Maltese MEP Makes Case For Magic Mushrooms And MDMA As Healthcare Therapy
PL MEP Cyrus Engerer has urged the EU to tap into the potential of psychedelics like magic mushrooms and MDMA to help treat mental health illnesses.
“It takes guts to push boundaries,” Engerer wrote in an article for MaltaToday.
“It takes courage to take a topic which has always been viewed as a taboo and still speak about it publicly when you know that the current is against you.”
“But with the science and evidence overwhelmingly showing us that psychedelics work in the treatment of various mental health illnesses and as part of end-of-life care – bringing up these topics is not just about courage, it is about being on the right side of history.”
Engerer said that, unlike current mental health treatments, psychedelics could help cure mental health conditions.
“At the risk of sounding very controversial, when it comes to mental health there are pills to pick you up, pills to bring you down, pills to make you sleep, pills to make you eat, pills to make you go quiet and others to make you speak up,” he said.
“But there never seems to be a pill that helps you understand why all of this is happening our minds. Until now.”
Indeed, he noted that US President Joe Biden recently confirmed that FDA regulators could approve MDMA and psilocybin, the active psychedelic ingredient in magic mushrooms, for PTSD and depression respectively within the next two years.
“We must catch up. European Union funding opportunities under the Health Chapter of Horizon Europe, for example, must be expanded in order to allow more funding into such clinical trials,” he said.
“Currently Horizon, the EU’s leading funding programme for innovation, has already funded innovation in the field of depression treatment utilising ketamine – however, the number of projects under this remit must expand. But to do this, we need to push boundaries.”
In a recent Lovin Malta survey about drug habits on the island, 45% of respondents said that following the 2021 cannabis reform, Malta should consider legalising mushrooms.
Former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has also called for the regulation of psychedelics that can be used in medical settings, stating that at least two investors are already interested in this regard.
In an interview with Lovin Malta, Parliamentary Secretary for Reforms Rebecca Buttigieg said that while the regulation of psychedelics isn’t part of the PL’s 2022 manifesto, she is open to suggestions from the public.
“At the end of the day we’re a government of the people and if there are any relevant suggestions, I invite people to come forward,” she said, also noting Prime Minister Robert Abela’s recent call for expungement to be extended to the possession of all drugs.”
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