Preventing Suicide and Suffering

Fast Facts

• Around the world psychedelic-assisted therapies are on the cusp of widespread acceptance as a breakthrough therapy for key classes of mental illness.
• These medicines have been shown to be very safe and non-addictive when used in a medically controlled environment.
• These therapies are being trialed as treatments for depression, PTSD, anxiety, end-of-life distress, dementia, anorexia and opioid, alcohol and smoking addictions and a number of other illnesses.
• These treatments are showing remission rates of up to 80% after just 2-3 medicinal doses in combination with psychotherapy.
• There have been over 300+ trials in the past decade.
• In the 50's/60's these medicines were considered the next big breakthrough in treatments for mental illnesses before the War on Drugs in 1970, which stopped further research for decades.
• Both psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy for major and treatment-resistant depression as well as MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for PTSD have been granted “Breakthrough Therapy Designation” by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the USA to fast-track the approval process because clinical evidence to date indicates that they may demonstrate substantial improvement over currently available therapies.
• In the past 2 years over 40 for-profit companies have emerged in this space globally creating an entire new industry, jobs and other opportunities for innovation in treatments.
• In February 2023 the TGA rescheduled MDMA and psilocybin, making Australia the first country in the world to recognise them as medicines.