If I had a dollar for every HN story about how technically illegal drugs are being used for psychiatric purposes and we're just on the verge of them going mainstream and legal and licit, I could fund a bunch of YC startups.
Hard doubt. Searched for "mushroom", "psilocybin", "cannabis", "marijuana", "cocaine", "lsd", "ecstasy", "heroin", "ketamine" on HN search and in total came up with just ~4450 submissions in total, and I'm over-estimating by including just mentions of some illicit drugs, not just psychiatric purposes. I'd love to see you fund any startup with just ~5000 USD.
This is the most stereotypically perfect HN response ever.
Thank you! I tried really hard, and seems I succeeded, I'm glad it worked.
Esketamine isn't "technically illegal" or "on the verge". It has been approved by the FDA. It's available legally now.
There seems to have been a noticeable dropoff in new depression treatments. Sometimes I wonder if resorting to these options is a kind of desperation. I'm not saying these things shouldn't be investigated, but most of these illegal drugs will cure depression in the short term, but not so much in the longer term. Even the SSRIs have become a disappointment for many in the long term.
Regarding development, there hasn’t been much at all outside of SSRIs/SNRIs. The third chapter in the below video on bipolar disorder and ketamine addresses this.