UK medical students’ self-reported knowledge and harm assessment of psychedelics and their application in clinical research: a cross-sectional study

Most UK medical students (83%) are aware of psychedelic research and only 3% are not interested in learning more, yet only 17% feel well-educated on the topic. Students' harm assessments of psychedelics closely match experts', but teaching on psychedelics is rare in their curriculum. Time in medical school does not correlate with more knowledge about psychedelics. On average, students strongly support changing the legal status of psychedelics to enable further clinical research. Greater knowledge, lower perceived harm, more years in medical school, and lower perceived effectiveness of non-pharmacological mental health treatments are associated with stronger support for legal change.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Objective To capture UK medical students’ self-reported knowledge and harm assessment of psychedelics and to explore the factors associated with support for changing the legal status of psychedelics to facilitate further clinical research. Design Cross-sectional, anonymous online survey of UK medical students using a non-random sampling method. Setting UK medical schools recognised by the General Medical Council. Participants 132 medical students who had spent an average of 3.8 years (SD=1.4; range: 1–6) in medical school. Results Most students (83%) reported that they were aware of psychedelic research and only four participants (3%) said that they were not interested in learning more about this type of research. Although medical students’ harm assessment of psychedelics closely aligned with that of experts, only 17% of students felt well-educated on psychedelic research. Teachings on psychedelics were only rarely encountered in their curriculum (psilocybin: 14.1 (SD=19.9), scale: 0 (never) to 100 (very often)). Time spent at medical schools was not associated with more knowledge about psychedelics (r=0.12, p=0.129). On average, this sample of medical students showed strong support for changing the legal status of psychedelics to facilitate further research into their potential clinical applications (psilocybin: 80.2 (SD=24.8), scale: 0 (strongly oppose) to 100 (strongly support)). Regression modelling indicated that greater knowledge of psychedelics (p<0.001), lower estimated harm scores (p<0.001), more time spent in medical school (p=0.024) and lower perceived effectiveness of non-pharmacological mental health treatments (p=0.044) were associated with greater support for legal status change. Conclusions Our findings reveal a significant interest among UK medical students to learn more about psychedelic research and a strong support for further psychedelic research. Future studies are needed to examine how medical education could be refined to adequately prepare medical students for a changing healthcare landscape in which psychedelic-assisted therapy could soon be implemented in clinical practice.