Cannabis has a long and rich history as one of the oldest medicines known to man. This plant is also currently used in modern medicine, where it has been found effective for pain relief, reducing inflammation and nausea-inducing conditions like chemotherapy side effects. It’s clear that cannabis can be helpful when used responsibly by patients who need natural alternatives. But with its increasing legalization across North America and Europe, some companies are looking into what else they can do with the plant—and blockchain may just have an answer
The “new technology in pharmaceutical industry 2020” is the next big thing in pharma. It will be able to produce a more accurate drug delivery system and also reduce errors.
Meditation applications like Headspace and Calm, which employ words and music to entice users into a contemplative state, gave virtual treatment a huge boost last year. It’s no wonder that many of us are looking for digital tonics in the middle of a worldwide mental health crisis: According to a survey on mobile health applications published by GlobalData, meditation apps Headspace and Calm will have a combined total of 90 million users by June 2020.
While some new applications, such as Headspace and Calm, concentrate only on visuals and music to help meditation, others are prepared to address the usage of psychedelics for meditation, altering the mental health conversation and opening up new avenues for healthcare investment. Psychedelics are gradually being viewed as acceptable, legal medications that may soon become mainstream solutions in mental health treatment, shedding the stigma of the 1960s hippie subculture.
Psychedelic chemicals in usage, production, or distribution are usually prohibited across the globe, which explains the caution and taboo surrounding them. The Netherlands is one of the few big nations defying the trend, where “magic truffles” may be sampled. Psilocybin, a hallucinogenic found naturally in fungus, has been decriminalized in the cities of Denver, Oakland, Santa Cruz, Somerville, Washington, DC, and Cambridge in the United States. Oregon is the first state in the United States to decriminalize and legalize psilocybin for medicinal purposes.
While still in its early stages of medical approval, psilocybin may one day join ketamine as a regulated psychedelic chemical used for both physical and mental medicine. Johnson & Johnson’s ketamine-derived nasal spray Spravato, which was approved by the FDA in 2019 for treatment-resistant depression, is a recent example of the normalising relationship between psychedelics and mental health, demonstrating the increased profile of psychedelics in today’s pharmaceutical industry.
The condition of psychedelics and mental health at the moment
Sylvia Jablonski is one individual who keeps track of psychedelic acceptability. Jablonski is the CIO and co-founder of Defiance ETFs, which specializes in next-generation theme investing. Defiance is interested in psychedelics, as well as exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in sectors like 5G and quantum computing.
“Defiance designed the PSY ETF ticker symbol, which is the first psychedelic ETF listed in the United States,” Jablonski told Verdict. “It allows investors access to firms that run business models centered on the therapeutic and health treatment usage of psychedelics and medical cannabis.”
Psychedelics and mental health are two topics that Jablonski views as intertwined, stating that 30 percent of depression sufferers do not react to existing therapies for mental diseases like PTSD.
“Psychedelics are a crucial investment in medicine’s future.” Existing drugs have been proven to be ineffective in the treatment of mental illness, which is on the increase.
“There are 700 million individuals worldwide who are impacted by mental disease, and up to 200 million of them will never be healed.” We hear of drugs that don’t work or, even worse, become addictive and habit-forming.
“Tenet breakthrough studies and trials in medical usage for psychedelics and ketamine have demonstrated substantial effectiveness in treating or improving sufferers of anxiety, PTSD, OCD, eating disorders, depression, and other associated conditions,” according to the researchers.
The worldwide understanding on mental health, according to Jablonski, is causing a change in how people see pharmaceuticals. With cannabis usage becoming more mainstream, psychedelics may be the next big thing to disrupt medicines.
“There are a lot of companies coming out today that are getting billions of dollars in funding,” adds the CIO. “We feel that if the studies continue to show great and persuasive findings from renowned research institutes like Johns Hopkins, Cornell, MAPS, and NYU Medical Center, to mention a few, psychedelics may become a therapy option for many mental illness patients in the future.”
“This also presents an investment opportunity in these organizations who are already doing business in this arena, manufacturing, storing, distributing, and offering services.”
Smartphone applications like Mindleap and Trip, which emerged last year as competitors to Headspace and Calm, are among the services available. The former allows meditators to listen to psychedelic integration meditations and podcasts where specialists discuss ketamine and MDMA-assisted psychotherapy, however it lacks psychedelic visuals.
Trip, on the other hand, is published by Trip to the Field, a Toronto-based psychedelic treatment firm, and features the soothing, spaced-out landscapes that one might anticipate as a visual companion to its narrated meditations. What’s the catch? Before going on each voyage, the user is asked what sort of trip they’re “taking,” a pick-your-panacea exercise that provides you with a menu of emojis ranging from mushrooms to pills to frogs, something you won’t see on popular applications like Calm.
