Want to nail that big creative pitch? Bring along some LSD.

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Low-dose psychedelics and micro-doses of cannabis will be about as common as coffee in the future and will be used to guide moods and unleash creativity throughout the day, according to an Advertising Week panel today on coming trends in health and wellness. Faith Popcorn, CEO and Futurist at Brain Reserve, and Julian Cohen, chief innovation officer at Canopy Growth, said the move is being hastened by both technology and the pandemic, the latter of which destroyed the “transitions” that used to define our day.

“We don’t have transition time anymore,” said Cohen. Not long ago, our days were broken up by leaving the home or commuting, and we now have “a two-minute commute downstairs where on a call with our boss our dog shows up,” he said. “We are moving way too fast between mood states and we need help with that. Cannabis can help.”

Cannabinoids can allow for ways to “bring back that stability” and manage moods, he said, to make consumers more focused, relax, manage anxiety, enable sleep, enhance sex—and yes, in heavier doses—party. 

“Small doses can make you feel better,” said Popcorn. “You can change it up from micro to regular to macro. For example a little LSD for creativity, a little LSD before a big meeting or a dentist appointment.”

Popcorn predicted the future will include: medical doctors with specialties in cannabis; Apple-style stores that will specialize in mixing strains; drone deliveries of cannabis; cannabis cocktails and even potential for Starbucks. She said there is already “diet weed” that is said to help with acne, fatty liver disease, killing mouth bacteria and more. 

What will enable mainstreaming of the drug is legalization, which is now by state rather than at the federal level, as well as new delivery systems. Cohen said topicals, edibles, gummies and inhalers are helping to destigmatize cannabis, so that it is no longer relegated to “bong hits on the corner.”

It is a category ripe for innovation and the future is in dosing, or as he said, “more precision” with titration up or down or with a “stacked effect” in which a higher dose is used for a particular effect and then tapers off. “It’s better living through cannabis,” he said.

Popcorn, who is always good for predicting a few mind-blowing trends, offered a few hot ones during the session. Among them were “dark revelry,” such as immersive sexbot experiences via Oculus; “mindmeld,” which includes self-driving cars that will use aromatherapy to calm down road rage; and “mainstream mysticism,” such as transdermal patches for mushroom trips and “speed toading” venom from poisonous frogs.

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On the tamer end, Cohen cited espresso dosed with CBD, noting that some research has shown that in combination with caffeine it can reduce jitters. 

Which just might be a better choice in prepping for that big creative pitch.