The psychedelic stock sector is beginning to boom, with legalization efforts initiated worldwide for a variety of different alternative medical treatments from this category. Investors want to know more about the psychedelic stock investment opportunities from industry-leading experts.
We chatted with David Nikzad from Ei.Ventures. As the CEO of the company, David Nikzad has been a pioneer in the plant medicine space since 1996, when he opened the first medical marijuana dispensary in California. For the last three years, Nikzad and the team at Ei.Ventures have been developing their Psychedelic Solutions and their Flagship formulation, Psilly. Their vision is inspired in part by the ancient history and traditions of the Hawaiian islands.
Schaeffer's: What is so special about psychedelic medicine that makes you passionate about expanding its availability?
David Nikzad: The modern use of psychedelics holds great promise for addressing unmet needs in our society for improved mental health and wellbeing. Offering a bottom-up approach for achieving higher states of consciousness that can lead to transformational change for individuals living with mental illness and their communities.
Primarily targeting the brain’s default mode network, which is responsible for maintaining our passive sense of self, psychedelics down-regulate the DMN and promote neurogenesis, synaptogenesis and encourage neuroplasticity which allows for fundamental changes to the brain, positively affecting mental health outcomes.
Unlike traditional psychopharmaceuticals, psychedelics target the underlying cause of mental illness, shaking the foundations of our psyche, knocking loose the dust and cobwebs that cloud our vision of ourselves and our relationships with our environment.
Schaeffer's: Why should patients suffering from various ailments consider psilocybin and other psychedelics in lieu of (or in addition to) traditional medicine?
David Nikzad: Healing is the ability to build emotional resilience to work through your past and work through your emotions, and build strong coping mechanisms so that you can handle whatever adversity or opportunity may come. Psychedelics are powerful medicines that can provoke strong feelings, memories, and sensations that may be overwhelming, painful, or scary; therefore, it is important to be prepared and have a safe container to have these experiences. Following a psychedelic experience, it is equally important to integrate your experience and understanding of your experience.
Schaeffer's: Do you see the benefit in both the recreational and medicinal use of psychedelics, or just therapeutic?
David Nikzad: The therapeutic use of psychedelics is only one aspect of the healing process. Other elements may resemble the use of psychedelics in a non-clinical setting for personal, spiritual, or interpersonal growth. It’s important that we build inclusive networks and opportunities for all regardless of their path. This is why we’re focusing more on platform delivery technologies and formulations that optimize for human experience instead of a specific clinical outcome.
While we will be pursuing clinical trials and validating our platform, formulation, and program for psychedelic-assisted therapy, that is only the beginning of the work we will be doing. As the use of psychedelics is normalized and access to psychedelics increases, we will be at the forefront of those opportunities while simultaneously pursuing opportunities along the established FDA-approved pathway.
Schaeffer's: What stigmas and social barriers do you feel need to be broken down for broader acceptance of psychedelics?
David Nikzad: The general public’s perception of psychedelics has primarily been shaped by top-down government propaganda aimed at vilifying and discouraging their use along with the bottom-up promotion of psychedelics as tools of transformation by artists, musicians, hippies, and psychenauts convinced that psychedelics are a revolutionary tool for enlightenment and salvation. This demonization of psychedelics on one hand and psychedelic exceptionalism on the other hand creates unique challenges for those seeking to normalize and rationalize the use of psychedelics in society.
Whether for medical or therapeutic purposes or personal and spiritual reasons, the use of psychedelics should be informed by good data, and care should be taken to prevent harm and reduce suffering wherever feasible. Psychedelics are powerful compounds that can radically alter our thoughts, perception, and experience of the world. They can provoke strong feelings, emotions, memories, and sensations that can sometimes feel overwhelming, scary, and even painful.
On the other hand, they can also provoke positive feelings, emotions, memories, and sensations in equal measure. Being prepared for what you might experience and being responsible for how we use these powerful medicines to minimize or at the very least support those who might have difficult experiences is critical for ensuring that we first do no harm and second maximize the therapeutic potential of these compounds and opportunities to improve the lives of people everywhere.
Schaeffer's: Tell me more about the work you are doing now that you think has the most groundbreaking potential.
David Nikzad: Our work at Ei.Ventures is focused on translating the potential for natural compounds to radically improve the mental wellbeing of patients living with mental health challenges by improving delivery methods and protocols for use. By focusing on transdermal delivery technologies, we intend to transform acute peaks into plateaus and deliver threshold effects capable of provoking transformational change in mental health.
Our innovative platform will integrate with a smartphone application that will be used to track the use and monitor the effects of transdermal formulations optimized for the delivery of psychedelic therapeutic compounds. Our first formulation will be optimized to deliver psilocin, the active form of psilocybin found naturally in psilocybin-containing mushrooms.
Other potentially therapeutic compounds will be considered in the future as more data becomes available. In addition, by focusing on combination products, we hope to quickly bring innovative new product formulations to the market giving researchers and clinicians new tools to probe the inner workings of our minds and deliver breakthrough treatments to patients.
Schaeffer's: What psychedelic studies were done by researchers who have inspired your company’s work and/or further validated your mission statement?
David Nikzad: Pioneering research out of the Imperial College of London, Johns Hopkins University, along with research done by MAPS, Compass Pathways, and the Chacruna Institute, have all guided our research and development in addition to the pioneering foundational research conducted by Paul Stamets, Alexander Shulgin, and other pioneers of psychedelic research upon whose shoulders we stand.
Schaeffer's: Tell us more about your company, Ei.Ventures.
David Nikzad: We are very excited to be leading the way in psychedelic research and product development. We are also pleased that we’ve structured ourselves for investment from anyone via a Reg A. Investors who would like to dig deeper into what we are doing, and the opportunity we offer, are encouraged to check us out here.
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