Delic Holdings Corp., a Canadian-based business that specializes in psychedelic wellness, plans to open a 2,200-square-foot ketamine treatment center in Reno in the beginning of next year. The center, operated under Delic’s subsidiary, Ketamine Wellness Centers (KWC), will employ 8-10 people, including nurse practitioners, infusion facilitators and administration positions, Delic co-founder and CEO Matt Stang told the NNBW. The Reno office at 1895 Plumas St., Ste. 6, will be KWC’s second Nevada location; it currently operates one in Las Vegas. “The Vegas location has been open less than a year and it’s done really well; I think it provides an accessible and affordable way to get care,” Stang said. Delic announced plans in early December to open the Reno location, under the KWC brand, in addition to a second clinic in Salt Lake City. Both should open in February. “Reno is one of the bigger boomtowns right now in the whole country. We’ve seen the explosive growth and think that there’s a real need for this in Northern Nevada,” Stang said. “It also allows us to provide these treatments to people in California and Lake Tahoe as well. This is great for the community and it’s exciting for us to be in the Reno area.” Ketamine is known to help treat depression and anxiety disorders, which have become increasingly more prevalent in society due to the added layer of the COVID-19 pandemic. The drug was first introduced in the 1960s as an anesthetic to treat wounded soldiers in the Vietnam War, and at the turn of the decade, the FDA approved it to be used as a sedative for patients during surgeries. Years later, it started being used as a recreational drug popular in nightclubs since it causes a euphoric, hallucinogenic effect. However, more studies are coming out showing patients being treated for their physical pain with ketamine also caused their depression to go away and their mood would lift seemingly overnight. Stang said Delic’s mission is to address the mental health crisis in Canada and the U.S. by reframing the psychedelic conversation and creating an extensive network of brick-and-mortar clinics to safely administer ketamine treatments and develop high-quality effective product lines. “We use a science-based approach to ketamine therapy, and it helps immensely for 70-80 percent of our patients,” he said. “It doesn’t change your physical body or outlook on life. It’s for people looking for new modalities. The time has come, and the need is there for it. “It’s the safest anesthetic out there; it’s all done with doctor supervision in an incredibly secure space. It’s been used for decades as an effective way to treat depression and the science is irrefutably there.” He further explained that ketamine is an ideal resource to treat resistant depression and getting people out of anxiety-ridden routines. “My wife had an anxiety disorder and ketamine has helped tremendously,” Stang said. “It completely knocked out her anxiety.” At KWC, a mental health treatment costs $449 per infusion, a pain treatment costs $899, and a prolonged pain treatment costs $1,200. KWC does accept select insurance plans for those who have a legitimate pain diagnosis, according to the company. Established in 2018 and based in Vancouver, Delic owns an umbrella of businesses, including Ketamine Infusion Centers and KWC, which it describes as composing the largest chain of psychedelic wellness clinics in the U.S.; Delic Labs, which focuses on research and development of psilocybin vaporization technology; and Reality Sandwich and Delic Radio, a pair of media and ecommerce platforms. Since KWC’s launch in 2015, staff have administered roughly 60,000 ketamine infusions across its 10 clinics in Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Nevada, Minnesota, Washington, Florida and Texas, according to Delic, which acquired KWC in September 2021. It also operates two Ketamine Infusion Centers in Phoenix and Bakersfield, California. According to a Dec. 2 press release, in addition to the Reno and Salt Lake City KWC locations, Delic expects to open 13 additional clinics across the country over the coming 18 months.
