also experience spiritualism and healing without psychedelics, too.
Kyle – Experience in Jamaica, the Rastas talking about home and family, “if the oil splashes up and burns me, my family isn’t here to help me, but you’re here to help me, and you can help me.”
The people around me are family, they don’t always need to have had experienced the same things as me in order to help me
Joe – group strengthens self
Robert Anton Wilson’s habit – he would order magazine subscriptions and most subscriptions aligned with his interests, and the other half were of subscriptions way outside of his interests, so he wouldn’t develop a bias.

Check out this FREE online course, “Introduction to Psychedelics”Navigating Psychedelics: Introduction To Psychedelics (101)

Psychedelics Today Trip Journal
Posted on

Mike – End of the Road – Navigating Psychedelics and Patent Law

[podcast src=”https://html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/7020145/height/45/width/450/theme/standard/autonext/no/thumbnail/yes/autoplay/no/preload/no/no_addthis/no/direction/forward/” height=”45″ width=”450″ placement=”top” theme=”standard”]

Download

In this episode, Joe Moore interviews Mike from the podcast “End of the Road“. Its a great podcast covering psychedelic and spiritual topics that are probably of interest to you. Mike is an attorney and he joins us to share some insights around patent law in the psychedelic space. Kyle and Joe were even feature on the show a few months back.

Disclaimer – This interview is for informational purposes only, not for obtaining legal advice. “Opinions expressed by me, at my own only, and not my firms.”

3 Key Points:

  1. Patent law is worth understanding and shouldn’t be ignored in our current psychedelic era.
  2. It can be used to help protect inventions and innovations that took time and money to develop.
  3. Patents aren’t all bad. They can help protect the small guy as well and large corporations.

Support the show

Navigating Psychedelics

Show Notes

Patent on Ayahuasca

  • 1986 Boston College Law review article (source) Warren Miller, scientist and entrepreneur obtained a patent on a strain of ayahuasca vine.
  • 400 indigenous tribes challenged the validity of the patent. Controversy over the patent created hostility between Ecuador and US.
  • Patent criteria
  • A patent must be a process, machine, or manufacture or composition of matter. A patent does not depend on whether a composition of matter is living or non-living, but rather that it is altered and is not a naturally occurring substance.
  • Taking a plant from South America, and not altering it should not receive a patent.
  • Organizations owning a genome?
  • Transgenic modification – able to be patented
  • Plant patent – specific category

