Knocking the teeth out of psychedelics
At TripCorp, we only get paid when you touch the face of GOD
When I was a teen, giddy about novel ways to dissolve reality AKA better living through chemistry, the quickest way to crumple my subversion boner for LSD, psilocybin, MDMA, et al. would have been to convince me that 20-plus years in the future these things would be part of the national discussion, that clinics would be opened that used these substances for healing, and corporations would be formed to produce, test, and monetize them.
But now, now here we are and we’ve got silicon valley style pitch decks for multi-million dollar companies looking for their next funding round - funding to include facilities for the production of MDMA.
I’m torn between supporting the obvious good that can be brought to people through responsible healing with psychedelics and the obvious shit-hole that will come from a capitalistic system milking our plump third-eye teats dry.
This week I’m looking at the pitch-deck for one of these companies, Numinus, https://numinus.ca.
According to their investor deck, (download here), Numinus projects ~ $10MM revenue for 2020 from its testing/processing facilities and it’s Vancouver-based healing centre.
They’re aiming for a listing on the TSX-V (basically a Canadian OTC exchange) by the end of March. Their approach to cash is through testing and extraction in the cannabis market where they estimate ~$25M in future revenue from extraction and testing of cannabinoids. They've got a foothold there, and plan on using profits to spin up new healing centers and testing/processing facilities for the development of treatments for addiction, mental illness and PTSD…but not just that…the pitch-deck makes it clear that they see their market as “everyone who desires improved well-being by taking advantage of the wide range of therapeutic services offered at our Numinus Healing Centres.”
Great, right? So what’s the big deal - they’ve got an operationally savvy team that got a substantial first-mover advantage, in no small part thanks to a dealer license they received in July 2019, which allows Numinus to test, possess, buy and sell MDMA, psilocybin, psilocin, DMT and mescaline…sounds like a win for everyone, right?
Well, that’s what I don’t buy yet. I’ll refer back to this fantastic (and short) article by Shariq Khan, where he lays out that this golden age of psychedelics is all too likely a capitalistic recuperation of that once subversive cosmic dance that I first used to break free of the mundane back in my teens.
And now it’s something Gwenyth Paltrow’s marketing team does on a weekend retreat in Jamaica before going back inspired to crank out another set of articles like “7 key style pieces to buy now!”
No offense to GP. Her vagina odored candles are pretty fucking trippy tbh, but when mom-core infiltrates your market the mushroom shark has been jumped.
I don’t know if it matters. Does it matter if the world sucks the marrow out of psychedelic experiences and regurgitates them back to the masses so fewer people have to deal with mental illness, it’s easier to overcome trauma, and general well-being and a sense of meaning in this world are on tap?
I guess I’ve just got a feeling that it’s not going to shake out that way.
Let me know what you think.
Until next time, stay kind.
-We all go boom