NT politician Mark Turner calls for magic mushrooms to be allowed in certain cases

A former cop and Territory politician has made an impassioned plea to allow psychedelic drugs to be allowed in certain cases.

A FORMER cop and Territory politician has made an impassioned plea to allow magic mushrooms to be used as a medicine, saying he would be the first to try the psychedelic drug therapy.

Blain representative Mark Turner told the NT parliament to “overturn decades of hysteria” over magic mushrooms for the treatment of mental health conditions.

“I am conflicted and admit that I would be the first person to put my hand up to see if I am eligible,” Mr Turner told his political colleagues on Wednesday.

“I have spoken to numerous constituents, police and military, who will be doing the same and know there is no shortage of trauma survivors watching this space.”

The former police officer said he was among the one in five Australian adults with a chronic mental illness, with one in eight on antidepressants.

Mark Turner. Picture: Che Chorley

Mr Turner, who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and depression, said the trauma of his previous two-decade career with the NT Police continued to haunt him.

“I relive trauma in everyday settings, such as taking the children to the circus and watching the acrobats at the circus swinging from their necks and seeing reports of violent crime.

“The mix of the smell of barbecued sausages and exhaust fumes gives me a cold, paralysing sweat because the people who I have tried to assist.

“Just talking about it here gives me the same reaction.

“The triggers can be limitless.”

“This is what trauma and mental distress is — and I am watching people die as a result of it.”

Mr Turner agued that alternative psychedelic-assisted therapies using magic mushrooms had a “remarkable” remission rates in clinical trials.

“(This) could lead to many Australians getting their mental health back on track and moving out of a patchy and at times, unsupportive or even non-existent mental health system,” he said.

In 2021 Australia’s medicine regulator the Therapeutic Goods Administration said magic mushrooms and MDMA “showed promise” for treatment-resistant depression and end of life anxiety when used under close clinical supervision.

However, currently psilocybin — commonly known as magic mushrooms — is classed as a Schedule 9 drug by the Therapeutic Goods Administration, meaning it can only be legally used for research purposes.

Mind Medicine Australia, a group advocating for psychedelic-assisted treatments, have called for magic mushrooms to be reclassified a controlled drug.

Chairman Peter Hunt said this would change the medical regulations around magic mushrooms so they could become an accepted treatment.

“In the NT there’s no state approval mechanism while they’re schedule 9,” he said.

“(Currently) if a doctor want to prescribe them they would be liable … because possession is still illegal.”

“The legislation doesn’t differentiate between recreational use and medicinal.”

Mr Hunt said a TGA reclassification would allow their use as a mental health treatment from permitted psychiatrists.

Mr Turner said bias against the drugs and “ludicrous and outdated restrictions” had stopped Territorians accessing the alternative treatment.

“If they were new drugs, treatment-resistant patients would in all probability be able to access them through the TGA’s special access scheme,” he said.

“But so far, no Australians have been able to access them outside of clinical trials because their legal status as medicines is being compromised by a confusion and fascination with recreational drug policy, which listed psilocybin as a prohibited drug.”

Mr Turner, who was embroiled in the ‘cocaine sex scandal’, called on his fellow parliamentarians to end the “belief that there are good drugs and bad drugs”.

The married father of five was at the centre of the controversy in 2021 after his affair with a woman — who used cocaine and was connected with another fifth floor government staffer — was exposed.

There is no suggestion Mr Turner took any illicit substances. He was also cleared by the parliamentary privileges committee and the Independent Commissioner Against Corruption

Mr Turner called for legislators to stop “burying our head in the sand” and end the “rules and regulations written and driven by paranoia”.

Mr Turner called on the national medical regulator to push forward on magic mushroom reforms, following the lead of medical cannabis legislations.

“I would like to ask the people in this room a simple question: what legacy would you like to leave when your time in parliament ends?” he asked.

“I think not only of my friends and previous colleagues in the police and emergency services and the trauma they suffer; traumatic events and situations affect all those who endure them.”

“If this saves one person, it is worth it.”