Recreational drugs to fight against certain mental pathologies: Australia became, on Saturday July 1, one of the first countries in the world to authorize ecstasy and hallucinogenic mushrooms for medical purposes. Registered psychiatrists can now prescribe MDMA and psilocybin, the active ingredients of these drugs, for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder and certain types of depression, according to a February decision by the body. Australian Drug Watch.
Canada and some states of the United States have certainly already authorized the medical use of psilocybin or MDMA, but only in the context of clinical trials or with special authorizations. Australia will, for its part, reclassify these substances, after trials by the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration rated them as “relatively safe” when used in a “medically controlled environment”.
“Sense of connection”
Proponents of this decision hope that these substances can lead to decisive advances in the treatment of certain mental disorders. Mike Musker, a mental health and suicide prevention researcher at the University of South Australia, told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that MDMA gives patients “a sense of connection” that allows them to to facilitate contact with the therapist and to discuss their traumatic experiences. The “psycho-spiritual effect” of psilocybin, on the other hand, “that you don’t get with traditional drugs (…), can change your perception of yourself and your (…) and with a bit of luck, it can make you want to live.”
Mr Musker doubts these drugs will be “widely used” by patients before 2024, and said the process would not be “to take a pill and disappear into thin air”. Ecstasy, for example, would probably require three treatments over a period of five to eight weeks, with each session lasting around eight hours.
He also says therapists would stay with patients while high on drugs, in sessions that won’t be available to everyone as they could cost around 1,000 Australian dollars (609 euros). each. For Dr David Caldicott, an emergency medicine consultant and clinical substances researcher at the Australian National University, Canberra, the move gives Australia a head start in exploring the medicinal benefits of drugs.
A decision considered hasty by some
However, this authorization is not unanimous in the scientific community, some researchers deeming it premature. Susan Rossell, cognitive neuropsychologist at the University of Swinburne believes that although these treatments “have potential”, Australia is “moving five years ahead of it should”.
“For any other type of disease, whether it’s cardiovascular disease or cancer, it’s impossible to get a drug to market as quickly as we did in this case. “, she regrets to AFP. “There are no drugs on the market that haven’t gone through phase 3 clinical trials [which consist of comparing efficacy to an existing treatment or to a placebo, in a double-blind way] and phase 4 [analysis of real-world post-market effects] – and that’s what we’re doing here. »
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Health said the decision “takes into account that the evidence regarding the use of these substances in the treatment of mental illnesses is not yet well established”. He added: “However, the benefits for some patients (…) outweigh the risks, and there is currently a lack of options for patients with specific treatment-resistant mental illnesses. »