 Welcome to the Rich TV Live podcast. I'm your host, Richard D'Souza, and today I'm bringing you a very special company that is aiming to address the overdose crisis and pioneer drug reform. They're also addressing a major issue that has touched the lives of many people in one way or another in society and is really trying to find a solution. So let's get started by going through some questions that will give investors a better idea of what their approach will be. All right, so I'm joined here with Setti Coscarella, the VP of Corporate Development and the board member Ronan Levy of Safe Supply. How are you gentlemen doing today? Doing great, Rich, how are you? I'm doing fantastic. How are you doing today, Ronan? I'm doing very well, thank you. Fantastic, very excited to have you gentlemen on the show. And my first question for you gentlemen is, what motivated your company to focus on providing safe supply narcotics to combat the overdose crisis? You know, as we started to see the winds of change form, when you take a look at what's been happening in the US, what recently happened throughout Vancouver and what the prevailing political environment is surrounding this issue throughout Canada, we thought that there was an extraordinary opportunity for us to help government institute this new way of thinking. In fact, we think the war on drugs is coming to an end and what we're trying to do is build the infrastructure for a post-war on drugs world. Now, as these opportunities start to present themselves, we think that there'll be a real big opportunity for capital deployment to help these early stage companies achieve the things they want to so that they can partner with governments to actually institute these policies that you're starting to see come through. So for us, we always like to look at these things from an early mover standpoint. And we think that, you know, especially with our past track record, we've got a lot of former public company guys on our team, you know, we know how to create value, we know how to find the right opportunities and we know how to sift through those opportunities to create a portfolio of companies that we think will create extraordinary value going forward. I think also everyone's got their story, everyone's got their reason, right? You know, for me, it's, there's a number of reasons. One is I'm 44, I've got young kids, you know, growing up as Bill or CEO says, you know, you can make a mistake, you could be stupid and probably the worst thing that would happen is you'd have a hangover the next day. These days with the toxic drugs supply in our world, that's not the same equation. And frankly, I think everybody has been touched to some degree by the opioid epidemic, the fentanyl crisis that we have right now. Like again, I'm 44, I'm just getting to that age where you have one or two friends starting to pass away. And the first person in my community that I went to high school who passed away was from a fentanyl overdose. So there's also a very personal story that's involved in here. In addition to SETI's point, which is there's a straight line they can draw from cannabis to psychedelics to future drug reform. I mean, it's the only logical conclusion. When you look at all the stats around the war on drugs, cost, the lives, the suffering, it's not a sustainable policy. It hasn't worked, it won't work. Society is waking up to that. Policy makers are waking up to that and that's what's creating what we believe to be a fantastic opportunity, not just financial but also to create real impact. I agree with you, I've also been touched by it and it's terrible, it's a tragedy. Now, can you explain your approach to safe supply and how it differs from traditional narcotics distribution? Sure, I mean there's safe supply as a company as we approach it, we're really not an investment vehicle but like an incubator and investment. So we're looking across the safe supply ecosystem and so there's a number of different touch points that we can hit on in terms of immediate opportunities even without greater policy reform like we're anticipating and we believe will happen in the next couple of years. There's immediate need right now, right? Treatment centers, addiction counseling, coming from the psychedelic space, we see that psychedelic assisted therapies can be potent treatments for addiction, for opioid addiction. So that's just one area touching on securing the drug supply even though it's still very much illicit, cocaine, heroin, all of these drugs that people talk about even though we see MDMA on the verge of being rescheduled and FDA approved, a lot of people are still using drugs. Let's just be very candid about that. Ensuring that if people are making the decision to use drugs in whatever capacity that their supply is safe, that they can test it so they won't die is obviously of utmost importance. We see policy changes around that right now with fentanyl test strips, for example, being rescheduled so they're no longer considered drug paraphernalia. So we're looking across the ecosystem, technologies, clinics, infrastructure, production, medicines, there's a whole world that's emerging in this space and it's happening right now again. This is all stuff that you don't need policy change to happen but it's very likely that policy change will happen around the safe supply ecosystem. And really, to further that point, when you take a look at the harm reduction strategy that this is really centered around, I think it's important to know that historically this war on drugs has been a punitive approach and what we're trying to do I guess as a more enlightened society is understand that the victims of this are not criminals and I think we need to take more of a compassionate approach in terms of trying