If you haven’t gotten the memo yet, medical psychedelics are the next big thing, and there are great reasons why, that mare made clear through medical testing every day. To give an idea of just how quickly this is now happening, the mushrooms company Levitee Labs has just entered the Canadian Securities Exchange. What does this mean?
It’s not hard to tell medical psychedelics are on their way, with the inclusion of a mushrooms company in the Canadian Securities Exchange. It’s a story we know well from the current situation of fighting for legalization of cannabis, and all included products like delta-8 THC, THCV, and THCA. More legalizations means more products, and this is great for you. We can’t wait until we can offer you psychedelics, but for now, take a look at our delta 10, THC-O, THCV & delta-8 THC deals, and the rest of the compounds we have on offer, to find something that works well for you.
Medical psychedelics have been on the rise for several years, with esketamine legalized in 2019 in the US for use with treatment resistant depression and suicidal thoughts (updated 2020), and research on the way to legalize MDMA and psilocybin from magic mushrooms, complete with ‘breakthrough therapy’ status from the US’s FDA. This makes it not that shocking that a country that already legalized recreational cannabis, would be one of the first to allow a company interested in psychedelics into a securities exchange, and that’s exactly what happened.
What mushrooms company just entered the Canadian Securities Exchange?
On July 19th, 2021, it was announced that integrative medicine company Levitee Labs, Inc., a producer of mushrooms and associated products, would enter the Canadian Securities Exchange on July 21st 2021, which it did, with a starting share price of $.50. This makes it the very first company geared toward the growth and sale of medicinal mushrooms to enter any global exchange. Which is obviously big news if you follow the expanding world of medical psychedelics, as this now makes it an acceptable route.
Levitee is now traded under ‘LVT’, after it announced that it received final approval from the CSE (Canadian Securities Exchange). Levitee operates under two names: Sporeo Supply, which offers premium cultivation feedstock for mushrooms, based out of a facility in British Columbia, and Monk-E Nutraceuticals, which focuses on a line of nutraceutical supplements based on mushrooms, as well as supplies for cultivating mushrooms. It currently works with non-psychedelic mushrooms, but is looking to include the psychedelic counterpart, and is currently working on a psychedelic mushroom product, as per its own site. While its products can be used to grow psychedelic mushrooms, as well as non-psychedelic, it is not the intent of the company for its products to be used for anything illegal. The company has already raised over $12 million CAD through private offerings.
In order to get this clearance, Levitee needed to accomplish a few things, which were all done. First, it agreed on the acquisition of all of the operational assets of ACT Medical Centres, Inc. This is made up of five clinics for addiction and pain management across the state of Alberta – which came to a total of $350,000, all paid. These clinics have serviced over 35,000 patients in the last year.
Second, it also made a share purchase agreement (when a seller agrees with a buyer for a specific amount of shares at a specific price) to acquire three pharmacies in Alberta by taking over issued and outstanding shares. These pharmacies focus on medications for substance abuse, mental health issues, and chronic pain. The cost of acquisition was $3,685,262.
Lastly, the company made a share purchase agreement for BlockMD LTD, a telemedicine platform geared toward patients with addiction issues who are seeking to get prescriptions and find doctors in Alberta, Canada. This cost Levitee $1,475,000. This was paid with Levitee’s common shares upon closing. In the last year, this platform has hosted over 20,000 doctor visits remotely.
When Levitee completed these steps, it fulfilled the transaction, which made the previous owner, Alex Wylie the principal business operator and a consultant, and Carrie Wylie the General Manager of operations in Alberta. Company CEO, Pouya Farmand, made this statement about the agreement:
“The Agreements we have entered today are integral to our growth strategy and goal of building a platform that will set a new standard for substance abuse and mental health treatment in Canada. Through these acquisitions, we expect Levitee will become the largest non-government provider of addiction treatment services in Alberta.”
What is Levitee Labs?
‘Integrative medicine’ has become a popular term of late, which is almost funny, in that its essentially the same as ‘holistic medicine’ which was badly demonized by pharmaceutical companies not looking to have patients focus on their entire selves when establishing and treating problems. Both holistic and integrative medicine use alternate approaches, or combined approaches, that take into account the full spectrum of a patient, including other health issues, lifestyle, diet, and habits.
Levitee Labs operates in this space as an integrative wellness company that specializes in providing a central point to complementary wellness services for patients. The company provides products for addiction, pain, and mental health treatments, with the intention of using psychedelic medicine and associated therapies. This includes alternative medicines through evidence-based research, and newly emerging psychedelic therapies like esketamine.
