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MDMA and magic mushrooms have been approved for use by psychiatrists to treat some mental health conditions.
The Therapeutic Goods Administration has approved the prescription of MDMA to treat post-traumatic stress disorder and psilocybin, which is the active ingredient in magic mushrooms, for treatment-resistant depression.
The law change will take effect on July 1.
The two drugs remain classified as prohibited and outside of psychiatric treatments will only be legally allowed in clinical trials.
The Therapeutic Goods Administration has approved the prescription of MDMA to treat post-traumatic stress disorder
The TGA ruling, announced Friday afternoon, drew a mixed reaction from medical researchers and academics.
The Mind Medicine Australia team, which submitted an application for the law change, welcomed its approval.
A statement from the group said: ‘We are delighted with the decision which will be welcomed by so many suffering Australians. It specifically acknowledges the current lack of options for patients with specific treatment-resistant mental illnesses and the evidence of safety and efficacy from clinical trials.
‘The support we’ve had throughout this process has been incredible and overwhelming.
‘Finally, our hearts go out to all those Australians suffering from treatment-resistant depression and treatment-resistant PTSD. Now they will have the opportunity to access this innovative treatment with their mental health professionals, which has shown such positive results in safety and efficacy internationally.”
However, Swinburne University professor Susan Rossell, who leads Australia’s largest trial into the effects of psilocybin on depression, is concerned that more research is needed.
“These treatments are not well established at all for a sufficient level of large-scale implementation,” he said.
“We don’t have data on long-term outcomes at all, so I’m very concerned about it, which is one of the reasons I’m doing my big study.”
Psilocybin, which is the active ingredient in magic mushrooms, will be used for treatment-resistant depression
Meanwhile, Australian National University associate professor David Caldicott said the ranking change represented an inevitable outcome that could have happened years ago.
“MDMA was used as a drug in 1985, when it was banned by executive order of the President of the US and against the advice of medical professionals and administrative agencies,” he said.
“Perhaps most excitingly, many of the emerging treatments with these previously banned products require only brief exposure to facilitate therapy, rather than lifelong prescription drugs that do little more than mitigate psychological trauma.”
Dr. Paul Liknaitzky leads the Monash University Clinical Psychedelic Research Project, which already offers psychedelic-assisted therapies to clinical patients.
‘We have witnessed up close the potential of our treatment to improve people’s lives; however, the safety and efficacy of psychedelic therapies depend on a unique set of professional competencies and considerations that are in short supply in mental health care,” he said.
‘For clinical psychedelic services to be responsive, safe and useful, considerable public and professional education will be needed, and issues of affordability, eligibility, supervision and standards of care must be addressed.
“With this time change in a matter of months, Australia has very little time to understand this.”
Professor Kim Felmingham, University of Melbourne Chair in Clinical Psychology, said the MDMA reclassification was exciting and promising, but also required further research.
“No treatment for PTSD is a panacea that will treat all people with PTSD effectively and MDMA is no exception,” said Professor Felmingham.
“Further research on this topic would allow us to optimize our healthcare resources, direct people to the most effective treatment for them, and improve the accessibility of treatments for people living with PTSD.”