Ethics & human research November–December 2026

IRBs and psychedelic research, and payment to research subjects

The Hastings Center

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Open Access Researchers’ Experiences with IRB Oversight of Psychedelic Research

Logan Neitzke-Spruill,  Jill Oliver Robinson,  Alison Purcell,  Dominic Sisti,  Amy L. McGuire,  Holly Fernandez Lynch

 

Open Access The Primary Reasons People Participate in Maternal-Fetal Phase I Clinical Trials Are Psychosocial

Julia E. H. Brown,  Leslie S. Riddle,  Emma Canepa,  Billie Lianoglou,  Dawn Gano,  Teresa N. Sparks,  Jodi Halpern

 

Who Is Being Studied? How Retrospective Chart Reviews Can Obscure about Whom Researchers Obtain Information

Kenneth A. Richman

 

How We Pay Matters: The Ethics of Payment Mechanisms for Research Participants

Annie Harper,  Anthony Pavlo,  Steven Olsen

 

Table of Contents https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/25782363/2026/48/6

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Mindfulness therapy assisted by ketamine may strengthen body awareness to reduce opioid cravings

New findings suggest ketamine may enhance mindfulness therapy by helping people better recognize and respond to internal body signals tied to craving and emotional regulation.

University of California - San Diego

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New research from UC San Diego provides new insight into how ketamine-assisted psychotherapy may enhance addiction treatment.

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Credit: UC San Diego Health Sciences

Researchers from University of California San Diego School of Medicine have found that adding ketamine to a mindfulness-based treatment for opioid use disorder may strengthen people’s ability to recognize and respond to signals from their bodies — changes that may help reduce opioid cravings. The study, published on Nov. 5, 2026 in the Journal of Psychopharmacology, provides new insight into how ketamine-assisted psychotherapy may enhance addiction treatment.

“Addiction can make it extraordinarily difficult for people to recognize what is happening inside their bodies and respond in ways that support recovery,” said Eric Garland, PhD, professor of psychiatry at UC San Diego School of Medicine and senior author. “Our findings suggest ketamine combined with mindfulness may create an opportunity for people to become more attuned to those internal signals and, importantly, learn how to respond to them more skillfully rather than automatically reacting to cravings.”

The new findings build on a randomized clinical trial published in Nature Mental Health in March 2026 (titled: Ketamine-assisted Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement for opioid use disorder: a randomized controlled trial). The trial included 68 adults with opioid use disorder who were taking buprenorphine, one of the most effective medications for treating opioid use disorder. Participants were randomly assigned to receive either Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement (MORE) alone or MORE combined with two sessions of ketamine-assisted psychotherapy.

MORE is an eight-week, evidence-based, mind-body therapy developed by Garland that combines mindfulness with techniques designed to help people reframe stressful experiences and savor positive experiences and emotions. Previous clinical trials have found that MORE reduces opioid misuse by 45% — nearly three times more effective than supportive psychotherapy — and among people receiving medication for opioid use disorder, reduces drug relapse by 42%.

In the Nature Mental Health study, the researchers found that participants who received MORE plus psychedelic doses of ketamine reported significantly fewer instances of drug use after treatment and lower opioid craving at the three-month follow-up than those who received MORE alone. Across the period from the end of treatment through the three-month follow-up, the ketamine group had 44% fewer instances of drug use. Ketamine-induced experiences such as a sense of oneness with the universe were associated with greater reductions in cravings. The new study examined why the combined treatment may have produced those benefits.

The researchers focused on interoception — the ability to sense, interpret and respond to signals coming from inside the body, such as changes in breathing, heart rate, tension or other physical sensations. These skills play an important role in emotional regulation, decision-making and self-control and may be disrupted in people with substance use disorders.

Throughout treatment and for one month afterward, participants received smartphone prompts three times a day asking how aware they were of sensations in their bodies at that moment. Researchers found that body awareness increased more rapidly among participants receiving MORE plus ketamine, with the gain in body awareness emerging around the time of the first ketamine session. Higher levels of body awareness were maintained through follow-up at the one month mark.

