EXCLUSIVE: Making The World A Better Place, How Psychedelics Are Helping

It's human nature to fear what we cannot understand. The best way to conquer that fear is with knowledge, Brock Pierce told the crowd at Benzinga Psychedelics Capital Conference on Thursday in Miami Beach.

The crypto billionaire, economist and philanthropist who serves as chair of the Bitcoin Foundation started off as a child actor. He is now a serial entrepreneur known primarily for his work in the cryptocurrency industry. He recently joined Jeremy Gardner's psychedelics-focused venture fund Mystic Ventures as a general partner, which brought him and Gardner to the stage at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach. The two entrepreneurs participated in a keynote hosted by Benzinga's Javier Hasse. 

Education Is The Best Approach To Policy Reform

Asked about the current psychedelics regulatory landscape and challenges in coming years, Pierce said that every change begins with information.

"The first process is just education," he said. "A lot of it."

Over the years, Pierce, who once ran for the President of the United States, has built strong relationships in Congress, having educated the government about cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. His current mission is to do the same with psychedelics.

"I've learned how to do this in D.C. from a political perspective and it's the same playbook again, and it begins with just information," he said." Every time I meet a Democrat, I meet a Republican," Pierce said, adding that he is trying to shed light on the issue while making sure it remains "a nonpartisan thing."

Transparency Matters

Gardner emphasized the importance of getting information about something new, like psychedelics, out in the open, through academic research.

"If you're doing something entirely new, you need to do the studies, you need to publish it, you need to make it available for peer review," he said.

Why? He explained that data between companies would result in more effective treatment of patients that need psychedelic medicines.

Having been on five different psychiatric drugs at the age of 14, Gardner experienced firsthand how psychedelics can help with mental health issues. For him, a few grams of mushrooms made frequent suicidal thoughts disappear.

Making The World A Better Place

"These medicines have effectively guided me to this stage right now," he said, adding, "There's nothing else I should be doing than making sure that the people who need them have access to them."

To that end, the entrepreneurial duo is at the forefront of innovation and are combining artificial intelligence and virtual reality with psychedelics.

Gardner said that virtual reality works wonders for the preparation and integration of psychedelic experiences.

Artificial intelligence enables psychiatry, which has mostly relied on qualitative research methods, to also utilize quantitative methods.

"Adding data to how we diagnose mental illness is going to allow treatments to be a hundred times more effective and faster in getting people to the right treatment," Gardner said.

Through their fund, Pierce and Gardner support those who decide to venture into the psychedelics space and make the world a better place.

"Our fund's thesis is not investing in psychedelics...our fund's thesis is the elevation of consciousness," Pierce said.

Photo by Kelsey Wikerson