Psience Quest

Silicon Valley’s psychedelic wonder drug is almost here

Ruth Reader

Quote:“This could save lives, cure depression, help alcoholism, get people off opioids—why wouldn’t I want to be invested?”

Shark Tank host Kevin O’Leary is sitting across from me in a restaurant talking about a recent investment. He was part of a $6 million round in MindMed, a company that’s taking psychedelic drugs and turning them into medicine. Its first drug has the potential to turn a person’s addictions—to cocaine, methamphetamine, morphine, sugar, alcohol—off like a light switch. It has a clear opportunity to help lower the nearly 70,000 annual drug overdose deaths that take place in the U.S. But the compound, 18-MC, has yet to undergo human efficacy trials, leaving open a big question: Will it even work?

Scientists have been aware of the potential of LSD and psilocybin (the psychoactive component in mushrooms) as addiction killers for decades. Outside of the lab, too, people have been experimenting with various psychedelics to cure drug addiction since the 1960s. In recent years, the U.S. government has opened up to the use of psychedelics to quell intractable health problems like depression and opioid addiction. Initial research seems to indicate that altering a person’s reality leaves them with indelible experiences that can lead to sobriety.

If LSD, psilocybin or derivatives can really efficiently and effectively cure addiction, this would be a huge hit to the drug cartels' profits, and also those of the pharmaceutical companies making oxycodone, hydrocodone and the like. What are the chances these powerful interests may resort to violence to put these researchers out of business before they can put the new wonder drugs on the market?