Job titles of the future: Pharmaceutical-grade mushroom grower
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Summary
Optimi Health in British Columbia, Canada is working with licensed cultivator Scott Marshall to produce psilocybin on an industrial scale in the hope that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will give approval for it to be used as a treatment for depression.
Despite the FDA’s recent rejection of the first application for a psychedelic-based treatment, Compass Pathways’ research indicates that psilocybin has great potential in this area.
Cultivating the drug on a large scale and to pharmaceutical standards will be a challenge and Optimi hopes to be ahead of the field once approval is given.
Although the market is currently small and illegal, as the body of research into the benefits of psychedelics grows, an increasing number of jurisdictions are legalising them for medical use.
Marshall began growing mushrooms in 2014 for his own use and then to help others and set up his own company selling cultivation kits before joining Optimi.