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Re: Remove barriers to clinical research for schedule 1 drugs with therapeutic potential
Dear Editor
Braillon and Naudet (1) raise a number of points regarding our original article (2). Firstly, in our statement that “the misuse of controlled drugs intended for clinical use is extremely rare”, we were referring to the situation where they are administered in clinical settings. Misuse of controlled drugs when dispensed as prescription medicines to be taken without supervision at home certainly does occur, but that is an entirely different matter. Psychedelic drugs are only used very intermittently in clinical therapy and in carefully managed environments. We do not see that situation encouraging misuse.
Secondly, Braillon and Naudet (1) list some of the harmful properties of psilocybin. Importantly, we never suggested that psilocybin is harmless. What we did say is that “numerous studies have shown that they cause far less harm to individuals and society than many other psychoactive drugs”, and we gave the example of heroin.
Finally, Braillon and Naudet (1) note that the real challenge with using psychedelic drugs is the quality of clinical research. We entirely agree. Many of these problems have recently been discussed by Aday et al. (3), and include: how rigorous studies should be designed particularly the need for double-blinded randomized trials; a full understanding of the risks involved; and a better understanding of the mechanism of action.
References
1 Braillon A, Naudet F. Clinical research and schedule 1 drugs: is the issue about legal barriers or poor quality? https://www.bmj.com/content/381/bmj.p981/rapid-responses
2 King LA, Nutt DJ, Nichols DE. Remove barriers to clinical research for schedule 1 drugs with therapeutic potential. BMJ. 2023;381:p981. doi:10.1136/bmj.p981
3 Aday JS, Carhart-Harris RL, Woolley JD. Emerging challenges for psychedelic therapy. JAMA Psychiatry. 2023; https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jacob-Aday/publication/370124564_Em…
11 May 2023
Leslie King
David Nutt
David Nichols
Re: Remove barriers to clinical research for schedule 1 drugs with therapeutic potential
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