Pot stock Little Green Pharma flags plans to expand from cannabis to psychedelic medicines

Cannabis player Little Green Pharma (ASX:LGP) is expanding into psychedelics – and has just been granted a Schedule 9 licence to supply psilocybin by WA Government Department of Health.

The license is a key step in the company’s plans to enter the field which uses psychedelic drugs to treat mental illness.

“The field of psychedelics is a logical fit with our long term stated goals of solving real patient problems and transforming their lives,” managing director Fleta Solomon said.

“We have developed so much experience over the years through the cannabis industry, and we genuinely believe we can now bring that to bear on the development of the psychedelics field in Australia.”

Producing psilocybin in WA

The company said it’s well placed to leverage its existing investment in cultivation and drug manufacturing infrastructure in WA, as well as its experience and expertise in botanical drug-based products, to cultivate psilocybin mushrooms for use in medical research.

“The existing investment in our West Australian cannabis cultivation and manufacturing facility means we can meaningfully enter the field with minimal incremental capital spend,” Solomon said.

LGP is currently working on extending its GMP licence to cover psilocybin manufacture – and is also planning to sponsor a ground-breaking Perth based clinical trial into psilocybin assisted psychotherapy.

Psychedelic subsidiary established

LGP has also established a special purpose subsidiary to conduct its’ psychedelic business with Shaun Duffy appointed as CEO in April.

Duffy is a former FTI Consulting senior managing director and the head of the firm’s Australian strategic communications practice and member of its Australian leadership group.

Plus, Dr Stephen Bright has joined the subsidiary’s clinical advisory board as its foundation member.

Dr Bright is a clinical psychologist, the co-founder and vice president of PRISM (an entity dedicated to the advancement of psychedelic research) and a senior lecturer in addiction at Edith Cowan University.