Posted by AGORACOM
at 8:22 AM on Wednesday, August 26th, 2020
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / August 26, 2020 / Thoughtful Brands Inc. (CSE:TBI)(FWB:1WZ1)(OTCQB:PEMTF) (the “Company” or “Thoughtful Brands“), a global natural health products and eCommerce technology company, is proud to announce that its United States-based CBD brand Nature’s Exclusive acquired 134,861 new customers in the year 2020 to date.
The Company attributes the strong sales performance of its Nature’s Exclusive brand to the addition of innovative products and significant investment in customer acquisition. Building off the success of Nature’s Exclusive, Thoughtful Brands is continuing to expand its portfolio in the nutraceutical and hemp-based CBD product space through the August 2020 acquisitions of Golden Path LLC and Wild Mariposa LLC, two direct-to-consumer eCommerce brands offering natural health products throughout the U.S. The Company expects to leverage its recently acquired eCommerce platform to ramp up customer acquisition and sales of its newly acquired brands.
“By investing in our established brands and forging agreements to sell new brands through our recently acquired eCommerce sales platform, we are charging ahead with our goal to be the global leader in the natural health products industry. With our drive and experience, we are excited to make quality CBD products more accessible than ever before to both experienced and new consumers. We look forward to an even stronger fourth quarter across our brands” said Thoughtful Brands CEO, Ryan Dean Hoggan.
About Thoughtful Brands
Thoughtful Brands is an eCommerce technology company that researches, develops, markets, and distributes natural health products through various brands in North America and Europe. Through continuous strategic acquisitions, the Company has a strong footprint in the CBD market, as well as the burgeoning psychedelic medicine sector. Thoughtful Brands owns and operates a 110,000 square foot pharmaceutical manufacturing facility in Radebeul, Germany, where its highly skilled team conducts clinical studies utilizing naturally occurring psilocybin and other compounds found in psychedelics for the treatment of opiate addiction, while planning for future opportunities to create proprietary psilocybin products.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
THOUGHTFUL BRANDS INC. Ryan Hoggan Chief Executive Officer
Posted by AGORACOM
at 12:23 PM on Saturday, August 22nd, 2020
Acquired the rights to an E-commerce software platform that provides the Company with the opportunity to capture previously unrealized value from the products it launches in the online natural health market.
August 22, 2020 / Thoughtful Brands Inc. (CSE:TBI)(FWB:1WZ1)(OTCQB:PEMTF) (the “Company” or “Thoughtful Brands“) is pleased to announce that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Ecommerce Tech LLC, has acquired the rights to an E-commerce software platform (the “Software“) from Unified Funding LLC’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Offer Space LLC (“Offer Space“). The acquisition of the asset provides the Company with the opportunity to capture previously unrealized value from the products it launches in the online natural health market.
The Software has facilitated over Cdn$350 million in consumer transactions, including Cdn$93.8 million in 2019. The asset will enhance the management of the Company’s already profitable online brands, and will allow the Company to launch new products and enter into emerging natural health markets worldwide, more efficiently. In addition to providing immediate value to the existing brands owned and operated by Thoughtful Brands, the newly acquired E-commerce platform is expected to reduce current operating costs.
“The Company was very successful in its negotiations with Unified Funding, and ultimately acquired the asset for US$1 million. The Company’s success in negotiating such favorable terms not only results in less dilution for existing Thoughtful Brands shareholders, it also adds immediate value to the Company,” stated Ryan Hoggan, Chief Executive Officer of Thoughtful Brands. “This acquisition is a critical milestone in executing our strategy to further our reach in the natural health products sector. Now that we own the software platform, integral technology and top brands, we will further develop and launch our own platform that will be even more powerful and fit in with our overall strategy.”
Thoughtful Brands’ existing portfolio of direct-to-consumer hemp-CBD brands includes Nature’s Exclusive, whose roster of topicals and oils available in North America generated more than Cdn$28 million in sales in 2019, and Sativida. The Company also recently acquired two leading E-commerce brands selling natural health products in the United States, Golden Path and Wild Mariposa.
Transaction Details
The Company has acquired the Software from Unified Funding LLC’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Offer Space, in consideration for US$1,000,000 (the “Purchase Price“), which was satisfied through the issuance of 6,290,170 common shares of the Company (the “Consideration Shares“) issued at a deemed price of Cdn$0.2094. The Company also paid an administrative fee of 62,902 common shares of the Company to a consultant who assisted with the transactions (the “Administrative Fee Shares“).
The Consideration Shares and Administrative Fee Shares are subject to a statutory hold period until December 22, 2020, in accordance with applicable securities laws.
About Thoughtful Brands Inc.
Thoughtful Brands Inc. is an E-commerce technology company that researches, develops, markets, and distributes natural health products through various brands in North America and Europe. Through continuous strategic acquisitions, the Company has a strong footprint in the CBD market, as well as the burgeoning psychedelic medicine sector. Thoughtful Brands owns and operates a 110,000 square foot pharmaceutical manufacturing facility in Radebeul, Germany, where its highly skilled team conducts clinical studies utilizing naturally occurring psilocybin and other compounds found in psychedelics for the treatment of opiate addiction, while planning for future opportunities to create proprietary psilocybin products.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS THOUGHTFUL BRANDS INC.