Psilocybin

  • Compass pathways – applied for a patent for growing psilocybin – “good manufacturing practice” global standard for manufacturing pharmaceuticals, know your dose each time, etc
  • Compass Pathways applied for a British patent called the “Preparation for Psilocybin”
    • FDA requires that you meet certain standards when you test a product for purity.
    • Trying to patent a pure form of psilocybin. “Non naturally occurring”
    • Using the patent as justification to cover the cost for FDA trials.
  • Group of scientists who created a statement on open practice – 4 point manifesto. (Ram Dass supports it) Trying to make it non-capitalistic – so no one can create a monopoly on it.
  • Full rights can bring the risk of unfair pricing moves
    • Martin Shkreli – marked up a life-saving drug by 3000x
    • Previous groups have decades of open sharing. Compass does not have the same origins
    • Scare – Compass marks up psilocybin. Could be unethical things happening within Compass, but not much journalism done here yet.
  • Once a patent is made, harder to make a similar patent.
    • Broad-based patents make it harder to create further patents down the line since they have to be novel or significantly different and precisely new
    • The process Compass is trying to patent is not the only way to produce GMP psilocybin, there are many other ways.
    • May pull a move that gives them special access to administer
  • Paul Stamets – psilocybin patent application
    • Using psilocybin and niacin for neural regeneration – a neural regenerated composition  based upon constituents isolated from or contained within mushroom fruit bodies or psilocybin or the corresponding synthetic molecules combined with niacin
    • Google patents – US PTO 154914503 filing date April 23, 2017, another in 2018
      • Claims – Mushrooms have improved memory, cognition, motor skills, complex computer coding challenges, hearing, sensory, vision, learning, promote neurogenesis. Therapeutic applications of psilocybin.
      • A broad patent that covers a large variety of application for using psilocybin therapeutically, not approved yet.
      • Probably would capitalize on the patent. Keen for data sharing and being public with his work.
      • Previous patent: Pesticide replacement – fungi that infects ants and brings them back to their homes. More effective than pesticide.
      • Good he applied for a patent – it would mean that it wouldn’t block people from accessing it or developing their own
  • Andrew Chadeayne – inventor and patent attorney
    • Has psilocybin patent update blog
    • Applied for patents in the psilocybin space
  • Monopoly law
    • If there is a popular drug used in the market, a drug company wanting to capitalize – it will cover all their bases with a patent
    • Daniel Pinchbeck – theories that could work (Marxist society)
    • Cuba – healthcare model – government funds certain health care practices for the public good/applications that the US would not.
    • A model that Marxists could use to get these products on the market vs capitalist model
    • The basic idea of patents: Inventor – creates a patent to protect the invention, not to dominate the market.
  • International Administration of Ketamine to treat Depression – Yale
    • Method for treating depression
  • University of California – scientists using “compounds for increasing neural plasticity”non-hallucinogenic catalog of psychedelic compounds
  • Novel devices for administration
    • Intranasal or inhalant administration method for THC, ketamine, etc.
  • SYQE – developed method of a delivery subject for Patent Protection
    • Full spectrum whole plant extract – different from a vaporizer
    • Pctil 2015 050676
    • Syqemedical.com
    • Smoking – route of administration dosing precision standard is 30%, their dose delivery is at 70%
  • Tel Aviv Israel – producing the lowest price per gram in the world of cannabis   
    • All cannabis being researched in the country must come from one specific facility – set the US back
  • German patent – synthetic ayahuasca DE201610014603
  • Open source model
    • Common law copyright and trademark protection
    • Laws changed in 2013 – first to file the patent first, gets the invention
      • Important to get patent protection early in the process
      • Provisional, and non-provisional patent. Provisional gives a year grace period to file non-provisional without all of the details of the full application.
    • Infusion pump technology – method of delivery (ex. DMT) controls the level of a substance in the blood for an undefined, extended period of time.
      • Insulin pumps – monitor and deliver
      • Raspberry pie devices – can buy a computer and program it to do specific functions. Ex. automated brewing system with temp controls.
      • DMTx – same computer could be programmed and applied to control the levels of DMT in the bloodstream

Links

Check out this FREE online course, “Introduction to Psychedelics”Navigating Psychedelics: Introduction To Psychedelics (101)

About Mike

Exploring the Horizons we never touch, because we are already there….with Michael. Mike is a patent lawyer with a long history in trial law. He has a great podcast that you should check out – End of the Road

 

Psychedelics Today Trip Journal
Posted on

Brian Normand – CryptoPsychedelic

[podcast src=”https://html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/6553672/height/45/width/450/theme/standard/autonext/no/thumbnail/yes/autoplay/no/preload/no/no_addthis/no/direction/forward/” height=”45″ width=”450″ placement=”top” theme=”standard”]

Download

During this episode of Psychedelics Today, your host Joe Moore interviews Brian Normand of Psymposia and coordinator of the Cryptopsychedelic Conference.

Episode Quotes

  • Banks are devaluing currency by charging high fees.
  • With blockchain, you’ve got to think in the long-term.
  • There’s so much going on with crypto, you can’t keep up.
  • What blockchain developer wants to go work for Facebook?

