Psychedelic Therapy’s Altered State

Plus: The day the Slurpees cried ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

March 15, 2023

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TOGETHER WITH

Good morning.

That sound you’re hearing is millions of English majors heaving a Sartre-esque sigh of relief.

Turns out ChatGPT is no literary giant. A white paper published Tuesday by OpenAI revealed that GPT-4, the latest and supposedly strongest large-language model bot, excelled in or passed just about every major academic test, including the SATs, the LSATs, the bar exam, AP Calculus, and even sommelier theory tests. The two exceptions: AP English Language & Composition and AP English Literature & Composition, where the bot scored only a 2 out of 5, or generally below the threshold for scoring college credits. No one majors in English to increase their employment odds, but at least writers can rest easy knowing they can’t be replaced… yet. Besides, ChatGPT may come in handy for that Great American novel-in-progress third-act turn.

Morning Brief

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Meta will lay off a quarter of its staff.

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The world of psychedelic therapy continues to blossom.

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Convenience store king passes away.

Tech

More Meta Cuts to Come and Shareholders are Looking Happy

(Photo credit: JD Lasica/Flickr)

Meta is really committed to its New Year’s diet plan.

On Tuesday, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the Facebook and Instagram parent company will be cutting another 10,000 jobs, removing another 5,000 open positions, and canceling some low-priority projects. This all comes just four months after an initial round of 11,000 layoffs, meaning Zuck has fired more people in the past several months than you can pack into Madison Square Garden. But shareholders see a rather large silver lining: Meta’s share price is up, like, way up.

“Humbling Wake Up Call”

In 2022, Meta hit, let’s say, a bit of a dip. The year started off strong, with its stock being worth $332 a share, but as the company reported quarterly revenue declines, the stock just kept going down until it hit a six-year low of $98 a share. That’s a 70% freefall in just a few months. Critics lambasted Zuckerberg, saying he was too focused on virtual reality and rendering avatars with legs rather than pleasing shareholders.

In an out-of-character corporate-sounding letter to employees sent Tuesday morning, Zuckerberg called last year a “humbling wake up call.” Now, Meta has not only gotten back to the top of the cliff, it’s climbed a whole other mountain as its stock is worth nearly $200 a share. The focus shifts and downsizing — which altogether equates to about 25% of the company — seems to be doing the trick, and Meta is expected to announce restructuring plans this spring as part of what Zuckerberg is calling the “Year of Efficiency”:

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Despite Zuckerberg previously saying NFTs could play an important role in the Metaverse, the company announced yesterday it was “winding down” its support for the blockchain tokens on Facebook and Instagram.

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Meta has already started cutting unessential teams, too. Last week, the company announced internally it would be getting rid of its New Product Experimentation group, which was founded in 2019 and worked on consumer-facing programs like speed dating app Sparked, meme-maker E.gg, and audio caller CatchUp, all of which no longer exist.

“Leaner” seems to be the operative word for Meta as Zuckerberg mentions it six times in the letter.

Back to Work: While he avoids saying employees will be required to return to the office, Zuckerberg cites an in-house analysis that found engineers who work in the office with other engineers perform better. “I encourage all of you to find more opportunities to work with your colleagues in person,” he told his fast-shrinking roster of employees.

– Griffin Kelly

Mental Health

Another US Clinic Adds Psychedelic Therapy Treatment

Deadheads and Phish fans may want to make sure their Special K supply chains aren’t drying up.

On Tuesday, Manhattan-based mental health clinic Nushama announced that this week it will begin treating a patient struggling with alcohol addiction with doses of ketamine, a hallucinogenic substance mostly known for its illegal recreational uses. It’s yet another step into the mainstream for the burgeoning psychedelic therapy industry.

Don’t Harsh Our Vibes

Concert-addling recreational uses aside, ketamine has long carried a wide range of accepted medical applications since its inception in 1962, from a surgical anesthetic (often used during the Vietnam War) to a post-op painkiller. Increasingly, it’s viewed as a potentially powerful antidepressant when given in small, supervised doses, due to its ability to help patients gain a better perspective on their brain’s subconscious impulses. A clinical study published in the American Journal of Psychiatry last year by researchers at the University of Exeter found participants undergoing ketamine and psychotherapy treatment were 2.5 times more likely to avoid a relapse into alcohol use.

Nushama’s four-week psychotherapy program is licensed from UK biotech firm Awakn Life Sciences, whose program has since been exported to outside clinics in both Europe and North America, CEO Anthony Tennyson told the Financial Times.

While successful new programs have turned psychedelic therapy from a buzzword into a potential big business enterprise, in America, for now, there remains a major catch:

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Nearly 15 million Americans aged 12 and up suffered from alcohol use disorder in 2019, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. That explains, at least partially, why the psychedelic therapy industry is expected to increase in value from $3.6 billion in 2021 to $8.3 billion in 2028, according to a report from InsightAce Analytic.

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The catch? US insurers won’t cover most treatments, and ketamine has yet to receive regulatory approval to treat alcohol addiction — meaning Nushama’s $10,000 treatment plan must be paid entirely out of pocket.

The Big Picture: Psychedelic therapy, perhaps obviously enough, is not for everyone. But the same could be said for other treatments. As much as 33% of the nearly 9 million US patients prescribed traditional antidepressants were unresponsive to their treatment, according to a 2021 study published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. But another recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found those very same types of patients often found sustained success with psychedelic therapy. That’s, like, a major deal, man.

– Brian Boyle

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Retail

7-Eleven Pioneer Masatoshi Ito Dies, 98

Pour out a Slurpee in memory of the man who allowed it to exist.

Masatoshi Ito, the Japanese billionaire responsible for transforming 7-Eleven into a global convenience store powerhouse, died last week at the age of 98, the company confirmed.

Born to Sell

Ito was born with retail in his blood as his parents, Senzo and Yuki, ran a dry goods and clothing shop where he worked before and after serving in the Japanese military. He later founded the grocery and department store chain Ito-Yokado.

After multiple visits to America, Ito embraced the consumerism and franchising the US is known for and decided he wanted to bring American retail to Japan. That mindset and a successful gamble paved the way for Ito’s biggest move: establishing the country’s first 7-Eleven in 1973:

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With its ready-to-go rice balls, always-open hours (not just 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., which is where the name comes from), and shelves upon shelves of snacks (like cheeseburger-flavored potato chips), 7-Eleven became so integrated into Japanese life that the federal government now considers it national infrastructure. Today, there are roughly 21,000 locations across Japan. For observational comedians in need of new material, that’s more than the number of Starbucks in the US.

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In 1990, 7-Eleven’s parent company the Southland Corporation filed for bankruptcy, which allowed Ito’s group, Seven and I Holdings, to swoop in a year later and purchase a 70% majority stake in the Dallas-based chain for $430 million, effectively making it a Japanese company at that point.

Shady Moves: Ito does have some blemishes on his record, though. In 1992, the Tokyo Stock Exchange honored Ito as a model corporate citizen. Funnily enough, just a month later, Ito was accused of paying off sokaiya, which are kind of like activist investors by way of the Yakuza. Nevertheless, he remained an influential force at Seven & I and in 2005 helped the company acquire the rest of 7-Eleven.

– Griffin Kelly

Extra Upside

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The big house always wins: California mafiosos run illegal casinos while locked up in prison.

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Pricey shoes: Michael Jordan’s ‘Last Dance’ sneakers could sell for $4 million at auction.

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