Boris Johnson considers calls to legalize psilocybin, a magic mushroom

Boris Johnson said he will look into the latest advice on the legalization of psilocybin, a psychedelic drug found in magic mushrooms.

Conservative MP Crispin Blunt urged the prime minister to review the law to allow for further research into the drug’s therapeutic qualities.

Blunt said it has “exciting potential” for treating mental health conditions like depression, trauma and addiction.

Johnson said he will return to Mr. Blunt “as soon as possible”.

Psilocybin is currently included in Schedule 1 of the Misuse of Drugs Act, along with drugs such as ecstasy and LSD. This means it cannot be legally owned or prescribed and a Home Office license is required for use in research.

Activists, including Mr. Blunt, want it moved to Annex 2 with restrictions to prevent inappropriate prescriptions and facilitate medical and scientific research.

It would therefore potentially be in the same category as medical cannabis, which was legalized in 2018.

Blunt said this would allow for more clinical trials and research into its potential benefits in treating mental health conditions.

The congressman told BBC News that the prime minister had privately given him an assurance in May this year that he had pledged to reprogram psilocybin for clinical research.

At Prime Minister’s Questions, Mr. Blunt called on the Prime Minister to take this forward, claiming it would boost the UK’s bioscience industry.

Johnson told him, “I can say that we will consider the recent advice from the Advisory Council on Drug Abuse on reducing barriers to research with controlled drugs like the one he describes, and we will get back to him as soon as possible.”

“There is no trace anywhere that a substance has left ‘program two’ and entered the criminal supply chain,” he told BBC News.

Initial clinical research shows that psilocybin, in combination with verbal therapies, can help people with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

Military veteran Guy Murray says psychedelics helped him overcome post-traumatic stress disorder.

In addition to talking about therapy and education, Murray says psilocybin “changed everything” and is now the happiest he has ever been.

Mr. Murray joined the military in 2008 and later served for just over six months in Afghanistan’s Sangin Valley with the 4th Battalion Rifles.

He watched as his close friend Martin was shot and killed.

“I was actually looking at him through binoculars at the time and saw him fall.

“I was watching the battle unfold and I wasn’t a part of it, and that’s exactly the trauma when you can’t do anything to find yourself in a situation that you can’t fight, you can’t help, just look at something, you are completely helpless.

“I could not return for his repatriation. There was no mourning, no mourning, it had never happened to me.

“My father went to the funeral for me because I was still in Afghanistan.”

Mr. Murray suffered from flashbacks, depression and numerous suicide attempts.

He left the military in 2014 and was diagnosed with PTSD in 2017.

He later spent some time researching psychology, depression and psychedelic use in several European countries.

Police Minister Kit Malthouse told lawmakers on Monday that while he welcomed anything to help address mental illness, psilocybin programming was a matter for the drug regulatory agency.

“There is ongoing trials and research on psilocybin in the UK and while the medicine has yet to be licensed by the medicines and health products regulatory agency, if and when it does, we will consider reprogramming it,” he has declared.

David Badcock, chief executive of the charity Drug Science, said current psilocybin research is promising, but more is needed.

“We know there is enormous therapeutic potential in psilocybin, but the problem is, there is evidence, but we need more research.

“We need to do more research to fully understand its full potential.”