A nationally representative sample of 795 US Americans rated the moral status of psilocybin use in a licensed setting as morally positive for both treating a psychiatric condition and enhancing well-being, showing strong bipartisan support. These attitudes can inform policy-making around supervised psilocybin use. The study did not explore attitudes toward unsupervised or non-licensed use.
This commentary argues that ethical discussions about using psychedelics to treat Alzheimer's disease must consider cultural context, not just Western bioethics. Drawing on Japanese experience, the authors identify cultural factors that could make such research more challenging, as well as other factors that might be more accommodating and could even reduce some ethical concerns raised by Peterson et al.
Human cerebral organoids grown in bioreactors may develop some form of consciousness, raising both scientific and ethical questions. The authors argue that current evidence for consciousness in organoids is insufficient but that the possibility cannot be dismissed. They propose a precautionary approach: researchers should monitor organoids for signs of consciousness, establish ethical guidelines for their creation and use, and consider the moral status such entities might have. The paper examines the scientific challenges of detecting consciousness in a neural model without a body and the bioethical implications of potentially creating conscious entities in a laboratory.