Addiction
August 3, 2026
Mathieu Seynaeve, Fiona Dunbar, Anna O. Ermakova et al.
BACKGROUND AND AIMS: This study qualitatively explored psychological change processes as described by participants and therapists within a phase 2a clinical trial evaluating the safety, tolerability, and preliminary efficacy of a single dose of intranasal 5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine (5-MeO-DMT; BPL-003) administered alongside psychological support and manualised cognitive behavioural...
Addiction
April 30, 2026
The feasibility of mindfulness-based relapse prevention for adults with substance use disorders (illicit drugs) in a Chinese population: A pilot randomized controlled trial.
Addiction
March 11, 2026
Christina Mcanulty, Nicolas Garel
Bloy et al. [1] provide an important and methodologically rigorous secondary analysis of the Ketamine for the reduction of Alcoholic Relapse (KARE) trial, examining whether acute psychoactive effects mediate the therapeutic impact of ketamine in alcohol use disorder (AUD). Their finding that dissociative and perceptual effects did not mediate abstinence outcomes is clinically relevant, and...
Addiction
March 8, 2026
Michelle Priest, Beau Kilmer, Rajeev Ramchand et al.
1 citation
At least 8.4 million US adults have microdosed psilocybin in their lifetime. Those who have used psilocybin within the past year are more likely to report microdosing the last time they used than those who have used psilocybin more than one year ago; however, approximately 15% respondents who used psilocybin in their lifetime were unsure whether they microdosed the last time they used....
Addiction
February 16, 2026
Cassie Bloy, Ananya Sarma, Bethan Marsh et al.
1 citation
People with alcohol use disorder experience alterations in consciousness from 0.8 mg/kg intravenous ketamine administration. Ketamine's effects appear to be broadly consistent across three repeated infusions. Ketamine-related reductions in alcohol consumption do not appear to be mediated by the acute psychoactive effects of ketamine.
Addiction
December 22, 2025
Jonathan Brett, Toby Lea, Elizabeth Knock et al.
Abstract Background and aims There is an urgent unmet need for novel treatments for methamphetamine (MA) use disorder. We explored the qualitative experiences of people participating in a study of psilocybin‐assisted psychotherapy (PAT) to treat MA use disorder. Design and setting Qualitative study of participants enrolled in a single arm, open‐label pilot study of PAT for MA use disorder...
Addiction
December 10, 2025
John Marsden, Michael Kelleher, Fiona Dunbar et al.
2 citations
Abstract Background and Aims Psychedelic drugs may help treat alcohol use disorder (AUD). This study evaluated BPL‐003, a novel intranasal powder formulation of 5‐methoxy‐N,N‐dimethyltryptamine (5‐MeO‐DMT) benzoate salt, in people with moderate–severe AUD enrolled in a standard of care, 10‐week programme of relapse‐prevention oriented Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). Design Open‐label,...
Addiction
December 8, 2025
María Rita Concepción García, Nelson G. M. Gomes, Diana Dias Da Silva
Conventionally used for its stimulant, empathogenic and entactogenic effects, 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, ecstasy) is one of the most commonly used psychoactive drugs, specifically among young adults and in nightlife and recreational party contexts. Often perceived as a safe drug, MDMA can display an array of toxic effects on multiple organs, with hyponatraemia (a low blood sodium...
Addiction
September 20, 2025
Elizabeth Knock, Krista J. Siefried, Gillinder Bedi et al.
4 citations
Abstract Background & Aims There are few effective treatments for methamphetamine use disorder, despite increasing global demand. Here, we assessed the safety and feasibility of outpatient psilocybin‐assisted psychotherapy for methamphetamine use disorder. Design Single arm, open label pilot study. Setting Outpatient public stimulant treatment program at St. Vincent's Hospital, Sydney,...
Addiction
July 24, 2025
Amandine Luquiens, Dahbia Belahda, Carine Graux et al.
22 citations
Abstract Background and Aims Psilocybin has emerged as a potential treatment for alcohol use disorder (AUD), but early efficacy data are inconsistent. Depression following alcohol detoxification significantly increases the risk of relapse. This pilot study aimed to evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of psilocybin‐assisted psychotherapy for patients with comorbid...
Addiction
January 30, 2025
Theodore Piper, Francesca Small, Michael Kelleher et al.
27 citations
Abstract Background and aims This is the first systematic review of the extant literature on all major psychedelic‐assisted treatment for alcohol use disorder (AUD), tobacco use disorder (TUD) and other substance use disorders (SUD). We aimed to summarise the evidence for efficacy of psychedelic‐assisted treatment for AUD, TUD, and SUD; to evaluate its quality; and to offer recommendations for...
Addiction
August 13, 2024
Beau Kilmer
3 citations
An increasing number of US states and localities are implementing or considering alternatives to prohibiting the supply and possession of some psychedelics for non-clinical use. Debates about these policy changes will probably differ from what we saw with cannabis. Andrews et al. correctly note that: 'The current push to broaden the production, sale, and use of psychedelics bears many parallels...
Addiction
August 12, 2024
Michael P. Bogenschutz
1 citation
Recent experience with off-label use of ketamine and recent challenges experienced in research with MDMA and psilocybin provide additional perspectives on how best to continue development of experimental psychedelic medications. Andrews et al. [1] provide a valuable perspective by noting the parallels between the ongoing deregulation of cannabis and what is now happening with psychedelics. The...