Posted by AGORACOM
at 8:43 AM on Thursday, August 20th, 2020
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / August 20, 2020 / Thoughtful Brands Inc. (CSE:TBI)(FWB:1WZ1:GR)(OTCQB:PEMTF) (the “Company” or “Thoughtful Brands“) is pleased to announce the completion of its acquisition of Golden Path LLC (“Golden Path“) and Wild Mariposa LLC (“Wild Mariposa“). Golden Path and Wild Mariposa are privately held fast-growth, direct-to-consumer eCommerce brands selling natural health products in the United States.
The acquisitions will expand Thoughtful Brands’ portfolio in the nutraceutical and hemp-based CBD product space. The Company already has a roster of established and successful hemp-CBD brands including Nature’s Exclusive in North America and Sativida in Spain and Mexico. Golden Path and Wild Mariposa products are all carefully crafted based on market demand and product quality. Every product is also third-party tested for purity and manufactured in the United States in GMP certified facilities.
Golden Path and Wild Mariposa are current clients of Unified Funding, LLC (“Unified”) which performs a number of eCommerce operations for Thoughtful Brands. In June, the Company entered into a binding term sheet to acquire the Unified eCommerce platform, signifying another key strategic growth initiative. This allows Thoughtful Brands to continue to grow its health products business more rapidly on an international scale, tapping into entering new natural health markets and developing new products.
“Thanks to our relationship with Unified, our eCommerce and technology abilities are first rate. These brands not only complement our existing natural health product lines but position us for continued growth and advance our Company as a leader in the space,” said Ryan Hoggan, CEO of Thoughtful Brands. “An increased focus on consumer brands and expanding our market footprint constitute our core strategies and growth trajectory at Thoughtful Brands. These two acquisitions come on the heels of several strategic acquisitions which are key to our larger goal to reach new customers internationally and increase eCommerce capabilities.”
Among other recent accomplishments, Thoughtful Brands recently announced a European expansion through a joint venture with Franchise Cannabis Corp. Through this partnership, Thoughtful Brands will sell and market Franchise-manufactured CBD, hemp and cosmetic products in the European Union, Switzerland, Norway and the UK, utilizing its well-established eCommerce platform.
Acquisition Details
The Company has acquired Golden Path and Wild Mariposa pursuant to purchase agreements entered into with the respect members of Golden Path and Wild Mariposa, dated effective August 19, 2020. In consideration for acquisition of all of the outstanding membership interests in Golden Path and Wild Mariposa the Company has issued 11,544,400 common shares and 15,055,600 common shares (collectively, the “Consideration Shares“), respectively. The Consideration Shares were issued to the existing members of Golden Path and Wild Mariposa at a deemed price of Cdn$0.195 per share.
The Company is at arms-length from each of Golden Path, Wild Mariposa and their respective members. The transactions do not constitute a fundamental change for the Company, and have not resulted in a change of control of the Company, within the meaning of applicable securities laws and the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange. The Company has paid an administrative fee of 266,000 common shares of the Company to a consultant who assisted with the transactions.
About Thoughtful Brands Inc.
Thoughtful Brands Inc. is an eCommerce technology company that researches, develops, markets, and distributes natural health products through various brands in North America and Europe. Through continuous strategic acquisitions, the Company has a strong footprint in the CBD market, as well as the burgeoning psychedelic medicine sector. Thoughtful Brands owns and operates a 110,000 square foot pharmaceutical manufacturing facility in Radebeul, Germany, where its highly skilled team conducts clinical studies utilizing naturally occurring psilocybin and other compounds found in psychedelics for the treatment of opiate addiction, while planning for future opportunities to create proprietary psilocybin products.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
THOUGHTFUL BRANDS INC. Ryan Hoggan Chief Executive Officer
For further information, readers are encouraged to contact Joel Shacker, President at +604.423.4733 or by email at [email protected] or www.motaventuresco.com
Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release, which has been prepared by management.
Posted by AGORACOM-JC
at 7:23 PM on Wednesday, August 12th, 2020
Announced that it will change its name from “Mota Ventures Corp.” to “Thoughtful Brands Inc.” and its ticker symbol from “MOTA” to “TBI”
Subject to the approval of the Canadian Securities Exchange, the Company expects the name change to take effect on August 14, 2020
VANCOUVER, BC / August 12, 2020 / Mota Ventures Corp. (CSE:MOTA)(FSE:1WZ:GR)(OTC PINK:PEMTF) (the “Company“) is pleased to announce that it will change its name from “Mota Ventures Corp.” to “Thoughtful Brands Inc.” and its ticker symbol from “MOTA” to “TBI”. Subject to the approval of the Canadian Securities Exchange (the “CSE“), the Company expects the name change to take effect on August 14, 2020 when its common shares will begin trading on the CSE under the new name and new ticker symbol.
The Company’s fundamental business continues to be the development and sale of natural health products through its eCommerce technology, with a focus on the CBD and psychedelic medicine sectors. The Company believes that the name and symbol change better reflect the success of its strategic growth and its drive to acquire and develop branded products and research initiatives in the natural health products space.
