Once all expenses are factored in - including the drugs themselves, supervision from multidisciplinary teams, psychiatrist sessions and hiring a private clinic - costs could spiral to A$30,000 (£15,700, $20,000) per treatment, according to one psychedelics expert.ĭue to the prohibitive price tag, Dr Stephen Bright, senior lecturer at Edith Cowan University, says he doubts these treatments "will be very widely available at all" for the first 12-18 months. They'll then need to source and supply both MDMA and psilocybin. To become an authorized prescriber, psychiatrists must apply to an ethics committee and to Australia's drugs regulator - the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA). Mind Medicine Australia (MMA), a charity which lobbied for psychedelic treatments, is helping to train health professionals tasked with procuring and prescribing the drugs. In the 2000s though, research slowly started up again - with recent trials finding that both MDMA and psilocybin can quickly improve symptoms of severe depression, though little is known about how they do this. It entered Australia in the 1980s as a party drug due to its reported effects of increased energy, empathy, and pleasure, and was criminalized in 1987. Psychedelic clinics also operate legally in countries including Jamaica and Costa Rica.īut how Australia rolls out clinical prescriptions for both drugs, and at what price tag, will be closely watched.įirst developed as an appetite suppressant in 1912, ecstasy was used in therapy sessions in the US until the mid-1970s when it was outlawed. Other countries have explored psychedelics for compassionate use, including Switzerland, Canada, and Israel - where regulators have made similar decisions, although not nationally like in Australia. "This is where the global psychedelic spotlight now shines," he told the BBC.ĭr Sessa has resigned from his job running the UK's primary psychedelic clinical organization and will spend the next 18 months traveling to Australia to deliver a bespoke psychedelic prescribing training program. Psychedelic researcher and psychiatrist Dr Ben Sessa described the approval as pioneering. Professor David Nutt, Head of Neuropsychopharmacology at the UK's Imperial College, congratulated Australia on "leading the world in this vital treatment innovation". I could think clearly again."ĭue to no other country rescheduling these substances for clinical use on a national level, the cohort who've experienced psychedelic therapy is small. The 33-year-old veteran says he began experiencing "lingering PTSD" from his time in the army, during Covid-19 lockdowns in Sydney.īut after 10 weeks of microdosing and therapy sessions, red areas on his initial brain scans showing blockages had cleared. "He explained it wasn't something he does, but he couldn't stop me, and would do brain scans to track my progress," he says. When Glen Boyes suggested microdosing psychedelics to treat his crippling depression, his therapist was skeptical. "When I got home, friends said they saw my eyes shining again." "I could smile, feel joy, go about my daily routine with clarity," she says. it was a massive, beautiful experience of unconditional love." I'm getting emotional just talking about it. I felt powerfully reconnected to the world warm and fuzzy. As an addiction counsellor, I was always very against it," she says.īut she was also desperate to escape her treatment-resistant depression, so in 2018, she booked herself in. "I have no history of drug or alcohol use. When her research for alternative therapies led her to a psilocybin clinic in Amsterdam, she was hesitant. "I'd still go to bed praying not to wake up," the 49-year-old says. She couldn't eat, shower, or leave her house in Melbourne - but says prescription antidepressants left her "zombie-like, unable to cry, self-soothe or feel better". "Within two months, I lost my mother, grandmother, beloved pet dog and my romantic relationship," she recalls. Marjane Beaugeois was diagnosed with severe depression in 2017. While initial access to the drugs will be limited and costly, many experts and patients are hailing it as a landmark moment.īut major health organizations have also urged caution. The changes come into effect on Saturday, making Australia the first country to classify psychedelics as medicines at a national level. It will also allow MDMA, known as ecstasy in tablet form, for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The decision will see psilocybin, found in magic mushrooms, used for treatment-resistant depression. SYDNEY - Earlier this year, researchers raised eyebrows when Australia's traditionally conservative medicines regulator approved the use of psychedelics to assist therapy sessions.
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