RE: Psilocybin could be produced on an industrial scale for use in psychiatric medications!
Psilocybin from E-coli? Impressive. Though I'm not sure what to think of the statement that growing it in mushroom form would require extensive real-estate and time. I mean, I used to grow it in jars on my shelf. I was a complete novice to it, following only instructional YouTube videos, with limited time and very little space. Within only a month I had more mushrooms that I could ever want to eat, so I was playing Santa Claus with it. Just imagine how much of it I could grow if I did it full-time, dedicating the entire studio apartment for it. Now applying the same thing to a warehouse... you could probably supply an entire city with psilocybin.
By the way, what I find super fascinating about psilocybin research is not only how it can be helped for mental disorders, but also such things as alcoholism (and other substance abuse / dependency), violence, lying, cheating, and other types of behavior deemed "antisocial". This also explains why it has been treated as a controlled substance by those who are not interested in people being socially responsible (such as the pharma industry, among others).
One problem with pharma research is they look at only one molecule, not a whole system. I guess because it is difficult to pinpoint mechanism when there is a soup of components. The big time saver is the fact that they get pure psilocybin without having to extract it from the fungus. Given that they just need a standard room for this method they could produce millions of doses without all the overhead of the fungus growing production site.
Looking at this from just the production side it looks incredible. Looking at it from the holistic side I find it slightly off putting. The mushroom experience is not just due to the psilocybin but from the various other alkaloids in the fungus. By stripping out just this alkaloid it will be interesting to see what happens clinically. The pharma side is looking for a patentable tech to make profits, not help people. If helping people were truly their motive than psychedelics would never have been deemed a controlled substance.
It is HIGH time that humanity relearns the astounding benefits of psychedelics for our mental and physical well being.
Fully agree on the holistic aspect!
As far as the pharma industry goes, one can argue whether it was developed with bad intentions to begin with, or whether it just grew into what it is by convenience and market forces. Fact is, it's not helping us. But I think the same thing could be said about any industry, anchored in our current system. So in the end they might not be so bad, if the concept of business ethics was more than just hipocrite lip service.
Business and Ethics are 2 things that diverged a long time ago, sadly. Our planet is a corporatocracy now thanks to that divergence and is completely controlled by the lack of ethics in general. Some companies attempt to be generally conscious but the "investors are always right" mentality needs to frickin stop.
Agree, though I don't see a chance of that happening as long as you can't get your hands on any money without immediately owing to someone...