Responding to the Current Psychedelics Landscape: A Call for Cross-Sector Collaboration

Psychedelics are becoming increasingly available within approved regulatory pathways and in “underground” or recreational settings. However, clinicians’ knowledge and training is insufficient, leading to limitations when discussing benefits and harms with patients. These insufficiencies also create liability risks for clinicians which may be heightened if, as anticipated, the federal government deregulates psychedelics. In light of rapidly changing conditions, stakeholders should work together to increase public and clinical education. Stakeholders should also develop pathways for widely available post-trip counseling services. Such pathways should address the needs of users struggling to process the ongoing emotional and neuropsychiatric effects of their psychedelics experience which can sometimes be disabling. Thoughtful and timely collaboration can lay the groundwork for psychedelic medicine, a newly developing area of clinical practice.