🫠 Psychonaut POV

Welcome to Tricycle Day. We’re the psychedelics newsletter that bleeds red, white, and blue… and orange, yellow, green, and purple. Fine, we admit it. We have rainbow guts. 🌈

Mary-Elizabeth Gifford didn't plan to become a psychedelic exec, but maybe her fate was sealed the day she caught a (possibly probably?) LSD-laced candy from Jerry Garcia at age 8. Today, as Chief of Global Impact at Psyence BioMed, she's advancing botanical psilocybin treatments while building bridges between researchers, regulators, and patients.

We asked Mary-Elizabeth why she left the nonprofit world for a biotech startup, what makes nature-derived psilocybin different from synthetic, and how D.C. is quietly becoming the new psychedelic capital of America.

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Where did your initial interest in psychedelics come from, and how did you end up as Chief of Global Impact at Psyence?

My initial interest in psychedelics was in LSD and it was unexpected; I was eight years old and in Central Park with my family for a Grateful Dead concert. Jerry Garcia threw saltwater taffy into the audience and I caught a piece. My dad made me throw it back, “in case it’s LSD.” I relinquished the candy. But not my curiosity.

A quiet child, I grew up in New York City in a brownstone on the upper east side, educated at the very-establishment Spence School for Girls, yet raised by parents who were champions of the avant-garde.

So by the time I had been told to throw that salt water taffy back to Jerry Garcia, the children in our family were no strangers to the unexpected. My mother had advised Black Panther Fred Hampton, my father brought Ken Kesey’s One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest to the stage, and Andy Warhol and his muse, Ultra Violet, had already been our babysitters.

As feral children in a creative environment during a bohemian period there was tremendous freedom. No book, publication, album or cultural “happening” was off-limits. But I was aware that my mother had hired Dr. Leary and Dr. Alpert (later known as Ram Das), for a research project, and that she believed their advocacy of psychedelics caused more harm than good. So my initial interest in psychedelics was tempered by skepticism.

Fast forward to a new generation, and the therapeutic potential of psychedelics became apparent to me while studying the history of science during a post-graduate non-degree year at Harvard. I came to understand there's a strong cultural component to how we identify and develop medicines, which suggested that psychedelic medicine could be a legitimate field of inquiry that might be approached with evidence-based rigor.

Then, while working in regenerative agriculture, it became clear while the wellness economy was enjoying fantastic growth—the sector is valued at $6.3 trillion, four times bigger than global pharma at $1.6 trillion—that America’s loss of life expectancy was demographically driven. Determined to democratize wellness, I joined the nonprofit Center for Mind-Body Medicine to lead their public policy.

But when a longtime friend, the music mogul Chris Blackwell, asked me to fly to Toronto to meet Dr. Amza Ali, a neurologist, and Dr. Justin Grant, a professor, I was inspired by their dedication. They were starting a mushroom-derived psilocybin biopharma and recruited me to join them. I went home to DC, resigned my job to join Psyence, which grew to include Psyence BioMed, and never looked back.

Coming from the nonprofit world to a biopharma company like Psyence must have been a culture shift. What's been easy about that transition, and what's been more challenging than expected?

The nonprofit world keeps a focus on process, not results, and the for-profit world privileges results over process. Although counterintuitive, I find the latter the most appropriate response given the urgency of today’s mental health crisis.

In psychedelic biopharma, truth, transparency, and traceability are key currencies in commercial development. In this time of hype, the marketplace does reward accountability. It’s why Psyence BioMed, founded by Jody Aufrichtig, achieved a first as the first mushroom-derived (non-synthetic) biopharma to list on the Nasdaq.

It’s impossible to manufacture natural psilocybin. That’s why we grow it instead. Our sister company PsyLabs is federally licensed to cultivate, extract, and export psilocybin, psilocin, mescaline, and ibogaine.

The work feels like a marathon at the pace of a sprint. The individual reckoning of what it exacts from our very marrow to open a new sector is fueled by an ever-present awareness that, if we—all of us—do absolutely everything possible, push ourselves to the limits of our ability, strive with every sinew, and draw on every last drop of our reserve: this still might not happen. But if we don't try, it definitely won't happen.

