“Exceeds the potential of cannabis”— When Shark Tank’s Kevin O’Leary expressed interest in psychedelics

In 2021, Shark Tank investor Kevin O'Leary mentioned his interests in psychedelics and hinted at how he might invest in it. He claimed that this area of medicine has "incredible potential." He seemed hopeful about the research being conducted on these drugs for use in a better way.

O'Leary thinks that the promise of the companies that are working on psychedelics is real. He reckons it is wiser to bet on a product where the research is promising versus investing in a product that is used for just recreational purposes.

Psychedelics are also illegal in many jurisdictions and thus, it would raise concerns related to bodies such as RICO.

The alluring detail about psychedelics that Kevin is banking on is its market size. He thinks these fields have been ignored for far too long and this time, are getting the right attention.

He said during a CNBC summit:

"This is a brand new area of medicine with such incredible potential...The potential of psychedelics far exceeds the potential of cannabis... What interested me is the scale and size of the market. These opportunities have been ignored since the 1960s."

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Kevin O'Leary revealed his interest in psychedelics

Kevin O'Leary has invested in companies such as MindMed and Compass Pathways. This decision came about after the market understood the use of psychedelics and how it could define modern medicine even better. According to him, there are reports of multiple clinical trials that are groundbreaking.

The untapped potential of it all is what he is the most excited about. He urged investors in the health sector to look into it.

He likes companies that have a variety of trials going on with psychedelics instead of limited ones. This has prompted him to invest more in MindMed.

The future of this research and its outcomes is unknown. The moghul explained that this aspect is what excited him the most because it's not every day that "you get to invest in something that's never been done before."

The Shark Tank giant has been in the news for his bid to buy TikTok's algorithm in America for 20 billion dollars.

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Shark Tank season 16 episodes are released weekly on ABC at 8 PM Eastern Time on Fridays. They are later available to watch on Hulu.