“The rebranding and new name represent our multi-faceted expansion and evolution strategies moving forward,” said CEO Ryan Dean Hoggan. “The change also reflects our commitment to becoming a global leader in the natural products industry. We are already making pivotal progress in the space through our work in psychedelics research, as well as by making quality hemp-derived CBD products more accessible worldwide through our eCommerce technology platform-and yet we are just starting to scratch the surface.”
The Company’s rebranding is the latest of several recent developments, including its:
European expansion through a joint venture with Franchise Cannabis Corp. whereby the Company will sell and market Franchise-manufactured CBD, hemp and cosmetic products in the European Union, Switzerland, Norway and the UK, utilizing its well-established eCommerce platform. (July 2020)
Acquisition of Verrian, a German natural psychedelic development company with the goal of formulating treatments for addictions, including opioids and alcohol. The move propels the Company into the emerging psychedelic market and supports the Company’s forays into the natural health sector beyond the CBD market. (June 2020)
No action is required by existing shareholders with respect to the name and ticker symbol change. Certificates representing common shares of Mota Ventures Corp. will not need to be exchanged as a result of the name change. The name change was approved by the board of directors on August 10, 2020.
About Mota Ventures
Mota Ventures is an established eCommerce technology company that researches, develops, markets and sells natural health products in North America and Europe. The Company has a strong focus on the CBD market, as well as the burgeoning psychedelic medicine sector. Through its direct-to-consumer digital platform, the Company offers multiple well-established hemp-CBD brands, including Nature’s Exclusive, Sativida and Franchise. The Company also owns and operates a 110,000 square foot manufacturing facility in Radebeul, Germany, where its highly skilled team is currently conducting clinical studies utilizing naturally occurring psilocybin and other compounds found in psychedelics for the treatment of opiate addiction. The Company anticipates future opportunities to create proprietary psilocybin products as legislation related to psychedelics evolves. The Company continues to pursue the acquisition of additional revenue-producing natural health product brands and operations in both Europe and North America with the goal of establishing an international distribution network utilizing its powerful eCommerce technology platform.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS MOTA VENTURES CORP.
Ryan Hoggan Chief Executive Officer
For further information, readers are encouraged to contact Joel Shacker, President & CEO at +604.423.4733 or by email at [email protected] or www.motaventuresco.com
Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release, which has been prepared by management.
All statements in this press release, other than statements of historical fact, are “forward-looking information” with respect to the Company within the meaning of applicable securities laws, including with respect to its plans to acquire additional revenue-producing natural health product brands and operations in both Europe and North America with the goal of establishing an international distribution network utilizing its eCommerce technology platform. The Company provides forward-looking statements for the purpose of conveying information about current expectations and plans relating to the future and readers are cautioned that such statements may not be appropriate for other purposes. By its nature, this information is subject to inherent risks and uncertainties that may be general or specific and which give rise to the possibility that expectations, forecasts, predictions, projections or conclusions will not prove to be accurate, that assumptions may not be correct and that objectives, strategic goals and priorities will not be achieved. These risks and uncertainties include but are not limited those identified and reported in the Company’s public filings under the Company’s SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise unless required by law.
Posted by AGORACOM
at 11:47 AM on Monday, August 10th, 2020
SPONSOR: Mota Ventures Corp is an established natural health products company focused in the CBD and psychedelic medicine sectors. Through their powerful eCommerce business, Mota is a leading direct-to-consumer provider of a wide range of natural health products throughout the United States and Europe. Click Here for More Info
Psychedelic science is making a comeback.
Scientific publications, therapeutic breakthroughs and cultural endorsements suggest that the historical reputation of psychedelics — such as lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), mescaline (from the peyote cactus) and psilocybin (mushrooms) — as dangerous or inherently risky have unfairly overshadowed a more optimistic interpretation. Recent publications, like Michael Pollan’s How to Change your Mind, showcase the creative and potentially therapeutic benefits that psychedelics have to offer — for mental health challenges like depression and addiction, in palliative care settings and for personal development.
I am a medical historian, exploring why we now think that psychedelics may have a valuable role to play in human psychology, and why over 50 years ago, during the heyday of psychedelic research, we rejected that hypothesis. What has changed? What did we miss before? Is this merely a flashback?
Osmond studied mescaline from the peyote cactus, synthesized by German scientists in the 1930s, and LSD, a laboratory-produced substance created by Albert Hofmann at Sandoz in Switzerland. During the 1950s and into the 1960s, more than 1,000 scientific articles appeared as researchers around the world interrogated the potential of these psychedelics for healing addictions and trauma.
But, by the end of the 1960s, most legitimate psychedelic research ground to a halt. Some of the research had been deemed unethical, namely mind-control experiments conducted under the auspices of the CIA. Other researchers had been discredited for either unethical or self-aggrandizing use of psychedelics, or both.
Posted by AGORACOM
at 1:22 PM on Friday, July 24th, 2020
SPONSOR: Mota Ventures Corp is an established natural health products company focused in the CBD and psychedelic medicine sectors. Through their powerful eCommerce business, Mota is a leading direct-to-consumer provider of a wide range of natural health products throughout the United States and Europe. Click Here for More Info
The consciousness-raising power of psychedelics are tripping up science once again – hopefully, we’re not headed for a refried version of legal weed
Timothy Leary must be rolling in his grave. Or maybe he’s just smiling to himself. We’d have to take a trip back in time to know for sure what the Harvard psychologist (and the granddaddy of the “psychedelic revolution”) would have to say about the “renaissance” in psychedelics we’re witnessing today, more than 50 years after he encouraged a whole generation to “turn on, tune in, drop out.”
