The Royal College of Psychiatrists, Heroic Hearts and other leading mental health charities have written letters to the Veterans Minister and the Minister of State for Crime, Policing and Fire, urging them to champion access to psilocybin for mental health.
Following three years of campaigning from the Conservative Drug Policy Reform Group (CDPRGUK), Ministers will be joining to discuss access to psilocybin therapy in the UK.
Ahead of the debate, The Royal College of Psychiatrists and other leading mental health charities including Drug Science, Clusterbusters, the Campaign Against Living Miserably, Sane and Heroic Hearts Project UK, have written a letter to the Minister of State for Crime, Policing and Fire, MP Chris Philp.
The letter urges MP Philip to commission a high-priority ACMD review of psilocybin’s status as a Schedule 1 controlled substance under the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001.
Keith Abraham, CEO of Heroic Hearts UK, a non-profit organisation supporting veterans’ access to psychedelic therapies, has also written to the Minister of State (Minister for Veterans’ Affairs) Johnny Mercer.
Abraham is urging the Minister to “champion the issue within the Cabinet ahead of the Back Bench Business debate on the 18 May and demand that the Home Office commission an urgent review of the evidence of the harms and utility of psilocybin.”
Writing on behalf of veterans of Britain’s armed forces, Abraham penned: “I am heartened by your inclusion of mental health as a personal priority in your work for our community, and I write to you today because it’s highly probable we can do better for Veterans.
“Clinical studies into the effects of psilocybin on depression, combined with supportive psychotherapy, show very exciting evidence to suggest that even a single dose can relieve symptoms for long periods of time.”
Timmy Davis, CDPRG Psilocybin Rescheduling Project Manager, commented: “It has now been more than two years since the ACMD was asked to review barriers to research and after this review, a further commission would still be necessary to reschedule psilocybin.
“It is unethical to wait any longer. Psilocybin’s Schedule 1 designation is not morally, medically or economically appropriate. We hope that the ACMD can do the right thing by patients in the UK and show it is the independent and proactive body it is intended to be. Not least as it is chaired by a practicing psychiatrist.
“According to nationwide polling data, nearly 60% of the UK population supports changing the law to make it easier to research psilocybin.
“This proportion increased to 68% when respondents were told that similar reforms to enable research with psilocybin have already taken place in other jurisdictions around the world like Australia, Canada and the United States.”
Founder and Unremunerated Chair, CDPRG, MP Crispin Blunt, who will be one of the MPs leading the debate in Parliament, commented: “It is deeply frustrating that we have a medicine, psilocybin, that could transform mental health care for over a million people in the UK with severe depression, yet outdated Home Office restrictions are stifling UK research and blocking patient access.
“There is absolutely no evidence to justify this. The Home Office has admitted as much. I do not think people would accept this situation if it was a drug for cancer. Why do we treat psilocybin differently?
“18 people per day in the UK take their own lives from depression. A dozen more die of drug addiction. Millions suffer every day. We have a duty of care to these people. At present, we are failing in this duty, based on no evidence at all.”
To watch the debate on Thursday, 18 May visit: www.parliamentlive.tv/Commons
