Hype could kibosh psychedelics
Los Angeles Magazine’s October 21, 2021 headline says it all: ‘Shrooms! Shamans! Kosher LSD! Why Los Angeles Is Suddenly Tripping Out’
Psychedelics is now a trendy, cringy and over-hyped thing. And something increasingly divorced from today's industry reality - and what these substances could eventually become.
I get the transformational potential of psychedelics. However, these compounds won’t cure cancer, fix dysfunctional families, or stop wars. We are far from understanding how these newish and under-studied molecules affect our brain, and can be productized and commercialized. To wit, only a few clinical studies are now at phase 2 or later; most company research is pre-clinical.
Despite hundreds of millions dollars of invested capital, the industry is still in its infancy. Operators and investors need to curtail harmful stock promotion and temper business expectations around physician adoption, insurance reimbursement and attainable market size (see cannabis industry lessons).
Moreover, hype will not accelerate legalization (it could even hurt the cause) or regulatory approval, if it at all happens over the next 18 months. Many factors can blunt industry momentum, including: a major downturn in the equity markets; people being harmed due to irresponsible usage & poor treatment or; less than ideal results from some high profile clinical trials.
#psychedelics #hype #kosher #psilocybin #valuations #cannabislessons #shamans