Johns Hopkins University, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, research projects funded by billionaire tycoons and Silicon Valley bros micro-dosing magic mushrooms to boost productivity, the potential therapeutic benefits of psychedelics – psilocybin, LSD, MDMA and DMT (ayahuasca), you name it – are shaking up science again.
The revolution Leary was talking about has seemingly returned full circle. These days you can’t go online without reading about another celebrity lending his name (it’s mostly men) to the promise of an exploding market in mind-altering drugs promising a cure for everything from depression to PTSD and addiction. Everyone seems to be looking for an angle on the next big thing.
Hopefully, we’re not headed for a refried version of legal weed where venture capitalists with listings on world stock exchanges are hell-bent on turning substances that could be the key to personal growth, into a commodity.
That would be a shame because psychedelics not only have a proven track record in a myriad of therapies. They also have the power to make us more empathetic and deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world. To live, as Leary would say, on the astral plane.
If the pandemic has taught us anything it’s the importance of our connection to one another.
“People are feeling an increasing disconnection from themselves and from the world. The COVID crisis has exacerbated the situation, bringing issues around the meaning of life to the fore. How can we recover what’s known from the religious and wisdom traditions and mesh those with the best practices in cognitive psychology to achieve self-transcendence is part of a big revolution that’s happening in psychology and science right now. It’s starting to give us new ideas about practices and processes that we can align with psychedelic experiences. Do mystical experiences increase people’s sense of meaning in life? It seems like a fairly obvious question. But nobody was asking it. ”
John Vervaeke, assistant professor, Department of Psychology, University of Toronto.
War on psychedelics
It’s worth remembering in the current euphoria around psychedelics, that Leary went to jail (and often) for his LSD advocacy, at one point, labelled “the most dangerous man in America” by U.S. president Richard Nixon.
Eventually, he would be sprung from a California prison by the Weather Underground – which was considered a domestic terrorism threat by the U.S. government – before ending up a fugitive from justice in Algeria and his eventual re-arrest in the United States some two decades later.
Canada has its own history with psychedelics. And while it’s not as colourful as the U.S., the drugs are just as tightly regulated – if not more.
There are efforts afoot to relax laws around psilocybin use. And a number of court challenges seeking the use of psychedelics for medical purposes. A grey market in psilocybin is also being allowed to thrive online. More Canadians are microdosing. (See article below).
But as with the first steps towards legal weed, the federal government seems intent on looking the other way – or leaving it up to the courts to decide.
The federal health minister, for example, has the power to grant exemptions for the use of psychedelics in studies and has done so.
But the government continues to refuse to grant exemptions for the use of psychedelics on compassionate grounds for individuals facing end-of-life illness.
There’s still huge stigma around psychedelics. And while the opioid crisis rages – another area where psychedelics have shown success as a treatment – the feds seem reluctant to act.
This week, BC Premier John Horgan wrote Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to formally ask that all drugs be decriminalized to “support people to access the services they need.” The Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police is also calling for the decriminalization of simple possession of illicit drugs without success. The group has also recommended the formation of a national task force to look into drug policy reform. This would seem like an opportune time.
“ There were more than 1,000 experiments that were published back in the 50s on the use of psychedelics. They were thought of as the hot new drug in psychiatry. Then the research stopped, it wasn’t necessarily because it was determined that the use of psychedelics was an unfruitful approach. It was more the political constraints. We’re seeing a rebound in these therapies because there is funding and more laxness around laws prohibiting research. But some of that may also have to do with the fact that, even though there are useful pharmacological interventions, they have serious limitations. The field of psychiatry has been in a bit of a frozen place where improvements in treatment for mental health have been quite minor and slow.”
Richard Zeifman, PhD student in clinical psychology, Ryerson University.
The paradox is that psychedelics were being used successfully in psychology and psychiatry and to treat depression and alcoholism as far back as the 1950s. Their use was also leading to discoveries in the treatment of schizophrenia and suicidality. In fact, recent research shows that psychedelics suppress activity in the part of your brain responsible for fear.
The power of psychedelics to contribute to our personal growth, as Leary advocated, has been slower to take hold. That’s something for us hippies.
But cognitive scientists are again exploring how psychedelics can help “restore meaning and help us find wisdom in life,” says University of Toronto assistant psychology professor John Vervaeke.
“The revival in psychedelics,” Vervaeke says, “is part of a larger set of issues that are happening in response to a crisis of meaning in society at large.
“There are all kinds of symptoms of this [crisis of meaning] – from the crisis in addiction to depression to increases in loneliness, suicide and the retreat of people into virtual worlds.”
Psychedelics, says Vervaeke, “help block out the noise. Our relevance filter is not always tracking the truth properly.”
