Accountability in research
May 1, 2026
Katherine Cheung, Rebecca Ehrenkranz, Brian D. Earp et al.
A number of proposals across different fields have suggested incorporating "independent" actors into the research process as a way to manage potential bias. For example, in response to allegations of bias in psychedelic science, some have suggested the idea of independent auditors for adverse events, as well as the incorporation of independent researchers into the research teams of psychedelic...
American Journal of Bioethics
2026
Katherine Cheung, Brian D. Earp, Kyle Patch et al.
We are grateful to those who commented on our Target Article on ethical exceptionalism around psychedelics (see Box 1 for a summary of our main points) and to Cohen and Marks (2025) for their compl...
Philosophical Psychology
September 8, 2025
Mina Caraccio, Katherine Cheung, Sebastian Porsdam Mann et al.
3 citations
The current revival of interest in classic psychedelics and other psychoactives such as ketamine and MDMA, coupled with changes to their regulatory status in many jurisdictions, necessitates rigorous ethical guidelines both within and beyond clinical and scientific contexts. This paper examines crucial ethical, philosophical, and policy considerations needed to ensure psychedelic use across...
The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health
September 2, 2025
Khaleel Rajwani, Edward Jacobs, Lori Bruce et al.
6 citations
The potential use of psychedelic-assisted therapy for adolescents with mental illness has sparked both interest and concern. Modern psychedelic research has focused on adults, and adolescents younger than 18 years are typically excluded due to ethical and legal challenges. To explore whether adolescents have been included in 21st century psychedelic research, we conducted a scoping review of...
Wellcome Open Research
July 8, 2025
Khaleel Rajwani, Melanie Almonte, F. Feroz et al.
2 citations
Background Recent years have seen renewed clinical interest in the therapeutic potential of classical psychedelics, such as psilocybin, LSD, DMT, and mescaline. While modern studies have focused on adult populations, adolescents under 18 are routinely excluded due to regulatory, legal, and ethical challenges. Although there exists observational data and historical studies from 1959 to 1974...
Bioethics
March 1, 2025
Emma C. Gordon, Katherine Cheung, Julian Savulescu et al.
8 citations
A prominent critique of cognitive or athletic enhancement claims that certain performance-improving drugs or technologies may 'cheapen' resulting achievements. Considerably less attention has been paid to the impact of enhancement on the value of moral achievements. Would the use of moral enhancement (bio)technologies, rather than (solely) 'traditional' means of moral development like schooling...
Wellcome Open Res
January 13, 2025
Samuel Streicher, Christopher Register, Xiu Lim et al.
2 citations
Background: Moral bioenhancement typically refers to the deliberate use of drugs or biotechnologies, potentially alongside other practices, to attempt to improve oneself morally. In addition to general concerns regarding moral self-bioenhancement, the possibility of using psychedelic substances for such purposes raises distinct ethical questions. As a first step in analysing these questions, we...
The American journal of bioethics : AJOB
2025
Katherine Cheung, Brian D. Earp, Kyle Patch et al.
30 citations
When used clinically, psychedelics may appear unusual or even unique when compared to more familiar or long-standing medical interventions, prompting some to suggest that the ethical issues raised may likewise be exceptional. If that is correct, then perhaps psychedelics should be treated differently from other medical substances: for example, by being subjected to different ethical or...
International Review of Psychiatry
June 5, 2024
Katherine Cheung, Caleigh Propes, Edward Jacobs et al.
11 citations
A number of organizations have developed or are developing psychedelic integration groups, held in person or online. In parallel, there have been calls to make enhanced integration available in the community after clinical trials. Here, we explore a potential reason why individuals may seek out these groups: namely, the feelings of disconnection and loneliness that may arise after the...
American Journal of Bioethics
May 2, 2024
Edward Jacobs, Brian D. Earp, Paul S. Appelbaum et al.
29 citations
The first Hopkins-Oxford Psychedelic Ethics (HOPE) workshop convened to discuss ethical matters relating to psychedelics in August 2023 at the University of Oxford.The organizers (BDE, DBY, EJ) aim...
AJOB Neuroscience
February 5, 2024
Julian D. Sandbrink, Kyle Johnson, Maureen Gill et al.
13 citations
The psychedelic psilocybin has shown promise both as treatment for psychiatric conditions and as a means of improving well-being in healthy individuals. In some jurisdictions (e.g., Oregon, USA), psilocybin use for both purposes is or will soon be allowed and yet, public attitudes toward this shift are understudied. We asked a nationally representative sample of 795 US Americans to evaluate the...
Perspectives in biology and medicine
2024
Katherine Cheung, Brian D. Earp, David B. Yaden
5 citations
ABSTRACT: Psychedelics, including psilocybin, and other consciousness-altering compounds such as 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), currently are being scientifically investigated for their potential therapeutic uses, with a primary focus on measurable outcomes: for example, alleviation of symptoms or increases in self-reported well-being. Accordingly, much recent discussion about the...
Cambridge quarterly of healthcare ethics : CQ : the international journal of healthcare ethics committees
June 27, 2023
Katherine Cheung, Kyle Patch, Brian D. Earp et al.
27 citations
Psychedelics such as psilocybin reliably produce significantly altered states of consciousness with a variety of subjectively experienced effects. These include certain changes to perception, cognition, and affect,1 which we refer to here as the acute subjective effects of psychedelics. In recent years, psychedelics such as psilocybin have also shown considerable promise as therapeutic agents...
Cambridge quarterly of healthcare ethics : CQ : the international journal of healthcare ethics committees
October 1, 2022
David B. Yaden, Brian D. Earp, Roland R. Griffiths
31 citations
Evidence suggests that psychedelics bring about their therapeutic outcomes in part through the subjective or qualitative effects they engender and how the individual interprets the resulting experiences. However, psychedelics are contraindicated for individuals who have been diagnosed with certain mental illnesses, on the grounds that these subjective effects may be disturbing or otherwise...
Philosophy, psychiatry & psychology
2021
Brian D. Earp, David B. Yaden
4 citations
Culture, Context, and Community in Contemporary Psychedelic Research Brian D. Earp (bio) and David B. Yaden (bio) Psychedelics require cross-cultural, interdisciplinary study, and we were happy to see a contribution from the field of medical anthropology. Such a study holds the promise of characterizing the ways in which psychedelics are situated in contemporary societies, both within and...