“… the decision will make Australia the first country in the world to officially recognise MDMA and psilocybin as medicines”
This report (from Tory Shepherd for The Guardian) begins:
“After decades of ‘demonisation’, psychiatrists will be 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 demonisation’ 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 criminalised.
Specifically authorised psychiatrists will be able to prescribe MDMA for post-traumatic stress disorder, and psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression …”
You can read more from here.
Other posts about collaborative practice:
Mind Fixers: Psychiatry’s Troubled Search for the Biology of Mental Illness
Netherworld – a film by Kevin P. Miller
Why popping a pill for every emotional problem is madness: Antidepressants and antipsychotics are now doled out in their millions… but an expert argues they can make your condition WORSE