“We created the app and the wording surrounding it to not promote the use of any illegal drugs, and we expect individuals to follow the terms of service,” explains Ronan Levy, Field Trip’s executive chairman.
“Psychedelic chemicals are legal and tolerated in certain areas, which is why such alternatives are given for consumers.”
Positive journeys
Ketamine is the legal panacea of choice at Field Trip’s clinics in Canada, the United States, and the Netherlands, where patients may take the psychedelic under the supervision of a therapist and in comfort, both of which assist to avoid negative experiences. But, as Levy shows, Field Trip is more than just a clinic chain that uses a trendy app to promote itself.
“Field Trip Health and Field Trip Discovery are our two main operational divisions. Next-generation psychedelic compounds are being developed by Field Trip Discovery. Field Trip Health is laying the groundwork for large-scale delivery of psychedelic medicines, focusing on ketamine-assisted therapy (KAP) for the time being, but with the goal of utilising all authorized or approved psychedelic chemicals when they become accessible.
“To our knowledge, we have already become the world’s biggest supplier of psychedelic therapy.”
Meanwhile, the Trip app was inspired by the decriminalization of psilocybin in Denver and Oakland in 2019, as well as how the company’s Field Trip Health services could be “simplified and synthesized into a digital tool that people could follow to maximize the likelihood that they have positive experiences for any form of consciousness expanding activities.”
“We understood that after these decriminalization initiatives, there would be a lot of individuals experimenting with psychedelics and other consciousness-expanding activities without any direction or assistance,” Levy continues, “creating settings in which people may have bad experiences.”
Field Trip
The influence of the Clubhouse
Patients interested in psychedelics will discover a surprising quantity of materials available, as well as a great deal of support for people suffering from mental illnesses.
Apart from Trip, there are applications like Lumenate that utilize a smartphone’s flashlight to imitate the psychedelic experience, offering the interested user a tasting before committing to anything in real life.
There’s also the growth of audio-based applications with chatrooms where users and therapists may share their stories and advice. Clubhouse, the industry behemoth, has a slew of psychedelic and mental health-related groups.
Listeners may hear discussions on how virtual reality can provide newcomers with psychedelic tasters, or the significance of a supportive “container” framework to prevent poor experiences when dose. Muted Clubhouse rooms may also be found, where music serves as a soundtrack to members’ quiet journeys. There’s even a Mormons on Mushrooms support group.
The value of a therapist’s voice, a close friend’s voice, or a guide on your smart device during something as visual as a psychedelic experience cannot be emphasized. The contemporary psychedelic and mental health renaissance is an unique 21st-century phenomena, combining music, apps, and podcasts into a singular combination.
Social media, meditation applications, and psychedelic podcasts have “truly transformed into gathering spaces where individuals can learn, communicate, and absorb knowledge,” according to Jablonski.
“Having those outlets to spread the word about research and businesses helps to draw attention to what seems to be a very positive shift in the way mental diseases are addressed.”
“The number of psychedelic-focused firms has risen from the initial four (Compass, Atai, Field Trip, and MindMed, all of which are now listed on the NASDAQ) to 50+ or more by some estimates,” Levy says. “Psychedelics have become mainstream in terms of culture. Many celebrities have successfully utilized psychedelics, and they are being covered in all types of media.
“Psychedelics are gradually being acknowledged as the future of psychiatry,” says the author. “The number of academic institutions investigating psychedelics has expanded tremendously, with even Harvard getting back into the game.”
Apps like Clubhouse and Trip, according to Levy, assist to accelerate the discourse and make it part of mainstream society rather than fighting it.
“I do not believe that the contemporary psychedelic renaissance will duplicate the experience of the 1960s in that the modern renaissance will not result in a countercultural revolution or a political reaction.” In many respects, though, the advent of psychedelics resembles that of the 1960s. Psychedelics were very much an intellectual and scientific focus of study in the 1950s and 1960s, but not a cultural one. It’s the same now, with the present resurgence being largely the result of successful scientific investigation, beginning with ketamine and progressing to psilocybin and MDMA.
“However, I believe we live in a much more receptive political and cultural context to the potential and function of psychedelics.” Most people now acknowledge that the War on Drugs was a huge failure based on political ideology and a lack of research.”
Field Trip’s bottom line will undoubtedly benefit from this. But Levy has a bigger picture in mind.
“Over the next 20 years and beyond, I believe psychedelics will have a big impact on contemporary society, science, and medicine.” From the music we listen to to how we comprehend the brain, mind, and well-being, to unlocking new ideas and theories for some of science’s most perplexing topics, to political and environmental viewpoints, there’s something for everyone.
“Because of what’s going on with psychedelics right now, all of things will alter in the future years.”
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The “future trends in pharmaceutical industry” are the next big thing. This may be the next big thing in pharma technology, as it is not just about medical applications but also includes recreational use of cannabis. The future will see marijuana legalization and more states legalizing recreational use of cannabis.
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