Full Text | Health ministry warns against magic mushrooms
Published:Saturday | August 24, 2024 | 10:11 AM
The Ministry of Health and Wellness says it has not approved psilocybin mushroom-containing products for use on the Jamaican market, warning that the drug and its byproducts "can be dangerous to one's health".
The alert came in a statement from the ministry on Friday.
While not making any direct reference, the ministry's caution followed news Friday from Fontana, Jamaica's largest pharmacy chain, that it will be selling magic mushroom products supplied by a local company called Patoo.
Chief Medical Officer (CMO), Dr Jacquiline Bisasor McKenzie said it is not the ministry's intention to block access to healthcare products but it "must ensure that any product offered to the public for use must meet the established standards within the respective legislative framework".
Mushrooms exist in a sort of grey area that requires no licensing. The psychedelic product, which contains a property called psilocybin, has long been on offer in Jamaica, mainly as a therapeutic or wellness remedy. Psilocybin is a hallucinogenic substance obtained from certain types of mushrooms called magic mushrooms.
Fontana's Chief Operating Officer Ray Therrien similarly noted that the psilocybin-infused products “provide safe and effective plant-based alternatives for wellness”, while noting that Fontana was “excited to make these groundbreaking solutions accessible across Jamaica”.
In February, the Executive Director of the National Council on Drug Abuse Michael Tucker said while the drug was not illegal and some persons use it successfully for therapeutic reasons, other persons will abuse it. He called for the Dangerous Drugs Act to be amended to regulate its use.
The drug is reportedly also sold at some marijuana dispensaries.
Full Statement from the Ministry of Health and Wellness issued August 23, 2024:
"The Ministry of Health & Wellness wishes to emphatically state that it has not approved Psilocybin Mushroom Containing Products for use on the Jamaican market.
According to Chief Medical Officer, Dr Jacquiline Bisasor McKenzie, “It is never the intention of the Ministry to erect a barrier to access to healthcare products. However, the Ministry must ensure that any product offered to the public for use must meet the established standards within the respective legislative framework.”
“The Standards & Regulation Division (SRD) of the Ministry of Health & Wellness has the authority under the Food & Drugs Act 1964 (FDA) and the corresponding Regulation of 1975 (FDR) to regulate healthcare products including psilocybin containing products. Further, Jamaica is [a] signatory to the 1971 Psychotropic Convention and is required to regulate the psilocybin / psilocin moiety as a controlled substance,” added the CMO.
Medicinal preparations made from the psilocybin containing mushroom, whether in its natural state or by processing, that are intended for treatment (relief of depression/ menstrual pain), are consequently and automatically regulated as a “drug” by the Minister of Health & Wellness under the FDA and FDR as they satisfy the definition of a drug under the FDA, Section 2, which states the following: "drug" means any substance or mixture of substances manufactured, sold or represented for use in - (a) the diagnosis, treatment, mitigation or prevention of a disease, disorder, abnormal physical state or the symptoms thereof in man or animal; (b) restoring, correcting or modifying organic functions in man or animal;
Acting Chief Technical Director, Standards & Regulation, Mrs. Cynthia Lewis Graham also noted that “under the jurisdiction of the Minister of Health & Wellness, a drug is to be licensed (registered), subject to strict assessment of efficacy, safety and quality by the Standards and Regulations Division with core functions to assess and evaluate drugs for the safe use by the public and be permitted for use, importation and trade. Further Regulation 40 (1) of the FDR states that: A person shall not manufacture, import or distribute a drug unless - (a) that drug has been registered with the Ministry of Health.”
The public is advised that this drug and its byproducts can be dangerous to one's health."
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