Curious, Cautious. The Rise of the Psychedelic-Curious From a Global Mental Health Crisis
Image credit: Jonathan Franklin
Part 1
July 2025
In recent weeks, we have learned that Czechia is to legalize psilocybin for medical purposes.
At the end of May 2025, MPs in the country approved legislation classifying psilocybin as a medical compound, signifying that qualified psychiatrists will be allowed to administer the medicine as part of psilocybin-assisted therapy in clinical settings. The legislation was passed to the Senate, which has now approved a major reform of the country’s criminal code, effective from January 2026.
This is significant as it marks the first country in Europe to legally approve the use of these fungi for medicinal purposes: beforehand, only the Australian government had legalized psilocybin for medical treatment.*
The Czech development comes amid a mental health crisis in the country, with a reported 700,000 people there suffering from depression and anxiety.
Where might this change in legislation lead us?
The only way out is through (but first, inwards)
We are, as a species, in these modern times, quite unwell.
Half of the global population will experience mental illness in their lifetime, according to Project Hope, which states that, in the US, increasing rates of depression have led to a present situation where 18% of adults and 25% of young people under 30 report spells of depression. Here, where I live in the UK, 15.5% of adults reported their mental health as “bad” or “the worst it’s ever been” last year (Forth, 2024).
Project Hope states that of the 280 million people affected by depression, as many as 70% of sufferers will not receive treatment. Could that be because the treatment is simply ineffective?
Are we breaking up with antidepressants?
The American Psychological Association reports that an estimated 40%–60% of people with PTSD do not respond to SSRIs for their mental health and cites that large “studies have […] supported the benefits of psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression”, adding that researchers believe these medicinal fungi could be next in line for FDA approval.
Meanwhile in Canada, though psilocybin-containing mushrooms are illegal under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, there exists an evolving legal landscape in terms of medical usage. Psilocybin may be accessed for medical purposes through exemptions via Health Canada, in cases where traditional medications have been tried and are unsuccessful, for example in end-of-life distress.
Is this what a gradual path to global legalization looks like?
What has taken place around the world in recent times to bring us to this stage, to this growing acceptance of psychedelics for our wellness?
2018–19: The American FDA grants Breakthrough Therapy Designation for studies of psilocybin in depression.
2019: Israel, where researchers have conducted psychedelic trials since the 1960’s, becomes the first country to allow “Compassionate Use” of MDMA to treat PTSD.
2023: Australia becomes the first country in the world to legalize the use of psilocybin and MDMA for the treatment of treatment-resistant depression and PTSD.
2025: New Zealand approves the restricted medicinal use of psilocybin for patients with treatment-resistant depression (though at present just one psychiatrist is permitted to prescribe it to patients).
2025: Czechia becomes the first European country to allow the legalized prescription of psilocybin for medicinal purposes.
Image: writer’s own
So far, I’ve referred specifically to psychoactive fungi. I’ll discuss ayahuasca in part two, but for the purposes of this piece, ayahuasca is currently legal in some Latin American countries and is decriminalized in Chile, Portugal, Spain, Romania, and Israel. It is able to be consumed in the USA and Canada under the umbrella of religious purposes only.
Entheogens (a term coined in 1979, derived from two words of Ancient Greek origin – “entheos” (full of the god, inspired) and “genésthai” (to come into being)), usually referring to those substances that contain psilocybin or DMT (such as ayahuasca), are being sought out by an unhealthy and unhappy Western populace, to bring forward an experience of spiritual connection. One that humanity has lost along the way, beaten down by technology, isolation, and rising global panic.
We are successfully turning towards these naturally occurring substances for help with OCD, depression, anxiety, alcoholism and other addictions, eating disorders, PTSD, and even Alzheimer’s disease. And our entheogen-assisted path to recovery is being expedited and supported by a sudden influx of scientific research, which has flourished in 2025. Namely:
In April, the British Journal of Pain found that psychedelic use led to significant reductions in substance use, as well as perceived improvements in physical and mental health symptoms. The same month, a paper published in Nature, based on patients at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, revealed that chronic stress activates immune cells, thus amplifying inflammation and heightening fear responses. MDMA and psilocybin were found to disrupt this immune-brain crosstalk, reducing stress-related fear.
In June, the study Psilocybin for Treatment-Resistant Depression by Compass Pathways plc found that a single dose demonstrated a highly statistically significant reduction in symptom severity. The company intends to discuss its findings with the FDA.
Just weeks ago at time of writing, (July 2025), a study into the use of 5-MeO-DMT by Beckley Psytech found that intranasal 5-MeO-DMT in treatment-resistant depression, provided with psychological support, led to a rapid and significant antidepressant effect. And finally, research to be published in the Oct 2025 edition of Comprehensive Psychiatry, finds that a single 10 mg dose of silocybin reduces symptoms in adults with obsessive-compulsive disorder, with results lasting for up to a week.
Where is this journey, this trajectory, taking us? We are actively seeking these medicines, but are we ready for them? Humanity, it seems, is longing to experience those substances that take us away from here, to the beyond, inside, back home. We are modern world-weary. We are curious, cautious.
Part two coming soon.
*In terms of legal possession, as opposed to legalised prescription:
Possession of mushrooms is legal in Austria, Bahamas, Brazil, BVI, Jamaica, Nepal, and Netherlands (in truffle form), and decriminilized in several US states. In the Netherlands one can legally purchase psychoactive mushrooms in truffle form, and in a handful of European countries they are decriminalized in terms of an individual’s possession for personal use.