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Psychiatrists’ Views on Psychedelics at Odds With US Policy
A recent study has found considerable differences between psychiatrists’ perceptions about the safety and therapeutic value of certain psychoactive drugs, including psychedelics, and the ways in which such drugs are classified under the Controlled Substances Act.
Findings were published online in the International Journal of Drug Policy.
A total of 181 psychiatrists from across the US participated in the survey. Participants averaged 49 years of age, and they had been in practice for an average of 16 years. They were presented with 1 of 4 scenarios in which patients had found relief from severe depressive symptoms with a nonprescribed drug—either psilocybin, methamphetamine, ketamine, or alprazolam—and now asked that the drug be incorporated into their treatment.
The psychiatrists participating in the study were then asked to rate their level of agreement with hypothetical clinical decisions and future outcomes for each scenario. Participants were also surveyed on safety, therapeutic potential, and abuse potential from each of the scenarios, plus alcohol.
Despite its classification as a Schedule I drug—no current medical use, high risk for abuse—psilocybin had the lowest rank for misuse potential and the second-highest rank for therapeutic potential among the psychiatrists surveyed, trailing only ketamine. In general, survey participants tended to rate psilocybin and ketamine as safer, less likely to be abused, and having higher potential therapeutic value than alprazolam, methamphetamine, and alcohol, the latter of which isn’t scheduled under the Controlled Substances Act.
“The problem is that our drug schedules don’t match the scientific evidence of their actual harm and their actual therapeutic and abuse potential,” senior author Alan Davis, assistant professor and director of the Center for Psychedelic Drug Research and Education in The Ohio State University College of Social Work, said in a news release.
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