Novel ethical and policy issues in psychiatric uses of psychedelic substances

Classic psychedelics and related substances have shown promising initial research results. However, they raise a number of relatively novel ethical and policy challenges in light of their psychoactive properties, their emergence from the unregulated “underground” settings in which they have been use...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Neuropharmacology 2022-09, Vol.216, p.109165-109165, Article 109165
Main Authors: Smith, William R., Appelbaum, Paul S.
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:Classic psychedelics and related substances have shown promising initial research results. However, they raise a number of relatively novel ethical and policy challenges in light of their psychoactive properties, their emergence from the unregulated “underground” settings in which they have been used, their rapid commercialization, and the means and speed with which they are moving from Schedule 1 status to legalized use. All of these issues are affected by the current limits to the evidence base on use of psychedelics. Here we survey these novel challenges, illustrating the issues raised regarding each, and offering suggestions for how to address them. This article is part of the Special Issue on ‘Psilocybin Research’. •Psychedelics raise novel ethical issues due to regulatory considerations & underground use.•Consent is complicated as naïve users may not fully appreciate the effects of psychedelics.•Patenting & cultural appropriation raise questions about who should profit from psychedelics.•New regulatory challenges are arising from the heterogeneity of psychedelic laws & policies.
ISSN:0028-3908
1873-7064
DOI:10.1016/j.neuropharm.2022.109165