Psyence has really emphasized the distinction between nature-derived and synthetic psilocybin. What's actually different about them, and why does it matter for patients?

Professor Bernard Lerer’s research suggests that mushroom-derived psilocybin may be demonstrably more therapeutic than synthetic. His work documents that nature-derived psilocybin delivers a measurably more potent and prolonged effect on neuroplasticity—the gold standard by which therapeutic efficacy can be measured.

He's also found different levels of metabolites and alkaloids like baeocystin and norbaeocystin may deliver what some call an entourage effect, which may provide enhanced or therapeutic effects. We're still in very early days, and these are small mammal studies, so there's much more work to do.

But one day physicians will tell their patients, "psilocybin is a safe, well-regulated, FDA-approved medicine.” Then that doctor will offer the patient a choice: “You have an option between a lab-generated synthetic analog or a psilocybin dose that has been grown, derived from a mushroom.” That's a legitimate conversation about healing for patients to have with their doctors.

We already know when patients have a hospital room with a window to nature, recuperation is measurably faster. When there is a view of trees, the need for pain medications is mitigated. When we connect with the natural world, there are biomarkers that indicate healing is advanced. The medical literature on psychedelics and botanical medicine affirms timeless truths, the beauty of nature, and the simplicity of life.

You've been described as "the most quietly influential woman working in psychedelics today." Is there something about working behind the scenes that's been particularly effective?

Yes, quietly working behind the scenes is how the mycelial network nurtures the forest floor and builds community, and these are the lessons that matter most. “In dreams begin responsibilities” is a line attributed to W.B. Yeats that guides me as a call to conscience. If we believe the psychedelic medicine we are developing could and should change the world, then that means meeting that standard ourselves.

All of us can nurture the process by strengthening our own dedication to neighborliness and, in a time of uncertainty, by having the faith to be platform positive. We're in a golden chapter of history right now, despite how slowly everything has moved. There’s the possibility of a public-private partnership with ibogaine, we have a head of HHS who says the days of shutting the door on psychedelic medicine are over, and we have big pharma willing to invest. For those who say "boo Big Pharma," I ask, what's the plan if not to all evolve together? How could that not be the best outcome for everyone?

What's something happening in the psychedelic space right now that not many people are paying attention to, but should be?

Psychedelic biopharma is building a bridge in Washington, D.C., between research and regulation. This bridge is why we now see unprecedented openness from HHS leadership regarding psychedelic research, increased funding for studies through institutions like the VA and NIDA, and growing bipartisan support for therapeutic applications.

Melissa Lavasani, CEO of the Psychedelic Medicine Coalition, the only D.C.-based nonprofit advocating for psychedelic medicine and patient care, is working closely with the Congressional Psychedelic Caucus to support a bill being called a national blueprint to improve mental healthcare. Breakthrough therapy designations have already been granted to several psychedelic compounds. There are six Phase III FDA-approved clinical trials.

These federal developments are how a transformative integration of psychedelic medicines into mainstream healthcare, ensuring equitable access and rigorous safety standards, will arrive. That can never happen through state-level reform or a local ballot initiative because, as attorney Kathryn Tucker, a founding member of the Psychedelic Bar Association reminds us: there is no safe harbor from federal law.

As Psyence BioMed’s Chief of Global Impact, I am the only C-level executive of any publicly listed psychedelic biopharma to live and work inside the District of Columbia, and it grants a unique viewpoint to witness how even during this chapter of political polarization, psychedelic medicine is a bipartisan issue. Daniel Goldberg of Palo Santo recently suggested that psychedelic medicine may be the only bipartisan issue in America. He’s right.

So it is because of this—and the decades of courage and tenacity from researchers, advocates, and clinicians—that Washington, D.C., as the new psychedelic capital of America, has arrived.

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DISCLAIMER: This newsletter is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice. The use, possession, and distribution of psychedelic drugs are illegal in most countries and may result in criminal prosecution.