Legal and Ethics Concerns of Psilocybin as Medicine.
Stephanie M Schonholz, Jacob Appel, Harold J Bursztajn, Mohan Nair, Michael R MacIntyre
The journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law December 12, 2024 DOI: 10.29158/JAAPL.240089-24 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Review Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Psilocybin |
| Keywords | Psilocybin therapy Medical ethics Healthcare regulation Psychedelic medicine Mental health treatment Informed consent Standard of care |
| Citations | 3 |
| Key findings | Psilocybin's legal status and ethical considerations—including standard of care, informed consent, and equity—pose challenges psychiatrists must address as access expands. |
Abstract
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.
Comparable studies
Other narrative reviews on psilocybin, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Classic psychedelics: An integrative review of epidemiology, therapeutics, mystical experience, and brain network function. General population | 2019 | Integrative review | |
| The pharmacology of psilocybin | 2002 | Review | |
| Serotonin research: contributions to understanding psychoses | 2008 | Review | |
| Psychedelics, Meditation, and Self-Consciousness | 2018 | Review | |
| The abuse potential of medical psilocybin according to the 8 factors of the Controlled Substances Act | 2018 | Review |
Citations in the library
Cited by 2
- Psilocybin: clinical potential, mechanistic insights, and biotechnological advances for scalable production. World journal of microbiology & biotechnology December 31, 2025
- Unlocking the power of tryptamine alkaloids in Psilocybe fungi: chemistry, mental health potential and legal challenges Mycological Progress December 8, 2025