This week’s Psychedelic Titan is Benjamin Lightburn, CEO & Co-Founder of Filament Health. Filament Health is a leading exclusively natural psychedelic drug development company.
What’s this article series about? Psychedelic Titans is a get-to-know-you-style blog series interviewing some of the psychedelic industry’s most influential and impactful individuals.
When did you first become involved in the psychedelic industry and why?
I have closely followed developments in the field of psychedelics for years, and I realized that no one was focusing seriously on the natural side of psychedelics. My background in natural extraction technologies uniquely positioned me to explore this gap in the market. I knew that I had the experience necessary to effectively develop natural psychedelics and improve access to much-needed substances for mental health treatments.
What’s your favourite psychedelic compound?
Other than natural psilocybin, bufotenin is my current favourite – it’s very interesting from an academic perspective. Bufotenin is extracted from the seeds of the yopo tree and is structurally very similar to psilocybin, but it’s not yet well understood. Our team has made standardized, purified extracts of bufotenin, and we’re excited to study it further to learn more about its effects.
Do your parents/family members know what you’re doing?
My family is supportive and enthusiastic investors in Filament. Psychedelics are a constant point of conversation in the Lightburn household – my wife is very well-versed in the subject.
Have you had an experience with mental health/chronic pain?
There isn’t a person alive who hasn’t been affected by mental health issues. It’s a sensitive topic that I personally take very seriously, and with the impacts of COVID-19, focus on mental health treatments will be even more important.
What’s your vision of the industry in 20 years?
In 20 years, I believe the industry will have both pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical tracks. We may also see recreational use become mainstream in a similar fashion to the recreational cannabis industry.
What are your biggest worries for the industry?
I worry that certain companies will get a pharmaceutical monopoly on psychedelic substances so that the pharmaceutical distribution model becomes the only way that these important substances are distributed. Psychedelics are natural compounds and should be available to everyone, so it concerns me to see organizations like ATAI claiming that they have all medical psychedelics patented – it’s neither possible nor productive.
If you could create a psychedelic to do anything you wanted, what would it do?
Psychedelics are already magically effective – they increase human connectedness and experience, they treat conditions like depression, PTSD, and addiction – the applications are endless. I look forward to discovering more miraculous natural effects from within the hundreds of unexplored psychedelic plants.
We’d like to thank Benjamin for being a part of the Psychedelic Titans series. Stay tuned for weekly profiles on leaders in the psychedelic industry.
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