Show Notes

  • Joe and Brian discuss the CryptoPsychedelic Conference the took place in Tulum, Mexico.
  • What is blockchain?
    • A next-gen decentralized ledger.
    • A peer-to-peer border-less, institution-less payment system.
    • Money will be one of the first users of blockchain.
    • Banks are devaluing currency by charging high fees.
    • The whole concept of money will transform, it will be a border-less thing.
  • When Napster came out, peer to peer transfer became a very popular technology.
    • When the record companies worried about being irrelevant, they sued.
    • There could be something like Spotify that pays artists more fairly than Spotify currently does.
    • Social media could be rebuilt.
      • We could no longer be the product being sold, but get paid for our contributions.
  • Could crypto be used to trace the history and purity of substances?
    • Yes, that’s a definite use case.
    • The first voting on a blockchain happened in Sierra Leone.
    • You’ve got to think in the long term.
  • What were some of the more interesting things that came out of the CryptoPsychedelic conference?
    • Some of the new relationships and seeing the potential collaboration between the two communities.
    • Projects in this space need to be taken on.
    • It was a time to question, not really a time for answers.
    • Watch the movie 2001 a Space Odyssey in one sitting.
      • Every time you watch it you come away with a new experience.
    • Cryptocurrencies are border-less, some have minimal fees, and it’s instant.
  • Decentralized systems
    • Information is easier to access, it doesn’t have to climb up a ladder.
    • The DAO is the Decentralized Autonomous Organization – there is no hierarchy.
    • Government could eventually be run via blockchain.
  • How could we use the internet to further the message of psychedelics?
    • Before the internet, the only way you were exposed to information was top down.
      • Networks, authority institutions.
    • Because of the internet, information is moving more horizontally.
    • How do you change incentive structures in the drug war? Could it be these new technologies?
  • The rate of innovation now is way faster than it was when the internet was first coming out.
    • You cannot keep up with what’s going on, there’s too much going on.
    • Look at money as a tool or form of energy.
  • Crypto will change everyone’s concept of paying taxes.
    • Air BnB cut the cities completely out of the picture.
    • Taxes and healthcare or both extremely important and impossible for people to understand.
    • Internet privacy is a big deal in crypto and psychedelics alike.
    • Brian doesn’t think that Facebook will ultimately make it.
  • Developers want to build new tools to take down the giants like Facebook.
    • Recently, Facebook announced a decline in users.
    • What can you do to reverse becoming “uncool”?
    • Reddit’s price per impression is much lower.
    • Steemit has a fascinating model.
    • It would be cool if you could be compensated for putting helpful content online.
  • We assume that the way the internet is now is how it’s always going to be.
    • How can we use the tool to help the people whose lives aren’t privileged like ours?
    • In a lot of refugee camps, you can’t have cash, so crypto is huge for them.
    • What happens when people who are impoverished around the world can now crowdfund?

Resources Mentioned

Brian Normand Viveros
  

Brian Normand is CoFounder of Psymposia, entrepreneur, and advocate of psychedelic science, therapy, and drug reform. He attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst and holds a B.S. in Plant, Soil, and Insect Science, Magna Cum Laude.

 

 

 

 

Psychedelics Today Trip Journal
Posted on

Tim Cools – The Yelp of Psychedelic Organizations & Retreats

[podcast src=”https://html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/6094392/height/45/width/450/theme/standard/autonext/no/thumbnail/yes/autoplay/no/preload/no/no_addthis/no/direction/forward/” height=”45″ width=”450″ placement=”top” theme=”standard”]

Download

Tim Cools joins us on Psychedelics Today to talk about his project, Psychedelic Experience, a web platform that allows individuals to post reviews about different psychedelic retreat centers and organizations. There is a psychedelic journal feature that is currently in beta-testing that allows users to write about their experiences, in hopes to further phenomenological and qualitative research in the future. As described on the site, this is a “one-stop-shop” for resources surrounding psychedelics.

About Psychedelic Experience

We aim to reduce harm and stigma associated with psychedelics by helping to best inform users, offer tools to help with integration of their experiences, and a space for communal support.

One-stop-shop web resource surrounding psychedelics

  • Online community by and for beginning and experienced psychonauts.
  • Promote safe use of psychedelics by providing scientific, responsible information.
  • Privacy is a top-priority. Users have full control over what is public and what isn’t.

Psychedelic experiences journal

  • Keep a private journal of your psychedelic experiences.
  • Share your experiences with your friends or the community. Reports are peer-reviewed by community to ensure quality.
  • Integrate your experiences by discussing them with fellow psychonauts and professional therapists.
  • Advanced search functionality by substance and keywords. Anonymous statistics can beused for scientific research.

Global organisations directory

  • A community managed global directory of organisations related to psychedelic experiences.
  • Connect people with honest organisations to stay updated on meetings, events and retreats.
  • Collect reviews by the community to create an unbiased image of the organisations.
  • Promote sustainable projects to help indigenous communities.
  • Issue warnings for organisations linked to abuse or dishonesty.

Support Psychedelics Today by becoming a Patron

Show Notes/Links

About Tim Cools

Tim lives in Belgium as a professional software developer/social entrepreneur. With his latest project, PsychedelicExperience.net, he aims to reduce harm and stigma associated with the use of psychedelics, and to support psychedelic research. Driven by some profound experiences, he hopes to make psychedelics more accessible in a safe way.

 

Psychedelics Today Trip Journal