The effects of ketamine on suicidality across various formulations and study settings

Ed Bates has enjoyed a thriving career in the arts & entertainment industry as a producer, writer, director, film distributor and educator.

In 2020, at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, Bates started a medical company, The Safe Set. The Safe Set designed and operated contact tracing programs for Netflix and Buzzfeed, and ran production mitigation programs and testing strategies for many other entertainment companies, allowing scores of film industry professionals to safely return to work.

When Covid vaccines became available at the end of 2020, Bates immediately devoted The Safe Set to vaccinations: The Safe Set vaccinated thousands of school children and underserved adults in Los Angeles County. For months, Bates’ company vaccinated the students and their families in L.A. Unified School District, Santa Monica & Malibu School Districts, numerous independent schools and operated his own vaccination clinic in South Los Angeles.

Bates has been interested for many years in the growing proof that psychedelic medicines show significant success in treating mental illness when combined with therapy. During 2020, a friend of Bates’ had become deeply depressed and had not been helped by any other therapies and that he had slipped into a hopeless state of suicidality. Bates was profoundly relieved when one day his friend called with an entirely new outlook and attitude of positivity towards his life: his friend told him that a series of ketamine infusions, along with therapy, had led to this miraculous change. That day, Bates’ journey to understanding the power of psychedelics to help patients with mental illness began, along with his mission to bring this powerful treatment to patients in need.