Psychedelic: Exclusive talk with wellness company Sibannac

In this edition of “Psychedelic”, The Fly conducted an exclusive interview with David Mersky, Chief Executive Officer of Sibannac (SNNC), a wellness and lifestyle company located in Scottsdale, Arizona. Here are some highlights:

ALTERNATIVE WELLNESS: Sibannac, founded in 1999, is a lifestyle and wellness corporation which specializes in creating and selling premium wellness products. The company officially launched the Starwalker Café in March with William Henry, consulting producer of the show “Ancient Aliens”. The platform is a content provider of podcasts, interviews and educational lectures focused on consciousness exploration.

“We are being very careful and taking time to make sure that we have got the products really locked down, so that when we enter the market, they are really on solid ground,” Mersky said. “The products we are going to be focusing on are clinically-tested products that we have developed, that are in the can, ready to go into production when we decide to pull the trigger.”

He noted kratom is one of the areas of focus for Sibannac and although it has received a lot of scrutiny in the past, he believes it is “seemingly the safest” regarding total offerings in the market.

“I like products that you can feel,” the CEO said. “Kratom and kava have real pronounced physical effects that have been beneficial, so when we get into those that is where we are going to focus. The marketplace, although it is growing very quietly, has tremendous room for growth both in the retail setting and in products. On the retail setting, kratom has been relegated to smoke shops and totally misses the market of the elevated consumer who is looking for consciousness expansion and to delve into plant medicine without having to go full blown into psychedelics. Kratom isn’t a psychedelic, but it does have psychoactive effects.”

The company has opened a small retail test location called The Kavern in Scottsdale to develop and trial products, he said. Sibannac is also now designing plant-medicine tours within the U.S. and to exclusive international locations, offering premium psychedelic journey experiences.

“Sibannac is a first-mover in psychedelic experiences, especially coming from a microcap OTC company,” Mersky said. “In that regard, I see us as a total leader out of the gate. What we have as a small company is a real solid built-in asset base in terms of reputation and awareness. When I say that I am referring to William Henry and the new platform that we’ve developed and launched, Starwalker Café.”

The company was approached by MediaWorks 360, a developer of premium paid content, he said, and they identified at least 5M fans across social media that are either direct “Ancient Aliens” fans or into the alien phenomenon.

“We are putting out education and content in terms of podcasts, guest speakers and written materials and then leading that into Starwalker Journeys,” the CEO said. “We have got a real built-in fanbase, a large portion of which has already expressed interest in plant medicine travel. That really taps into wellness tourism, which is a very nascent industry at this point. We already have locations and contacts ready to start scheduling dates internationally in Costa Rica and in Mexico, where medicine like ayahuasca and psilocybin mushroom journeys are legal. We are also working on lesser experiences where we may be limited to cannabis, in Sedona, Arizona. We really are a first mover with a high-risk tolerance, which gives us a head start in the space.”

COMPETITIVE EDGE: When asked about competition in the psychedelic retreat space, Mersky said there is little to no competition, but he welcomes it to build more awareness about the sector.

“Where there is competition right now is really in the biotech space,” he said. “We are not participating in that space at all. Obviously, there is a lot of science that is involved there and there is huge capex. Unlike that, we don’t have a huge capex. Organizing this travel is an easy entrée for us. We have the benefit of having the reputation of William Henry to capitalize on the television show and the Starwalker platform, so we are in a great place as we stand alone there.”

The CEO added as a smaller company, Sibannac is ready to jump into the space as bigger travel agencies are sitting back and watching tit develop. “We are looking to do travel where it is legal and its safe and we have the reputation to be able to credibly offer these kinds of first-time services,” he said. “Personally, I am starting to put out content and leaning heavily on my personal medicine experiences, so on behalf of the company, I bring a genuineness to it where I am open to talking about my experiences. I don’t know that there is any company really coming to the space that has these assets to offer.”

