Preferences and Support for Psychedelic Policies and Practices Among Those Using Psychedelics

Area of Science:

• Psychedelic policy research
• Substance use and regulation
• Public health and policy

Background:

• The legal, scientific, and social frameworks surrounding psychedelics are evolving rapidly.
• Significant stakeholder disagreements exist regarding regulatory control, therapeutic provisioning models, and policy approaches like medicalization, decriminalization, and legalization.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the policy preferences of individuals who use psychedelics naturalistically.
• To understand how these preferences align with or diverge from institutional perspectives and current psychedelic policies.

Main Methods:

• A survey was conducted with 1221 participants who use psychedelics naturalistically.
• Data analysis focused on policy preferences regarding decriminalization, legalization, personal cultivation, and therapeutic administration.

Main Results:

• Approximately 75% of participants supported decriminalization and legalization of psychedelics.
• Strong support was found for legal personal cultivation and possession of psychedelic plants and fungi.
• Preferences indicated greater support for natural over synthetic substances, self-production over gifting, gifting over sales, and use with therapeutic support over unsupervised use.

Conclusions:

• Policymakers must consider the preferences of psychedelic users, favoring natural substances and personal use, as liberalization advances.
• Concerns regarding pharmaceutical-like models and patents highlight the need for equitable access and appropriate medical support frameworks.
• Understanding these user-centric preferences is crucial for developing safe and effective psychedelic policies.