But simply noticing bodily sensations may not be enough. The researchers also found that participants receiving ketamine showed greater improvements in two specific abilities: listening to their bodies for useful information and using awareness of bodily sensations to regulate distress. Together, improvements in these abilities were associated with lower opioid cravings three months later, suggesting a potential pathway through which ketamine may enhance the therapeutic effects of mindfulness training.

“Craving isn’t just a thought, it can be experienced throughout the body,” Garland said. “Mindfulness teaches people to notice those sensations without immediately reacting to them. What these findings suggest is that ketamine-induced experiences may help accelerate or deepen that learning process, so bodily sensations can become useful information for self-regulation rather than triggers for drug use.”

The researchers caution that the findings are preliminary. The new analysis relied on self-reported measures of body awareness and participants also knew they received the ketamine treatment. Larger studies using objective measures of how the brain and body process internal signals are needed to confirm the findings.

Future research could also investigate whether ketamine creates a temporary period in which the brain is especially receptive to learning new mindfulness and self-regulation skills, and whether those changes can produce longer-lasting reductions in cravings and drug use.

“The goal isn’t simply to avoid cravings,” Garland said. “It’s to help people develop skills they can carry into everyday life — skills that allow them to recognize what their bodies are telling them, regulate difficult feelings and make choices that support recovery.”

Read the full study: Ketamine, an interoceptive associative agent? Evidence from ketamine-assisted Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement for opioid use disorder

Additional co-authors on the study include: Benjamin Lewis, MD, from the University of Utah.

The study was funded, in part, by a gift from Tanya and Richard Andrew. Garland was also supported by UG3DA062106, R01DA056537 and R01DA057631 from the National Institutes of Health.

Eric Garland is the director of UC San Diego ONEMIND (Optimized Neuroscience-Enhanced Mindfulness Intervention Design). UC San Diego ONEMIND provides MORE, mindfulness-based therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy in the context of research trials for no cost to research participants; however, Garland has received honoraria and payment for delivering seminars, lectures and teaching engagements (related to training clinicians in mindfulness) sponsored by institutions of higher education, government agencies, academic teaching hospitals and medical centers. Garland also receives royalties from the sale of books related to MORE. No other authors have any related conflicts of interest to disclose.

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Journal

Journal of Psychopharmacology

DOI

10.1177/02698811261495546 

One dose of psychedelic drug reduces depression symptoms, study finds

30.10.2026,

Photo: Bernd Diekjobst/dpa-tmn

A single dose of a psychedelic nasal spray helped reduce depression symptoms in people who did not respond to standard antidepressant medications, according to a clinical trial published in JAMA.

The drug, called mebufotenin or 5-MeO-DMT, produces a short-lasting psychedelic experience.

Previous research cited in the study found that its effects peak within 8 to 15 minutes and usually wear off within 45 to 60 minutes.

The clinical trial took place between September 2023 and April 2025 at 38 sites across Australia, Europe and the United States. It included 193 adults aged 18 to 75 with moderate to severe depression that had not improved after treatment with two to five antidepressant medications.

Researchers randomly assigned participants to receive a single nasal spray containing either 12 milligrams or 8 milligrams of the drug. A third group received a very low dose of 0.3 milligrams, which was not expected to produce noticeable psychedelic effects.

Researchers measured depression symptoms using a 60-point scale, with higher scores indicating more severe symptoms.

The main assessment was conducted on day 29, and participants were monitored for a total of 57 days.

By day 29, average depression scores had fallen by 11.1 points in the 12-milligram group and 12.5 points in the 8-milligram group. The comparison group also improved, with scores dropping by an average of 5.5 points.

However, the two groups receiving the active treatment showed greater improvements than the comparison group. The benefits appeared as early as the day after treatment and largely continued through the eight-week follow-up period.

Around one-third of participants who received the active doses experienced at least a 50% reduction in depression symptoms by day 29. In comparison, this level of improvement was seen in only 12% of participants who received the very low dose.

Symptoms also fell to very low levels in 18% to 26% of participants in the active treatment groups, compared with 8% in the comparison group.

