Antiquated attitudes towards illegal drugs and Australia's strict drug laws were preventing patients receiving proven alternative treatments for mental-health issues including post-traumatic stress disorder, researchers have reported.
The use of MDMA, commonly known as ecstasy, to treat stress disorders in returned service men and women was rapidly gaining traction in the United States, Israel and Europe while Australia stagnated, Dr David Caldicott said.
An emergency doctor at the Calvary Hospital and a researcher at the ANU College of Health and Medicine, Dr Caldicott said the drive to do research in this field was already in the ACT but its benefits were only being realised overseas.
"We are missing out on the opportunity for large sways of the Australian population to live their lives drug free," he said.
Dr Caldicott said the Australian Defence Force was in a situation where PTSD was commonplace with multiple lives lost through suicide and depression over the years.
He said many of the medications the returned service men and women were being put on were lifetime sentences and many of those drugs had a dulling effect on an individual.
Unlike traditional antidepressants or antipsychotics, MDMA had shown ongoing positive results in the treatment of PTSD after being administered just a few times in a controlled setting.
Dr Caldicott said the drug allowed sufferers of PTSD to speak, sometimes for the first time, about the trauma making them sick.
"As many as two-thirds of these people being treated are not only effectively cured of their situation but have no ongoing requirement for any more of those drugs," he said.
Dr Caldicott said while the strongest data was for the treatment of PTSD with MDMA, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms, psilocybin, was also showing promising results for treatment-resistant depression, as was ketamine.
"We are one of the last bastions of the sort of Nancy Reagan approach to drugs of 'Just Say No' and every drug is always bad," Dr Caldicott said.
"The 'Tough on Drugs' message from the 1980s in the John Howard era has really stayed with us."
Addictions coordinator at Curtin University's School of Psychology Dr Stephen Bright detailed the struggle Australia's only dedicated psychedelic research institute has had acquiring approval for MDMA-assisted psychotherapy in Australian war veterans with chronic treatment-resistant post-traumatic stress disorder.
"Part of the problem has been finding an academic with the necessary research ability to put their head above the parapet and commit to an area of medicine still viewed as taboo in most circles, due to the illicit nature of the drugs," Dr Bright wrote in a paper for the University of NSW.
Psychedelic Research in Science and Medicine was a non-profit research association currently collaborating with the organisation driving research in the US.
Executive officer Dr Martin Williams said Australia was falling behind in this promising field.
"We want to see Australia catch up with the rest of the world and be ready to provide these treatments once they are approved by the US Food and Drug Administration," Dr Williams said.
"Though to do this, we first need to engage in rigorous research to confirm their efficacy in the local context, and to demonstrate that Australia has the people and infrastructure to provide these treatments safely and effectively."
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MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for PTSD was currently in phase three of its trials for gaining approval from the US Food and Drug Administration.
A recent trial involving couples in which one member had PTSD resulted in significant reductions in symptoms and better relationship outcomes, according to a peer-review paper published in the European Journal of Psychedelic Studies earlier this month.
Both members of the couple were administered 75 milligrams or 100mg of MDMA with an optional supplemental dose. No adverse effects were observed.
Dr Caldicott said trials had been fast-tracked because initial results were so promising.
"It's more than just evolving, it's actually accelerating in the United States," he said.