For those that don’t know what Juneteenth is it’s the day – June 19, 1865 – that marks the end of slavery in the United States.
“Juneteenth (short for “June Nineteenth”) marks the day when federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas in 1865 to take control of the state and ensure that all enslaved people be freed. The troops’ arrival came a full two and a half years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. Juneteenth honors the end to slavery in the United States and is considered the longest-running African American holiday.”
It’s a day of liberation. And finally, on “June 17, 2021, it officially became a federal holiday.”
“The Senate unanimously passed a resolution on Tuesday establishing June 19 as Juneteenth National Independence Day, a US holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the United States.”
What could Juneteeth have in common with psychedelics and decriminalization of drugs? Maybe everything.
The holiday represents liberty and freedom. “Nixon declared the Drug War on June 17, 1971” so Juneteenth can be a metaphor for liberation from a failed war. The black community has been hit hardest by the War on Drugs. Cognitive liberty should be a right and no one should be sent to jail for determining their own state of mind – regardless of skin color. Mind altering substances including cannabis have been vilified long enough and the folks who have chosen to use them still live in the shadows. It’s getting better but it’s not good enough. It is being proven more and more that psychedelic drugs can “ease intractable depression, end addictions and increase a sense of overall wellbeing and joy”.
With that said, as usual, a lot has happened this week in psychedelics. The more that happens the more it is testimony, just like Juneteenth, that the walls of suppression are crumbling. Or should be. I’m not naive in thinking the work is almost done. There is still much work that needs to be done.
So, I love when the mainstream gets on the psychedelic train and that is what is happening at Massachusetts General Hospital.
“Interest in psychedelics as therapeutics has risen in recent years, spurred by studies that have found that the once-maligned drugs used in conjunction with therapy can help in the treatment of psychiatric patients. Amid a rush to commercialize a suite of newly developed products, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) has begun a new Center for the Neuroscience of Psychedelics to better understand the drugs’ effects on the brain, their mechanisms, and potential for therapeutic purposes. Jerrold Rosenbaum, MGH’s former psychiatrist in chief and Stanley Cobb Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, is heading the new center and discussed how it grew out of an insight about rumination as a hallmark of many mental conditions, as well as its promise to help struggling patients desperate for a treatment breakthrough.”
Read the entire interview here: https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2021/06/harvard-medical-school-professor-discusses-future-of-psychedelics/
Next stop, Congress. It really is all about Congress. The trickle down war starts and ends with the federal government – ultimately. So what is new and exciting in Congress? On June 15 the Drug Policy Reform Act (DPRA) to decriminalize drug possession was unveiled by House representatives Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ) and Cori Bush (D-MO).
“The new measure, aptly titled The Drug Policy Reform Act (DPRA), seeks to end federal criminal penalties for drug possession, expunge criminal drug records and resentence previous offenders, shift authority over drug law from the Attorney General to the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), invest into health-based approaches to drug policy, and put an end to the consequences associated with drug criminalization, such as denial of public benefits, employment, drivers’ licenses, voting rights, and immigration status.”
“The DPRA is the result of collaboration between the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA), the nation’s leading nonprofit dedicated to ending prohibition, and Representatives Coleman and Bush. The measure reflects aspects of the DPA’s federal decriminalization proposal—Dismantling the Federal Drug War: A Comprehensive Drug Decriminalization Framework—which was released last summer.”
Also in Congress this week the Senate joined the House in a move to allow research on cannabis from dispensaries.
“Researchers would be able to study the marijuana that consumers are actually purchasing from state-legal retailers—instead of having to use only government-grown cannabis—under legislation that is moving forward in both the Senate and the House.”
“Under the reform, which is contained in a wide-ranging Senate bill that cleared committee on Wednesday, a federal report would need to be issued with recommendations on establishing a national clearinghouse with samples of different types of marijuana that scientists from non-legal states could obtain for studies.”
“Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-CO) sponsored the amendment that contains these reforms, and he argued that the changes are necessary in order to promote research into impaired driving and create a national standard for addressing such activity.”
Climbing back on the train our next stop will be California and SB519. If you recall California SB519 is California’s bill to decriminalize psychedelic drugs that passed the state senate earlier in the month. The next stop for SB519 was the state assembly and if it makes it through the assembly then the governor’s desk. So mark your calendars for June 29 when the bill is scheduled for a hearing in front of the state assembly.
The next stops are psychedelic stocks in the news and one takes us across the border to our Canadian friends and across the pond to Holland. And this is a marriage of psychedelics and cannabis.
On June 17, “Creso Pharma (ASX:CPH | OTC: COPHF) announced its plans to merge with a Canadian listed psychedelics company called Red Light Holland”.
“The combination of both companies will lead to the formation of a global psychedelics and cannabis company.”
“We don’t actually know of any other listed companies that have BOTH cannabis and psychedelics products – so this could be a world first.”
“The merged entity will have over five ex Canopy Growth executives, who oversaw its growth from a penny stock into a multi billion dollar cannabis machine.”
“Bruce Linton, ex Canopy Growth, is joining the merged company as Executive Chairman. It will also have ex Canopy Growth M&A Director as Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer – William Lay – he has overseen/managed over $5BN in cannabis M&A transactions in the past.”
“Red Light Holland is a psychedelics company that produces and distributes premium psychedelic mushrooms (truffles) to the legal recreational market in the Netherlands.”
“Red Light Holland is listed on both the Canadian Stock Exchange, under the ticker code TRIP, and also on the OTC under the code TRUFF”
The next psychedelic stock is Numinus wellness which graduated to a “Tier 1 Issuer status on the TSX Venture Exchange (the “TSXV”), effective June 18, 2021”.
“VANCOUVER, BC, June 18, 2021 /CNW/ – Numinus Wellness Inc. (“Numinus” or the “Company”) (TSXV: NUMI), a mental health care company advancing innovative treatments and safe, evidence-based psychedelic-assisted therapies, is pleased to announce that it has received approval to graduate to Tier 1 Issuer status on the TSX Venture Exchange (the “TSXV”), effective June 18, 2021.”
“By qualifying for up-listing to the TSXV’s top tier under the Life Sciences industry segment, Numinus will benefit from improved service standards, reduced compliance obligations and increased access to institutional investors.”
“This up-listing is another indication that Numinus has effectively advanced its healthcare strategy, met its business objectives and built a rapidly scalable growth platform to lead the emerging sector of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy,” said Payton Nyquvest, President, CEO and Chair, Numinus.”
So stay on track and tuned in for more weeks in psychedelics.
Disclaimer: Absolutely nothing you read in here should be taken as investment advice. The discussion of securities and ideas is never to be considered a recommendation to buy or sell any. Always do your own due diligence.
Author: Sherri Margolin (Dark Matters)