So, what we have now is a similar kind of market failure, in that the psychedelic drugs and marijuana are off patent. They’re no longer possible to be monopolized by the pharmaceutical industry. So you could have what’s called composition of matter patents, which is when somebody originally creates the drug, and then you control all of its uses. MDMA, for example, was first developed by Merck in 1912, and patented in 1914, and has long since expired. LSD was developed in 1938, psychedelic properties discovered in ’43. And we could go on and on with psilocybin, with marijuana. All of these drugs are no longer possible to be monopolized.

Then there’s also what’s called use patents, where you can have a patent on a particular use, if you’re the first to discover it. The for-profit approach was tried with Ibogaine in the ‘80s, where Howard Lotsof patented the use of Ibogaine the treatment of opiate addiction. And, unfortunately, that has led to a whole series of lawsuits by people who thought that they had a profit potential, sued each other, and brought down the whole field of Ibogaine research. And now, fortunately, those patents have expired.

So, the market failure is that the pharmaceutical industry is not putting any money into this, because they can’t really make money. Also, these drugs are not like your normal money-making drugs, where you need to take them once a day or twice a day, and if you stop taking them your problems come back. That’s the ideal drug, from a pharmaceutical perspective.

I, for one, always thought that the action of a psychedelic was dependent on an increase in blood supply to the brain, which is allowing billions more brain cells to function, and thereby explaining the expanded sense of consciousness. To my surprise, this research has showed exactly the opposite. It showed a decrease of blood flow to the brain.

And, what is specifically interesting is, it shows a decrease in this essential network of centers called the default mode network, which it is hub centers, which have the most connections. So they are the controlling centers in the brain, equivalent in Freudian language to the ego. And, in the psychedelic state, they are the centers, which lose the most blood supply.

And so, how does a psychedelic experience happen, then? It happens by reducing the constriction on sensation, experience. So, suddenly, we are flooded with perception, which is normally repressed. And that explains why one has novel and creative insights on a psychedelic, or can have. And also, why they’re so important in psychotherapy.

And, what is specifically interesting is, it shows a decrease in this essential network of centers called the default mode network, which it is hub centers, which have the most connections. So they are the controlling centers in the brain, equivalent in Freudian language to the ego. And, in the psychedelic state, they are the centers, which lose the most blood supply.

And so, how does a psychedelic experience happen, then? It happens by reducing the constriction on sensation, experience. So, suddenly, we are flooded with perception, which is normally repressed. And that explains why one has novel and creative insights on a psychedelic, or can have. And also, why they’re so important in psychotherapy.