A Survey of American Psychiatrists’ Attitudes Toward Classic Hallucinogens

Introduction

From the 1950s to the 1970s, classic hallucinogens (for example, LSD, mescaline, DMT, psilocybin, ayahuasca) were widely investigated and used in psychiatric practice and research, with roughly 10,000 patients and several thousand research subjects exposed during that period. Regulatory changes and rising recreational use in the late 1960s led to withdrawal of marketed supplies and restrictive legislation, after which clinical research in the United States largely ceased for several decades. Over the past decade, however, a resurgence of clinical research has occurred, driven by reduced stigma, a more favourable regulatory environment, and private research funding; recent studies cited by the authors include MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for PTSD, psilocybin trials for alcohol and nicotine use disorders and for depression/anxiety in life-threatening cancer, open-label work in treatment-resistant depression, and controlled trials of LSD for anxiety associated with life-threatening illness. Barnett and colleagues set out to gauge contemporary opinions among American psychiatrists about the safety and therapeutic potential of classic hallucinogens. The investigators focused explicitly on classic hallucinogens (excluding nonclassic agents such as MDMA) and hypothesised that many psychiatrists would remain guarded in their enthusiasm. They further hypothesised that younger age, male gender, more recent completion of training, and a psychotherapeutic treatment orientation would be associated with more favourable opinions toward these substances.