Description:

We have not been this close to legal psychedelic medicines since the start of the War on Drugs. It is exciting to witness the culmination of decades of drug policy advocacy and clinical research, and there remains much uncharted territory to be explored as legal psychedelic clinics become a reality in less than 2 years. Psychedelic clinics, for the foreseeable future, will require affiliation/liability of a licensed psychiatrist. This will require partnerships between psychiatrists and psychologists, who traditionally have not worked together and who at times, and have had significant challenges in doing so. Young psychedelic practitioners are grateful for past work done by practitioners, many who have continued this work illegally ("underground"). What lessons have we learned and how can we continue to learn from the knowledge of these practitioners while the field is introduced to a health care community that is at best weary, and more realistically scared of psychedelic medicines. Lastly, current models of legal psychedelic therapy appear to be out of reach financially, even to the middle class, and there are no indications that insurance companies will cover treatment. How might we insure that safe and legal psychedelic healing is available to all? These and other issues will be discussed during this lecture/Q&A. Will Siu, MD, DPhil and Emily Williams, MD