Jamaica

Psychedelic drugs in Jamaica are readily available and have never been made explicitly illegal by the country’s government. These relaxed laws have made Jamaica an ideal location for research into how the scientific community can reframe the psychedelic experience as a medicinal one. This was evidenced by the announcement of the world’s first psilocybin mushroom research centre in 2019 at the University of the West Indies in Mona, Jamaica. The centre is wholly funded by a Canadian psychedelic company, Field Trip Ventures, which plans to put the findings to profitable use. The research centre will study everything from the genetics of magic mushrooms to how best to extract their psychedelic compounds with the aim of establishing patent rights

Field Trip Ventures is working with the Jamaican government to create a regulated market, where customers will be able to gauge the strength of what they’re taking. The announcement at the end of 2019 that Oregon-based start-up company Silo Wellness has developed a ‘patent-pending nasal spray for microdosing psilocybin’ in Jamaica will no doubt prompt more foreign investment in Jamaica, which can make use of the country’s relaxed laws and boost its status within this emerging industry.