Policy
CDPRG discusses the UK’s Reschedule Psilocybin campaign

Published
6 months agoon

Timmy Davis of the Conservative Drug Policy Reform Group (CDPRG) tells Psychedelic Health about the organisation’s campaign to reschedule psilocybin in a bid to increase psychedelic research.
Currently in the UK psilocybin is categorised as a Schedule 1 drug under the Misuse of Drugs Act 2001 – the highest schedule alongside drugs such as raw opium and LSD.
This status makes research into the substance incredibly challenging as financial costs for licensing and laboratory retrofitting can be costly.
Although costly – some are successful in carrying out such research – and now, an increasing amount of studies are showing psychedelic compounds such as psilocybin, LSD, DMT and others as promising treatments for mental health conditions.
A recent debate in UK Parliament saw MP for Warrington North, Charlotte Nichols, lead calls for the rescheduling of psilocybin after describing her own experience living with PTSD as a “living hell”.
The debate was the result of three years of campaigning from CDPRG and Psychedelic Access Rights (PAR Global), which has taken the form of parliamentary meetings and the launch of a petition that reached over 10,000. the campaign also saw the launch of The UK’s first-ever psychedelics advert that featured on a digital billboard in London.
Ahead of the debate, CDPRG and leading mental health charities – including Heroic Hearts, SANE, The Campaign Against Living Miserably – and organisations Drug Science and the Royal College of Psychiatrists, called on the ACMD to review psilocybin status as a Schedule 1 drug for research purposes.
How did we get here?
Speaking to Psychedelic Health, Timmy Davis, Psychedelics Lead at CDPRG and Policy Director at PAR, explains that in 2019, due to a lack of action on psychedelic research, the Reschedule Psilocybin project was launched at Europe’s leading psychedelic conference, Breaking Convention.
Following this, in 2020 Davis, along with Manchester University Professor Jo Neill, Dr James Rucker and others in the CDPRG, collaborated with the Adam Smith Institute to compile the report ‘Medicinal Use of Psilocybin: Reducing restrictions on research and treatment’.
The report highlights that in 2017 the Home Office commissioned the ACMD to review what could be done to facilitate research involving Schedule 1 controlled drugs.
It states: “In December 2017, the ACMD proposed the creation of a temporary ‘research schedule’ with reduced regulatory requirements. Their recommendation was that Schedule 1 drugs proceeding into clinical trials could be moved to this novel schedule, provided that the drug sponsor issues a detailed investigator’s brochure and ethical committee approval to the Home Office, showing evidence of safety and tolerability.
“Under this model, drugs that are not successfully brought to market would revert to Schedule 1 status.”
The authors go on to highlight that, in 2019 “a Home Office Minister of State, Nick Hurd, wrote to the Chair of the ACMD to reject the notion of a novel research schedule on the basis of a “heavy burden on legislative amendment time,” since Ministers would be required to consult with the ACMD every time a drug was moved into or out of the proposed schedule.”
Davis continues: “The Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001, based upon the 1971 Misuse of Drugs Act stipulates the Schedules of controlled drugs and so who can prescribe them and how easy they are to research. At the time of the 1971 Act, psilocybin hadn’t had any application made to the MHRA requesting it be considered a medicine, so fell automatically within Class A and Schedule 1.”
Davis highlights that this decision was counter to the evidence which “hadn’t even been collected and considered”, leading to huge barriers to research for over 50 years. Other drugs such as heroin and cocaine fell under Schedule 2 as they were considered to have medical utility.”
To add to these barriers, psilocybin and psychedelics across the board have carried a heavy stigma after years of media reports painting the compounds as dangerous – meaning many scientists have shied away from such research.
“This is very frustrating for UK life sciences and bioscience research,” says Davis. “Also for the development of mental health treatments, and so, essentially, for patients.”
Championing patient access
In October 2022, the British Medical Association warned that the UK is facing a mental health crisis “that is spiralling out of control” and the UK government was failing patients due to a “system that is struggling to keep up with rising demand.”
The UK’s Office of National Statistics stated that between July 2019 and March 2020 prevalence of mental health conditions in the UK population was 10%, rising to 21% by January to March 2021 and dropping to 16% by June 2022.
Against this backdrop, the CDPRGUK is campaigning for patient access to psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy.
“The government has commissioned the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) to look into barriers to research, and this is really good because it means that if the recommendations are acted upon then research will be facilitated,” says Davis.
“That said, the evidence is there that psilocybin is in the wrong schedule, so hopefully the recommendations will reflect that rather than just changing the restrictions on Schedule 1 substances.
“For the Home Office to reschedule psilocybin they will first have to review the evidence for its harms and medical utility.
“If the Home Office does review the evidence, regardless of the outcome, it shows that they have a commitment to evidence-based drug policy – but most importantly psilocybin’s current schedule is unjustified and should be modified to reflect the evidence, allowing the patients who are demanding access to have it prescribed to them by their psychiatrists.”
This sentiment is echoed by the UK public, with results from a YouGov survey revealing that 55% of respondents support relaxing restrictions on the medical use of psilocybin for mental health conditions if it didn’t affect how it was classified in criminal law.
A total of 68% supported access to patients in palliative care when they learned patients in Canada were able to receive access under its Special Access Programme (SAP).
Additionally, a recent CDPRG report – ‘Making UK Drug Policy A Success: Reforming The Policy Making Process’ – shows that the majority of MPs from all parties want evidence-based reform in the UK.
“We feel confident and are really excited to see how everything plays out – it is hard to find anyone who is against increasing access to those who need it,” Davis concludes.
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Policy
Now is the time for psychedelic access, says campaigner