Side effects were common, but almost all were mild or moderate. Headache, nausea and pain at the site where the spray was administered were the most frequently reported problems.

Researchers said larger trials with longer follow-up periods are needed to confirm the findings and determine how long the benefits last.

(c) 2026 dpa Deutsche Presse Agentur GmbH

SPAGYRIC HERBALISM

Poison and remedy: secrets of the botanic garden at Paris's Pharmacy Faculty

Paris – A stone's throw from the Jardin du Luxembourg on Paris's Left Bank, the Faculty of Pharmacy is home to a botanical garden which serves as an educational resource for students and a space for research – as well as a place where visitors can find biodiversity in the heart of the city.


Issued on: 18/10/2026 -  RFI

The garden at the Faculty of Pharmacy in central Paris, with its tropical greenhouse, has become part of the fabric of the neighbourhood. © Olivier Favier / RFI

Accessed by passing between majestic buildings designed in the late 19th century by famed architect Charles Laisné – as well as others added during the 1960s – the botanical garden covers nearly 3,500 square metres.

In the warmer months, students eat lunch at picnic tables in the shadow of the laboratory building, recognisable by its dozens of chimneys.

“When they start their pharmacy studies, the students are welcomed into the garden,” says lecturer and researcher Florence Chapeland-Leclerc. “From their second session with us, they work in the lab with samples cut on site.”

Heated debate over herbalism

Relations between the pharmacy and herbalism sectors have long been fraught.

France stopped issuing herbalist certification in 1941, and specialist shops have become increasingly rare – and are no longer permitted to recommend any particular plant for therapeutic purposes.

While the debate remains heated between those who fear the revival of alternative medicine with no scientific basis and those who regret the loss of traditional knowledge, the Faculty of Pharmacy – part of Paris Cité University – draws on both practices.

Here, a bachelor’s diploma in herbal medicine is awarded, aimed primarily at pharmacy assistants seeking to add another string to their bow, and also frequently at those looking to change careers.

“The term ‘phytotherapist’ is in itself a misnomer. A pharmacist does not, in fact, have the status of a therapist,” points out Raphaël Grougnet, a lecturer and researcher specialising in pharmacognosy – an applied science which studies medicinal substances of natural origin, whether they come from plants, animals, fungi or micro-organisms.

However, knowledge of plants and fungi is also an integral part of the training of community pharmacists, which culminates in a practical doctorate after five years of study, in addition to the foundation year common to many professions in the medical sector, including doctors, physiotherapists and dentists.

By their second year, a pharmacy student must be able to identify 120 plant species.

“These are the source of many medicines,” explains Grougnet. “Willow bark was known for its anti-inflammatory, antipyretic and analgesic properties [reducing fever and pain]. Aspirin was derived from it.”

Psychedelic therapy gains ground in Europe, under strict conditions
Dangerous mistakes

In the garden, the beds are organised in two ways. The first corresponds to what is known as botanical systematics – the classification into families, genera and species established by Swedish botanist and physician Carl von Linné and subsequently revolutionised by Charles Darwin.

The second method classifies plants according to their toxicity. While some plants are toxic at any dosage, others contain substances which, at certain doses, can be used medicinally.

The botanic garden's greenhouses – designed by Gustave Eiffel’s workshops and faithfully restored between 2000 and 2002 – are dedicated to tropical species.

The garden is an integral part of the neighbourhood’s heritage, and the interest shown by its neighbours – who regularly appear at the gates to watch plants being pruned – also reflects a renewed appreciation for plants, says Chapeland-Leclerc.

Yet this interest, where knowledge is lacking, can lead to some dangerous mix-ups.

“A common mistake is confusing wild garlic with lily of the valley, which is toxic to the heart, or saffron-coloured oenanthe with wild parsnip,” she explains.

From ornitherapy to kissing trees, how can nature benefit human health?

If in doubt, consulting a pharmacist can help avoid mistakes that have serious consequences.

Chapeland-Leclerc said that while increasingly popular plant identification apps are fairly reliable, those for mushrooms remain inaccurate and should under no circumstances be trusted to classify which specimens are safe to consume.

