Time to Legally Reclassify Psychedelic Drugs, Experts Say

Psychedelic drugs should be legally reclassified so that researchers can more easily test their therapeutic potential in clinical psychiatry and other areas of medicine, experts say.

Legal restrictions placed on medical use of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), psilocybin, and other psychedelic drugs make clinical trials nearly impossible, and authorities should "downgrade their unnecessarily restrictive" Class A, Schedule I classification, writes James Rucker, MRCPsych, psychiatrist and honorary lecturer at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, writes in an essay published online May 26 in the BMJ.

These drugs were extensively used and researched in clinical psychiatry before their prohibition in 1967, he notes, with many trials suggesting benefit in various psychiatric disorders. However, research ended after 1967.

In the United Kingdom, psychedelic drugs were legally classified as Schedule I drugs, having "no accepted medical use and the greatest potential for harm, despite the research evidence to the contrary," Dr Rucker notes. Psychedelic drugs also fall under the Schedule I classification in the United States.

No Evidence of Harm

Psychedelics remain more legally restricted than heroin and cocaine, yet "no evidence indicates that psychedelic drugs are habit forming; little evidence indicates that they are harmful in controlled settings; and much historical evidence shows that they could have use in common psychiatric disorders," Dr Rucker notes.

Several recent studies suggest psychedelics have "clinical efficacy in anxiety associated with advanced cancer, obsessive compulsive disorder, tobacco addiction, alcohol addiction, and cluster headaches," he notes.

As reported by Medscape Medical News, a study published earlier this year found that any lifetime use of classic psychedelic drugs, including LSD and mescaline, was associated with lower likelihood of psychological distress, suicidal thinking, suicidal planning, and suicide attempts.

But large, controlled trials, which are needed to truly investigate their therapeutic potential, are made "almost impossible by the practical, financial and bureaucratic obstacles" imposed by their Schedule I classification, Dr Rucker says. In the United Kingdom, to hold a Schedule I drug, institutions are required to have a license, which is costly. Currently, only four hospitals hold such licenses, which come with regular police or home office inspections and onerous rules on storage and transport.

Dr Rucker calls on the UK Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs and the 2016 UN General Assembly Special Session on Drugs to recommend that psychedelics be reclassified as Schedule II compounds to enable a "comprehensive, evidence based assessment of their therapeutic potential."