“ I hadn’t had any experience with psychedelics. Actually, I was very afraid of psychedelics which is interesting considering I was using a lot of very harmful street drugs. I was struggling for about 10 years with addiction and depression and anxiety. Then I heard about a clinical trial to treat addiction using psilocybin here in Vancouver. It was pretty serendipitous. I was feeling pretty desperate. I was willing to try anything. I found a lot of self-compassion and self-love using psilocybin. But I was still physically addicted to opioids. So that’s when we turned to Ibogaine, which really helped me with my detox. There was also a psycho-spiritual component. It’s really ineffable the experience you have on psychedelics. It was a very profound experience that allowed me to look at myself and the world very differently. My mindset completely changed. It helped me get through a lot of the mental illness I was struggling with on top of the addiction.It’s something I continue to do periodically. I don’t have to, but it’s something I choose to do because I find it meaningful and helpful on my path to recovery and personal development. It’s not a cure-all. It’s a tool. ”
Adrianne, recovering opioid addict, subject of the documentary Dosed.
Spiritual mission
Ancient civilizations have known “the truth” about the healing power of plant-based intoxicants for millennia. Native tribes of Mexico and the U.S. Southwest have been using peyote and psilocybin magic mushrooms in spiritual ceremonies since before first contact. For them, psychedelics were used as part of cleansing rituals, an idea Western culture looked down on or ignored.
When U.S. banker R. Gordon Wasson, the vice-president of J.P. Morgan & Company, became acquainted with shaman Maria Sabina and travelled to Oaxaca in 1956 to take part in a “holy communion” where “mushrooms were first adored and then consumed,” he wrote about it for Life Magazine. What he didn’t write about is that he took along a CIA agent for the ride. U.S. intelligence was apparently interested in developing a truth serum. They may have been onto something.
But Wasson’s hosts believed the mystical experiences brought on by the use of psychedelics (sometimes in heavy doses) led to transformational change in our perception of the universe that stayed with us long after the high faded.
Clinical psychologists are discovering the same today. The effects of psychedelics like MDMA and psilocybin to treat PTSD can last for up to a year after just one therapy session, says Richard Zeifman, a PhD student in clinical psychology at Ryerson University, who has been tracking a number of research experiments in the area.
We haven’t quite figured out the chemistry, but it has to do with psychedelics messing with the part of our brain repsonsible for fear.
“From a theoretical perspective, we know that some of the classic symptoms of PTSD are a tendency to want to avoid negative emotions or thoughts or memories related to a traumatic experience,” says Zeifman. “What MDMA and psilocybin do is create feelings of warmth and connectedness and reduce the extent to which people feel fear. It makes it tolerable enough for people to sit with their emotions.”
“We have a medical focus with our dispensary. But the therapeutic aspects of psychedelics and the spiritual are intertwined. They are really part and parcel of the same thing – you don’t have to be sick to get a medical benefit. Experiments on psychedelics have been going on for decades. But its medicinal aspects are just starting to come above ground. We’re seeing a societal shift with psychedelics similar to cannabis. Where once cannabis users were looked upon as hedonists, we now understand that cannabis is useful medicine. We’re going to see the same thing with not only psilocybin, but LSD and MDMA as well. We’re already starting to see therapeutic safe spaces open up where people can take macro doses and have those experiences. There are incredible benefits to be gathered from this. They’re also easier to grow than cannabis. I suspect more Canadians are going to be growing their own mushrooms.”
Dana Larsen, founder, The Medicinal Mushroom Dispensary.
The Doors Of Perception
When English psychiatrist Humphry Osmond coined the term psychedelics at a 1957 meeting of the New York Academy of Sciences (from the Greek psyche, which means “mind,” and delos “to reveal,”), he was already successfully using LSD in the treatment of alcoholism and schizophrenia, including in one very well known study in Weyburn, Saskatchewan.
By the time Aldous Huxley published The Doors Of Perception in 1950 on his experiment with mescaline, scientists were unlocking the secrets behind the hallucinogenic effects of psychedelics – and they were mind blowing.
Turns out the human body’s natural adrenaline also has a similar chemical composition to mescaline and shares some of the biochemistry of LSD.
“In other words,” Huxley wrote, “each one of us may be capable of manufacturing a chemical, minute doses of which are known to cause profound changes in consciousness.”
The discovery gave rise to the notion that the human brain actually works as a “reducing valve” blocking out all but information that is practically useful to us. Psychedelics, the theory goes, act as a “bypass,” giving us the ability to think more clearly about things other than the junk of self-deception and ego that typically get in the way of the realizations of our true selves. Huxley referred to this state as the “Mind at Large” in which “is revealed the glory, the infinite value and meaningfulness of naked existence.”
Psychedelics as a spiritual mission is an idea Huxley shared with Leary. The two would become founding members of the Harvard Psilocybin Project. The program conducted a number of experiments, including on reducing rates of recidivism among prison inmates. But its focus was more so on exploring and achieving a “profound religious state.”
The project attracted widespread attention, including of the unwanted variety by government authorities. Soon LSD and psilocybin would be added to the Schedule 1 list of prohibited substances along with mescaline and peyote and the research into many promising fields would stop.
More than half a century later, psychedelics are experiencing a resurgence and being touted as part of a new “renaissance” in scientific research. Hopefully, we’re able to embrace the higher spiritual cause this time around.