French pharmacies commonly offer to check the safety of foraged mushrooms – but Chapeland-Leclerc stressed that if you take yours to your local chemist, it's important to bring your entire haul.

“Pharmacists still have a naturalist side to them that we might not necessarily realise,” she smiles.

This article was adapted from the original version in French by Olivier Favier.

 

Psilocybin providers follow safety guidelines, study finds

First look at how centers screen callers reassuring, but cost may impede greater access

Washington University in St. Louis

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In Brief

• Researchers evaluated licensed psilocybin centers in Oregon.
• All centers followed the law for patient screening and treatment provision; none allowed unsupervised use; all asked about psychiatric history, medications and risk factors before recommending services.
• Sessions cost around $1,900, and no center took insurance.

A new study has found that Oregon’s licensed psilocybin centers largely follow recommended safety guidelines, offering reassurance about how the first regulated psilocybin programs in the U.S. function in practice — though the cost of treatment may keep it out of reach for many.

The study, led by researchers at Washington University in St. Louis and the University of Missouri, is the first independent look at how these centers vet their potential clients.

Since 2023, when Oregon became the first state to legalize regulated, supervised psilocybin — the psychoactive ingredient in “magic mushrooms” — it has drawn people with mental health conditions ranging from depression and anxiety to post-traumatic stress disorder and substance use disorders.

Some clinical trials have suggested that psilocybin, combined with psychological support or psychotherapy, can provide relief for some of these conditions, though the drug remains federally illegal. Until now, little has been known about what people actually encounter when they contact a psilocybin center — or what safeguards are in place.

To find out, researchers posing as prospective clients reached 15 of Oregon’s 22 active centers by phone and found that they consistently followed safety practices required by state law: no center allowed unsupervised or take-home use, and staff routinely asked about psychiatric history, medications and contraindications before discussing next steps. These findings complement a recent cohort study in which serious adverse reactions among 346 Oregon clients were uncommon.

The new study is officially published Oct. 12 in Health Affairs Scholar.

“Going in, we wondered whether Oregon’s model might work like a dispensary in practice — that you could call a center, pick up psilocybin and take it home with little screening along the way,” said co-senior author Kevin Xu, MD, an assistant professor of psychiatry at WashU Medicine. “Far from a dispensary model, I was surprised by how service centers asked detailed questions about callers’ mental health and risk factors. Services were also very expensive.”

The research team later interviewed center staff and found that high operating and licensing costs make these services hard to sustain for centers and hard to afford for people who might seek them. Indeed, four of the 26 centers Oregon had licensed closed before the study’s calls began, and another seven could not be reached by phone.

What do prospective clients experience when seeking psilocybin services?

The research team, which included experts in medicine, social work and public health, designed the study to follow the path a real client would take: reviewing the center’s website, then calling to ask questions.

“This latest innovative study highlights our unique interdisciplinary approach to psychedelic science.” 

— Ginger Nicol, MD, WashU Medicine

Three co-authors made scripted calls in which they posed as potential clients with depression and a history of alcohol use disorder or a family history of psychosis. They documented whether staff asked about medications, suicidal ideation and psychiatric history, as required by Oregon’s legal framework for psilocybin services. They also documented the price quoted for services.

“These interactions were not just, ‘Hey, give me mushrooms,’ and that’s it,” said co-senior author Leopoldo J. Cabassa, PhD, a professor at WashU’s Brown School who also co-directs WashU’s Center for Mental Health Services Research. “These were thoughtful conversations where the facilitator engaged people, asked good questions, and tried to get as much information as possible. Facilitators pushed past a simple checklist to actually understand a caller’s history before making a recommendation for services.”

Nearly every center flagged psychoactive medications that should not be combined with psilocybin, and no center advised callers taking antidepressants to stop them without first consulting with their primary care physician.

The median cost of a session was $1,900, and no center accepted insurance, which would limit accessibility if the treatment is legalized in other U.S. states.

