Psilocybin mushrooms are no longer reserved for experimental hippies, parties, and warm summer afternoons. Now, if you have the money, they're readily available to use on international luxury retreats.
Some international wellness retreats are saying goodbye to days at the spa and hello to the once taboo substance.
This includes Beckley Retreats, backed by Beckley Foundation, a UK-based think tank and non-governmental organization researching substances like cannabis and psychedelics with the intention of reforming drug policies.
Source: Beckley Foundation
The foundation — which launched in 1998 — also runs a startup incubator, a training and certification academy, a segment that works on "neurological and psychiatric disorders" …
Source: Beckley Retreats
… and now, Beckley Retreats, which was started with the help of angel investors, VC funds, and its two co-founders: Amanda Feilding, the co-founder of Beckley Foundation, and Neil Markey. Markey told Insider he was inspired by a "need for ethics around this work."
Over the last few years, the use of psychedelics in the wellness and health industry has been booming as researchers and companies tout its therapeutic effects for people with depression, addiction, and anxiety, among other illnesses.
Source: Insider
The US Food and Drug Administration has yet to approve the widespread use of psilocybin, but discussions around psychedelic drugs are quickly becoming more mainstream.
Source: Vice
"There is a lot of money flowing into this space, but some of it maybe didn't have the purest intentions," he said, noting that some people just want to maximize their profits. "I think that this work should be more about helping people, improving their wellbeing, and being a conscious organization."
While psilocybin can help people with a history of mental health problems, this retreat isn't for these people, Markey says.
And when the experience is over and the guests have returned home, they undergo six weekly post-retreat meetings to "sustain and integrate the retreat experience," according to its website.
Source: Beckey Retreats
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