Ethics in Psychedelic Science: Promises and Responsibilities

Dr. Julia Ann Koretski, a psychiatrist and Digital Editor of the Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology (JCP), leads a conversation about the guest editorial “Ethics in Psychedelic Science: Promises and Responsibilities” with its author, Dominic Sisti, PhD, a medical ethicist from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and a JCP podcast panel of Editor-in-Chief Dr. Anthony Rothschild and Associate Editor Dr. Richard Balon. Dr. Sisti provides an overview of recent regulatory actions in this area and summarizes the history of “utopian hype” in the field. The editorial and the podcast discussion detail what elements are required to build a solid ethics infrastructure for psychedelics research and clinical delivery that is free of hype and bias. Sisti advises moving ahead with caution, while noting that “the range of potentially treatable conditions is wide—including PTSD, major depression, anxiety disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, anorexia nervosa, and substance use disorders.”

The guest editorial is published in the January-February 2025 issue of JCP.