“Oregon has dosed more people with psilocybin in a regulated model than anywhere else in the world,” said first author Dani Adams, PhD, an assistant professor of social work in the College of Health Sciences at the University of Missouri and Director of the Collaborative for Missouri Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy, who began this line of research while a postdoctoral fellow at WashU working with Cabassa. “But it is still out of reach for most Americans who are struggling with their mental health.”

Bipartisan efforts to expand psilocybin access

Veterans in particular face high rates of PTSD, depression and suicide, which has fueled bipartisan interest in getting psychedelic-assisted therapy approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Cabassa noted that in the meantime, some veterans unable to access or afford regulated care in the U.S. have instead sought unregulated treatments abroad, highlighting the importance of getting domestic access right.

WashU has been a leader in psychedelic research on multiple fronts. Co-author Ginger Nicol, MD, a professor of psychiatry at WashU Medicine, co-directs the Center for Holistic Interdisciplinary Research in Psychedelics alongside Cabassa, and was the principal investigator on a landmark 2024 study in Nature that showed how psilocybin temporarily desynchronizes activity across the human brain, among the first studies to map the drug’s effects at that scale.

“This latest innovative study highlights our unique interdisciplinary approach to psychedelic science,” Nicol said. “The team recognized an opportunity and acted swiftly to collect data that fills a major gap in scientific knowledge.”

With the new study, Cabassa and Nicol noted, WashU’s footprint in the field has grown from understanding brain circuitry to real-world implementation.

“We have to figure out what safeguards are needed and make sure those are maintained as the system solves for accessibility,” said Cabassa.

Adams DR, Hartman M, Gong L, Shankar S, Ling R, Steinle JT, Siegel JS, Nicol GE, Grucza RA, Borodovsky JT, Cabassa LJ, Xu KY. “Am I a candidate for magic mushrooms?” A mystery shopper study of Oregon psilocybin service centers. Health Affairs Scholar. October 12, 2026. DOI: 10.1093/haschl/qxag231

The work was supported by NIH grants K08DA061258 and R25 MH112473. Additional funding came from the WashU PJ000033039 Funding Award, the WashU Center for Dissemination and Implementation, and WashU’s Here & Next Transcend Initiative. The funders had no role in the design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript; and decision to submit the manuscript for publication. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH.

J.S. Siegel reported former employment by Sumitomo Pharma America; receiving consulting fees from Longitude Capital and Otsuka Pharmaceutical and being coinventor on a provisional patent (No. 020949/US 15060-1787) related to the use of precision functional mapping to assess target engagement of experimental therapeutics. G.E. Nicol reported receiving grants from COMPASS Pathways and Usona; receiving drug supply from Usona; and being a paid consultant for Carelon, Alkermes, Sunovion, and Novartis outside the submitted work as well as serving as codirector of the Washington University Center for Holistic Interdisciplinary Research in Psychedelics (CHIRP), a Transcend Initiative funded by the Washington University Here and Next strategic plan.

About WashU Medicine

WashU Medicine is a global leader in academic medicine, including biomedical research, patient care and educational programs with 3,100 faculty. Its National Institutes of Health (NIH) research funding portfolio is the second largest among U.S. medical schools and has grown 78% since 2016. Together with institutional investment, WashU Medicine commits over $1.6 billion annually to basic and clinical research innovation and training. Its faculty practice is consistently among the top five in the country, with more than 2,550 faculty physicians practicing at 200 locations. WashU Medicine physicians exclusively staff Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children’s hospitals — the academic hospitals of BJC HealthCare — and Siteman Cancer Center, a partnership between BJC HealthCare and WashU Medicine and the only National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center in Missouri and southern Illinois. WashU Medicine physicians also treat patients at BJC’s community hospitals in our region. With a storied history in MD/PhD training, WashU Medicine recently dedicated $100 million to scholarships and curriculum renewal for its medical students, and is home to top-notch training programs in every medical subspecialty as well as physical therapy, occupational therapy, and audiology and communications sciences.

