Sep 18, 2026 · 2h 12m
Australia’s psychedelic breakthrough offers advocates a regulatory playbook
#883: How to Legalize Medical Psychedelics in Your Country — Tania de Jong on The Playbook Behind Australia's World-First Breakthrough
The episode shows how coalition-building, clinical credibility, and persistent regulator engagement turned restricted psychedelic prescribing into Australian policy.
- 1Mind Medicine Australia built a national coalition of clinicians, scientists, volunteers, and political allies around MDMA and psilocybin access.
- 2Australia’s framework remains open-ended, with therapist restrictions, bureaucratic barriers, and high treatment costs limiting practical access.
- 3Psychedelic therapy depends on preparation, clinical context, integration, and sustained follow-up rather than pharmacology alone.
Don't miss
Tania explains how Mind Medicine Australia’s coalition-building and persistent communication with regulators helped convert a national campaign into restricted prescribing access.
The brief
Tania de Jong recounts how Mind Medicine Australia assembled clinicians, scientists, volunteers, and political allies to move MDMA and psilocybin toward controlled medical use.
The campaign’s unusual advantage was its breadth: local chapters, public submissions, clinician training, scientific advisers, personal outreach, and sustained engagement with regulators.
Australia’s breakthrough did not settle the harder questions. Therapist restrictions, open-ended rules, limited capacity, and months of labor-intensive care keep treatment expensive.
The conversation also resists psychedelic exceptionalism: outcomes depend on preparation, therapeutic relationship, integration, patient circumstances, and the durability of follow-up work.
The standout lesson is practical rather than mystical: regulatory change advances when advocacy remains persistent without sacrificing scientific credibility or clinical realism.
What was said on this episode
24 statements · 20 positive · 2 negative · 2 neutral
Australia’s psychedelic-medicine positioning could help many people.
“if Australia could start to position itself in this space, that there might be a chance to heal a lot of people”
Listen at 12:45
MDMA and psilocybin should be rescheduled for clinical use.
“we wanted to make an application to move these medicines from prohibited substances, which in Australia was called Schedule 9, but in the US is called Schedule 1, to a Schedule 8 medicine, which is a controlled medicine, so that it could be used in clinical environments”
Listen at 14:13
Mind Medicine Australia has trained more than 750 clinicians.
“we've already trained now over 750 clinicians”
Listen at 22:24
Several psychedelic medicines may become registered within six months.
“Over the next 6 months or so, we anticipate a number of these medicines becoming registered medicines.”
Listen at 27:11
Australian psychedelic-assisted treatments are producing 60–80% remission rates.
“we are seeing 60 to 80% remission rates in Australia”
Listen at 46:57
No serious adverse events have occurred among treated Australian patients.
“And there's been no serious adverse events.”
Listen at 47:13
Australia may treat about 5,000 patients with these medicines within three years.
“maybe 5,000 is a realistic number”
Listen at 53:50
No serious adverse events have been reported to Australia’s TGA.
“this is what can show the government— well, firstly, they know there's been no adverse events, serious ones, because there's been nothing reported to the TGA.”
Listen at 57:26
Psychedelic treatments may outperform existing treatments on remission rates.
“these remission rates around 60 to 80%, that's compared against 10 to 15% for existing treatments for PTSD and psilocybin with MDMA and psilocybin treatment for depression and trauma in Australia at the moment. So 10 to 15% versus 60 to 80% remission rates”
Listen at 57:37
Australian public and private payers are funding psychedelic treatments for eligible patients.
“we now have the Department of Veterans Affairs who are supporting treatments for veterans. We have the National Disability Insurance Scheme also funding treatments. And we have Medibank, which is our largest health insurer, who have basically said that any eligible gold members of Medibank can get pretty much the whole treatment cost paid apart from a couple of thousand dollars.”
Listen at 58:20
Psilocybin combined with Syrian rue can suit appropriate clients.
“I think it's a great protocol for the right clients.”
Listen at 1:02:32
Syrian rue may amplify psilocybin experiences two- to tenfold.
“it expanded the visuals and the whole experience between 2 to 10 times”
Listen at 1:03:53
Psilocybin microdosing may relieve cluster headaches and migraines.
“A lot of people I know use psilocybin to microdose to remove their cluster headaches and their migraines.”
Listen at 1:09:49
Group psychedelic sessions and integration may offer important benefits.
“there is also something very much to be said for doing this in groups”
Listen at 1:12:02
Antidepressant remission rates do not increase over time like psychedelic-treatment rates can.
“that is not something that would ever happen with an antidepressant”
Listen at 1:25:00
Psychedelic-treatment remission can increase with effective integration work.
“in this case you have those 2 or 3 doses maximum, then you're having the psychotherapy and your remission is increasing if you engage well with the integration sessions”
Listen at 1:25:13
Psychedelic treatments should use careful screening, supervision, and integration.
“we believe that these treatments should be done in very careful ways”
Listen at 1:30:08
One Australian psychedelic treatment costs about A$8,000 including screening.
“it starts at about $8,000 Australian dollars, which is about $5,000, let's say, US dollars, for one treatment including the screening”
Listen at 1:32:52
Therapist time, rather than medicine, accounts for most treatment cost.
“the majority of that cost is therapeutic time, like the medicine. So we've enabled the medicines to come into Australia at the cheapest possible price. Like the medicine is like a tiny little percentage of the cost that I've just mentioned. It's all about therapeutic time.”
Listen at 1:34:28
Ketamine treatment usually requires repeated use.
“the problem about ketamine is that it needs to be used over and over in most cases.”
Listen at 1:38:59
Global psychedelic regulation will shift substantially within months.
“there's going to be huge shifts globally over the next few months”
Listen at 1:47:50
A MAPS-related psychedelic medicine may receive approval after an executive order.
“I think that's going to come through as well, especially given that the president's given that executive order.”
Listen at 1:48:06
More countries may adopt Australia’s psychedelic-prescribing model.
“a lot more countries hopefully are going to be following Australia”
Listen at 1:48:19
Mind Medicine Australia aims to raise A$2.5 million for patient access.
“our goal is to raise at the moment $2.5 million”
Listen at 1:55:03
Statements are attributed to the speaker as said on the episode and reflect their view at the time, not PodLume's. They are not advice.
Featuring
Tania de Jong
Mind Medicine Australia
Psilocybin
MAPS
David John NuttBooks & mentions
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