STARWALKER JOURNEYS: Sibannac announced in March its expansion into the high-growth wellness tourism sector with its Starwalker Journeys luxury, transformational retreats. “It’s a natural growth of the Starwalker Café,” Mersky said. “For the millions of fans of ‘Ancient Aliens’ and the alien phenomenon, there hasn’t been a focus on entheogens, plant medicines and psychedelics, but there is a substantial percentage of this audience that is interested in pursuing education about psychedelics. There is also a significant subset of these fans that are interested in then taking the journey.”

He said he has seen am uptick in offerings of plant journeys, even in legally gray areas, indicating these experiences and the demand for them are on the rise. “William has been doing this for decades now, journeys to Egypt, France and Spain, without having the medicine experience at all,” the CEO said. “We’re hearing from an ever-growing number of people taking these trips that they are interested in having medicine experiences. We are tapping into that, where we see there is going to be a significant amount of market growth and demand.”

Participants attending a Starwalker Journey retreat can expect high-end accommodations and a safe experience catering to a premium traveler, he said.

“The base model for this is to look at Starwalker Egypt, where William has been taking fans for over 20 years,” Mersky said. “You can expect, depending on location, a five star or at least a four-star accommodation and the platform will be very experienced in terms of the logistics on the ground and preparing people in advance for the journeys. The experience is going to cater to a very premium traveler and participants should expect an absolutely safe experience with people that are trained in the medicine.”

The ultimate goal for the journey is for the guest to leave with a life-changing experience, he said, adding the company will have practices in place before and after the retreats to help facilitate that goal. “What people need to realize is when you book a medicine journey, the actual process of the enlightening experience you have really begins at the time you commit to the experience itself,” the CEO said. “The intention behind going into the experience is paramount, so our aim is to provide some education and purpose for the traveler before they come into the journey. We focus on what the intention is, what they would like to get out of it and then physically prepare the body.”

Following the journey, he said the integration process is significant to ensure participants take back their new understanding into their normal lives. “There is so much focus on how the experience can be so magical and life-changing, and it absolutely is, however our focus is on how you take what you learned from this experience and integrate it back into your daily life,” Mersky said. “We want you to take those lessons and improve your happiness, your relationships and the way you go about daily life as you settle back into the world with a new understanding.”

He said the journeys will then be able to circle back around to the company’s products for use in the post-journey experience. “This counseling will be able to go on and be integrated with certain products that we will be bringing to market that will help you on a spiritual and physical level,” the CEO said.  “They can be integrated into your routine. Certain products would be very valuable in bringing a conscious focus onto parts of the day that help somebody integrate into daily life.”

4BIDDENKNOWLEDGE PARTNERSHIP: In April, Sibannac announced a co-marketing agreement with 4biddenknowledge led by author and consciousness media pioneer Billy Carson. This partnership will produce immersive podcasts, legal plant-medicine retreats and co-branded wellness products.

“This partnership with 4biddenknowledge amplifies our vision to pioneer legal, transformative plant-medicine experiences and consciousness content,” said Mersky. “Billy Carson’s expertise in consciousness media aligns perfectly with our mission to empower individuals through Starwalker Cafe and beyond.”

SCHEDULING: Several psychedelics are listed as Schedule I drugs under the Controlled Substances Act, and the CEO said he believes it creates a stigma around the substances.

“However you can already see, despite laws that haven’t changed all that much, there is an absolute uptick in curiosity,” he said. “People are taking these journeys more and more and you are seeing people really enjoying the benefits of these natural plant medicines, so they are becoming mainstream and the acceptance of it is growing.”

Mersky noted MDMA, known as an old-school party drug, is now being integrated into healing experiences, and therefore the outlook on MDMA is changing.

“And with Oregon, you have the first state to pass mushroom journeys,” he said. “They have done about 8,000 journeys they have reported on through state licensed and certified service centers with unbelievable success. That’s helping to remove the stigma around the fear. Colorado has passed similar legislation on psilocybin and that is providing the framework for what is to come across the country. Arizona, my home state which is very conservative by nature, has already acknowledged these benefits, particularly the way they are helping law enforcement and military. When you see a state like Arizona getting behind plant medicine, you know there is really something there. It’s just about keeping the message out, talking to people and letting the science play out but we are going in the right direction.”