Published
2 weeks agoon
21st November 2023By
News Editor
Activists in Oakland recently filed a ballot put forward by Dave Hodges seeking to legalise safe and legal access to psychedelics for therapeutic uses.
In the face of critics, Hodges has said now is the time for safe access to psychedelics.
The Psychedelic Wellness & Healing Initiative would enable the sale, possession and use of psychedelics for therapeutic purposes if passed. Psychedelics that would be allowed under the ballot include Psilocybin, MDMA, DMT, and Mescaline.
If passed, the initiative would give doctors and mental health specialists the right to recommend psychedelics to ease the debilitating symptoms of a range of problems, including obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety, addiction, suicidality and traumatic brain injury (TBI), among others.
Hodges has said: “Now is the time for safe, controlled medical access for patients in need. The way to solve the problem is not by continuing to ignore it.”
Hodges’ solution is to create a structure for use that includes proper dosages and access to experts who can help users benefit from appropriate treatment.
The updated initiative language emphasises safety, and gives doctors and mental health specialists the right to recommend psychedelics to ease the debilitating symptoms of a range of conditions.
Research by the University of Michigan and Columbia University shows non-LSD hallucinogenic use on the rise and Hodges has stated that increase means that the initiative providing guidelines for use is needed more than ever.
Hodges said he hopes Californians will read the initiative, share their thoughts about it over the holiday week and offer feedback via the initiative website, PW4CA.com, by 27 November, 2023, the deadline for modifications.
“Now is the time to provide medical and therapeutic access to psychedelics,” Hodges said. “The way to do this is through the initiative.”
Policy
Transform Drugs releases groundbreaking book: How to regulate psychedelics

Published
3 weeks agoon
15th November 2023
UK charity Transform Drug Policy Foundation has published a new book ‘How to Regulate Psychedelics: A Practical Guide’ that sets out how psychedelics can be legalised and regulated for non-medical adult use.
While an increasing amount of research is pointing to the potentially beneficial effects of psychedelic treatment on mental health conditions, many people across the globe are using psychedelics outside of the clinical setting.
The book includes a set of proposals for post-prohibition policies, covering psychedelics including psilocybin, LSD, DMT and Mescaline.
Previously, Transform’s guides on regulating stimulants and cannabis have been used to advise governments around the world on drug policy. This book seeks to inform the debates on psychedelic drug reforms taking place across the world.
Co-author and Public Affairs and Policy Manager at Transform Drug Policy Foundation, Ester Kincová, stated: “Despite psychedelic drugs being illegal, their non-medical use within society has been steadily increasing.
“Punitive enforcement has not decreased use or eliminated supply, but it has made use more unsafe.
“Legalising and regulating psychedelics is a pragmatic move to reduce harm. This is no longer a theoretical debate, states in the US are already recognising the need and making moves to regulate for non-medical adult use.”
Scientific Chair of Drug Science, Professor David Nutt, added: “Once again Transform have come up with a well thought out and practical plan for the regulation of another group of currently illegal drugs – in this case psychedelics.
“Their ideas would be both easy to implement and to engage with and will, if adopted, radically enhance the safe use of these remarkable agents.”
Proposals for regulation
The book includes a four-tiered regulation model “that attempts to manage the variety of psychedelic preparations and the different ways in which they are used”.
These include:
- Private use, home cultivation, foraging and not-for-profit sharing.
- Membership-based non-for-profit associations for plant-based products.
- Licensed production and retail adaptable to different products and environments
- Regulated commercial guided or supervised use
Additionally, a decriminalisation model is proposed which suggests that possession for personal use should no longer be an offence of any kind or be subject to any sanctions; Drugs for personal use should not be confiscated; cultivation of small amounts of plant-based drugs for personal use should be decriminalised, among other suggestions.
The book also includes topics such as embedding social justice, equity and human rights into policy design, how to think about psychedelics regulation, why regulate psychedelics and why now, and psychedelics and the UN drug treaties.
To read the book, please visit transformdrugs.org/.
Policy
Oakland ballot seeks to legalise medical psychedelics

Published
1 month agoon
30th October 2023By
News Editor
Activists in Oakland have filed a ballot that seeks to legalise safe and legal access to psychedelics for therapeutic uses.
The Psychedelic Wellness & Healing Initiative would enable the sale, possession and use of psychedelics for therapeutic purposes if passed. Psychedelics that would be allowed under the ballot include Psilocybin, MDMA, DMT, and Mescaline.
If passed, the initiative would give doctors and mental health specialists the right to recommend psychedelics to ease the debilitating symptoms of a range of problems, including obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety, addiction, suicidality and traumatic brain injury (TBI), among others.
Additionally, it would create a statewide framework for regulating the possession, use, cultivation and production of substances for medical and therapeutic use.
The initiative has been introduced by proponent and founder of the Oakland-based Church of Ambrosia, Dave Hodges, to the California Attorney General’s office for the 2024 ballot, and will need 546,651 valid signatures to qualify.
The filing follows California Governor Gavin Newsom’s recent veto of Senate Bill 58, the bill that sought to decriminalise the use of certain psychedelic drugs.
Hodges emphasised that SB58 would have been a step forward, but that it had major flaws concerning its lack of provisions to ensure access, public safety and quality control. That veto, Hodges said, compelled him to move quickly on the initiative filing.
When the California Attorney General certifies the initiative for circulation, backers will have about four and a half months to gather the required signatures for ballot placement.
Signature collecting will begin in early December.
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