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Addiction has issued a Call for Papers for a special issue on psychedelic-assisted treatment for substance use disorders; NCYSUR Emeritus Professor Wayne Hall is one of three editors seeking: 1) systematic reviews of psychedelic-assisted treatments for SUD, 2) case series of response to psychedelic-assisted treatment for SUD, 3) qualitative and mixed methods studies of treatment response and change, 4) superiority RCTs (primary endpoints and analyses of secondary outcomes), 5)observational cohort studies of psychedelic drug use and public health outcomes, 6) health registry and panel survey datasets modelling psychedelic drug use deadline 31 March 2025. 

The call to papers followed a debate piece in Addiction published June 6 by NCYSUR and colleagues in the USA and UK which argued “the lessons of cannabis policy … suggest a need to challenge hyping of psychedelic research findings; to promote rigorous clinical research on dosing and potency; to minimize the influence of for-profit industry in shaping policies to their economic advantage; and to coordinate federal, state, and local governments to regulate the manufacture, sale and distribution of psychedelic drugs (regardless of whether they are legalized for medical and/or recreational use).

The challenges for research and policy were examined by NCYSUR and colleagues in the Annual Review of Psychology published 2 August. The paper discusses the 2023 decision of TGA to permit prescription of psilocybin and MDMA as unapproved drugs under the Special Access Scheme, the lobbying campaign of Mind Medicine Australia, and the policy lessons that can be drawn from the outcomes to date of the legalisation of medical cannabis in Australia, such as proliferation of for-profit treatment providers.

Marsden, J., Andrews, C., and Hall, W. (2024). Call for papers on psychedelic-assisted treatment for substance use disorders. Addiction, 119(10), 1674-1675. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/add.16631.