New York Mets owner Steve Cohen and his wife dished out $5 million to fund the effort to bring mind-bending psychedelic drugs into the mainstream.
The seven-figure sum was donated by the Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation, an organization the hedge fund billionaire founded to inspire community service and philanthropy across many sectors, including psychedelic research.
The foundation’s website commends “the active ingredient of ‘magic mushrooms’” because of its alleged “positive and long-lasting effects on some of the most debilitating and chronic medical conditions, including addiction, anxiety, and major depression.”
The foundation gifted the money to MAPS, the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelics Studies.
The San Jose, Calif.-based organization is financially entrenched in pushing the US Food and Drug Administration to approve MDMA to treat post-traumatic stress disorder.
MAPS’ public-benefit-corporation subsidiary plans to submit a new drug application for MDMA — also known as ecstasy or molly — to the FDA later this year, the organization told Bloomberg.
If the mind-altering drug is approved by the FDA to assist in PTSD treatment, MAPS has pledged to create a patient-assistance fund that would give individuals in need access to MDMA, the outlet reported.
Cohen’s $5 million will be used towards the fund if the FDA approves the move.
However, if the FDA denies the more mainstream use of MDMA, the $5 million will simply serve as a grant in support of MAPS’ work, according to Bloomberg.
The Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation’s website touts itself as “one of the largest private funders of psychedelic research in the country,” having donated nearly $19 million to projects related to hallucinogenic drugs, including an earlier $5 million to MAPS, according to its site.
Representatives for the Cohens didn’t immediately respond to noti.group’s request for comment.
Steve Cohen, 67, is worth an estimated $9.5 billion — wealth he’s accumulated as the leader of hedge fund SAC Capital Advisors, which shuttered in 2016 after the firm pleaded guilty to insider trading charges.
While Cohen was never personally charged, the hedge fund was ordered to pay a record $1.8 billion in 2013, and Cohen was banned from managing outside money for two years.
Cohen made his highly-anticipated Wall Street comeback in February 2018 with the launch of a new fund, Point72 Asset Management, which earned him more than $1.7 billion in personal capital gains in 2020.
That same year, Cohen cut a check to buy the MLB’s New York Mets for $2.4 billion. ESPN boasted the team owner as “a godsend” for Mets fans, and “the richest owner in the game.”
Cohen has also spent his fortune on psychedelic research, but he’s not the only deep-pocketed businessman doing so.
On Wednesday, Toms shoe founder Blake Mycoskie pledged $100 million towards the effort.
“I don’t see a chance in my lifetime to be part of something else that could end so much human suffering,” Mycoskie said earlier this week during the MAPS Psychedelic Science conference in Denver, Bloomberg reported.
[Written in collaboration with other media outlets with information from the following sources]
