Psychedelics 2024: Veterans Blessing, Mental Health Paradigm Shift, Providers Training, Ketamine-MDMA Bonds & More

Discussion surrounding science, industry and psychedelics reform is experiencing an all-time high, and 2024 promises to not only continue but further this trend. 

In 2023, the psychedelics market saw transformative expansion driven by favorable trial outcomes, attracting significant investments that reshaped the industry. Driven by scientific advances and changing perceptions, some recent predictions predict the global market will be worth $7.1 billion by 2032, bringing along increased investor interest.

And yet, as much as the psychedelics industry has huge potential, it is also constrained by ambiguity. The positive path in psychedelics research has not been directly reflected in investments in publicly traded companies in the sphere.

A key decision by the FDA concerning MDMA therapy this summer was seen by many as a potential watershed moment either cementing this healthcare sector's legitimacy or reinforcing its uncertain nature.

In this state of affairs, Benzinga is providing a concise recollection of the most significant events in the field through insightful exclusive comments from experts in various specialized areas within the ecosystem.

A Look From The UK: The Beckley Ecosystem

A specialist in psychedelic startup incubation, Beckley Waves co-founder Rock Feilding-Mellen poses that the most important trend in 2024 will be "a concerted effort and focus" on building infrastructure for psychedelic-assisted therapies (PAT) ahead of the anticipated FDA approval of Lykos Therapeutics' (formerly MAPS PBC) MDMA-assisted therapy by year’s end. 

His view was previewed in a recently announced partnership between Compass Pathways CMPS and Greenbrook TMS to scale commercial delivery models: "One thing most people still haven’t recognized is that PAT is a unique treatment that requires not only the psychedelic substance but psychotherapy and specific clinical infrastructure needs that are still rare."

Regarding the evolving legal landscape, Feilding-Mellen views it as "still very much a ‘Wild West'." In this sense, he advises companies seeking to enter this quasi-legal gray area to be cautious about how they position their offerings and the claims they make. 

"For example, while several countries allow psychedelic retreats, such as Jamaica, operators can get into trouble by making medical claims about the efficacy of psychedelics in the treatment of PTSD or other mental health issues. This phenomenon has featured prominently in the cannabis market and perhaps even more so in the emerging psychedelic space," Feilding-Mellen said.

The FDA's potential approval of MDMA therapy allowing physicians to prescribe the treatment, Feilding-Mallen says at the state level all eyes will be on Colorado's rollout of its commercial legalization framework. 

"What appears to be opening and a major milestone, is an increase in federal research funding for psychedelic clinical trials. The market opportunities will be those that support clinical trial development, onboarding providers to the PAT paradigm, and enabling safe, legal, and accessible care,' he said.

Neil Markey, co-founder of Jamaica and Netherlands-based Beckley Retreats, sees psychedelics' use will likely evolve into "the betterment of the well.” 

"Use cases will expand beyond clinical application to support mental well-being, creativity, team building. At Beckley Retreats, we have begun to see corporate leaders utilizing psychedelic treatment as a means to personal growth, leading to more adaptable, empathetic business leaders who can foster better communication, teamwork and decision-making. The impacts can improve employee engagement, job satisfaction, and company performance and growth," Markey says. 

A key challenge the space will face this year: "Wounded healers or practitioners who are drawn to psychedelic treatment but have not done enough of their own personal work and healing," Markey said. Also, alternative energy medicines including reiki and grounding are expected to grow in popularity in 2024. 

John Yoo, CEO of Beckley Academy, spoke on the clinician training that will be necessary for psychedelic therapies to scale. 

"We are in a state of transition, so everything that happens related to psychedelic use (medical or not) will draw attention and scrutiny. Safety and efficacy will continue to be studied and analyzed as treatments, like MDMA-assisted therapy, move from a clinical trial model to health care. Standards around dosing and practice will be introduced for ketamine-assisted therapy. Telehealth KAT practices may come under additional regulation or scrutiny as more people seek accessible treatment."

Yoo says the team also expects to see an increased emphasis on harm reduction education versus a “just say no” approach toward promoting a better understanding and safer access to psychedelics.

"From the lens of educators, we see a tension between offering high-quality education -which gives practitioners enough time, depth, skills practice and supervision- and making training affordable and efficient so that the field can meet the demand for PAT," Yoo added. "Less-experienced therapists coming to this work earlier in their careers will need ample experiential training, mentorship and supervision to safely and ethically sit with clients." 

