Facilitating the Sacred: The Role of Chaplains in Psychedelic Law and Policy

In the United States, regulated access to psychedelic substances currently exists only through a "facilitated use model," where a person takes the substance in a controlled setting under a trained facilitator or clinician. Two states, Oregon and Colorado, have passed laws allowing access without a doctor's prescription, while pharmaceutical companies pursue FDA approval for psychedelic medicines. Federally permitted religious use also occurs in certain churches. No other models for regulated psychedelic access exist in the U.S. at this time.

Study at a glance

Abstract

The law and policy surrounding psychedelic substances in the United States is in its infancy. At the time of writing, two states, Oregon and Colorado, have passed laws that create legal access points for regulated psychedelic substances and do not require a doctor’s recommendation or prescription for access. Several psychedelic substances are also being researched by pharmaceutical companies in the United States within the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) drug approval process. Additionally, there is federally permitted religious and spiritual use for certain psychedelic churches, as other authors in this volume discuss. Whether as a possible medicine at the federal level, a quasi-medicine/recreational substance at the state level or as a sacrament used in a spiritual community, psychedelics are administered in what I describe as a “facilitated use model.” In this model, an individual is given a psychedelic substance in a controlled setting under the supervision of a trained facilitator or clinician. As of now, there are no other models for access to regulated psychedelics in the United States outside of a “facilitated use model.”