New Global Coalition Launches to Secure Rescheduling of Psilocybin Under 1971 UN Convention on Psychotropic Substances

In most countries, legal control of psilocybin results from its Schedule I status under the 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances. Meant for dangerous drugs which create an especially serious risk to public health and whose therapeutic value is little to none, Schedule I drugs are subject to strict limits on their scientific and medical use. Schedule I licensing, safe-custody, security, manufacturing, quantity, and import/export restrictions result in a level of regulatory control and oversight that is drastically more onerous than for the Convention’s other three schedules. As a result, researchers wishing to study psilocybin face numerous regulatory hurdles which add significantly to the cost, complexity, and duration of research and can negatively impact ethical approvals, funding and collaboration.

According to Professor David Nutt, head of Imperial College London’s Centre for Psychedelic Research and Founder of ITPRI partner Drug Science, “Psilocybin’s Schedule I status has severely limited – and continues to limit – neuroscience research and the development of treatments for patients.”

Psilocybin is one of several psychedelic compounds that have shown remarkable promise for the treatment of a range of mental health conditions, including treatment resistant depression, major depressive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, end-life-psychological distress and substance use disorder.

The evidentiary basis for including psilocybin in Schedule I remains unclear but appears to have been based largely on political considerations and a mistaken presumption that these drugs offered no medical benefit and posed a high risk of non-medical use and dependence.

Basing its objectives on research from a number of leading universities and institutes, and with the ultimate goal of accelerating research and fostering the availability of psilocybin-assisted therapies for those suffering from mental illness and substance use disorder, ITRPI will pursue a change to psilocybin’s current Schedule I status.

Christopher Koddermann, ITPRI Co-founder and Chair of the Board of Directors, says “Given today’s scientific understanding of psilocybin’s high potential therapeutic value and low risk of dependence, a change of its status as a Schedule I drug is long overdue.”

“Rescheduling procedures under the 1971 Convention offer a potentially game-changing opportunity to advance further research and accelerate the approval of treatments for patients”, says Willem Scholten, ITPRI Advisory Board member and former Secretary to the WHO Expert Committee on Drug Dependence, the body responsible for international drug control scheduling recommendations.

About the International Therapeutic Psilocybin Rescheduling Initiative

Founded in 2021 as a civil society, not-for-profit association under Articles 60 et seq. of the Swiss Civil Code, the International Therapeutic Psilocybin Rescheduling Initiative brings together an international coalition of leading psychedelic therapy advocacy and research organizations to promote and secure a rescheduling of psilocybin under the 1971 UN Convention on Psychotropic Substances.   Partner organizations in this effort are the Beckley Foundation, Drug Science, the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), Mind Medicine Australia, Nierika AC, the Open Foundation and the Osmond Foundation. Utilizing rescheduling procedures available under the 1971 Convention, ITPRI will engage signatory governments to the treaty, the WHO and other international institutions to secure a review of and change to psilocybin’s Schedule I status.

Advisory Board

 Joost Breeksema, Co-founder & Executive Director, Open Foundation

Rick Doblin, Founder & Executive Director, MAPS

Clara Burtenshaw, Partner, Neo Kuma Ventures

Amanda Feilding, Founder & Executive Director, The Beckley Foundation

Scott Leckie, International Human Rights lawyer

Armando Loizaga, Co-founder, Nierika AC

Joanna Neill, Professor of Psychopharmacology, University of Manchester

Willem Scholten, former Secretary to the WHO Expert Committee on Drug Dependence

Jan Van Amsterdam, Senior Scientific Researcher, Department of Psychiatry, Amsterdam UMC

For more information, please visit www.reschedulepsilocybin.org