British Columbia-Based Public Company is First in Canada to Complete a Legal Psilocybin Harvest
The development of Canada’s commercial psychedelic industry took a major step forward today, as Vancouver, BC-based Numinus Wellness Inc. became the first licensed, publicly traded producer of psilocybin to complete a legal harvest of psilocybe cubensis mushrooms. The company previously made headlines this September by being the first to receive its Controlled Drugs and Substances Dealer’s Licence from Health Canada. The current licence also allows for the import and export, testing, and storage of MDMA, DMT, and mescaline in addition to psilocybin and psilocin.
Next Steps with Psilocybin
In a widely distributed press release, Chief Operating Officer Michael Tan celebrated the milestone, and was quoted as saying that Numinus would now “progress with research and development of standardized cultivation, extraction, and testing methods and exploring product formulations to support safe, evidence-based, accessible psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy, as well as build a sequenced spore library.”
Psychedelic luminary and member of Numinus’ General Advisory Council Dennis McKenna added “While there is a place for synthetic psilocybin in clinical practice, well-characterized and standardized extracts of natural forms of psilocybin i.e., mushrooms, cultivated and processed under stringent quality control protocols, are the wave of the future as therapeutic psilocybin gains acceptance. Given a choice, many people would prefer the option to use natural psilocybin. Mushrooms have been used in traditional medicine for literally thousands of years, and hence, they are just that much closer to these ancient traditions. Natural mushroom extracts are also likely to be far more affordable compared to synthetic psilocybin, and that is an important consideration when it comes to ensuring accessibility to this medicine which can be so beneficial to many people. Cost should not be a barrier to access these medicines, and the use of mushroom extracts will help ensure those who need them most can benefit from psilocybin therapies.”
Parting Thoughts on Numinus
Truffle Report has covered Numinus on multiple occasions, and recently interviewed Chief Medical Officer Dr. Evan Wood in his capacities as CMO of Numinus, former executive director of BCCSU, and professor of medicine at UBC on the resurgence of psychedelic research in Canada.
We’d like to offer our congratulations to the entire Numinus team, and look forward to covering further developments.