Posted by AGORACOM
at 8:21 AM on Wednesday, July 22nd, 2020
Mota Ventures Corp. (CSE:MOTA)(FSE:1WZ)(OTC PINK:PEMTF) (the “Company” or “Mota Ventures“) is pleased to announce it has entered into a binding agreement (the “Transaction Agreement“) dated July 21, 2020, with Franchise Cannabis Corp. (“Franchise“) to form a joint venture in Europe (“European JV“) to sell and market Franchise-manufactured CBD, hemp and cosmetic products in the European Union, Switzerland, Norway and the United Kingdom (the “JV Territory“). Sales of the custom manufactured products will be sold online utilizing the Company’s eCommerce infrastructure.
Franchise is a leading European-focused cannabis and pharmaceutical distribution company based in Germany with two Good Distribution Practices (GDP) certified distribution facilities, exporting to over 18 countries and currently serving a network of over 1,500 pharmacies within Germany for medical cannabis sales.
“We are very excited to expand our eCommerce opportunities in Europe, as this has long been one of our strategic goals. Having a strong partner like Franchise to ensure consumers are provided with quality products is critical to success in the European market. Franchise is well positioned in Europe and has an established operating history in the cannabis industry. We believe this strategic joint venture will accelerate the expansion of our health and wellness platform in Europe.” stated Ryan Hoggan, CEO of Mota Ventures.
Pursuant to the Transaction Agreement, Franchise has agreed to make a $500,000 equity investment into the Company through a private placement subscription of $0.28 per unit (“Units“). Each Unit will consist of one (1) common share of Mota Ventures (each, a “Share“) and one (1) Share purchase warrant (each, a “Warrant“), with each Warrant entitling the holder to purchase one additional Share (each, a “Warrant Share“) at a price of $0.38 per Warrant Share for a period of twenty-four (24) months from their date of issue. Mota Ventures will then make a $360,000 equity investment into the European JV, which will be used to develop the business operations of the European JV, including the initial funds to launch the Franchise products in Europe using the Company’s eCommerce expertise. The private placement Shares will be subject to a four-month-and-one-day statutory hold period in accordance with applicable securities laws.
The parties’ respective ownership interests in the European JV will be 50/50. Franchise will manage procurement and fulfillment of customer orders from its European manufacturing facilities. Mota Ventures will provide marketing and eCommerce operations infrastructure in the JV Territory. The parties will determine the appropriate products to launch sales and marketing initiatives and will provide further details in the coming weeks. The establishment of the European JV is subject to Franchise making the $500,000 investment in Mota Ventures and Mota purchasing a 50% interest in the European JV for $360,000.
“Ryan and his team are extremely smart and hard-working. They are unbelievable at launching new product lines into the market, and given our European presence and market knowledge, the Franchise and Mota Venture teams complement one another well. I have been a director and strategic shareholder of another eCommerce focused cannabis business that reached a billion-dollar market capitalization and I can attest that the Mota team is at a whole different level. We’re very excited to launch into Europe and we expect the joint venture to be a great success.” stated Clifford Starke, CEO of Franchise.
As Clifford Starke is a director of the Company, he abstained from voting on the resolutions approving the Transaction Agreement and declared his interests in Franchise to the board.
About Mota Ventures Corp.
Mota Ventures is an established natural health products and eCommerce technology company focusing on the CBD and psychedelic medicine sectors. The Company has a strong presence in both North America and Europe. In the United States, Mota Ventures offers a CBD hemp-oil product line derived from hemp grown and formulated in the US through its Nature’s Exclusive brand. Within Europe, the Company’s Verrian operations are currently conducting clinical studies utilizing proprietary products for the treatment of opiate addiction. The highly skilled Verrian team also manages Mota Ventures’ 110,000 square foot manufacturing facility in Radebeul, Germany. In addition, Mota Ventures’ Sativida brand of award winning 100% organic CBD oils and cosmetics are sold throughout Spain, Portugal, Austria, Germany, France, and the United Kingdom. The Company is also seeking to acquire additional revenue-producing natural health product brands and operations in both Europe and North America with the goal of establishing an international distribution network utilizing its eCommerce technology platform.
About Franchise Cannabis Corp.
Franchise is a leading cannabis company in Europe, holding the first import and distribution license in Germany, Europe’s largest market, and is one of the largest exporters of prescription pharmaceutical products in the European Union delivering to over 18 countries. Franchise has cultivation operations globally and the company’s genetics division has won 18 Cannabis Cups and is a pioneer in product development.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
MOTA VENTURES CORP. Ryan Hoggan
Chief Executive Officer
For further information, readers are encouraged to contact Joel Shacker, President at +604.423.4733 or by email at [email protected] or www.motaventuresco.com
Posted by AGORACOM
at 9:40 AM on Monday, July 13th, 2020
SPONSOR: Mota Ventures Corp is an established natural health products company focused in the CBD and psychedelic medicine sectors. Through their powerful eCommerce business, Mota is a leading direct-to-consumer provider of a wide range of natural health products throughout the United States and Europe. Click Here for More Info
During one session, deep within the world the drug evoked, I found myself inside a steel industrial space. Women were bent over long tables, working. I became aware of my animosity towards my two living siblings. A woman seated at the end of a table wearing a net cap and white clothes, turned and handed me a tall Dixie cup.
“You can put that in here,” she said. The cup filled itself with my bilious, sibling-directed feelings. “We’ll put it over there.” She turned and placed the cup matter-of-factly on a table at the back of the room. Then she went back to her tasks.
