Research ethics aspects of experimentation with LSD on human subjects: a historical and ethical review.

Research with LSD-25 on human participants raises distinct ethical questions that require special attention in study design, conduct, and follow-up. This review of historical and contemporary publications examines the unique ethical issues posed by LSD research, including concerns about participant vulnerability, informed consent, and long-term effects. The authors explore how the substance's powerful psychoactive properties and its controversial history demand careful ethical scrutiny within modern research ethics frameworks. Political and regulatory barriers also affect the clinical and research applications of LSD. The paper argues that these factors together create a need for tailored ethical guidelines beyond standard research protocols.

Study at a glance

Abstract

In this paper our aim is to examine whether research conducted on human participants with LSD-25 (lysergic acid diethylamide) raises unique research ethical questions or demands particular concerns with regard to the design, conduct and follow-up of these studies, and should this be the case, explore and describe those issues. Our analysis is based on reviewing publications up to date which examine the clinical, research and other uses of LSD and those addressing ethical and methodological concerns of these applications, just as some historical examinations of this subject. The first chapters of the paper give an overview regarding the history of LSD-research with human participants, healthy volunteers and patients alike. The remaining chapters have a focus on questions regarding the potential ethical issues of such human trials in the contemporary research ethics framework. We also consider briefly political and regulatory issues regarding this substance that possibly affect its clinical and research applications.