Revitalist CEO Kathryn Walker On Ketamine, Psychedelic Investing, & The Future Of The Industry
REVITALIST LIFESTYLE AND WELLNESS LTD. (CNSX: CALM) CEO Kathryn Walker joins The Dales Report once again to discuss the exciting news on Ketamine and future of the company. A growing company operating a network of clinics in the United States, which has provided more than 12,000 ketamine infusions for patients suffering treatment-resistant conditions since 2018.
As Shadd Dales points out early in the conversation, psychedelic stock investors have long viewed Revitalist as an intriguing company, as they are one of the few in the psychedelics therapeutics space actually generating revenue.
On top of the current revenue stream, Revitalist also has plans to roll out more than 120 clinics across North America over the next two years. Even so, Dales and Walker agree that the current landscape in the space has seen some investors reluctant to buy into the concept of psychedelic stocks.
“It seems that people may be a little camera shy with investing in psychedelics,” states Walker, “because it does mimic cannabis a little bit. So I think that’s a transitioning phase right now. And one thing that’s really neat is that what sets psychedelics apart as compared to cannabis is the research.”
“The way it differentiates is that the psychedelic component is able to be proven research-wise, which is exactly what our traditional system wants to hear. So insurance companies, politicians, all your regulators, everyone who makes the laws, they all want to know ‘why?’ Tell me how it can keep people safe. Tell me how it can address, every crisis that we have going on right now. And how can it save the system money? How can it put people back into work? It can do all these things.”
Walker is not the first guest to point to the research and scientific evidential advantages held within the medicinal psychedelic community when compared to cannabis, and both Walker and Dales agree that the lack of concrete evidence is partially to blame for the slow rate of cannabis regulation.
The conversation shifts gears to focus on ketamine, the psychoactive compound Walker and the team at Revitalist have chosen to target for their therapeutic practices.
Walker gives an interesting historical overview of the chemical, pointing out that ketamine has been studied extensively for more than 60 years already.
“It was actually approved by the FDA in 1970. So it actually had started before 1972 on the FDA approval process. So it’s probably been around almost 60 years. Why are we looking at ketamine and why are we looking at these other psychedelics like they’re going to act like ketamine. Do you know what ketamine comes from? What PCP, Angel dusts… one of the godfathers, biggest hallucinogenics out there.”
“So you know, so ketamine is actually 150 at the strength of what PCP is, and they actually saw PCP had all these good qualities back in the 1950s. They took it to the lab, and they made ketamine from it.”
“Were trying to almost maybe reinvent the wheel. Really, we need to just go back to the 1950s, you know, almost 100 years ago and maybe look at what they did, and how can we polish that?”
The 15-minute conversation sheds more light on the long-term plans for Revitalist, and establishes timelines for potential milestones while addressing current legal hurdles. Even those not looking to invest in psychedelic brands will find the conversation more than entertaining, as Walker and her team are some of the most forward-thinking and innovative in the psychedelic therapeutics space, and their developments will continue to pave the path forward for broad public and legal acceptance.