Whenever I speak with her, Mary Cosimano, the director of guide/facilitator services at Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research, mentions the women in the chamber and the cup. My experience struck a chord. For me, the women in the chamber have become a transcendent metaphor for emotional healing.
“I’ve thought about having a necklace made, with the cup, as a momento,” she said the last time I saw her at a conference. “Have you thought about it?”
Prior to their 1971 prohibition, psilocybin and LSD were administered to approximately 40,000 patients, among them people with terminal cancer, alcoholics and those suffering from depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder. The results of the early clinical studies were promising, and more recent research has been as well.
The treatment certainly helped me. Eight years after my sessions, researchers continue to prove the same point again and again in an ongoing effort to turn psychedelic drug therapy into FDA-sanctioned medical treatment. This can’t happen soon enough.
“Psychopharmacology as a field had stalled. Many patients don’t respond to conventional treatment with SSRIs,” says Charles Grob, M.D., professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral Sciences at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, and the first modern clinical researcher to treat advanced-stage cancer patients suffering from depression and anxiety with psychedelics.
The failure of the psychotherapeutic process is located at its epicenter: the power disparity in the therapeutic dyad. Merely walking through the consulting room door, the patient subordinates herself to the therapist, who, by virtue of a title, is presumed to know more about her than she does herself. Transference and countertransferance—offspring of Freudian psychoanalysis—are cogs in the same moribund engine. The field will not change until the therapeutic relationship as it has been structured since the 19th century disappears.
Psychedelic drug therapy subverts the timeworn patriarchal hierarchy by creating an atmosphere of cooperation and trust rather than competition and domination. Or, to state it more bluntly, what women do in structured settings rather than what men do; women create cooperatives, men create hierarchies.
The treatment space is furnished like a lounge, with couches, chairs and table lamps. A music track plays. Two trained guides, one male, one female, are seated close by, ready to help if the emotional path becomes difficult. Guides are not therapists; instead they serve as trusted companions along a perilous, transformative spiritual journey. The sessions are led by the subject herself, by her feelings and perceptions throughout the experience and the way she processes them afterward.
“The drug is a skeleton key which unlocks an interior door to places we don’t generally have access to,” says psychologist William A. Richards, one of the researchers who successfully treated patients with hallucinogens in the 1960s and early 1970s. “It’s a therapeutic accelerant.”
“[Treatment is] not just revisiting the traumatic experiences,” he said. “It’s a process of affirming a different experience on all levels, including in the body.”
During MDMA sessions, subjects become more emotionally flexible and able to stay the course while exploring difficult memories. Many experience an enduring change in their response to emotional triggers. Clinicians hope to see MDMA approved by the FDA for PTSD treatment as early as 2022.
Treatment with psychedelic drugs represents a paradigm shift in the approach to mental health. For me, the change in the field is embodied by the presence of the busy women along my journey. The women treated my feelings as matters of fact, not to be avoided, reviled or fled from, but so obvious and ordinary they could be poured into a Dixie cup and set aside.
Posted by AGORACOM
at 8:07 AM on Wednesday, July 8th, 2020
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / July 8, 2020 / Mota Ventures Corp. (CSE:MOTA)(FSE:1WZ1)(OTC PINK:PEMTF) (the “Company“) is pleased to announce its financial results for the first quarter ending March 31, 2020. All financial information in this press release is reported in Canadian dollars, unless otherwise indicated. The press release is intended to be read in conjunction with the Company’s unaudited Condensed Interim Consolidated Financial Statements and Management Discussion & Analysis for the three months ended March 31, 2020, which are filed under the Company’s profile on SEDAR (www.sedar.com), and also available on the Company’s website.
First Quarter 2020 Key Highlights include:
The Company acquired online cannabidiol (CBD) product distributor Nature’s Exclusive from Unified Funding, LLC.
Agreement finalized with Sativida OU (Estonia) and Sativida OU’s subsidiary, VIDA BCN LABS S.L (collectively, “Sativida”) to acquire Sativida in stages.
The Company acquired the intellectual property and trade names of Sativida in Spain, which will be licensed back in exchange for a royalty associated with gross revenues generated by Sativida.
The Company entered into a Licensing and Royalty Agreement with Phenome One Corporation (“Phenome”) for the right to cultivate, harvest, process and sell a selection of cultivars from Phenome’s genetic library, and the Company was granted unlimited access to a Phenome’s proprietary nutrient intellectual property (IP) and catalogue.
The Company entered into a Joint Venture with BevCanna Enterprises Inc (“BevCanna”) to distribute BevCanna branded beverage products infused with hemp-derived CBD in the European market.
Consolidated Q1 2020 gross revenue was $7.65 million, with cost of goods sold of $7.05 million, resulting in gross profits of $605,150. Operating and other operating expenses for the three months ended March 31, 2020 were $5.24 million.
The Company raised $1.72 million through share subscriptions received for the issuance of units at $0.28 and received $309,000 in proceeds from the exercise of warrants.
The Company ended Q1 2020 with $2.1 million in cash.
