Rave New World
Introduction
Some of the biggest companies are crashing and burning. What’s going on?
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The psychedelic therapy industry is in trouble. Last spring, the money spigot that had been dousing the emerging space with deep-pocketed investments began to slow down, and some of the biggest and boldest psychedelic companies flamed out like dramatic dumpster fires.
Biotech firms like Peter Thiel-backed Atai Life Sciences and MindMed —which went to the moon as a memestock not too long ago—slashed their workforces and went into debt restructuring.
High-end ketamine clinic chain Field Trip went bankrupt and closed five of its clinics. The company’s US assets were just bought out by Stella, a chain of PTSD-focused treatment centers.
Ketamine Wellness Centers, who ya’ll might remember from this exposé, shut down abruptly, leaving many veterans who’d relied on the clinics for free ketamine treatments in the lurch.
Synthesis, a 124-acre psychedelic retreat center in Oregon on a $3.6 million property, didn’t even get to open its doors before it went kaput.
Things were looking pretty fucked, so I decided to jump in and figure out what’s really going on. Is the “shroom boom” over—or is this just the recession? Are psychedelic businesses taking on too much risk before the legal landscape becomes clear? Are a lot of start-ups run by folks who are passionate about healing, but aren’t equipped to tackle the complex systems of drug development and healthcare? What do these clusterfucks tell us about the psychedelic industry’s future?
My reporting for DoubleBlind can be read here.
PS: I’ll be back soon with a subscriber-exclusive dispatch of the good, bad and wacky from Psychedelic Science—the largest psychedelic conference in history. Upgrade to a paid subscription to make sure you don’t miss it!
