By SAMHSA Publishes State Guidance
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) published a new report on Wednesday regarding recent advances in psychedelic medicine. The document provides recommendations for state policymakers on how to prepare for the formal approval of drugs like psilocybin and MDMA. It also notes how the Schedule I status of many psychedelics has hampered scientific studies on their effects for decades.
“Psychedelic-assisted therapy is moving from research settings toward clinical practice faster than most observers anticipated even 5 years ago,” the report published on Wednesday by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) says.
Research Advances and Limitations
The SAMHSA report notes that President Donald Trump issued an executive order aimed at expanding and expediting research on the potential therapeutic benefits of psychedelics in April with an eye toward federal approval of psychedelic medications by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
The document says that substances such as psilocybin, LSD and MDMA “show potential in clinical studies for treating depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, and substance use disorders,” though it cautions that the evidence base “remains uneven and important methodological limitations persist.”
State Preparation and Legal Tensions
State officials should “consider planning now for the fiscal, legal, and operational implications of potential FDA-approved psychedelic therapies, including any Medicaid coverage obligations,” it says.
They should also work toward “developing oversight frameworks, including credentialing standards, safety protocols, informed consent processes, and complaint mechanisms proactively, before psychedelic therapies are formally made available for state system service recipients,” the SAMHSA report recommends.
