RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Legal and Ethics Concerns of Psilocybin as Medicine
JF Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law Online
JO J Am Acad Psychiatry Law
FD American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law
SP JAAPL.240089-24
DO 10.29158/JAAPL.240089-24
A1 Schonholz, Stephanie M.
A1 Appel, Jacob M.
A1 Bursztajn, Harold J.
A1 Nair, Mohan
A1 MacIntyre, Michael R.
YR 2024
UL http://jaapl.org/content/early/2024/11/19/JAAPL.240089-24.abstract
AB 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.