Exclusive: Beckley Waves Establishes Ethics Council to Guide Psychedelic Industry Standards

Beckley Waves, has formed a new Ethics Council to help guide wider industry standards and best practices in the sector. 

The new Ethics Council includes Rick Doblin, founder of MAPS, and mycologist and entrepreneur Paul Stamets. Others include experts from within the psychedelic sector, Dr. Dingle Spence, Dr. Gita Vaid, and Dr. Pamela Kryskow, as well as mission-focused philanthropists, such as Sean Lennon,  and Stephen Apkon and Marcina Hale of Reconsider. 

An announcement from Beckley said that the council would consider topics including maintaining an emphasis on sustainable working practices and equitable access, balancing company expansion with safety, reciprocity with indigenous cultures and local communities, and ongoing scientific research and ethical IP strategies. Rock Feilding-Mellen and Daniel Love, co-founders at Beckley Waves, Neil Markey, co-founder at Beckley Retreats, and Cosmo Feilding-Mellen, co-founder at the leading psychedelic drug development company Beckley Psytech, were also named as initial members.

“With this council of advisors and experts, we have access to a great resource that will enable Beckley Waves to expand upon our established foundation and strengthen our capabilities and offerings across this nascent sector,” said Amanda Feilding. “Drawing upon their knowledge, experience, and insight has been very valuable as we continue to help shape industry standards and best practices that will enable safe and equitable access to these transformative tools and programs.” 

“These leaders have been laying the foundations of the current renaissance for decades, and we’re just now beginning to see the widespread public interest in and the demand for transformative capabilities of psychedelics,” said Rock Feilding-Mellen, co-founder and Managing Partner of Beckley Waves. “By gathering these leaders and other renowned experts in psychedelic therapies, we are making a conscious effort to ensure that our continued expansion and growth occur sustainability and ethically and to check that our shared mission stays front and centre of everything we do.” 

As interest in and demand for access to guided psychedelic experiences and therapies continues to grow Beckley Waves indicated that there is now as great a need to think about safe and responsible access and care delivery as there is for more ground-breaking research into other potential benefits of expanded states of consciousness. 

“There is still so much work needed to ensure that the people who need access to psychedelic-assisted therapy can get it lawfully and affordably. I am thrilled to be witnessing a new generation of pioneers ready to pick up and carry on the torch,” said Feilding. “It has been heartening to see how in recent years, more people are willing to listen to what the science is telling us about the powerfully beneficial potential of these compounds.”

The demand and expectations for the psychedelics industry are growing rapidly. Alongside that growth, Beckley Waves hopes to foster a flourishing psychedelic industry and pave the way for the continued psychedelic renaissance.

“While the psychedelics industry is in its infancy, these compounds and practices have been used for millennia by Indigenous peoples. As we look to set the standards for industry best practices, we must look to modern science and ancient wisdom,” said Neil Markey, Co-founder, and CEO at Beckley Retreats. “We are committed to a process of engagement rooted in listening and discourse — collaborating with those who have been paving the way in the conversation around ethics and in close partnership with the communities where we operate. We hope that others will join us in working to these standards.”

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