Dear [name of your local MP],
I am writing to alert you to an important new report, written by six leading doctors and experts for the Conservative Drug Policy Reform Group and the Adam Smith Institute. It makes the compelling case that psilocybin, the active substance in ‘magic mushrooms’, should be urgently moved from Schedule 1 to Schedule 2 of the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001. I ask for your help in ensuring that this issue is raised and resolved in Parliament at the very earliest possibility.
The authors report that Schedule 1 regulations are getting in the way of essential clinical research. Psilocybin is being investigated as a new treatment for depression, nicotine addiction, eating disorders, end-of-life anxiety, and other mental health conditions known to be difficult to treat. However, our current regulations have slowed research and development with Schedule 1 drugs by decades, dramatically increasing the costs, the stigma, and the difficulty of clinical and experimental studies, as well as the time it takes to conduct them.
The social, emotional and economic burden of mental health conditions is enormous. I believe that the Government should be making all available efforts to encourage and support research into new treatments, particularly considering the complete absence of pharmaceutical investment there is in any other new drug development for mental health at the present time. At the very least, the Government should not be making this research more difficult and time consuming than it has to be - and for no clear benefit. In ethically-approved research settings, Schedule 1 regulations are unlikely to be any more effective at preventing psilocybin-related harms or crime than would Schedule 2 regulations on a research-only basis.
I urge you to ask the Department of Health, the Department of Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, and the Home Office, what they are doing to address this problem. It is unethical to stand by and do nothing while current policy holds back much-needed advances in mental health research. Supporting new treatments will help you reduce the daily suffering of substantial numbers of your constituents, who, like so many across the country, struggle with depression and other mental health conditions, whether directly or as the friends and family of those affected.
Please let me know whether you will support this important issue.
Yours sincerely,
[Your name]
[Your address/email if posting this letter (delete if using email)]