Psilocybin Alpha is now Psychedelic Alpha

TL;DR: We’re changing our name to Psychedelic Alpha, and making some updates to our website. Please bear with us.

A note from Josh Hardman…

It’s been over two years since I launched Psilocybin Alpha.

As I mentioned in our 2021 Year in Review, I have recently been reflecting on just how inappropriate the name Psilocybin Alpha has become.

When I started writing about psychedelics, psilocybin was at the forefront of clinical research into the ‘true’ psychedelics and the subject of early investor interest.

Psilocybin Alpha’s homepage shortly after launch in Spring 2020.

Today, psilocybin is just one of a whole host of molecules under investigation, with derivatives, analogs and entirely new chemical entities also the subject of drug development efforts.

So, for this simple reason we’re dropping Psilocybin, and opting for Psychedelic.

Alpha, meanwhile, hinted at the focus of our outlet: investing in psychedelics (alpha represents excess return on an investment, relative to a benchmark). But, we (and many of you: our readers) see alpha as more than just economic return on economic investment. 

Rather, we conceptualise alpha as the excess return on myriad investments (time, energy, intellect, effort – not just economic capital), where that excess return might be a more impactful, equitable and transformative treatment paradigm for mental health ailments and beyond (where the ‘benchmark’ is the status quo).

So, we’re keeping the Alpha.

We’re also keeping some of our brand colours, in the hopes that you will still recognise us!

What is Psychedelic Alpha?

Psychedelic Alpha is an independent newsletter and community that strives to empower a diverse constellation of individuals and organisations with the knowledge, network and nuance to make an impact within the field of psychedelic medicine and beyond.

Our reporting and resources cover the contemporary development of psychedelics as medicines and look at how we might tackle the clinical, cultural and cost barriers to making them a reality.

Our New Logo, Explained

Click image to enlarge

Our Values

In the coming weeks and months we will be sharing more about Psychedelic Alpha’s values and goals. Below are just a few examples of our guiding principles:

• Data accessibility and transparency: IP, patents and legal regimes are already complex… the least we can do is share datasets that reduce the knowledge gap in these realms, empowering individuals, journalists and organisations to better understand the landscape.

• Skip the evangelism: We’re not here to sell you the idea of ‘psychedelics as medicine.’ It should go without saying that we have a certain level of enthusiasm for the potential of this field, but we’re certainly not going to participate in the polishing of turds or side-lining of important debates.

• Deference to experts: While we have a unique vantage point, we certainly can’t be experts on everything: especially in a field as interdisciplinary as psychedelics. As such, we solicit the opinions and suggestions of subject matter experts where possible.

• Zoom out: While Leary encouraged folks to turn on, tune in, drop out, we’re always reminding ourselves to ‘zoom out’: recognising the broader and myriad contexts within which the loosely-defined ‘psychedelics space’ exists.

• Not a panacea: When we ‘zoom out’ and appreciate the broader contexts within which mental health disorders and other ailments are located, it should be clear that psychedelic medicines—while certainly embodying the potential to have enormous societal impact—will not be a panacea or silver bullet.

As aforementioned: these are just a handful of our guiding principles. More to come.

Potential disruption

This new brand is no masterpiece, that’s for sure… we prefer to spend our time, effort and capital on producing meaningful and useful content, resources and analysis.

We have also amassed a great deal of content on our website over the past couple of years. Now, we’re reorganising much of this. So, please bear with us should you experience any clunkiness or ugliness on our website in the coming weeks. 

Thank You

Today, the publication of research, filing of patents and penning of popular media stories covering psychedelics is growing exponentially. So much so, just keeping tabs on this space and identifying reliable sources—or, ‘cutting through the noise’—is an endeavour in itself.

That’s why we appreciate you, our readers, for your ongoing trust, support and engagement.