Charlotte Nichols says a change to the law is likely to happen in the next Parliament. Photo: Heathcliff O'Malley
The active chemical contained in magic mushrooms should be made available to the NHS as a treatment for mental illness, a former Labor Party member has said.
Charlotte Nichols was Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities until September 2021. She left the party role voluntarily, citing personal reasons.
Ms Nichols told The Telegraph she had no choice but to resign from her position as chief assistant after she was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) following a violent crime. She said that research into using magic mushrooms to treat the disease has since given her hope that “the person I was before my diagnosis is still out there somewhere” – and that there is already enough evidence to warrant a prescription for the class A drug.< /p>
“There is no cure for PTSD itself,” she said. “But there is clear real-world evidence that psilocybin therapy can get people to the point where they no longer meet the diagnostic criteria for the disease, meaning they no longer have to live with it the same way.”
< p>“I think I would really like it to be available on the NHS.
“For the various mental health conditions that may benefit from psilocybin-assisted therapy, whether it's PTSD or something else, it's likely that you'll try other forms of therapy or medication first. But for people who haven't found it helpful, it should be an option, and your doctor and your psychiatrist should determine whether you're a good candidate for it.”
Charlotte Nichols was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after a violent crime. Photo: UNPIXS
Psilocybin, the hallucinogenic chemical found in magic mushrooms, remains a Class A drug in the UK. The substance is also listed as a Schedule 1 substance by the Home Office, meaning it is considered to have a high potential for abuse and little or no medical value, so doctors cannot dispense it.
Campaigners have called for psilocybin to be reclassified as a Schedule 2 drug, meaning it can be prescribed by doctors and pharmacists, but its possession for recreational purposes will remain illegal.
The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) recently told the Department Home Office that psilocybin should be moved to Schedule 2. A Home Office spokesman said the Home Office “will respond to the ACMD's recommendations in due course.”
Ms Nichols recalls being told she “simply can't be an MP” when she developed symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder after being the victim of a violent crime in 2021.
< p>The Warrington North MP spent a month in an inpatient psychiatric unit when her condition was so severe that she “would have died” if not for the specialist care she received.
It was there that she first spoke to doctors about whether psilocybin therapy could help treat her own symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.
She said: “It would be illegal for my mental health consultant to even suggest places where I could seek psilocybin therapy.” . He sort of winked at me and said that it was up to the politicians to sort this out, knowing full well that I was a member of parliament.”
“A blatant two-tier system”
Since July, doctors in Australia have been able to prescribe psilocybin therapy to patients with post-traumatic stress disorder or treatment-resistant depression. However, treatment can cost up to $2,500 per session.
Ms Nichols reluctantly paid for private psychotherapy while she remains on the NHS waiting list. She said the care she received during and after hospital treatment reduced her symptoms “from 10 to four”, but estimates her hospital stay could have cost the NHS as much as £50,000.She added that her own case is an example of the “egregious two-tier system” of mental health treatment in the UK.
If doctors could prescribe psilocybin, it would not only “give people their lives back”. “, but would “reduce future ongoing uncertain costs for the NHS and patients themselves who are being forced into private care,” she said.
Ms Nichols told The Telegraph she had not raised the issue with Sir Keir Starmer directly, but believes a change to the law is likely to happen in the next Parliament.
She said: “I have yet to hear from any of my constituents that they are against what I am for. which I'm campaigning for.”
Talking about a potential return to the front bench, she said: “If I were offered the chance to work in a Labor government that would be fantastic, but I'm not waiting on the phone.
“Sometimes it is easier to discuss such issues as a campaign representative. Either way, I'll work on it until it's finished.”
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