Legal and Ethics Concerns of Psilocybin as Medicine.
Stephanie M Schonholz, Jacob M Appel, Harold J Bursztajn, Mohan Nair, Michael R MacIntyre
The journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law December 12, 2024 DOI: 10.29158/JAAPL.240089-24 via PubMed
Summary
AI-generated from the abstractPsilocybin shows promise as a treatment for psychiatric illnesses, but its federal illegality in the U.S. complicates access and regulation despite state-level decriminalization efforts. This article reviews current legal regulation, standard of care, right to effective treatment, and the respectable minority doctrine. It discusses ethical issues including provider bias, patient-provider dynamics, informed consent, and equity and access that psychiatrists must consider as psilocybin access expands for research.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Review Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Psilocybin |
| Keywords | Psilocybin therapy Medical ethics Healthcare regulation Psychedelic medicine Mental health treatment |
| Citations | 3 |
| Key finding | Psilocybin's legal status and ethical considerations—including standard of care, informed consent, and equity—pose challenges psychiatrists must address as access expands. |
Abstract
Preliminary research shows the psychedelic psilocybin to be a promising potential treatment for psychiatric illnesses. Recent U.S. government legislation and policy indicate that access to psilocybin, which remains illegal on the federal level despite increasing efforts to decriminalize it at the state and local levels, will be expanded to enable further research into its treatment potential. It remains unclear how psilocybin will be regulated and who will have access to this new treatment, raising important legal and ethics questions psychiatrists must consider. This article reviews the current legal regulation of psilocybin and matters related to standard of care, right to effective treatment, and the respectable minority doctrine. It concludes with a discussion of the ethics matters surrounding the use of psilocybin as medicine, including provider bias, the interpersonal dynamic between providers and patients, informed consent, and equity and access.