Experts Discuss Botanical Psilocybin’s Effect On Neurogenesis And More At Benzinga Cannabis Conference
“Over 131 million people in the United States, that’s over 66% of the population, are currently prescribed to a prescription medication,” said Courtney Barnes, a partner at a New York-based cannabis and psychedelics law firm Feldman Legal Advisors. “Of those prescription medications available on the market, 69% of them have 10 to 100 side effects. There is only 9% of drugs that have less than 10 listed side effects.”
With this information, Barnes started an important conversation about natural-based products, moderating “How Plant Medicine is Shaping the Future” panel at the recent Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference in Florida. She was joined by cannabis and psychedelics industry experts such as Hadas Cohen Dewey, a COO at Capsoil Technologies and founder of It’s All About Choices, Claire Stawnyczy, a CEO at Lophos Pharma, Dr. Elizabeth Cawley, a CSO Bluestem API, and Dustin Robinson, a managing principal of Iter Investments and the founder of Mr. Cannabis Law.
Natural Vs Synthetic
Kicking off the discussion on natural plant medicine, Elizabeth Cawley focused on botanical psilocybin, talked about the important difference between natural and synthetic products. She said that various naturally occurring compounds in psilocybin-based mushrooms are contributing to some of the positive effects.
According to a recent paper in molecular psychiatry, “It was botanical psilocybin that had a more potent and more prolonged effect on neurogenesis compared to its synthetic analog,” she said. Cawley added that one of the issues the industry is dealing with is that regulators are seeing these natural plants as impure instead of focusing on the science and recognizing …