He foresees a shift towards MDMA-assisted therapy training, although it's still unclear which organizations will be able to certify therapists.

Ketamine Specialty Meets MDMA

Charles Patti is CEO of Florida-based ketamine clinic MY Self Wellness, co-founder of nonprofit Warriors of Consciousness and an advocate for mental health and psychedelic medicine as his personal healing story for overcoming addiction involves the use of psilocybin mushrooms, DMT and ketamine.

Expected FDA approval for MDMA therapy will likely impact all areas of psychedelic medicine, including existing ketamine clinics. As such, MY Self Wellness is getting ready to provide joint ketamine and MDMA therapy as a treatment offering for PTSD.

"It will be a great addition to our ketamine services. Ketamine and MDMA are like peanut butter and jelly. MDMA is a ‘heart opener' and may be very beneficial for talk therapy. It can be used to talk through one's traumatic experiences, while ketamine is more of a deeper dive psychedelic experience," says Patti. 

The clinic recently partnered with several veteran community organizations to offer psychedelic treatment (for the moment solely ketamine) to this population. 

In Patti's words, "Veterans or those with PTSD can get to the root cause of what's making them suffer by using these two healing therapies therapeutically," to be provided in separate days.

He sees the veteran community is helping break the negative stigma tied to psychedelic therapy to treat mental health conditions. 

"People listen to veterans because they have served our country and don't want them to suffer. Before, the government would have never approved psychedelics' use for mental health purposes. However, due to what it's doing with our veteran and first responder community, there has been more of a positive narrative." 

Further, he sees celebrities going public with their psychedelic use stories, as well as increasing data being collected with clinical studies conducted by major institutions like MAPS, Johns Hopkins and Imperial College London, the taboo reputation is turning more positive and doubts on the efficacy of the medicine are going away. 

"The expected impact of the direction of psychedelic treatment will be similar to those who tried to penetrate the ketamine industry. Many individuals will fail to come into the market, because they are trying to make a quick return on their investment. Those who are passionate about psychedelics and helping others will play the long game by waiting for the laws to pass and eventually be successful in their endeavors. With the intention to prevent inexperienced companies from just opening up shop once the FDA approves MDMA, it has been speculated that the law may require clinics to have been open for over a couple of years in order to integrate MDMA therapy," says Patti.

Even though the underground market will "always exist" as "illegal use is tantalizing because people want what they can't have", Patti says he’s certain that the normalization of psychedelics will shift the entire mental health paradigm. 

"People are going to visually see something that really works and are not going to be able to say it's illegal anymore. It will shift these long-term psychedelic healing modalities to become more mainstream. As a result, people will stop relying on pills and multiple medications every day. 20 years from now, Xanax and antidepressants may become a thing of the past and psychedelic medicine will be the new standard."

Expert Investor's Take

Known by some as "the psychedelic concierge to the stars,” Zappy Zapolin is a prominent figure in the field and a longtime trendspotter in many industries. Among his many hats, he currently advises companies in the psychedelic sector including Psycheceutical Bioscience BWVI (currently conducting clinical trials in Australia for a topical ketamine delivery for PTSD treatment) and Canada-based Universal Ibogaine IBOGF.

Reflecting on three decades of market experiences, Zapolin sees parallels between historical market bubbles, such as the Wall Street crash and the rise of the internet bubble, all sharing a recurring pattern: quality emergence post-bubble burst. 

In this sense, he sees the psychedelics industry is at a great moment "where the hype is gone, but the really good science and some very recent indicators of companies getting large funding in this space remain.”

During the internet bubble, Zapolin seized opportunities by purchasing domain names at low prices. He views a similar trend in the psychedelics market, although he does emphasize on the need to identify quality companies, with enough (and influential) funding and expertise to perform successful R&D and provide long-term gains. “You start in the beginning of a trillion-dollar industry, and one or two of your several quality investments work out.”

His investments in the sector follow mentor Mike Milken's advice on the importance of intellectual property for value creation. And then, "wealth is the byproduct.” 

As much as he is a firm believer in psychedelics as healing modalities, Zapolin is particularly pumped about ibogaine's therapeutic benefits for addiction treatment, and has joined Lamar Odom to create awareness on the substance's vast potential. "Ibogaine's work is like a full reset -mental, physical, wiping your prefrontal cortex so you don’t have cravings."

Photo by Cristian Escobar on Unsplash.