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Journal

Health Affairs Scholar

Article Title

“Am I a candidate for magic mushrooms?” A mystery shopper study of Oregon psilocybin service centers

Article Publication Date

12-Oct-2026

COI Statement

The work was supported by NIH grants K08DA061258 and R25 MH112473. Additional funding came from the WashU PJ000033039 Funding Award, the WashU Center for Dissemination and Implementation, and WashU’s Here & Next Transcend Initiative. The funders had no role in the design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript; and decision to submit the manuscript for publication. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH. J.S. Siegel reported former employment by Sumitomo Pharma America; receiving consulting fees from Longitude Capital and Otsuka Pharmaceutical and being coinventor on a provisional patent (No. 020949/US 15060-1787) related to the use of precision functional mapping to assess target engagement of experimental therapeutics. G.E. Nicol reported receiving grants from COMPASS Pathways and Usona; receiving drug supply from Usona; and being a paid consultant for Carelon, Alkermes, Sunovion, and Novartis outside the submitted work as well as serving as codirector of the Washington University Center for Holistic Interdisciplinary Research in Psychedelics (CHIRP), a Transcend Initiative funded by the Washington University Here and Next strategic plan.

Explore the Irish cave where Celts gathered for year's shortest day

05.10.2026, DPA

Photo: Daniela David/dpa-tmn

Older than Stonehenge and the Egyptian pyramids, people used to celebrate the solstice in the mythic Newgrange burial complex. It's a spiritual spot where energy flows, one of many in Ireland, from the Atlantic Coast to wild herbal walks and magic fairy trees.

By Daniela David, dpa

It's pitch black here inside the stone burial chamber and we feel uneasy as we gaze spellbound into the darkness.

But people sat here doing the same thing 5,000 years ago, as they gathered to mark the shortest day of the year in the depths of the misty Irish winter.

Suddenly, a beam of amber light shoots through the chamber, illuminating zigzag lines, diamonds and spirals on the stone walls.

A magical moment, even if created by human hands. "The sun god enters, bringing light and hope," says our guide, Gráinne Downey, inside the megalithic passage tomb at Newgrange. She fiddles with the controls for the electric lighting.

"On our tours, we simulate a unique phenomenon that has been taking place here in real life every year for millennia, on December 21 at 8:58 am."

For, at the exact moment of the winter solstice, the morning light streams through a crack in the wall and illuminates the burial chamber, hidden deep within the huge mound, for 17 minutes.

Some 200,000 tonnes of stone have been piled up there to form a vault – not for the claustrophobic. Only the 1960s that archaeologists began to study this complex Neolithic structure.

Newgrange has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1993, as part of the Brú na Bóinne complex of prehistoric sacred sites in County Meath, in the central east of the island.

Belief in the Otherworld

"The Newgrange burial complex is older than the famous Stonehenge in England and even older than the Egyptian pyramids," says guide Peter Cole.

He strides towards the grass-covered, circular burial mounds at neighbouring Knowth, which also forms part of the Brú na Bóinne complex. As if in an ancient art gallery, huge sandstone blocks line the sacred sites. Spiral patterns are incised on them, giving a psychedelic feel.

"The power places of the ancient deities are still at work," says high priestess Treasa Kerrigan with conviction, at another sacred site, some 20 kilometres south-west of Brú na Bóinne.

Her long hair blows in the wind as she leads a group of visitors up the sacred hill of Tara. This former pagan place of worship was the seat of the High Kings of Ireland, a place of power and mystery.

At the very top, the King’s Stone, known as Lia Fáil, soars into the sky. Tourists touch the granite pillar and walk round it three times with their eyes closed, as the ritual goes, in order to feel the stone’s energy. Not everyone succeeds in doing so.

Many of the people here trust in the "Otherworld," where gods, elves and spirits are said to dwell. They see fairy trees – usually striking hawthorn bushes by the roadside – which are gateways to this non-material parallel world. Some in Ireland also say that felling such a magical tree brings terrible misfortune.

"Spiritually sensitive people from all over the world feel an inner peace at our places of power, as if they were connected to something greater," says Kerrigan. One such area is the Hill of Uisneach in County Westmeath, some 80 kilometres further west, which plays a central role on this tour of places of power.

This ritual gathering place is regarded as the mythical centre of Ireland. Celts used to celebrate fire festivals here.

