A scoping review of medical literature from 2000 to 2025 found no completed or published clinical trials testing psychedelic-assisted therapy in adolescents under 18, despite three trial registrations and one trial plan. The proposed studies would have investigated MDMA-assisted or psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy for adolescents with post-traumatic stress disorder, autism with social anxiety, or self-harm. Ethical approval and recruitment details were inconsistently reported. This absence of data represents a major evidence gap that could hinder informed care. The authors argue for cautious, ethically grounded research starting with older adolescents who have the highest foreseeable benefit-risk ratio due to special circumstances.
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.