Hola,
 

Now that cannabis legalization is in the midst of creating a massive cannabis industry in North America, along with a whole ecosystem of SaaS software and agtech to support it, what’s next? Maybe MDMA? Psilocybin mushrooms? 

The idea of psychedelic decriminalization or the flowering of psychedelics as an industry isn’t really as radical as it seems. In Oregon, medical psilocybin was made legal by voters late last year. “Magic mushrooms” have been decriminalized for personal possession in a few US cities. 

And, just as marijuana embarked toward legal commercialization via medicinal research, psychedelics are in the initial steps of what could be a similar trajectory.  

For example, the Center for Psychedelic & Consciousness Research at Johns Hopkins University is looking at psilocybin, MDMA (aka ecstasy), and other psychedelics for treating many conditions. 

The possible targets for psychedelic medicine include PTSD (see This Week in Data, below), depression, anxiety, and addiction.

These are among the most widespread mental health conditions, so from a market size perspective, there is something here. Not to mention, these compounds have been used by humans for generations, so in a way we’ve been running “human challenge trials” of sorts with these for millennia. 

As we argued in our Healthcare Insights newsletter today, “it may only be a matter of time before the FDA grants approval for psychoactive compounds to be used therapeutically.” There are healthcare startups working in this area, and we were onto this trend way back in 2019.

If decriminalization really takes off, your morning micro-dose will be no more remarkable as a wellness routine than that dropper of CBD on your bedside table. 

BTW, clients are able to read our just-published 80-slide State Of Wellness report for all the details on how retail and CPG are responding to this trend they can’t ignore.

All will be well

From fitness tech to employee mental health, solutions focused on promoting well-being have come into sharp focus over the last year.

We dig into the wellness trends that are set to influence the consumer and retail industries in 2021 in this data-driven report.

One-stop shop

While Amazon hasn’t plunged into banking (yet), it is attacking financial services from every angle.

A convenient truth

Dark convenience stores have seen explosive growth, raising $2.5B in 2021 so far. 

We look at what’s at stake for grocers, CPG brands, and delivery giants in this client-only brief.

Who run the world

By 2025, the global femtech market is projected to be worth $50B.

From fertility testing kits to sexual wellness, we highlight 95+ companies looking to transform women’s health in this market map.

$1B: Quantum encryption tech provider Arqit is set to go public via SPAC at a $1B valuation. Arqit focuses on a technique called quantum key distribution (QKD) that could help protect communications against hacks from future quantum computers. We discuss the threat that quantum computing poses to cybersecurity in our explainer.

67%: A phase 3 study using MDMA-assisted therapy to combat severe PTSD found that 67% of participants no longer met the diagnostic criteria for PTSD by the end of the study, compared to 32% of the placebo group. In our 2021 Tech Trends report, we dug into how technology will help usher psychedelic medicines into the mainstream.

80K sq. ft.: AT&T and the Ellison cancer institute at USC are partnering to establish a 5G network on site. The network will provide the 80K-square-foot facility with faster connectivity and lower latency, which could help improve patient outcomes. We explore how 5G is poised to disrupt industries including healthcare here.

$185B: TikTok is testing in-app product sales in Europe. As TikTok parent company ByteDance leans more into e-commerce, it’s reportedly aiming to handle over $185B in transactions across its apps in 2022. We break down the latest e-commerce trends and more in our State Of Retail Tech Q1’21 report.

An unlikely Covid-19 vaccination site has emerged: Dracula’s castle in Transylvania. 
 

Instead of stakes through the heart, doctors are giving jabs to arms outside the 14th-century castle as part of a campaign to encourage vaccinations.

Besides the vaccine, “people benefit with free entry to the (castle’s) torture rooms, which have 52 medieval torture instruments,” said Alexandru Priscu, the castle’s marketing manager.

Have a great rest of the week.

Marcelo

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