CannCentral
  • Home
  • Business
    Saliva tests for cannabis won’t provide an accurate depiction of impaired driving

    Saliva tests for cannabis won’t provide an accurate depiction of impaired driving

    CannaReps provides a modern approach to cannabis education

    CannaReps provides a modern approach to cannabis education

    Ryan Reynolds producing Stoned Alone comedy based on Home Alone movies

    Ryan Reynolds producing Stoned Alone comedy based on Home Alone movies

    Strains with Sam: U.K. Cheese

    Strains with Sam: U.K. Cheese

  • Culture
  • Lifestyle
  • News
No Result
View All Result
CannCentral
  • Home
  • Business
    Saliva tests for cannabis won’t provide an accurate depiction of impaired driving

    Saliva tests for cannabis won’t provide an accurate depiction of impaired driving

    CannaReps provides a modern approach to cannabis education

    CannaReps provides a modern approach to cannabis education

    Ryan Reynolds producing Stoned Alone comedy based on Home Alone movies

    Ryan Reynolds producing Stoned Alone comedy based on Home Alone movies

    Strains with Sam: U.K. Cheese

    Strains with Sam: U.K. Cheese

  • Culture
  • Lifestyle
  • News
No Result
View All Result
CannCentral
No Result
View All Result
Home News

Havn Life Sciences chief psychedelic officer marries love of plants with desire to help

Brenda Diaz by Brenda Diaz
November 11, 2024
in News
0 0
0
Havn Life Sciences chief psychedelic officer marries love of plants with desire to help

Let’s start with the company’s name: Havn Life Sciences Inc. Should it be pronounced Havin’ or Haven? Over the phone, Dr. Ivan Casselman declares it’s the latter.

“Millennials have this thing,” he explains. “They pull vowels out of words and make them into new words. I know—it’s modern.”

So is his title: chief psychedelic officer. Very modern.

But where things get more complicated is how he came to this position with the Vancouver biotech company. It hopes to standardize the production of psychedelic medicines.

Related Post

CannaReps provides a modern approach to cannabis education

CannaReps provides a modern approach to cannabis education

November 19, 2024
Saliva tests for cannabis won’t provide an accurate depiction of impaired driving

Saliva tests for cannabis won’t provide an accurate depiction of impaired driving

November 19, 2024

Ryan Reynolds producing Stoned Alone comedy based on Home Alone movies

November 19, 2024

Strains with Sam: U.K. Cheese

November 19, 2024

Havn Life Sciences is starting with psilocybin, a psychoactive compound in magic mushrooms. That’s a natural fit for Casselman, who confesses to having a deep love of plants.

“I’ve been setting myself up for work in the psychedelic industry for quite some time,” Casselman says. “I got very interested in ethnobotany, which is the study of how people use plants, when I was just finishing off my second undergrad.

“And I did all my graduate and postgraduate work in psychedelic medicines,” he added.

In 2009, he obtained his masters at the University of Kent in the U.K., which had one of the only two graduate programs in ethnobotany. The other was in Hawaii.

In the U.K., Casselman zeroed in on a plant called Salvia divinorum, which is a short-acting hallucinogen from Mexico. He ended up completing a digital ethnography, examining patterns of modern use.

From there, he studied pharmacy for a year before enrolling in a PhD program at Southern Cross University in Australia. This time, he examined the analytical chemistry and population genetics of Salvia divinorum.

Havn Life Sciences aims for supply chain of psychedelic medicines

Initially, Casselman planned on becoming a professor. However, he’s since realized that he could “maximize the help” that he brings to people with a company like Havn.

“We’re trying to develop a supply chain for legal psychedelic medicine, specifically psilocybin, to sell shrooms online,” he says.

Moreover, it’s a timely endeavour.

This summer, Saskatchewan resident Thomas Hartle became the first Canadian to legally consume psilocybin. That was part of his psychedelic therapy to help him cope with a terminal illness.

Earlier, Hartle and three other Canadians obtained an exemption under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act to possess psilocybin, which has been illegal since the 1970s.

Not long after Hartle’s treatment, Health Canada granted an exemption permitting Havn Life Sciences to possess psilocybin for research purposes.

