Official Statement Regarding Journey Colab and Consultation
Posoh/Shekoli (hello) community,
I currently serve an Indigenous-led philanthropic organization, the Indigenous Medicine Conservation Fund (IMC Fund). In my current role as the Program Manager of Engagement and Benefit Sharing, I have a responsibility to uphold the values of IMC Fund, Indigenous leaders globally, and our partners on the ground. It is with this responsibility that I have formally stepped down from my role as impact advisor and trustee of the Journey Reciprocity Trust (JRT), a project of Journey Colab, in order to honor concerns regarding the use of heritage molecules. To continue to support the work of the IMC Fund with integrity and avoid any conflict of interest, it is important that I am not formally involved with any pharmaceutical companies at this time.
Unfortunately, a lack of clarity exists surrounding my former role with Journey Colab, a biopharmaceutical company, developing psychedelic medications for the treatment of addiction and other mental health disorders, starting with synthetic Mescaline. To be clear, there was no consent process taken with Native American Church members or other Indigenous practitioners regarding the development or commercialization of synthetic mescaline.
Prior to its formation in 2020, the founding team of Journey Colab engaged in a consultation process that included more than 250 conversations with leaders in biotech, venture capital and impact investing, early activists of the psychedelic sector, doctors and therapists working in the field, and peoples working within Indigenous communities. In this consultation, the company sought to understand the significant issues the psychedelic sector was facing and how Journey Colab could most effectively contribute to the advancement of that sector.
Feedback provided in this process informed Journey Colab’s decision on choosing a stakeholder model for the structure of the business and to center access and benefit sharing. I was brought on to support designing a vehicle for benefit sharing, resulting in the development of an irrevocable trust, the Journey Reciprocity Trust (JRT). The JRT was the first benefit sharing mechanism created by a biopharmaceutical company in the psychedelic sector. Today, the JRT holds ten percent of the company’s founding equity for the benefit of Indigenous communities that have stewarded these medicines, as well as other community stakeholders, including groups working to ensure equitable access to mental health treatment and those working to benefit the ecological conservation of naturally-occurring plant medicines. No funds have been put in nor dispersed from this trust to date.
Journey Colab’s second consultation process was designed as a small focus group with Indigenous voices, following best practices of community-based participatory research (CBPR) guaranteeing anonymity and confidentiality to participants. This focus group took place after the launch of the business and development of the JRT in early 2021. The purpose of this focus group was designed to garner feedback on the company’s approach to access and benefit sharing through the JRT. This was not, nor was it meant to be, a consent process.
During this process three main points were highlighted:
Journey Colab’s consultation and benefit sharing initiative is inspired by, but does not fully adhere to, the Nagoya Protocol on Biological Diversity. Adhering to the Nagoya Protocol would require the company to hold a FPIC process with the communities in which mescaline-containing plants are located before accessing the resource, to negotiate and agree on the terms and conditions of access, and to only use this resource through the establishment of mutually-agreed terms.
The TSC appointing one chair for Indigenous representation would not provide adequate representation and would instead perpetuate an ideology that Indigenous people are monolithic and, consequently, would exacerbate inequality in the design and deployment of the JRT.
The lack of representation of the TSC at the board level would contribute to the ongoing experience of Indigenous communities being disproportionately impacted by the medicalization of plant medicines, and alienated from decision-making power within the psychedelic renaissance.
Beginning a consultation process around the JRT without money being readily available to distribute reflects an extractive approach.
In response to feedback from both consultation processes, the company:
Committed to increasing Indigenous representation within the JRT, with a goal of a complete Indigenous representation on the TSC.
Developed a legally binding, irrevocable patent pledge, committing to never assert their patents on mescaline against the non-commercial use of naturally-derived mescaline and mescaline-containing plants, or on ceremonial and traditional practices, including and in particular Indigenous practices involving mescaline-containing plant medicines.
Paused consultation around the JRT to focus on the core business of drug development in order to increase the value of the JRT.
Supported the development of a white paper describing the formation of the company and the JRT.
As an Indigenous rights activist and social entrepreneur, dedicated to Indigenous health equity across sectors, my role was to provide feedback to leadership, create a mechanism of benefit sharing and increase Indigenous peoples decision making power within the company. During my role I was able to ensure that if Indigenous communities wanted to be included in the wealth generated by Journey Colab, there would be a vehicle to support that benefit sharing. To date, there has been no recipient of the funds, no selection process or partnerships established, nor any recipient designated.
It is my hope that this statement will provide clarity on Journey Colab’s approach to how its work impacts Indigenous communities and their biocultures, as well as clarity on my role in contributing to the co-creation of the JRT.
In community,
Sutton King, Nāēqtaw-Piankiw (come first woman)
