A UK university is launching one of the world's first postgraduate qualifications on psychedelics to teach health professionals about the use of psilocybin, LSD, MDMA and other psychoactive drugs in therapeutic work.
Certificate from Exeter University confirms psychedelics as a Site of Scientific Interest in the UK. It could pave the way for clinical therapies to become available in the next five years, with some treatments in the final stages of clinical trials.
Legalization for medical use
This would follow Australia, which has become the first country to allow psychiatrists to prescribe psychedelics for treatment-resistant depression. In the US, MDMA may be prescribed for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder by the end of the year, and Oregon and Colorado plan to legalize the regulated use of psilocybin, the hallucinogenic chemical found in magic mushrooms.
Celia Morgan, a professor of psychopharmacology at the University of Exeter and one of the leaders of the programme, said: “As the world wakes up and recognizes the real potential of psychedelics to treat some of our most damaging mental health conditions, it is essential that we train staff to meet demand. The global body of high-quality evidence is now irrefutable – psychedelics can work where other treatments have failed.”
Legal Obstacles
She noted that the main barriers to its use have been legal and structural rather than medical, adding: "I think this shows how far we are from the fear and stigma of before, a change we also reflected in leading universities around the world conducting clinical trials with the gold standard.”
“The control of most of these substances under schedule 1, meaning they have no medical value, is still the biggest barrier, but we remain optimistic that this could change in the UK with the mounting evidence in countries such as the US and Australia."
The program will benefit from Exeter's leading research, 'Psychedelics: Mind, Medicine, and Culture', unveiled at Breaking Convention, Europe's largest psychedelics conference. The program is aimed at health professionals and therapists, as well as anyone interested in the emerging potential of psychedelics, including those seeking to benefit from a psychedelic healthcare market expected to be worth £2028 billion by 8,4.
Broad training in psychedelics
The certificate that can be obtained covers a wide range of topics, including education on existing psychedelic therapies and research in psychology, psychiatry and neuroscience, as well as modules on philosophy – such as the insights into consciousness and metaphysics that psychedelics provide – and discussions on decolonizing psychedelics. research and practice.
It also offers an anthropological view of cultures that have used psychedelics for centuries. Students also learn practical skills, such as therapeutic techniques and research skills. Psychedelics showed promising applications in mental health treatments in the XNUMXs and XNUMXs, but research was banned as part of a political crackdown on illegal drug use.
In the last 10 years, however, the tide has turned, as a growing body of research has shown that psychedelic drugs can treat conditions such as depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, tobacco addiction, drug and alcohol addiction.
Source: guardian.com (EN)
