you may know them as magic mushrooms, special K, ecstasy and acid – psychedelics used by seekers, hippies and club ravers to alter the way they experience the world, enhance their senses, escape their problems or just have a fun time. But today these substances are the subject of studies and clinical trials at the world’s leading universities, from Johns Hopkins in the United States to Imperial College London. They operate differently in the brain to the mainstream antidepressants and anti-anxiety meds currently prescribed for mental health problems, and there is growing evidence that they may be more effective, when used as part of professional treatment plans.
Advocates are pushing for their legalisation, and already two states in the US – Oregon and Colorado – have decriminalised possession of psilocybin (the main psychoactive component of ’shrooms) and established a regulatory system to support its use by adults. And at the time of writing, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was expected to approve psilocybin, as well as MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxy-methamphetamine, or ecstasy), for the treatment of depression and post-traumatic stress disorder by early 2024.
Australia pipped the US to the post, becoming the first country in the world to legalise the use of psychedelics to treat some medical health conditions when it passed regulations in July 2023 under which psychiatrists can prescribe MDMA for PTSD and psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression. The Australian Eating Disorders Research and Translation Centre is even exploring the treatment of anorexia using psilocybin.
Here in South Africa, drug research has focused rather on cannabis, with Tshwane University of Technology and
