Australia To Allow Prescription of MDMA and Psilocybin For Medical Use (theguardian.com)
- Reference: 0170262565
- News link: https://science.slashdot.org/story/23/02/03/2250216/australia-to-allow-prescription-of-mdma-and-psilocybin-for-medical-use
- Source link: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/feb/03/australia-to-allow-prescription-of-mdma-and-psilocybin-for-treatment-resistant-mental-illnesses
> After decades of "demonization", psychiatrists will be [1]able to prescribe MDMA and psilocybin in Australia from July this year . The Therapeutic Goods Administration made the surprise announcement on Friday afternoon. The drugs will only be allowed to be used in a very limited way, and remain otherwise prohibited, but the move was described as a "very welcome step away from what has been decades of demonization" by Dr David Caldicott, a clinical senior lecturer in emergency medicine at Australian National University.
>
> 3,4-methylenedioxy-methamphetamine (MDMA) is commonly known as ecstasy, while psilocybin is a psychedelic commonly found in so-called magic mushrooms. Both drugs were used experimentally and therapeutically decades ago, before being criminalized. Specifically authorized psychiatrists will be able to prescribe MDMA for post-traumatic stress disorder, and psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression.
Caldicott said it had become "abundantly clear" that a controlled supply of both MDMA and psilocybin "can have dramatic effects on conditions often considered refractory to contemporary treatment" and would particularly benefit returned service men and women from the Australian defense force. "The safe 're-medicalization' of certain historically illicit drugs is a very welcome step away from what has been decades of demonization," he said.
"In addition to a clear and evolving therapeutic benefit, it also offers the chance to catch up on the decades of lost opportunity [of] delving into the inner workings of the human mind, abandoned for so long as part of an ill-conceived, ideological "war on drugs.'"
[1] https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/feb/03/australia-to-allow-prescription-of-mdma-and-psilocybin-for-treatment-resistant-mental-illnesses
Sackler Family 2.0 (Score:1)
Why does this feel like it's Oxycontin all over again? Because it probably is. The covid vaccine gravy train has slowed right down, prescription opioids blew up, so now Big Pharma is onto the next big thing in legal yet dubious prescription drugs. Follow the money, and watch this get out of hand real fast. Great documentary fodder in about 10-15 year's time. "The mid 2020's and the great psychiatric drug epidemic". I'm sure that with the oncoming global recession, the market for these will be peaking. "tra
Re: (Score:2)
OldManYellsAtCloud.jpg
Re: (Score:2)
Most of the research indicates one dose every six months or so is enough. Also these drugs are so old as to not be patentable (at least in the US) so the amount "Big Pharma" can make on them is very limited.
What you will probably see are resort-like facilities that charge $30,000 per stay, making money the way drug rehab centers do. But they aren't pharmaceutical companies.
Since one of the indications for psychedelic therapy is drug addiction, I'm sure there are rehab places already scrambling to see how to
Re: (Score:2)
Right? Just legalize weed already and place no more than a modest tax on it, it would solve a lot of these issues.
To be used ... (Score:2)
... under supervision and in carefully controlled conditions.
You will of course sign a release holding all staff harmless should any unanticipated neurological damage occur. In which case, I don't really see a problem. Have fun, Mr Guinea Pig.