You may have already read our piece ….
We also asked Greg Rovner, CEO of Heally the same series of questions about the hoped for boost to research in Florida.
Greg is based out of San Francisco and runs Heally, a B2B platform that is aggregating cannabis, psychedelics, homeopathy, and other alternative medicine clinics using their EMR/telemedicine software.
Greg Rovner, CEO of Heally
Greg…Firstly, your thoughts on the bill
We think this bill is an excellent step forward for both the state of Florida and the nation’s respective psychedelic industries.
We welcome any opportunity to study psychedelics because we deeply believe in their potential. A recent review commissioned by Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration found that psychedelic drugs could potentially be used to treat treatment-resistant mental illnesses, but only if they were used in closely supervised clinical settings, with intensive professional support.
We are confident that should these bills pass, they will lead to similar findings.
Have you been working with the representatives and/or any other parties to put the legislation together and we’d be especially interested to know if you have worked with any lawyers or law firms on the proposed legislation?
No, we have not. However, we support any research-based attempts to legalize psychedelics as well as any research into them.
Can you give us some of the details of the bill and who it will benefit in requesting that the Department of Health study psilocybin, ketamine, and MDMA as treatments?
Are there specific demographics e.g.veterans or do you see that it is just time for relevant bodies to take these compounds more seriously and avenues for medical treatment?
The legislation would require the DOH and the Board of Medicine to submit a report by Sept. 2023, comparing psychedelic therapy to traditional treatments already in use. While some groups such as veterans do stand to benefit more from additional mental health treatment options, we believe it will benefit everyone who needs mental health treatment.
Relevant legislative and regulatory bodies should explore alternative options that give people a chance to reclaim their mental health.
As you know around the country some cities have begun decriminalizing psychedelic compounds for personal and religious use.
Do you feel that Florida should be looking at these sorts of proposals too? Should a future regulatory environment include personal as well as medical use?
We believe that Florida should consider legalizing psychedelics for personal, religious, and medical use. Not only will it give Floridians more freedom and choice in their medical treatments and recreation, but it will also grant additional tax revenue for the state.
Do you see the regulation of psychedelics for uses other than pharmaceuticals developing in the same way that cannabis has over the last decade?
At the state level, we believe that psychedelic regulation will develop faster than cannabis regulation because there is a lot more momentum and interest from the general public. At the federal level, we believe regulations will follow a similar path to cannabis – facing a lot of similar hurdles, especially in banking.
Other thoughts on where this is all going and will we be seeing by say 2025 a much more liberal understanding of these compounds in the wider population as we now see with cannabis
By 2025, we believe the general public will be better educated on psychedelics than they are now.
Concerted efforts from industry players, mentions in popular media and general curiosity will be the biggest driving forces in awareness and knowledge of psychedelics.
Additionally, more research will come out improving our knowledge on what psychedelics can and cannot do. We hope this research spurs regulatory reform in the psychedelic space.
Other thoughts?
We hope the Florida bills pass and wish Representative Michael Grieco and Minority Leader Senator Lauren Book all the best as they work to develop Florida’s psychedelic space.
