Clinical psychedelic research in adolescents: a scoping review and overview of ethical considerations
The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health September 2, 2025 Khaleel Rajwani, Edward Jacobs, Lori Bruce et al. 6 citations
No Summary
Brian D. Earp
Wellcome Centre for Ethics and Humanities
3 papers in the library · 11 citations · publishing 2025
Papers
Psychedelics beyond medicine: Treatment, enhancement, hype, consent, and the limits of medicalization
Philosophical Psychology September 8, 2025 Mina Caraccio, Katherine Cheung, Sebastian Porsdam Mann et al. 3 citations
As interest in psychedelics like psilocybin, ketamine, and MDMA revives and their legal status changes in many places, ethical guidelines are urgently needed for both medical and non-medical use. This paper argues that focusing only on medical applications neglects potentially valuable uses in other contexts and raises ethical issues including hype, exceptionalism, informed consent, therapeutic touch, data collection, and balancing access with safety. The authors call for renewed attention to the treatment-versus-enhancement distinction from bioethics and stress that guidelines should be flexible and context-sensitive. They recommend incorporating diverse stakeholder perspectives and cross-sector collaboration in future research and policy for psychedelic bioethics.
Clinical Psychedelic Therapy Research Involving Adolescents: Protocol for a Scoping Review of Intervention Studies
Wellcome Open Research July 8, 2025 Khaleel Rajwani, Melanie Almonte, F. Feroz et al. 2 citations
A protocol describes a planned scoping review to determine whether any controlled clinical research involving psychedelic drug administration to adolescents under 18 has been conducted since 2000. The review will follow established methodological guidelines, searching multiple databases and trial registers for interventional studies from 2000 to the present. Two independent raters will assess articles, with a third resolving disagreements. The protocol notes that while historical studies from 1959 to 1974 exist, they do not meet modern standards, and no recent controlled clinical research with adolescents is known.