to figure out how to best serve them throughout their journey. Addiction and rehabilitation are not singular points in time, right? And people are gonna vary in terms of where they are within that journey and they're gonna need different products and services in order to assist them in order to get to what we believe is the common goal which would be a recovery framework. But in order to do so, you need to provide a lot of things throughout that process so that different people at different stages have the things they need in order to see that to the end. Otherwise, the unfortunate part is a lot of these people end up dead and we're starting to see if you juxtapose this with something like COVID, at the end of the day, COVID was a very, very bad flu. A lot of people died. We shut the world down for two years because of this. We're starting to see more people die from opioid overdoses than ever died from COVID. So when you take a look at it through that lens as a government, you have to go out and do something different because this idea of just saying no to drugs, albeit has its own merit, doesn't seem to really be working because every year drug use continues to increase and increase and increase. So along with that increase, now you're starting to see all of this toxic chemical that's going in, whether it's fentanyl, xylazine, horse tranquilizers. And that's not, at least I don't think that's what the ultimate end user is really looking for. I don't think they're looking to play Russian roulette with their life. So if we can provide solutions to keep people alive longer so that if they want to stay treated, those opportunities are available to them, I think that's a good thing. I agree with you guys. And how do you envision your safe supply program contributing to reducing overdose deaths and improving public health outcomes? So again, if you take a look at something like a test strip, okay, that's one of the companies that we're looking at potentially making an investment in. These things allow you to, for the end user, they'll allow them to test their drugs before they ingest it to see whether it has a lethal dose of fentanyl, xylazine, or any other sort of additive that could otherwise be extremely harmful if they were to take, you know, again, if you take a look at what I think the ethos of this company is, like if you don't do drugs, then don't do drugs. If you do drugs, then maybe you should think about stopping. And if you don't want to stop, then at least find some aspect of safe supply that you can use so that you can keep yourself alive. You know, testing strips being one. I think there's an opportunity now, especially in Vancouver, where they've decriminalized all of these drugs. I think there's an opportunity to start working with government to institute things called the safe swap. So at safe consumption sites, people who have drugs can go there, you know, without fear of, you know, punitive repercussion, have the drugs tested. And if they are laced with something they otherwise don't want, those drugs can otherwise be swapped for a clean supply. That's something that would be instituted and administered by the government. We, in those particular cases, would be sort of a trusted supplier to the government of the products and services they would need. In order to help these policies come to fruition. I think that's the important point here, actually, which is like, this is not our approach to this. We're just working with what the policy changes are. Governments and policy makers are waking up to the fact that a new approach is needed. And we're really there to act as the trusted partner. To provide tools and technologies to ensure the providence of the drug supply, even if it's illicit, you still need to make sure it's safe. To make sure that there's the infrastructure to help people who are dealing with the pendants to ensure that there are safe places where people can access safe medicine, safe drugs. Again, that's not us. That's what's happening. And we're the ones who are right at the forefront of recognizing the economic opportunity and impact that we can have by working hand in hand with governments and evolving policy. What evidence or research supports the effectiveness of safe supply programs in reducing harm? Well, there haven't been a lot of safe supply programs. And this is why what we're doing is innovative and at a burgeoning ecosystem. What we do see is that there have been a number of programs where decriminalization has happened. We saw that in Portugal, which was hailed as a thriving success in terms of lowering crime or reducing HIV and hepatitis B transmission and helping change the conversation, right? Like the more you criminalize it, the more you demonize drug use, the more you push it underground and that's where the harm happens. The more you can bring it down to light and help people, that's how you can make the transition, right? So Portugal is a great example of a success story. We see it happening in Oregon as well. There's some conversation about what's happening in Oregon but if you think about what the fundamental policy of decriminalization, which is all that's happened so far in Oregon has been, is to reduce crime and make sure that people aren't forced underground and to see the environments where they can't be safe. To that extent, Oregon has been a shining success as well, crime is way down. Drug use is up, there's no doubt about that but that's why there's new opportunities that emerge, which is like when you legalize things, it's natural that things will increase. That's just basic economic supply and demand. But if you can ensure it's done safely, if you can do it done supportedly and make sure that no one's harmed by it, that's where the real opportunity