Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer 20 May 2021 to Question 2168, what the evidential basis is for psilocybin being a Class A, Schedule 1 controlled drug; and whether there are other controlled drugs where no analysis or no recent analysis of harm has been conducted.

The Government has not commissioned or published any recent analysis of the harms of psilocybin. Psilocybin, as an “ester of psilocin”, is controlled as a Class A drug under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 (the 1971 Act) and is placed in Schedule 1 to the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001. Psilocin is also subject to the United Nations Convention on Psychotropic Substances of 1971, to which the United Kingdom is signatory.

A number of drugs which have been controlled under the 1971 Act for a considerable period of time have not been subject to analysis or recent analysis of harm. However, there is not an exhaustive list of such drugs. The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs regularly provides advice on substances, and these are published on the gov.uk website. Recent assessments and reviews include: gamma-hydroxybutyric acid and related substances; fentanyls; novel benzodiazepines; Sunosi; synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonists; and cannabis-based products for medicinal use.