As government agencies globally consider the approval of psychedelic medicines, numerous questions arise about their ethical integration into mainstream medical practice. A new paper published in JAMA Network Open addresses these concerns, identifying key ethics and policy issues related to the clinical use of psychedelic therapies. The paper is a collaborative effort from bioethicists, clinicians, researchers, Indigenous groups, industry representatives, philanthropists, veterans, retreat facilitators, and training program leaders.
The research stems from a workshop held at the Banbury Center of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. This event was funded by the Project on Psychedelics Law and Regulation (POPLAR) at Harvard Law School's Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics. Additional support came from the Saisei Foundation, Tim Ferriss and Matt Mullenweg, Baylor College of Medicine through the Ortus Foundation, and the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Corporate Sponsor Program. Researchers from Baylor's Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy, Petrie-Flom Center at Harvard Law School, and the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine organized the meeting.
"There will be novel ethical challenges that accompany the approved medical use of psychedelics," said Dr. Amy McGuire, corresponding author of the paper and Leon Jaworski Professor of Biomedical Ethics at Baylor. "We must understand the issues at hand, anticipate obstacles and work to surmount them quickly and efficiently so clinicians can focus on utilizing approved psychedelics to provide evidence-based care to patients." She expressed hope that this paper would inspire greater collaboration so that when psychedelics are approved there is an ethical and safe uptake.
The team’s focus in their paper includes bioethics and regulatory issues in the U.S., which may have global relevance. They identify 20 points of consensus across five topics: reparations and reciprocity; equity and respect; informed consent; professional boundaries and physical touch; personal experience; and gatekeeping. The authors argue that many traditional frameworks for bioethics and drug policy are inadequate for current needs. Policymakers are urged to address these challenges while respecting cultural histories tied to contemporary medical uses of psychedelics.
"There are so many stakeholders with interests in this area – patients, Indigenous populations, veterans and active service members, mental health professionals," said I. Glenn Cohen from Harvard Law School. "It was a great opportunity to bring together so many different perspectives."
Dr. Dominic Sisti from the University of Pennsylvania added that "the paper represents a brief roadmap for future psychedelic bioethics scholarship and policy development."
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