Sacked drugs tsar is handed £1/2m to see if magic mushrooms can cure depression in trial backed by aristocrat dubbed …

Professor David Nutt given cash by Medical Research Council Wants to investigate how sick patients affected by hallucinogenic substance Backed by Lady Neidpath's charity which campaigns for liberal drugs laws Sacked in 2009 for claiming LSD and ecstasy less harmful than alcohol

By Jo Macfarlane

PUBLISHED: 16:10 EST, 6 April 2013 | UPDATED: 16:34 EST, 6 April 2013

Tests: David Nutt wants to try out Class A drugs on sick patients

A sacked Government drugs tsar has been awarded more than 500,000 of public money to carry out a controversial world-first trial using magic mushrooms to treat depression.

Professor David Nutt wants to investigate the way sick patients are affected by a hallucinogenic substance contained in the mushrooms.

As president of the British Neuroscience Association, he has been given the cash by the Medical Research Council.

The exercise is also backed by shadowy charity the Beckley Foundation, which is run by an aristocrat dubbed Lady Mindbender and lobbies to liberalise laws on mind-altering drugs.

But Professor Nutts chances of carrying out his research are being hampered by archaic European, United Nations and Home Office laws which govern clinical trials and make such drugs illegal. He says it is impossible to gain access to the hallucinogen to carry out the trial and is fighting for a change in the law.

Magic mushrooms are, along with heroin and cocaine, defined as potent Class A drugs. They are known to have a powerful effect, and are thought to have the potential to make some mental disorders worse.

Original post:
Sacked drugs tsar is handed £1/2m to see if magic mushrooms can cure depression in trial backed by aristocrat dubbed ...