Psychedelics and Business: Spawning a New Generation

y. According to Tim Ferriss, “I view the next five years as an absolutely golden window...of opportunity.” Ferriss, angel investor and author of bestsellers such as The Four Hour Workweek, made headlines last year due to his generous support in opening of the research center at John Hopkins dedicated to psychedelic medicine. Like so many that are coming into the psychedelic space, Ferriss’ own personal experiences with psychedelics, psilocybin specifically, is the motivating force behind his efforts. In short, the industry has so much potential not only for financial gains but to impact the lives of so many people in positive, and even life-changing ways. However, there are many conflicts arising in the space due to everything from the pervading stigma surrounding psychedelics to the logistics of patenting psychedelic substances. One of the biggest questions that remains unanswered as psychedelics come above ground surrounds accessibility–how to insure them so that they reach the most amount of people. One psychedelic company is showing exceptional promise both in its sense of purpose as well as its business plan. A psychedelic facilitator who trained within an African shamanic tradition, Maria Bollini (nickname Flor) is gearing up to flip the psychedelic industry on its head with her organization of clinics, Nana.

The phrase is used in some African traditions to refer to a “smart healer” or priestess. One of the many projects she intends to build is “Nana in a box,” which is a web-based platform, and app, to support a free community of therapeutic facilities worldwide. Furthermore, the organization intends to train facilitators and create treatment plans for people with the aim of changing their lives for the better. “The idea is that we take what I’ve learned, weave it all together with some adaptive reasoning, and create an integrated experience to help people radically transform their lives within six months,” she says. Tim Ferriss compared Flor’s efforts to the American philanthropist, Katherine McCormick, who was instrumental in getting an oral contraceptive approved by the FDA in the 1950s. By marketing it to the FDA as a remedy for menstrual problems, that helped it to pass. She hacked the system for everybody’s benefit. Like McCormick, Flor started with a modest sum of money and leveraged it to make an enduring impact. Mental health statistics are staggering. “Around 450 million people currently suffer from [mental and neurological disorders], placing mental disorders among the leading causes of ill-health and disability worldwide.” With 133 clinics now open in the U.S. offering ketamine treatment for diagnoses related to mental health, the market demand for psychedelics indicates both the serious nature of our mental health crisis and how great the need for effective solutions is. As Roland Griffiths, a legendary psychedelic researcher out of John Hopkins said, “I went into psychedelics as pretty much a skeptic...by no means did I think we would find what we have found.”.

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References:

• http://newsparliament.com/2020/02/17/business-gets-ready-to-shuttle-how-psychedelic-drugs-may-revolutionize-mental-health-care/
• https://www.who.int/whr/2001/media_centre/press_release/en/