Source · Select Committees · Home Affairs Committee
Recommendation 7
7
Deferred
Paragraph: 30
Urgently move psychedelic drugs to Schedule 2 to facilitate medical research.
Recommendation
We welcome the UK Government’s commitment to reducing barriers to researching psychedelic drugs under Schedule 1 to the 2001 Regulations. Pending the outcomes of the ACMD’s ongoing review of Schedule 1 controlled drugs, we recommend the UK Government urgently moves psychedelic drugs to Schedule 2 in order to facilitate research on the medical or therapeutic value of these drugs.
Government response summary AI-generated
The government defers action on moving psychedelic drugs to Schedule 2, awaiting the ACMD's advice from an ongoing Part 2 review that will consider extending Schedule 2 status for research purposes to all Schedule 1 drugs.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Paragraph Reference:
30
Government Response
Deferred
HM Government · verbatim extract
Deferred
The Government awaits the ACMD’s advice, which it will consider carefully before taking a decision. This process is a statutory requirement that must be met before amending the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001. In December 2022, the Government responded to Part 1 of the ACMD’s advice on reducing barriers to research with controlled drugs, which focussed on one group of compounds, Synthetic Cannabinoids. 7 In the response, the Government formally commissioned the ACMD on its “Part 2” review, which will consider research with Schedule 1 drugs more widely. The Government has asked the ACMD to consider in particular the potential options available to extend Schedule 2 status for research purposes (but not prescribing, outside of a clinical trial) to all Schedule 1 drugs, including so- called psychedelic drugs such as psilocybin and LSD, which has the potential to be a more ambitious approach to reducing barriers to research with controlled drugs. In a further response, the Government proposed that the ACMD consider whether clinical trials authorisation and other forms of ethics approval could form the basis of an exemption from a licensing requirement.
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