ELECTION RESULTS: In this year’s U.S. election, Massachusetts voters rejected a ballot measure that proposed decriminalization of psychedelic use for people older than 21 and the CEO said he believes it is good that states are even considering this type of legislation.

“Before marijuana really made its way across the country, certain states did not pass legislation initially, but then upon reconsideration they did,” he said. “Now you are seeing most of the country has either a medical or recreational marijuana market. I think it’s encouraging that Massachusetts even considered it. I’m sure they will come back to it and as time goes on, we will see more states are jumping on and seeing that it is being done not only safely, without any side effects, but really changing people’s lives for the better. It is another source of increased revenue and taxes that can go to really helping states on an individual basis.”

Also, in this year’s election, Donald Trump was elected president, and Mersky said he is optimistic for psychedelic prospects under Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the secretary of Health and Human Services.

“RFK Jr., on a personal level, has discussed his support of plant medicines and psychedelics and is certainly behind expanding the trials and research into how these medicines can help,” he said. “That is a wonderful thing that is going to be very positive. Then on the religious front, you have a lot of conservative leaders that are promoting religious freedoms, and we have the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which the Supreme Court has deemed constitutional.  The Court has entertained one seminal case on the RFRA considering ayahuasca and religious groups’ use of sacred sacraments in their religious observation. I think the current administration is going to be very supportive of that in not limiting what a particular religious practice consists of. I’m looking to tap into that to possibly pursue an exemption where we will be able to serve the medicine based on the religious practices without having to await necessarily either on the state or the federal level.”

CHALLENGES: When asked about the largest hurdles facing the psychedelic space, the CEO said he believes it is the lack of education surrounding the sector.

“I don’t know that it’s a challenge as much as it’s just going to take some time,” he said. “People are waking up and we are no doubt in a psychedelic renaissance. Clearly, we have seen that the suppression of psychedelics has been shameful and has hurt millions of people, but I think demand is going to start peaking. We are already seeing the uptick in general awareness, so getting the word out, educating people and putting in the time is important. People like me, who don’t come from a stereotypical hippie space, but have experienced these life-changing journeys need to be willing to talk about them, it’s going to really open the doorways to curiosity for people.”

OPPORTUNITIES: As the psychedelic industry develops and matures, Mersky said Sibannac is most excited about the travel segment as wellness tourism is currently exploding.

According to the Global Wellness Institute, the global wellness economy grew to $6.3T in 2023, with the wellness tourism economy reaching $830B. The institute projects the economy will grow at a rate of 7.3% annually from 2023 to 2028, marching toward nearly $9T in 2028.

“People are looking to have experiences within their travel, where they are looking to improve the mind, body and spirit,” he said. “The psychedelic wellness tourism market is going to be a segment that we believe will explode and we’re looking to tap into that market as a first-mover to establish the credibility in the space, so as the real demand comes on, we will already be a market leader.”

PSYCHEDELIC STOCKS: Publicly-traded companies in the space include Algernon (AGNPF), Allied Corp. (ALID), atai Life Sciences (ATAI), BetterLife (BETRF), Bright Minds Biosciences (DRUG), Clearmind (CMND), Compass Pathways (CMPS), Cybin (CYBN), Entheon Biomedical (ENTBF), Filament Health (FLHLF), GH research (GHRS), Incannex Healthcare (IXHL), Mind Medicine (MNMD), MIRA Pharmaceuticals (MIRA), Mydecine Innovations (MYCOF), NRx Pharmaceuticals (NRXP), Numinus Wellness (NUMIF), Optimi Health (OPTHF), Pasithea Therapeutics (KTTA), PharmAla Biotech (MDXXF), PharmaTher (PHRRF), Psyence Biomedical (PBM), Psyence Group (PSYGF), Quantum BioPharma (QNTM), Relmada Therapeutics (RLMD), Revive Therapeutics (RVVTF), SciSparc (SPRC), Seelos Therapeutics (SEEL), Silo Pharma (SILO) and Synaptogenix (SNPX).