is and that's where the safe supply, safe supply thesis from our business model perspective is is we can step in there, build that infrastructure, support these people and I think be in a position to again, have great impact but build a really sound business because again, drug use is not going away. It's not going away. What we're trying to do is make sure it's safe and responsibly done and I think that's really gonna generate positive outcomes. Rich, I used to say this even when I was at Titan we would have these interviews. I mean, the idea of a prohibition never tends to work. If you look at all of the sort of things that in the recent past were otherwise prohibited, it didn't snuff out the use, it just moved it underground. So from our standpoint, I think having a more regulated approach to allow people who are going to do it anyway, a safer way to do those things is likely better than just sticking your head in the sand and saying, well, nobody's doing it and everybody should just say, oh no, say no, well, it hasn't worked. It never has. Didn't work with alcohol, didn't work with cannabis, hasn't worked with drugs. It never really does. The human condition doesn't really allow for it, kids. Ronan's got kids. Go tell your kid not to do something and see what happens. So I think we just have to have a little bit more of an enlightened view of how to deal with a particular problem because the sort of iron fist approach has never seemed to yield the results otherwise desirable to society. And again, beyond just what we see with decrim efforts, we see efforts in the US government. The US government of all places, like the state of Kentucky is now investing $42 million to investigate Ibogaine, a psychedelic drug as a treatment for opioid addiction. We see AOC and different Congress people proposing funding for research for psychedelic and different therapies. We see the human health services and the government proposing to reschedule cannabis now. These are all kind of straight line continuation. So you have to read the tea leaves a little bit about where this is going. And the team we've built here at Safe Supply have been the people who have read the tea leaves. We were ahead of the curve in cannabis in 2012 and 2013. We're ahead of the curve in terms of psychedelics in 2017, 2018, 2019. And this is just the next stage of what's been a logical progression, even though some people don't want the necessarily voices or recognize that it is where it's going. And truthfully, I think all of us believe it's sensible policy. This isn't just, you know, brash economic opportunism. This is, you know, business that does well and does good at the same time. What collaborations or partnerships have you established with healthcare providers, harm reduction organizations or government agencies to implement your initiatives? As we start to progress along this journey, we've already had a number of conversations with all aspects and all sort of political stripe of government. We've spoken to law enforcement, we've spoken to healthcare practitioners and everyone seems to believe that this is the right way to go. In fact, whether I speak to, close chambers, whether I speak to somebody who is a conservative or a liberal, they all say the same thing. It's not a function of if, it's a function of when, you know, broader scale decriminalization is going to come because enforcing the current regulations is just becoming too onerous. And it's not really what the intended result of enforcing those things is. I mean, incarcerating people is not going to solve a problem. So again, it boils down to a reframing of what the actual problem is and trying to figure out solutions that will best serve the people who are most hard hit by the problem. You know, the reason we set safe supply up as effectively an investment code is because it allows us to go out and make investments across this value chain in response to where the government policies are because they're the ones that are dictating this whole thing. They're effectively the conductor of the orchestra and they'll tell you which one of the instruments is gonna play with brass or woodwind or percussion or whatever it is. And I think with the way that we've set this structure up, it allows us to go and focus our efforts in the areas where the governments in the specific jurisdictions are focusing their efforts. And I think that's what's gonna yield the highest return on invested capital for us because we'll be working hand in hand with them. Ultimately, I view this entire business as one big public-private partnership to help end the war on drugs and actually provide the solutions to people who most need it. Well, if you guys wanna see another perspective, there is an interview also on the deal report that investors can review. And I wanted to thank both of you gentlemen for joining us today. VP of Corporate Development, Sete Cascarella and Board Member Ronan Levy. Thank you gentlemen for joining us today. Rich, always a ton of fun being on your show. Thank you for watching the Rich TV Live podcast. I am your host, Richard D'Souza. And I wanna bring your attention, the safe supply symbol on the Canadian Securities Exchange, CSE, symbol SPLY. I also wanna remind you that Rich TV Live is strictly for information and education purposes. Past performance is not always an indication of future results. In saying that, this is an IPO, a brand new company, that we think is very undervalued, under-appreciated and under-exposed. And we'd love to know what you think about safe supply. If you like the videos, please smash the like button, comment down below, share the video everywhere, and subscribe. I'm your host of the most, your boy Rich from Rich TV Live, saying have a nice day. We'll see you soon.