How psychedelics will save lives and heal the world, beginning in Australia.

The Psychedelic Renaissance is now

Never have I ever been prouder of my adopted country than when Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) reclassified psilocybin (the active compound found in over 200 strains of mushrooms) and MDMA to allow psychiatrists to prescribe these in a controlled therapeutic setting to people suffering from treatment resistant depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). On the 1st July, Australia took a giant step forwards in the pursuit of a better way of life for many of its people.

This long overdue decision by the TGA sets Australia apart from the rest of the world as a pioneer in the mental health space. We are the first country globally to offer psychedelic-assisted therapy to the general population and based on all research conducted thus far, the evidence is overwhelmingly in support of the life-altering benefits these previously ‘criminal’ medicines can have on a person’s mental health and unlike the current therapies and medications for depression that mental health professionals have access to, psychedelics have the capacity to heal, not just ‘put a band aid’ on – we can cure depression, we can cure PTSD – THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING!

The key is Neuroplasticity

As someone who had their first serious encounter with depression in 2022, I can speak with assurance when I say a single, large dose of psilocybin brought an end to months of low moods and brain fogginess. That isn’t to say it is a silver bullet, I had put in months of hard work in the form of talking therapy, introspection, and mindfulness to get to a place where I felt ready to lift the weight off. Whilst experiencing a huge amount of dopamine in my brain I was able to access different parts of it and laid down new neural pathways breaking the cycle of negative thinking I had been stuck in through a process called neuroplasticity. This is the single, most interesting (AND FASCINATING) activity that happens in your mind when under the effect of these medicines and is the key to understanding why they have such a profound effect.

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In short, imagine your brain filled with lights and on any given day certain lights are switched on when conducting tasks or having certain thoughts, perhaps 10-20% of your brain would light up, compare that to someone struggling with depressive, repetitive thoughts then that percentage reduces. When a large dose of psilocybin is administered the effect on the mind put simply, is to switch almost every light on, and with the appropriate guidance you could access any part of your brain. Each time you access a new part of your brain, you are laying a new neural pathway - you are building a new connection, a bridge to a part of your brain previously unused. Once the surge of dopamine wears off after the effects subside, what is left is the new neural pathway. Follow up therapy sessions, as well as mindfulness practices like journaling and meditation as well a repeating the new action or thought will help to form a stronger and deeper connection to the newly accessed part of your mind allowing you to turn this into something hardwired – a new pattern in your mind, free of the vicious loops that plague suffers of mental illnesses like depression.

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Similarly, MDMA promotes a feeling of euphoria through the massive release of dopamine allowing a patient to access previously inaccessible traumatic memories providing them and the mental health professional with an opportunity to conduct talking therapy to relive and thus begin to process the traumatic event that holds people back in life.

Ending the mental health pandemic?

In conducting my own research, I was alarmed, but sadly not surprised, to read that depression was present in 37.5% of all suicides in Australia in 2021, as was anxiety (17.3%) and alcohol addiction (9.3%) (1). In total 3,144 Australians took their own life in 2021. With the help of psychedelics, we could be helping over 2,000 people each year see that there could be a different way out of their difficult situation.

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Psilocybin has been shown to help cure not only depression but also anxiety, addictions such as nicotine/alcohol dependence, obsessive compulsive disorder, and end-of-life distress. It is a deeply powerful tool which qualified mental health professionals must have access to so that we can turn the tide on our growing suicide rates. Having lost a friend and colleague, Oliver Bergh to suicide in April 2022, I am so proud Australia has chosen to take the step in pursuit of a mentally healthier country.

Nixon's War on Drugs

In order to influence people’s opinions on these so-called drugs, it is first important to understand why there is such a negative opinion of psychedelics in the first place. It may come as a surprise to some, but the criminalisation was politically motivated and began during the Vietnam War in the US.

Turning the clock back to the 1960s in the US and Richard Nixon had just taken office at the end of a decade that had seen the Vietnam War enter its 14th year, with no end in sight. The seemingly unwinnable war, in which thousands of young Americans were dying each year, had grown increasingly unpopular and the growing anti-war movement was largely born out of young hippies who were known to participate in psychedelic consumption. During his election campaign, Nixon had vowed to win the war and the protests along with the anti-war sentiment that the counter-culture ‘hippies’ were inciting stood in direct opposition to his objective. No ambitious, political leader wants to be the one caught holding the ball when things go belly up and Nixon, a fierce advocate of the US war in Vietnam was not going to allow that to be him. Nixon needed to create an enemy of the counter-culture movement, and just like with opium and Chinese railroad workers of the 1850s and marijuana and Mexican immigrant workers in the 1910-20s, psychedelics and the counter-culture movement were the next example of population control in the ‘land of the free’. Psychedelics were named enemy number one with the passing of the Controlled Substances Act in 1970 and thus the propaganda machine rolled out spreading fake news about the harmful effects of these substances. The limited channels through which people received information in the 1970s allowed for an ease of state-led control of the narrative, leading to minimal questioning of the rhetoric outside of the counter-culture movement and the misinformation spread striking fear into people.

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It was a hammer blow to medical research with early signs suggesting these psycho-active substances had strong therapeutic potential, and yet this this reclassification deemed these drugs had ‘no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse’. Overnight thousands of studies were shut down. Following the US’s decision, the rest of the world moved to criminalise these substances too with sweeping changes coming into effect and setting back the advancement of mental health research by 50 years.

Advance Australia Fair

Under the new classification in Australia, psychedelics will be a schedule 8 controlled medicine, meaning MDMA and psilocybin would sit alongside drugs like dexamphetamine, morphine and some forms of medical cannabis. As someone who has been prescribed dexamphetamine for treatment of my ADHD since the age of 12, I couldn’t imagine how different my life would have been had this been categorised any differently. For many this reclassification will offer them a chance at a different life, free of the effects of their mental ailments. We are moving in the right direction and maintaining control of these substances is imperative but also in recognising their vital importance in helping change people’s lives for the better we are giving hope to many who have lived for too long without any.

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Psychiatrists can begin healing people of their long-standing mental health issues. If anyone reading this has been unsuccessfully battling with depression or you have been unable to move past a particularly traumatic event from your past or if you know someone struggling, then I implore you to get in contact with a psychiatrist in your area and try to learn if you can be considered for these treatments – it could be the beginning of a new, brighter future.

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If you are interested in learning more on this subject, Michael Pollen, a New York Times best-selling journalist has a docuseries on Netflix called “How to Change Your Mind” – it will change your mind, if I haven’t!

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The Psychedelic Renaissance has begun, and Australia can show the way to the world.

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(1)??https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/health/causes-death/causes-death-australia/latest-release