Speaking prayers in Irish, the spiritual guide calls upon the gods of the Otherworld, whose signs she says she has personally witnessed.

She lights a fire.

A place of power with organic vegetables

A German couple, Gaby and Hans Wieland, came here in 1985 and created a place of power of a different sort in Ballincastle, County Sligo on the north-western coast of the island of Ireland.

They grow organic fruit and vegetables on their farm. "We feel the energy of nature in Ireland," says Hans Wieland. Herbs give off their scent in their lush garden, while aubergines, peppers, peach and tomato plants thrive in the greenhouse.

On a wild herb walk, herbalist Gaby Wieland plucks a much-maligned plant, a nettle. "Its seeds are extremely rich in energy!" she says. At her kitchen garden school, Neantóg which is Gaelic for "stinging nettle," she teaches people how to harness the power of wild plants, drawing on ancient Irish knowledge of nature.

Plenty more places provide energy, though not necessarily linked to the ancient places of power, such as the Kilcullen Seaweed Bath in Enniscrone on the Atlantic Ocean.

In the historic bathing establishment, bath attendant Brenda Smith scatters seaweed into ceramic bathtubs dating from 1912 and lets hot seawater run in.

"Our oldest customer is 96 years old," she says. "He swears by the healing power of the iodine-rich seaweed." And as soon as you immerse yourself in the silky water and pull the seaweed over you like a soft blanket, your worries do indeed seem to vanish.

A little further along the Atlantic coast, where Mount Knocknarea rises, and we are back in the land of myth. Visible from afar, we see a caern, the legendary tomb of Queen Maeve.

“The Celtic goddess Maeve is described as a relentless warrior who, on top of that, could have any man she wanted,” says Fiona Stapelton, an Irishwoman who guides hikers through a heathland and marsh landscape.

We head up the 327-metre mountain. At the summit, the wind whistles and rain clouds gallop across the sky. The 360-degree panoramic view must have impressed people 5,000 years ago as, towering over the vast landscape, they constructed the immense stone tomb, 60 metres in diameter.

Archaeologists have uncovered several tombs in the surrounding area, but deliberately left Maeve’s untouched. According to legend, the queen was buried standing upright with a sword, though no one has yet dared to open the burial mound.

That leaves the powerful legendary figure resting undisturbed in her Stone Age megalithic tomb, nourishing Ireland’s mythological heritage for the coming millennia.

(c) 2026 dpa Deutsche Presse Agentur GmbH

 

Study: Obscure 1967 guide for LSD use still relevant as psychedelics gain in popularity

Survey participants agree with 18 of 19 tips from Lisa Bieberman, largely unknown acolyte of acid guru Timothy Leary

University at Buffalo

BUFFALO, N.Y. ­—  As psychedelic drugs such as LSD gain new momentum as a therapeutic treatment for severe post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and even headaches, a University at Buffalo researcher is exploring safety education for recreational users.

Daniel Kruger, PhD, research associate professor in the School of Public Health and Health Professions, looked back more than half a century for best practices on harm reduction.

In the 1960s, when Harvard psychology lecturer and psychedelics proponent Timothy Leary was advising people to “turn on, tune in, and drop out,” a young Radcliffe College graduate was quietly focused on another aspect of hallucinogens — safety.

Lisa Bieberman, who had been a Leary follower, established the Psychedelic Information Center in Cambridge, Mass. In February 1967, she published the $1 pamphlet, “Session Games People Play: A Manual for the Use of LSD,” which recommended best practices for the use of all types of psychedelics, especially for first-timers. She also addressed what might go wrong during an LSD or psilocybin ("magic”) mushroom trip.

“Bieberman highlights a number of games that may be better avoided during a LSD session, such as running away from your companions and believing that you have unlocked the deepest truths of the universe and need to tell the world about them,” Kruger says. “She also recommended that users stay with people they like and trust, avoid going out in public, and clear their minds of negative emotions.”

