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Season 2 of our podcast “Micro-dosing with Zeifmans” was a real trip.
Pulling knowledge from industry expert guests, we examined the industry as it currently is, and painted a vivid picture of the future as well.
Some of the topics we covered include:
– Current state of regulatory challenges
– Driving force for future regulatory change
– Mainstream acceptance and the possibility/likelihood of recreational legalization
– Role of “Big Pharma” in furthering the industry
– Trajectory for financing
– Investor interest – retail and institutional
– Influence of technology on the industry
– Projections for 2022
– Advice for new entrepreneurs entering the industry
Expert guests
We were privileged to welcome a wide range of industry expert guests spanning a variety of perspectives. This season’s guests include:
Doug Drysdale, CEO, Cybin Inc.
An experienced Corporate Director and CEO: Doug has chaired the board of directors of a NASDAQ-listed company and as a CEO for the past 12 years has built and turned-around three pharmaceutical companies.
Former Head of M&A at Actavis Group, leading 15 corporate acquisitions across three continents, between 2004 and 2008, including a high-profile public hostile takeover attempt in Central Eastern Europe. Over this period, Doug raised approximately $3 billion of capital and managed lending syndicates including 25+ banks, to fund the company’s growth. Actavis was sold to Watson Pharmaceuticals in 2012 for EUR4.25 billion.
Doug holds a bachelor’s degree in Microbial and Molecular Biology from the University of East Anglia in the U.K. and was recognized as Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst and Young, in 2012. Doug is an enthusiastic traveler, having traveled to over 45 countries, is an avid reader and enjoys cooking and boating.
Josh Bartch, Co-founder, Chairman & CEO, Mydecine Innovation Group
As a serial entrepreneur, Mr. Bartch’s career took off in early 2009 when he co-founded AudioTranscriptionist.com, which was successfully acquired. In November of 2009, Mr. Bartch acquired the 3rd legal medical cannabis license issued and founded Doctors Orders, a cannabis dispensary based in Denver, Colorado.. By 2014, Mr. Bartch expanded Doctors Orders across the nation to become one of the first multi-state operations, successfully incorporating various cultivation, extraction and dispensary facilities into Oregon, Maryland and Massachusetts.
In addition, Mr. Bartch founded a boutique investment firm with a strong presence internationally with a focus on both the United States and Canada. Evolutionary Ventures was built to focus on both public and private business opportunities for the purpose of facilitating mergers and acquisitions, reverse takeovers, reverse mergers and various additional complex financings.
In 2014, Mr. Bartch co-founded the technology company Cannabase, the most advanced and largest legal cannabis marketplace and wholesale platform, facilitating hundreds of millions in transactional sales and 80% market share in the wholesale market. Helix TCS (OTCMKTS: HLIX) later acquired the Cannabase platform.
David Wood, PhD, Partner at BLP
David’s practice focuses on intellectual property and regulatory law. His regulatory practice is specific to the Canadian cannabis industry and to work with controlled substances.
David’s intellectual property practice and experience includes drafting and prosecuting patent applications, assessing patentability of technology, assessing validity of patents, assessing infringement of patents, patent-related due diligence, and multi-jurisdictional patent portfolio management.
David hold a PhD in biochemistry and his formal graduate-level education in structural biochemistry, organic chemistry, physical chemistry, plant biochemistry, and natural products chemistry provides a strong technical background for advising clients in the Canadian cannabis industry in relation to both intellectual property and regulatory law.
Spencer Hawkswell, CEO at Therapsil
Spencer was first introduced to healing psychological trauma with altered states of consciousness and therapeutic psychedelics from reading the work of Terrence McKenna, Rick Strassman, and Carl Jung and believes that these methods need to be treated seriously by governments and institutions.
Spencer believes that responsible drug policy requires effective organization and leadership and is dedicated to bringing together the experts and advocates, to facilitate change that results in increased access to compassionate care, harm reduction, and treatment options for those in need. Psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy is a reasonable treatment option for palliative patients in end-of-life distress and is where we need to begin.
Henri Sant-Cassia, Founding-Partner of The Conscious Fund
Henri is a co-founding partner and VC at The Conscious Fund, which invests in early-stage psychedelic medicine, cannabis, and hemp companies.
He was CEO of CBD Virtue, a pioneer in European cannabinoid retail, product development and manufacturing. He was also Chairman for The Cannabinoid Trust, the non-profit research and testing outfit and was a cofounder at North Forty Farms, the Northern Californian organic cannabis cultivator.
Dr. Joseph Tucker, CEO, MagicMed
Dr. Joseph Tucker is a seasoned executive who has built several publicly traded biotechnology companies. As CEO of MagicMed Industries, Dr. Tucker focuses on partnership development, capital raising and the pursuit of a successful exit strategy. Dr. Tucker received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of Calgary.
Kelsey Ramsden, President & CEO, Mind Cure Health Inc.
Kelsey has over 15 years of experience founding, scaling, and operating innovative companies across Canada and the Caribbean. She has built multiple 8-figure businesses from the ground up and has twice been named Canada’s Top Female Entrepreneur.
Kelsey also serves on the Entrepreneurship Council for the University of Western Ontario, where she is also a faculty member teaching Design Thinking. Kelsey holds an MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario
Listen now
If you’re eager to learn more about the Psychedelics business landscape in Canada, listen to the latest season of our podcast now, available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
And if you missed the first dose, never fear: Season 1 is still available and jam-packed with eye-opening information about this exciting industry.
If you’d like more information on how Zeifmans can help your psychedelics business reach new levels of success, reach out to our team today.
