Psychedelic drugs or hallucinogens were very popular during the 1960s and early ’70s, and supporters of the “hippie” subculture in western Europe and the United States often experimented with them.

These drugs can be of many kinds, but they all alter perception and thought, heighten the awareness of sensory input, and decrease the control over what is being experienced.

The moment was christened “a psychedelic renaissance” by psychiatrist Ben Sessa, and the term has become increasingly common.

Psilocybin is the active ingredient in numerous “magic mushrooms”, and last year, the FDA called it a “breakthrough therapy”.

Silo Wellness, a Springfield, Oregon psychedelics startup, is interested in making a psilocybin-based medicine for depression-- a psilocybin nasal spray.

The company claims that the spray will be used for microdosing, and it will not cause the side effects typically associated with psilocybin.

According to Silo Wellness CEO, Mike Arnold:

 “We need to be able to give patients predictable dosing so they can self-titrate into the desired levels of sub-psychedelic or psychedelic treatment. We solved the age-old problem with plant- and fungus-based medicine: How do you know how much is a dose?

How do you avoid taking too much, like the cannabis edibles dilemma? We also managed to solve one of the common complaints of some mushroom users: taste and upset stomach.”

Mushrooms that contain psilocybin are still federally illegal in the United States, even though the substance has been decriminalized in some jurisdictions.

Due to this, Silo Wellness was forced to develop its nasal spray in Jamaica, with a team led by Missouri pharmacologist Parag Bhatt and company COO and Marine combat veteran Scott Slay.

Team members first tested the effects of the spray on themselves and then took volunteers’ testimonials in private microdosing sessions.

Silo Wellness co-inventor and pharmaceutical product developer, Michael Hartman, added that the spray will hit the market soon, as they have “real proof of concept and continued research and development underway—not just an idea.”

The company clarifies that their spray is intended for microdosing, colloquially meaning sub-perceptual dosing. Yet, it has not provided any additional information on the composition of the formulation, the compounds used, the ratios between them, and the dose size.

Moreover, Silo wellness should also reveal how it will address the variability of chemical composition across different mushroom batches.

In a press release, the company stated that they have filed for a provisional patent application in July, and the patent is filed under, “Metered dosing formulations of plant and fungal compounds for oral, nasal, sublingual, and topical use.”

Arnold and Hartman have worked in the legal cannabis industry before, Arnold as a lawyer for the cannabis industry, while Hartman invented a cannabis inhaler called Mystabis.

Arnold said:

“I never thought I would exit cannabis and pivot full time into psychedelics, but they changed my life. I want to share this medicine with the world by making it affordable and comfortable for all.

National media didn’t care about psychedelics until Denver passed their decriminalization ballot measure. Before that, everyone thought I was crazy when I told them that we were entering the medicinal psychedelics space in advance of Oregon legalizing in 2020.”

Sources:
themindunleashed.com
silowellness.com
psychedelicreview.com
www.psychologytoday.com