“How are you going to be a part of the paradigm shift instead of a deadweight on it that is trying to pull it down into this capitalistic, ‘cannibalist’ morass?“

Here is the second part of a conversation recorded on March 2, 2021, wherein my colleagues Courtney Barnes, Ariel Clark, and Nicole Howell discuss matters such as the contrast between the “legacy market” actors in the psychedelic space who are dedicated to healing and new actors who are focused on selling new products, areas of the pending California decriminalization bill that could use improvement, “the spirit of cannibalism” that stalks the world, how to shape the future of the market by signaling what the policy priorities in that market will be, such as bans on plastic packaging, lifestyle branding, and direct-to-consumer advertising and a mandate that for-profit actors be public benefit corporations, the potential benefits of encouraging Special Purpose Acquisition Companies, the imperative of prioritizing local decriminalization in the period before the FDA begins approving psychedelic pharmaceutical products, and the business opportunities that could be created by mandating socially responsible practices.

Although the topic is the role of for-profit actors in the psychedelic economy, this episode concludes with a discussion of the emergence of a psychedelic economy as a paradigm shift – if managed properly.