Addiction
July 29, 2024
Peder Clark
When the Saskatchewan-based British psychiatrist Humphry Osmond first wrote to his fellow British émigré, novelist Aldous Huxley, he could have had little idea of how the ripples of their private correspondence of the early 1950s would reverberate across the world and into the future. But here we are in 2024, and the term that Osmond coined—‘psychedelic’—is quite literally everywhere, from...
Addiction
June 17, 2024
P. Todd Korthuis, Adrianne R Wilson-Poe, Joshua C. Black et al.
1 citation
As psychedelic use expands, the number of adverse effects will increase proportionally. New frameworks for monitoring safety outcomes on a population level are required to limit potential harms. Darke et al. characterized 33 lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and 10 psilocybin-related deaths in Australia between 2000 and 2023 using the country's sophisticated national coroner data system....
Addiction
June 6, 2024
Wayne Hall, Keith Humphreys, John Marsden et al.
18 citations
Abstract The turn of the century brought a resurgence of interest in psychedelics as a treatment for addiction and other psychiatric conditions, accompanied by extensive positive media attention and private equity investment. Government regulatory bodies in Australia, Israel, Canada and the United States now permit use of psychedelics for medical purposes. In the United States, citizen action...
Addiction
May 21, 2024
Shane Darke, Johan Duflou, Amy Peacock et al.
14 citations
Abstract Background and aims Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and psilocybin are used as recreational drugs, and there is renewed interest in their clinical use. The current study aimed to (1) determine the circumstances of death and case characteristics of LSD‐ and psilocybin‐related death in Australia, 2000–23; and (2) determine the toxicological profile and major autopsy findings of these...
Addiction
January 11, 2024
Nicolas Garel, Steven Tate, Kristin Nash et al.
23 citations
Abstract Background and aims Hallucinogens encompass a diverse range of compounds of increasing scientific and public interest. Risks associated with hallucinogen use are under‐researched and poorly understood. We aimed to compare the trends in hallucinogen‐associated health‐care use with alcohol‐ and cannabis‐associated health‐care use. Design, setting and cases We conducted an ecological...
Addiction
November 2, 2023
Celia J. A. Morgan
1 citation
Given the shifting public perception of psilocybin and associated legal changes, the increase in use observed by Keyes and Patrick is not surprising. The conclusion that this is a rising health concern is not justified by the data, particularly as in this sample non-lysergic acid diethylamide hallucinogen use seems to have increased in a white, educated, relatively higher socio-economic status...
Addiction
June 7, 2023
Katherine M Keyes, Megan E. Patrick
42 citations
Abstract Background and aims Given the shifting landscape of hallucinogen use, particularly with increased therapeutic use, understanding current changes in use is a necessary part of examining the potential risk hallucinogens pose to vulnerable populations, such as young adults. This study aimed to measure hallucinogen use among young adults aged 19–30 years from 2018 to 2021. Design, setting...
Addiction
February 8, 2023
Will Lawn, Katie Trinci, Claire Mokrysz et al.
36 citations
Abstract Background and Aims Long‐term harms of cannabis may be exacerbated in adolescence, but little is known about the acute effects of cannabis in adolescents. We aimed to (i) compare the acute effects of cannabis in adolescent and adult cannabis users and (ii) determine if cannabidiol (CBD) acutely modulates the effects of delta‐9‐tetrahydocannabinol (THC). Design Randomised, double‐blind,...
Addiction
August 17, 2022
Ofir Livne, Dvora Shmulewitz, Claire A Walsh et al.
90 citations
Abstract Background and Aims Hallucinogen use is potentially harmful. Information on whether such use has increased in recent decades is lacking. This study assessed overall and age‐specific time trends in the prevalence of 12‐month hallucinogen use in the US general population. Design Cross‐sectional. Setting Data from the US National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 2002–19. Participants...
Addiction
June 1, 2022
Beth Han, Carlos Blanco, Emily B. Einstein et al.
16 citations
AIM: To examine prevalence of mental health conditions and receipt of mental health care (MHC) by illicit lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) use status (past-year; lifetime without-past-year; never) among young adults. DESIGN: Cross-sectional, annual survey data from 2015 to 2019 National Surveys on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH). SETTING: United States. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 69 916 NSDUH...
Addiction
October 11, 2021
Wayne Hall, Michael Farrell
Aldous Huxley's personal account of his experience taking mescaline in The Doors of Perception (1954) has influenced popular understandings of the effects of psychedelic drugs and encouraged many personal experiences with these drugs. Huxley encouraged the psychiatrist Humphry Osmond to coin the term 'psychedelic'. He knew many of the leading figures in early psychedelic research and advocated...
Addiction
August 12, 2021
Wayne Hall, Michael Farrell
8 citations
The history of research on the use of psychedelic drugs to treat alcohol dependence in the 1950s and 1960s suggests the need for caution in their proposed clinical use. Since 2006 there has been a revival of interest in using psychedelics to treat depression and post-traumatic stress disorders [1] and the addictions [2]. What lessons may we glean from research in the 1950s and 1960s on the use...