A potentially revolutionary clinical trial using magic mushrooms to treat depression is being held up by ‘absurd’ British and European laws which restrict the use of illegal drugs in research.
Following previous experiments which found the psychotropic substance in magic mushrooms helped allay signs of depression in people who had failed to respond to other treatments, the British Medical Research Council awarded David Nutt and his team at Imperial College London an $844,000 grant to conduct a full clinical trial.
For the trial, 60 patients who had otherwise failed to react to at least two other forms of treatment would be administered a synthetically-manufactured form of psilocybin – the naturally occurring compound in some 200 species of mushrooms.
The problem: psilocybin is considered a Class A drug in the UK, meaning it is designated as having a high potential for abuse and no recognized medical use.
"The trial hasn't started yet because the big problem is getting hold of the drug. We're not allowed to go and pick the mushrooms anymore and finding a company to provide this illegal drug in a way that can be prepared for trial use as yet has proved impossible,” Nutt said on the eve of the British Neuroscience Association's Festival of Neuroscience in London.
