The Castlemaine chapter of Mind Medicine Australia is celebrating the recent announcement that the Therapeutic Goods Administration will reschedule the medical use of MDMA and psilocybin from July 1.
The rescheduling will enable authorised psychiatrists to prescribe these psychedelic substances for treatment-resistant depression and treatment-resistant post-traumatic stress disorder.
All other uses of MDMA and Psilocybin will remain in its current schedule.
Castlemaine psychoanalytic psychologist and the founder of the Castlemaine chapter of MMA, Deborah Coulthard, said the TGA’s acknowledgement of the research around psychedelic medicines was an important step toward these treatments being available for depression and post-traumatic stress symptoms.
“It is such wonderful news that Australia has taken this important step in understanding the need for these medicines, which open up so many possibilities for the relief of suffering,” the local practitioner said.
Ms Coulthard said most psychiatrists would be bemused that they had been given sole rights to using these treatments.
“It is hoped that soon, the practitioners who have trained in the area will be given the right to practice and help people benefit from the great potential of these medicines,” she said.
“There are a growing number of us who have done specific training in assisting patients in the use of psychedelics.
“We wait for the permission to practice and open up the potential for much healing,” Ms Coulthard said.
