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Dispensaries could fill the regulatory void for psychedelics and promote public health.
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Several psychedelics are making their way through the regulatory process created by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for new drugs. In the FDA model, psychedelics are unlikely to be prescribed for consumption at home. Rather, patients will likely access psychedelics as part of a therapeutic protocol and consume the medicine under the guidance of medical professionals. One of the goals of this model—called psychedelic assisted psychotherapy—is to create a safe environment for psychedelic use. States that have legalized access to psychedelics have mostly taken the same approach.
In this essay, I argue that regulated psychedelic dispensaries should also be part of the conversation. Creating an on-site consumption model is not an effective form of harm reduction when it is not widely accessible and therefore not widely adopted. Cultural attitudes toward psychedelics are evolving due to promising research about their potential as mental health treatments. Without legal access to match the growing demand for these substances, consumers seek access through an unregulated underground market and may expose themselves to harm. Dispensaries offer a potential solution to this problem.
This problem has increased
