It came as a surprise to many when, on Feb. 3, Australian regulators announced that medicines containing the psychedelic substances MDMA and psilocybin can soon be used there to treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and treatment-resistant depression, respectively. That decision makes Australia the first country in the world to formally recognize the therapeutic use of psychedelics.
Other countries, including the U.S., may be headed toward a similar outcome, some experts say.
Research increasingly suggests that psychedelics can be powerful tools for treating a variety of mental-health conditions, from PTSD and depression to addiction and eating disorders. “I’ve been doing this for 11 years,” says Albert Perez Garcia-Romeu, an assistant professor of ps…