Long wait ahead for depressed Australians looking to access MDMA and magic mushrooms

Severely depressed Australians can legally be prescribed illicit drugs magic mushrooms and MDMA for treatment from July 1 — but there is a catch.

With less than a month to go until illicit magic mushrooms and MDMA are available for medical use, doctors warn the system is unprepared, with not a single doctor approved to dispense the drugs. 

Doctors have warned that severely depressed Australians waiting for the new treatment — lauded for helping people with post traumatic stress disorder — will be “a good few months away” because the wheels of medical reform are slow to move. 

Psychiatrists are also concerned about the lack of guidelines around the training doctors will be required to undertake when administering the new treatments.

Popular festival drugs MDMA and psilocybin — also known as magic mushrooms — are considered a breakthrough in mental health treatment with growing support prompting the Therapeutic Goods Administration to approve the legal use of the illicit drugs for people with treatment resistant depression or post traumatic stress disorder.

They will become available from July 1.

The drugs will become available for medical use from July 1. Picture: AFP

But so far, not a single application by doctors to become “authorised prescribed’ has been approved by the TGA.

Doctors must apply to the TGA and be approved by an ethics committee to be able to prescribe the new drugs to their patients — and while the TGA claims applications will be approved in 10 days, doctors familiar with the ethics committee say it is difficult to get the green tick quickly. 

Psilocybe cubensis, known colloquially as psychedelic "magic" mushrooms, are considered a breakthrough in mental health treatment. Picture: AFP

The TGA will not approve any doctors applications before July 1.

Psychiatrist Dr Vinay Lakra said patients were very “excited” about the new treatments but the government guidelines would mean it is months before they become available. 

“I fail to see how this will happen on July 1. You have to apply to the ethics committee … I have some experience working with them and they take time. Then the states have their own departments who will set up guidelines. It will take a good few months,” he said. 

“There are so many players involved in the regulation process, each of these process, even if they run parallel, will take their own time,” he said.

Psychiatrist and academic Professor Mike Musker said there was “no clarity” on the training requirements for psychiatrists looking to give the treatment.

“There is no clarity about the actual training that’s required and there is limited training. People who want to be qualified may have to go to international sources of training,” he said.

Mr Musker said despite the approval, access to the drugs would be slow to progress.

Originally published as Long wait ahead for depressed Australians looking to access MDMA and magic mushrooms