SAFETY
Psychedelic medicines were banned for decades when they escaped the confines of the clinical setting in the 1950's to become mixed up with the counter cultural revolution and civil rights movement in USA in the 1960's. Psychedelics were thus heavily maligned in the media and this stigmatization still lasts today. Although many scaremongering reports of 'bad trips' are greatly overblown, these medicines can certainly induce powerful psychological responses and must be taken with care in the right setting to achieve beneficial results.
SAFETY PROTOCOL
Human hallucinogen research: guidelines for safety. M Johnson, Journal of Psychopharmacology, 2008
This paper reviews the risks of hallucinogen administration and safeguards for minimizing these risks. Although hallucinogens are relatively safe physiologically and are not considered drugs of dependence, their administration involves unique psychological risks. Safeguards against these risks include the exclusion of volunteers with personal or family history of psychotic disorders, establishing trust and rapport between session monitors and volunteer before the session, careful volunteer preparation, a safe physical session environment and interpersonal support from at least two study monitors during the session. Investigators should probe for the relatively rare hallucinogen persisting perception disorder in follow-up contact. Persisting adverse reactions are rare when research is conducted along these guidelines. Incautious research may jeopardize participant safety and future research. However, carefully conducted research may inform the treatment
REDUCED PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTRESS
Psilocybin, psychological distress, and suicidality. Hendricks, Journal of Psychopharmacology, 2015
Participants in this study were adult respondents of the National Survey on Drug Use and Health pooled across years 2008 through 2012, n= 191,832.Â
Outcomes were past month psychological distress, past year suicidal thinking, past year suicidal planning, and past year suicide attempt. The odds of all four outcomes were reduced in the 7,550 people who had taken psilocybin only compared to the 164,595 people who had never used psychedelics.
REDUCED SUICIDALITY
Psychedelics not linked to mental health problems or suicidal behavior: A population study. Johansen, Journal of Psychopharmacology, 2015
A recent large population study of 130,000 adults in USA failed to find evidence for a link between psychedelic use and mental health problems. Using a new data set consisting of 135,095 randomly selected United States adults, including 19,299 psychedelic users, we examine the associations between psychedelic use and mental health. After adjusting for sociodemographics, other drug use and childhood depression, we found no significant associations between lifetime use of psychedelics and increased likelihood of past year serious psychological distress, mental health treatment, suicidal thoughts, suicidal plans and suicide attempt, depression and anxiety. Psychedelics are not known to harm the brain or other body organs or to cause addiction or compulsive use; serious adverse events involving psychedelics are extremely rare. Overall, it is difficult to see how prohibition of psychedelics can be justified as a public health measure.