Psychedelics Take a Step Towards the Policy Agenda in Czechia

In the Czech Republic, a debate among experts and policymakers about changes to drug policy and legislation has been opened by an initiative introduced by the Secretariat of the Government Council for Addiction Policy Coordination. For the first time, psychedelics are being considered for use in addictologic interventions based on principles of harm reduction.  In order for this initiative to be realised, three elements related to  the professional service and administration of psychedelics would need to be decriminalised: establishment of drug consumption rooms, drug checking, and psychedelic sitting as a psychedelic harm reduction service.

The aim of these legislative proposals is to decriminalise the possession of drugs during the delivery of the aforementioned addictologic interventions. Such a change would thus enable the implementation of psychedelic-based interventions and effectively reduce the health and social risks arising from the use of drugs in the Czech Republic without any weakening of the international drug control system.

The legal solution regarding psychedelic sitting, inspired mostly by the psychedelic harm reduction and integration (PHRI) model, consists of changes to specific articles of Czechia’s Addictive Substances Act. Such changes would also make psychedelic-assisted therapy legally available, but there is nonetheless a need for further regulation and guidelines to govern practical implementation.

Another point, related more so to the peer-support model of psychedelics sitting, is a criminal offence embodied in the Czech Criminal Code called “spreading of toxicomania”. Under this code, it is a criminal offence to, among other things, support another individual in their drug use (with the exception of alcohol). Notably, in the case of psychedelics, the support of the one undergoing the psychedelic experience is crucial and widely recommended, as it contributes to supporting an optimal setting of such experiences. In light of the harm reductive nature of psychedelic sitting, the proposal aims to explicitly exempt such activities from criminal sanctions under the aforementioned offence.