Drugs Habits and Social Policy
May 27, 2026
Estelle Miller, David B Menkes, Suresh Muthukumaraswamy et al.
Purpose Current laws prohibiting access to illicit drugs contribute to drug harms as manufacturers and distributors of illicit substances have variable influence over drug supply and quality. Legislation introduced in New Zealand (NZ) in 2021 aimed to address such harm by enabling licenced drug checking providers to directly analyse samples from consumers. This paper aims to detail the use of...
Psychedelics
April 4, 2026
Nicholas Sawers, Michael Billingsley, David B Menkes
Psychiatric symptoms and existential distress are common at the end of life and associated with poor outcomes. Psychedelic therapies are an emerging option for managing such patients, but their testing and application depends, inter alia , on prescribers’ perspectives. However, no published data exist on the opinions of Australasian palliative care medical staff regarding psychedelic safety and...
Progress in Neuro-psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry
February 18, 2026
Dimitri Henriques Daldegan-Bueno, C Donegan, Rachael Sumner et al.
1 citation
Results suggest short-term improvements in mood following microdosed LSD in people with depression, warranting confirmation in controlled trials. It provides the pharmacokinetic parameters of 8 μg of LSD in a sample of people with depression and indicates no tolerance or sensitisation to repeated microdoses of LSD, despite incremental dose titration.
Ther Adv Psychopharmacol
December 4, 2025
Carina Joy Donegan, Dimitri Daldegan-Bueno, Rachael Sumner et al.
What is it like to microdose LSD for depression? a thematic analysis of participant interviews from an open-label trial.
Neuropharmacology
December 1, 2025
Carina Joy Donegan, Dimitri Daldegan-Bueno, Tehseen Noorani et al.
4 citations
Expectations can impact antidepressant treatment and psychedelic therapy, often enhancing placebo effects and influencing outcomes. However, research in this context is lacking. Our study explored the expectations of participants with major depressive disorder (MDD) before microdosing lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) in an open-label trial. Twenty-three individuals with MDD completed a...
Journal of Humanistic Psychology
November 10, 2025
Robin J Murphy, Mia Wardlaw, Thomas A. Smith et al.
Microdosing psychedelics is an increasingly popular phenomenon where small amounts of psychedelic drugs are taken regularly. Qualitative data have been published regarding the experiences of microdosers, but never in the context of a randomised controlled trial. Semi-structured video interviews with 40 healthy males were conducted following a double-blind placebo-controlled trial of 10 µg of...
Neuropharmacology
November 5, 2025
Dimitri Daldegan-Bueno, C Donegan, Rachael Sumner et al.
4 citations
Major depressive disorder (MDD) affects approximately 5 % of the global population. Classic psychedelics have shown promise in treating various mental health disorders. This study evaluated the feasibility and tolerability of an 8-week regimen of microdosed lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) as a treatment for major depressive disorder in an open-label phase 2A trial (LSDDEP1). Nineteen...
The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology
August 1, 2025
C Donegan, D Daldagen-Bueno, Robin J Murphy et al.
Abstract Background Depressive disorders affect about 280 million people worldwide, with many struggling to find effective relief. Conventional antidepressants are widely prescribed but often lack efficacy and have side effects, leaving many patients dissatisfied or untreated. Concurrently, psychedelic therapies have gained momentum in both research and ‘in the wild’, with emerging evidence...
Trials
August 24, 2024
Dimitri Daldegan-Bueno, Carina Joy Donegan, Anna Forsyth et al.
14 citations
Major depressive disorder (MDD) poses a significant global health burden with available treatments limited by inconsistent efficacy and notable side effects. Classic psychedelics, including lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), have garnered attention for their potential in treating psychiatric disorders. Microdosing, the repeated consumption of sub-hallucinogenic doses of psychedelics, has emerged...
Trials
May 21, 2024
Chiranth Bhagavan, Paul Glue, Will Evans et al.
7 citations
Symptoms of anxiety and depression are common in patients with terminal illness and multiple challenges exist with timely and effective care in this population. Several centres have reported that one dose of the serotonergic psychedelic psilocybin, combined with therapeutic support, improves these symptoms for up to 6 months in this patient group. Drawing upon related therapeutic mechanisms,...
Translational Psychiatry
April 15, 2024
Nathan Allen, Aron Jeremiah, Robin J Murphy et al.
15 citations
Microdosing psychedelic drugs at a level below the threshold to induce hallucinations is an increasingly common lifestyle practice. However, the effects of microdosing on sleep have not been previously reported. Here, we report results from a Phase 1 randomized controlled trial in which 80 healthy adult male volunteers received a 6-week course of either LSD (10 µg) or placebo with doses...
Pilot and Feasibility Studies
October 5, 2023
Carina Joy Donegan, Dimitri Daldegan-Bueno, Rachael Sumner et al.
23 citations
Globally, an estimated 260 million people suffer from depression [1], and there is a clear need for the development of new, alternative antidepressant therapies. In light of problems with the tolerability and efficacy of available treatments [2], a global trend is emerging for patients to self-treat depression with microdoses of psychedelic drugs such as lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and...
Biological Psychiatry
September 15, 2023
Robin J Murphy, Rachael Sumner, William Evans et al.
69 citations
Microdosing psychedelic drugs is a widespread social phenomenon with diverse benefits claimed for mood and cognition. Randomized controlled trials have failed to support these claims, but the laboratory-based dosing in trials conducted to date may have limited ecological validity. Healthy male volunteers were randomized into lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) (n = 40) and placebo (n = 40) groups...
Palliative & Supportive Care
August 1, 2023
Xuepeng Jing, Nicholas Hoeh, David B Menkes
18 citations
People with terminal illnesses often experience psychological distress and associated disability. Recent clinical trial evidence has stimulated interest in the therapeutic use of psychedelics at end of life. Much uncertainty remains, however, mainly due to methodological difficulties that beset existing trials. We conducted a scoping review of pipeline clinical trials of psychedelic treatment...
Trials
April 23, 2021
Robin J Murphy, Rachael Sumner, William Evans et al.
23 citations
BACKGROUND: Regular ingestion of sub-hallucinogenic doses of psychedelics, referred to as "microdosing", has gained increasing popularity and attention in the press and in online forums, with reported benefits across multiple cognitive and emotional domains. Rigorously controlled studies to date, however, have been limited in scope and have failed to produce results comparable to those reported...