Management Commentary
“In the midst of evolving challenges resulting from the global novel coronavirus outbreak, the Company realigned priorities to include focus on the health and safety of our employees, customers and suppliers. The way our team adapted and performed was exceptional. I am also pleased to announce that, despite the unprecedented uncertainties resulting from the coronavirus, our operations and supply chains performed without interruption, and the Company achieved targets in line with expectations. In order to capitalize on the global market, we recognize the need to be flexible and proactive in addressing market trends. For the second quarter our objectives are to yield increased revenues and higher gross margins. Due to the initial cost of customer acquisition, transitioning more customers into our monthly subscription will significantly increase margins.” stated Ryan Hoggan CEO of the Company.
About Mota Ventures Corp.
Mota Ventures is an established natural health products and eCommerce technology company focusing on the CBD and psychedelic medicine sectors. The company has a strong presence in both North America and Europe. In the United States, Mota Ventures offers a CBD hemp-oil product line derived from hemp grown and formulated in the US through its Nature’s Exclusive brand. Within Europe, the company’s Verrian operations is currently conducting clinical studies utilizing proprietary products for the treatment of opiate addiction. The highly skilled Verrian team also manages Mota Ventures’ 110,000 square foot manufacturing facility in Radebeul, Germany. In addition, Mota Ventures’ Sativida brand of award winning 100% organic CBD oils and cosmetics are sold throughout Spain, Portugal, Austria, Germany, France, and the United Kingdom. The company is also seeking to acquire additional revenue-producing natural health product brands and operations in both Europe and North America with the goal of establishing an international distribution network utilizing its eCommerce technology platform.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
MOTA VENTURES CORP.
Ryan Hoggan
Chief Executive Officer
For further information, readers are encouraged to contact Joel Shacker, President at +604.423.4733 or by email at [email protected] or www.motaventuresco.com
Posted by AGORACOM
at 4:05 PM on Thursday, June 25th, 2020
SPONSOR: Mota Ventures Corp is an established natural health products company focused in the CBD and psychedelic medicine sectors. Through their powerful eCommerce business, Mota is a leading direct-to-consumer provider of a wide range of natural health products throughout the United States and Europe. Click Here for More Info
The successful use of controlled substances such as ketamine and psilocybin mushrooms to treat mental health issues like depression and anxiety has ushered in a new era of interest in psychedelic drugs. But for researchers and clinicians eager to expand such therapies, an obvious question remains: Does treatment with psychedelics necessarily require a psychedelic experience?
An international research team hopes to answer that question by researching and developing a new class of drugs that offers the same fast-acting mental health benefits as traditional psychedelics without the disorienting, sometimes uncomfortable effects of a full-blown trip. Funded by $26.9 million from the U.S. Department of Defense’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), a new project announced this month “aims to create new medications to effectively and rapidly treat depression, anxiety, and substance abuse without major side effects,†according to a University of North Carolina (UNC) School of Medicine press release.
“Although drugs like ketamine and potentially psilocybin have rapid antidepressant actions, their hallucinogenic, addictive, and disorienting side effects make their clinical use limited,†said Brian L. Roth, a professor of pharmacology at UNC School of Medicine and the research project’s leader. “Our team has developed innovative methods and technologies to overcome these limitations with the goal of creating better medications to treat these neuropsychiatric conditions.â€
Research into the possible therapeutic effects of currently illicit drugs such as ketamine, psilocybin, MDMA and others has expanded tremendously during the past decade. Nonprofit groups such as the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies have led the way, with university researchers and drugmakers entering the mix more recently.
In September of last year, Johns Hopkins University announced the launch of the nation’s first-ever psychedelic research center, a $17-million project to study the use of psychedelics to treat conditions such as opioid use disorder, Alzheimer’s disease, depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Government interest in psychedelic drugs has also grown. Also in September, DARPA, a federal agency that exists to support the development of emerging technologies for use by the U.S. military, announced its Focused Pharma program, meant to develop drugs “that work quickly and deliver lasting remedies for conditions such as chronic depression and post-traumatic stress.â€
While that DARPA announcement didn’t mention specific substances or even use the word “psychedelics,†it referred to “certain Schedule 1 controlled drugs that engage serotonin receptors†and that have “significant side effects, including hallucination.â€
The press release for the new DARPA-funded project, lead by Roth at UNC, mentions ketamine and psilocybin specifically. The team will use both biological modeling and sophisticated computational approaches in an effort to design fast-acting drugs inspired by psychedelics but free from what researchers call “disabling side effects.â€
“Depression, anxiety, and substance abuse affect large segments of the population,†Roth said. “Rapidly acting drugs with antidepressant, anti-anxiety, and anti-addictive potential devoid of disabling side effects do not exist, not even as experimental compounds for use in animals. Creating such compounds would change the way we treat millions of people around the world suffering from these serious and life-threatening conditions.â€
At DARPA, Dr. Tristan McClure-Begley, Focused Pharma’s program manager, said last fall that the agency’s interest in developing such drugs is due to the country’s large number of veterans with PTSD and other mental health conditions.
“It is research we need to undertake given the scale of the mental health crisis our veterans face,†he said in September, “and if it works, the payoff is a completely new, safe, and effective therapeutic option that transforms complex and previously intractable mental conditions into something more acutely treatable.â€
Along with Roth at UNC Chapel Hill, the newly announced research project includes members Georgios Skiniotis and Ron Dror of Stanford University, Jian Jin of Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai, Brian Shoichet and Nevan Krogan of University of California at San Francisco and William Wetsel of Duke University.