Hon David Seymour
Associate Minister of Health

Associate Health Minister David Seymour is welcoming steps to provide medical practitioners with more tools to treat people with depression, with Medsafe publishing guidelines for experts wanting to prescribe Psilocybin.

“This is huge for people with depression who’ve tried everything else and are still suffering. If a doctor believes psilocybin can help, they should have the opportunity to do what’s best for their patient,” says Mr Seymour.

“Recent changes have put New Zealand’s settings in line with Australia, where authorised prescribers have been using psilocybin in clinical settings for some time.

“Psilocybin remains an unapproved medicine, but one highly experienced psychiatrist has already been granted authority to prescribe it to patients with treatment-resistant depression.

“This is excellent news for their patients, but there are other Kiwis in need in different parts of New Zealand who might have an appropriate practitioner nearby.

“Practitioners must meet a series of requirements to gain approval, including being registered with the Medical Council with a current practicing certificate, a good understanding and experience of the medicines and the psychotherapeutic processes involved in psychedelic-assisted therapy, and a detailed proposal of how they will administer the treatment that has been peer reviewed and will be considered by Medsafe.

“Soon more practitioners will have the ability to use this medicine, meaning more patients will benefit.”

Note:

Guidelines can be found here.

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