He launched a study with Paul Gillis-Smith, program lead at the Center for the Study of World Religious Studies at Harvard Divinity School, in which they surveyed almost 600 self-identified psychedelic users. Their findings, which showed that participants agreed with 18 of 19 pieces of Bieberman’s advice, were published in the Aug. 12 edition of the journal Psychedelics.

Other authors on the study are affiliated with the Michigan Psychedelic Center at the University of Michigan; Blue Sage Health Consulting in Ann Arbor, Mich., the Michigan Psychedelic Society; and the Radical Well-Being Center in Southfield, Mich.

When Kruger discovered Bieberman’s pragmatic teachings, which differed from Leary’s esoteric rhetoric, such as “surrender to the void,” he wanted to see if they would hold up today. It’s a timely inquiry, considering that psychedelic use now exceeds that of the counterculture ‘60s, according to Kruger.

Today, these drugs are gaining new momentum through hundreds of clinical trials and legal pathways in states like Oregon and Colorado, Kruger says.

“The idea is to medicalize these psychedelics for psychiatric conditions such as severe PTSD and depression,” he adds. “There really hasn’t been any big innovations in mental health medications since the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors were introduced in the 1980s, and they don’t work as well as we originally thought.”

Psychedelics have even been used to treat physical conditions such as cluster headaches, which are so painful that some sufferers have reported suicidal ideation.

“The clinical trials show people are getting better for a range of conditions,” he says. “Some report finding more meaning in life, having greater spiritual connections, and improving their relationships.”

While these trials may offer promise to millions of  people, Kruger notes that the majority of those experimenting with psychedelics are doing so outside of a regulated context and with little prevention education.

 “As a public health professional, I believe we need to protect these users,” he says. “When Lisa’s pamphlet was published, there were few resources for novice users. Although the term ‘harm reduction’ was decades from entering the vernacular of drug use education and safety, we propose that ‘Session Games’ and Bieberman’s larger collection of work are precursors to this approach.”

The anonymous survey participants, who were recruited via online advertisements and in-person outreach at a psychedelic advocacy event in Ann Arbor, Mich., reported using LSD and psilocybin mushrooms, mescaline, ayahuasca, ketamine, and MDMA (ecstasy/molly), primarily within the last year. They ranged in age from 18 to 85, with an average age of 43. Some identified as psychedelic guides or educators.

In regard to how to best prepare for a psychedelic experience, the majority of respondents agreed with the statements: “Be with people who know, like, and trust each other,” and “Be aware that, even with a guide, you have to do most of the work yourself.”

For overall advice, the strongest agreement was with the statements, “Recognize that the experience will eventually end,” and “Recognize that you may experience anxiety, which does not mean that something is wrong.”

Participants neither uniformly agreed nor disagreed with the advice to avoid looking in the mirror during a psychedelic trip, which over the decades has proven to be a scary experience for some users.

“Participants strongly endorsed advice emphasizing interpersonal trust, personal responsibility and psychological preparation – principles thought to be foundations to safe and meaningful psychedelic experiences in clinical research,” Kruger says.

Indeed psychedelics were considered a promising therapeutic tool in the mid-20th century when they used to treat such conditions as neurosis and schizophrenia, along with general psychotherapy. However, by the late 1960s, drugs became criminalized and psychedelic therapy waned.

While classic psychedelic drugs are still illegal in the United States, Colorado and Oregon have established state-regulated frameworks for supervised therapeutic use. New Mexico is not far behind, says Kruger, who predicts that more psychedelics-based medications will enter the marketplace in the not-too-distant future.

“It’s a freight train coming down the tracks,” he says. “So, we better have a train station to safely load passengers into this train or else they’re just going to try to jump on board while this train is moving.”

Kruger notes that the 2026 Psychedelic Community Survey is now available for anyone to take, regardless if they have experienced psychedelics. While all answers are anonymous, he recommends that participants take the survey on a private computer or device in a private location.

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Journal

Psychedelics

DOI

10.1016/j.psyche.2026.100034

Method of Research

Survey

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Highlighting the legacy of a psychedelic harm reduction pioneer: Assessing contemporary agreement with advice in Lisa Bieberman’s 1967 “Session Games” manual