While many people will look back on the pandemic as a dark time, it has also spurred some positive developments—most notably in the field of drug development, where miraculous breakthroughs like mRNA vaccines are transforming immunology. Now, a handful of companies believe the pandemic could lead to a profound change in how we address mental health.
MindMed is one of those companies. The Toronto-based firm is led by JR Rahn, a former Uber executive whose cocaine addiction led him to try psychedelics as a treatment—an experience he credits with saving his life. Rahn believes drugs like LSD could hold the key to helping the millions of people who have been driven to despair by the pandemic.
“America’s mental health infrastructure is vastly broken. Sixty percent of U.S. counties don’t have a single psychiatrist, and most of those that do don’t accept insurance,” says Rahn.
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Can LSD cure our pandemic anxiety? MindMed is spending big to find out
Growing psychedelic mushrooms by Talakay Pakay is licensed under Creative Commons: Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)