Agorist Health

By Aaron Kesel

Several companies that are developing medical treatments from psychedelic drugs like LSD, ketamine, and psilocybin—the active ingredient in magic mushrooms—are getting ready to list on Canadian stock exchanges.

One of those companies, Mind Medicine Inc., has been involved in clinical trials of psychedelic-based drugs and aims to list on Toronto’s NEO Exchange by the first week of March, JR Rahn, the company’s co-founder and co-chief executive officer, told Bloomberg.

“Our ambition is to be one of the first publicly listed neuro-pharmaceutical companies developing psychedelic medicines,” Rahn said in an interview.

And Mind Med Inc. isn’t the only company reaching into the deep waters of developing psychedelic medicines. There are a growing number of companies that are conducting or beginning to administer clinical trials of psychedelic treatments for things like depression to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Some trials have even received the blessing of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

In late 2018, the FDA stated that psilocybin was a “breakthrough therapy” via a drug developed by London-based Compass Pathways Ltd. for clinical depression.

Mind Med Inc. is preparing for a second clinical trial into the use of a non-hallucinogenic drug based on a psychedelic called ibogaine to treat opioid addiction, which will be conducted in New York and overseen by the FDA, according to a report.

A third company, Field Trip Psychedelics Inc., is also involved with researching psilocybin at the University of the West Indies in Jamaica.

Last year TMU reported that psilocybin, the substance found in 200+ species of magic mushrooms, may be the next health and legalization trend following cannabis. Unlike research into the use of cannabis, which is still federally illegal in the U.S., the work that psychedelic companies are doing is entirely legal. This means that companies don’t have to jump through legal barriers to research the effects and benefits of these drugs.

TMU has previously reported on the benefits of psychedelics used in the form of medication, often in conjunction with therapy. For example, studies in recent years have shown that psychedelic compounds can be used for a variety of different things including reviving someone from a vegetative state, reducing violence, reducing the chance of losing brain functions later in life, reseting the brains of those diagnosed with depression, and improving one’s mental health.

Another study TMU previously reported on found that psychedelic use doesn’t have a link to mental health problems or suicidal behavior, unlike alcoholic beverages.

Benny Shanon, professor of cognitive philosophy at Hebrew University, believes the theory that Mosses was high on psychedelics when he spoke to god. There exists a similar theory about the seer Michel de Nostredame. While these things cannot be proven, studies have shown that psilocybin increases creativity.

By Elias Marat

Are you tired of puffing on flower? Can’t quite afford to lay down the cash for a dabbing rig? Uninterested in the usual edibles?

Well, Italian scientists have discovered a previously unknown cannabis compound that has been shown in lab tests to be potentially 30 times stronger than tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive compound in THC that gets you high.

Whether the new cannabinoid—named tetrahydrocannabiphorol, or THCP—has any intoxicating effects at all, remains an open question.

The Italian researchers also discovered another previously unknown compound named Cannabidphorol, or CBDP. The compound is apparently a close cousin of CBD, the medicinal compound that has gained a surge of attention in recent years for its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anticonvulsant properties.

Authors of the report, which was published in the journal Nature, estimated the effects of THCP by observing its ability to bind to human cannabinoid receptors that impact the entire nervous system. THCP bonds stronger than THC by about 33 times.

The discovery has scientists wondering if THCP could explain why some cannabis strains pack such a powerful punch that can’t be explained by the presence of THC and CBD alone.

Lead study author Cinzia Citti told CNN:

“This means that these compounds have higher affinity for the receptors in the human body.

In cannabis varieties where THC is present in very low concentrations, then we can think that the presence of another, more active cannabinoid can explain those effects.”

Additionally, research has shown that the molecular chain of almost 150 cannabis compounds is only five atoms long versus THCP’s seven. The study marks the first time that atom chains exceeding five has been observed in any naturally-observing cannabinoid—hinting at the possibility that THCP could be the most potent compound ever discovered in the plant.

The discovery of the new compound could hint at the presence of even more previously-unknown compounds as well as potential new medical benefits of cannabis.

Jane Ishmael, associate professor in Oregon State University’s College of Pharmacy, said:

“There are other minor cannabinoids and traces in the plant that can be hard to study, but by isolation we can continue to assess the effects they might offer.

Historically, many of our medicines have been derived by or inspired by natural products. By having new compounds that bind with very high affinity, that will give scientists a new probe into biological sciences.”