European psychedelic initiative aims to impact education and regulation

A new initiative, the PsychedeliCare Initiative, will launch in 2024 to bring citizens together to educate about psychedelics, call for the reshaping of drug policy and boost EU-funded research on psychedelics.

The European Citizens Initiative is a democratic tool designed to give citizens more power in politics. Any Initiative that reaches one million signatures between at least seven Member States will trigger the European Commission to take action on the matter.

Théo Giubilei, Founder and Organizer of the PsychedeliCare Initiative, explains that the initiative was launched to help introduce a legal framework around psychedelics, co-ordinate the work of Member States and working for change at the international level. 

With the rapid developments in psychedelic research, a core pillar of the initiative’s work will be educating people on psychedelics and psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy. 

This will be done through social media campaigns, exhibitions, and festivals as well as gathering psychedelic associations around Europe.

“We’ve got a huge mental health issue in Europe, and psychedelics actually can help the people in need. …We need to help the people in need,” said Giubilei.

The Psychedelic European Citizen Initiative will take the shape of a one-year transnational campaign. 

As, recently noted by Psychedelic Access and Research European Alliance (PAREA) in a recent policy briefing to the European Medicines Agency (EMA), the fragmentation of European healthcare systems can make the rollout of new therapies difficult, advising the EMA that a centralised co-ordination approach could propel the field forward.

“We believe that the Commission could co-ordinate the work of Member States, for example, in an expert group, and put together the experience of national member states to go to the UN together, and to create a framework for the entire rollout of psychedelic therapies in the EU,” Giubilei continued.

“We want the citizens to get their voice heard. We want affordable psychedelic-assisted therapies introduced in the EU. We also really want the citizens to get to know it [psychedelic therapy] before they go mainstream, so they can ask themselves if they want the institutions to act.”

The initiative is already working with psychedelic associations in the Czech Republic, human rights activists in Malta and Members of the European Parliament.

“All those associations are already doing this work in their states well. We want the added value of the initiatives that create momentum between all those associations,” commented Giubilei.

“We want to create momentum, get these subjects looked at and to have serious debates in the most creative way – I’m interested as a citizen to make things change in Europe.”

To find out more about the PsychedeliCare Initiative, please visit: https://www.psychedelicare.eu/