Psychedelic Public Health: Advances and Challenges

Psychoactive plants and fungi containing psychedelic compounds have been used for millennia in diverse cultural and Indigenous healing traditions. In recent decades, both natural and pharmaceutical psychedelics have gained increasing scientific and clinical attention, particularly as adjuncts in treating treatment-resistant depression (TRD), existential distress and palliative care, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and problematic substance use. While promising, this renewed clinical and therapeutic interest, along with rising usage in the general population and shifting policy, necessitates a broader public health framework that extends beyond individual-level clinical outcomes to attend to population-level implications, equity and social determinants, health system integration, and community-based settings of practice. From a public health perspective, psychedelics raise urgent questions about the role of social determinants of health, disparities in care, program, and service delivery, and the ethics of translating traditional and community-based knowledge systems into policy and practice. Equally imperative is for the field of public health to fulfill - at the community and population level - not only its duty to protect the public’s health and safety, but also to optimize the potential for disease prevention and wellness promotion at a time of multiple intractable health crises. Key considerations include:

● documenting and appropriately integrating the cultural, spiritual, and social aspects of the full spectrum of psychedelic applications, including therapeutic, traditional, ceremonial, personal, and recreational uses
● developing equitable, participatory, and contextually responsive models of regulation, programming, education, and service delivery
● addressing historical and structural inequities and harms with regards to psychedelic care and cultural expression
● evaluating long-term outcomes, including impacts on mental health, prosocial behavior, civic engagement, and sustainability

This Research Topic seeks to generate evidence and critical dialogue on the integration of psychedelics and public health systems, infrastructure, workforce, policy, and practice globally. We encourage submissions that encompass and address the intersections of therapeutic practice, implementation science, interventions research, health equity, health promotion and education, harm reduction, and policy development, including participatory and community-based contributions. This collection aims to inform frameworks (e.g., for regulation and socio-ecological change theory) that are culturally grounded, socially just, and responsive to human rights and diverse populations by foregrounding Indigenous epistemologies, community-based models, and cross-sector approaches.

Potential areas of focus in the arena of psychedelic public health include, but are not limited to:

1. Models of psychedelic care within public health and community health care systems, and assessments of public health infrastructure and workforce
2. Treatment, disease prevention, health promotion, and harm reduction in the full spectrum of use settings, especially addressing significant public health issues, e.g., tobacco, alcohol, opioid, and other substance use disorders, trauma and mental health, chronic disease, palliative/end-of-life care, wellness, and personal, recreational, intentional, or other forms of “real world” use
3. Epidemiological, experimental, observational, economic, sociological, and community-based/participatory assessments
4. Racial justice, reparative practices, and equitable access in local, national and global contexts
5. Integration of spirituality, ceremony, and public health services and programming
6. Integration of and reparative relations with Indigenous epistemologies and practices, with consideration of their basis for psychedelic public health principles, paradigms, and practices
8. Implementation science and systems-level evaluation of psychedelic therapy programs
9. Bioethics, policy, regulation, and governance of psychedelic practices
10. Critical perspectives on medicalization, commodification, and cultural-ecological sustainability

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Classification
• Clinical Trial
• Community Case Study
• Conceptual Analysis
• Curriculum, Instruction, and Pedagogy
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Classification
• Clinical Trial
• Community Case Study
• Conceptual Analysis
• Curriculum, Instruction, and Pedagogy
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Policy and Practice Reviews
• Policy Brief
• Review
• Study Protocol
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: Psychedelic public health, Psychedelics, Psychedelic therapy, Mental health, Indigenous epistemologies and practices, Spirituality, Health equity, Health education, Social determinants, Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), Substance use disorder (SUD), Treatment-resistant depression (TRD)

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.