Restrictions on the use of psychedelic drugs in research should be relaxed to help find new treatments for conditions including mental health disorders, the former government adviser Prof
David Nutt has said.
Nutt was sacked as
chair of the advisory committee on the misuse of drugs in October 2009 over his views that ecstasy and LSD are less dangerous than alcohol.
He said the potential benefits of psychedelics – first suggested from research in the 1950s and 60s – were failing to be properly explored because of draconian regulations imposed for political reasons.
While heroin and psilocybin (the active compound in magic mushrooms) are both class A drugs, only the latter is a “schedule 1” controlled drug – a category of drugs deemed to have no medical value.
“The implication is if you want to use [psychedelics] you must be doing something naughty, even though it is research,” said Nutt.