Casselman says that researchers and patients need access to compounds that meet standardized quality control, like penis envy mushrooms.

“The prevailing approach at the moment is to…synthesize psilocybin and use the synthesized, purified psilocybin for clinical trials,” he points out. “We’re taking more of a natural health-care product approach. We want to grow the mushrooms.

“And then we want to definitely explore all the incredible compounds that those mushrooms make,” Casselman continues. “Because it might not just be the psilocybin or psilocin that have medical benefits.”

That’s because there are plenty of other compounds in magic mushrooms. In this regard, they’re similar to cannabis, which has a multitude of compounds beyond THC and CBD.

“Those standardization practices are very common in the natural health-care product world,” Casselman says.

Psychedelic therapy has potential to enhance mental health

Havn Life Sciences’ ultimate goal is to win federal approval for these standardized medicines not only in Canada, but in other jurisdictions.

According to Casselman, there’s growing awareness that psychedelics—in conjunction with psychotherapy—may help get people off antidepressant medications.

In addition, research suggests that psychedelic therapy can help people manage symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder.

Casselman also points to the potential of psychedelic therapy weaning people off addiction. That could include everything from tobacco to opioids to sugar and alcohol.

“What really excites me when I wake up in the morning is that what we’re working on has such a huge potential to help a lot of people,” he says.

Casselman has lived in British Columbia for his entire life, apart from the years when he was studying abroad. And he notes that B.C. always been a place with a high acceptance of herbal and golden teacher medicines.

“There’s definitely mounting evidence that these compounds will definitely have a marked effect on the mental health of our province, of our country, [and] of the world if we can go that far.”

Brenda Diaz

Brenda Diaz

Related Posts

CannaReps provides a modern approach to cannabis education
News

CannaReps provides a modern approach to cannabis education

by Kirk Smol
November 19, 2024
Saliva tests for cannabis won’t provide an accurate depiction of impaired driving
News

Saliva tests for cannabis won’t provide an accurate depiction of impaired driving

by Estella Muir
November 19, 2024
Ryan Reynolds producing Stoned Alone comedy based on Home Alone movies
News

Ryan Reynolds producing Stoned Alone comedy based on Home Alone movies

by Kirk Smol
November 19, 2024
Next Post
MedCare Farms’ Garin Heslop got into the cannabis business by accident

MedCare Farms’ Garin Heslop got into the cannabis business by accident

Recommended

It’s not a heart attack: chest pain from smoking weed

It’s not a heart attack: chest pain from smoking weed

November 11, 2024
What Is The Freeze Pipe & How You Should Use It

What Is The Freeze Pipe & How You Should Use It

November 11, 2024
How To Roll That Perfect Swisher – A Detailed Guide

How To Roll That Perfect Swisher – A Detailed Guide

November 11, 2024
Whether or not you need a special lighter for firing up a joint is debatable, but having a good lighter in your arsenal is never a bad thing. Photo by Paul Bradbury / iStock /Getty Images Plu

Lighters for cannabis: here are five of the best

November 11, 2024
CannaReps provides a modern approach to cannabis education

CannaReps provides a modern approach to cannabis education

November 19, 2024
Saliva tests for cannabis won’t provide an accurate depiction of impaired driving

Saliva tests for cannabis won’t provide an accurate depiction of impaired driving

November 19, 2024
Ryan Reynolds producing Stoned Alone comedy based on Home Alone movies

Ryan Reynolds producing Stoned Alone comedy based on Home Alone movies

November 19, 2024
Strains with Sam: U.K. Cheese

Strains with Sam: U.K. Cheese

November 19, 2024
CannСentral Magazine

Recent Posts

  • CannaReps provides a modern approach to cannabis education
  • Saliva tests for cannabis won’t provide an accurate depiction of impaired driving
  • Ryan Reynolds producing Stoned Alone comedy based on Home Alone movies

Categories

  • Business
  • Culture
  • Lifestyle
  • News

© 2023 CannCentral

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Landing Page
  • Buy JNews
  • Support Forum
  • Pre-sale Question
  • Contact Us

© 2023 CannCentral

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In