‘Magic Mushroom Therapy’ Legal Aid Challenge Success Featured by Solicitors Journal (2 March 2026)

Duncan Lewis Solicitors’ recent High Court success on behalf of a vulnerable client seeking access to medically supervised psilocybin treatment for severe anorexia has been featured by the Solicitors Journal.

The coverage highlights the landmark nature of the judgment, which quashed a refusal of Exceptional Case Funding (ECF) and recognised that the application had been wrongly treated as a request for personal drug use rather than a tightly regulated medical treatment. The reporting also notes the Court’s concerns over failures to consider human rights, Article 8 factors, and accurate financial assessment.

Tamara Smillie, Public Law Solicitor at Duncan Lewis, led the case, instructing Alex Goodman KC and Ali Bandegani of counsel. The feature emphasises the importance of effective access to justice for vulnerable clients navigating complex legal frameworks, and the innovative legal approaches Duncan Lewis has developed in this area.

Case highlights:

• Legal aid refusal overturned — allowing continued psilocybin therapy.
• Court: application wrongly treated as personal drug use, not life-saving medical treatment.
• Decision maker failed to consider human rights and Article 8 factors.
• Financial assessment errors overestimated costs by £140,000.
• Landmark ruling for vulnerable patients seeking controlled substance treatments.

This national coverage further reinforces the firm’s reputation for high-profile public law and human rights work, and showcases our continued expertise in cases involving controlled substance treatments on human rights grounds.

The full coverage can be read here: High court upholds client’s legal aid (subscription required)