Levitee’s recent acquisition agreement, which allowed it’s shares to become publicly traded assets, is basically a starting platform from which the company intends to administer esketamine therapy, along with other psychedelic treatments, for mental health-related issues, pain issues, and addiction problems. The company is pushing to implement treatments using both psilocybin and ibogaine, once these treatments become legal, or exemptions are made.
How did Levitee make it happen?
The company is using 2021 to increase revenue and grow further, starting with its acquisitions as a base to do so. It plans to continue strategic acquisitions to further integrate into the Canadian market, and further develop itself and its platforms and brands. The company was able to make the moves it made thus far, partially based off of a non-brokered private deal which grossed the company $10,570,000 CAD, the majority of the $12+ million raised privately so far.
Levitee was able to bring in this money because of incredible interest in the company and its efforts, so incredible that the demand exceeded the company’s initial offering by 3.5X. The initial offering was $8 million CAD, with the increase made by issuing 21,140,000 subscription receipts at $.50 CAD/receipt, which came to $10,570,000 CAD. A subscription receipt is a receipt issued by a company before an offering, which is worth one common share of the company to whomever holds it.
This massive interest led Levitee to hire investors to finance special warrants (dividends where the holder has the ability to sell or buy a security before it expires, at a specific price), with each special warrant going for $.50 CAD. This brought in an additional working capital of $1,230,000. All of this, and being the first psychedelics company to enter an exchange, makes Levitee one of the premiere companies in the psychedelics space. In April, the company stated that it expected its 2021 revenue to top $26 million CAD.
Legalization issues and looking ahead
It’s a pretty big deal that a company working on entering the psychedelics space, and which is looking to create a psychedelic mushroom product, was just added to the Canadian Securities Exchange. In order to do it, Levitee has leveraged some pretty good deals for itself by acquiring already existent companies that have lines into different sectors, like BlockMD LTD which gives a base for a telemedicine network. Levitee has already added more to its catalogue of acquisitions, and worked to expand its offerings.
The company bought direct-to-consumer online supplements and health food wholesale company Earth Circle Organics Inc, which operates mainly in the US. This could help it expand into the US market. It also acquired a mushroom-based tea company, called BODIE Phytoceuticals Ltd. Lastly, the company is looking toward receiving a license from Health Canada to be a Controlled Drugs and Substances Dealer. It was a late-stage applicant for this license, which is necessary for suppliers of controlled substance treatments in accordance with the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (CDSA).
As far as magic mushrooms in Canada, though the mushrooms themselves are still illegal, spores, grow kits, and mycelium are all legal, and sold outright. Psilocybin and psilocin, the two main active psychedelic components in mushrooms, are Schedule III under Canada’s Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. Possession, sale, and transport of these substances is therefore illegal, as well as obtaining and producing them without licensing, or a specific exemption for them.
This does not stop online retailers from already selling psilocybin in micro doses, which could be a reason the country began to allow medical use for end-of-life patients in 2020. That same year, 19 health officials obtained the right to administer psilocybin to themselves in order to help in the creation of medicine in the future. Last month, legal actions were threatened by advocates because Health Canada stymied its approvals for psilocybin therapy, with a growing resistance and disapproval to such lagging behavior. Exemptions to use psilocybin therapy are obtained through section 56 of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. This legal article better defines the current status of mushrooms, how an industry is likely to get started in the same way as cannabis, and what can be realistically expected in the near future.
Conclusion
In the same way that it becomes clear through the FDA’s designation of a ‘breakthrough therapy’, that MDMA and psilocybin are on their way toward legalization in the States, it says the same thing that Health Canada is already making allowances for psilocybin therapy in Canada. Added to this that Levitee, a company in the mushrooms space – looking to add psychedelic mushroom products to its repertoire, was just added to the Canadian Securities Exchange, and the idea that magic mushrooms will be illegal forever goes out the window.
The question with Canada, much like the US, is not ‘will magic mushrooms be legalized for medical use’, but ‘when will magic mushrooms be legalized for medical use.’
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Disclaimer: Hi, I’m a researcher and writer. I’m not a doctor, lawyer, or businessperson. All information in my articles is sourced and referenced, and all opinions stated are mine. I am not giving anyone advise, and though I am more than happy to discuss topics, should someone have a further question or concern, they should seek guidance from a relevant professional.
